WINTER | BEAUTY IN THE UNEXPECTED | TRUTH IN THE AGE OF TWITTER | THE BROADCAST PIONEERS
The Photographs Of Olivia Hood Parker ’63
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Lynn Sherr ’ reporting from the floor of the Republican National Convention in Houston ABC
magazine.wellesley.edu Winter 2020 @Wellesleymag
FEATURES DEPARTMENTS Beauty in the Unexpected From the Editor WCAA By April Austin Letters to the Editor Class Notes Truth in the Age of Twitter From the President In Memoriam By Catherine Caruso ’ Window on Wellesley Endnote The Broadcast Pioneers By Amita Parashar Kelly ’ Shelf Life
This magazine is published by the Wellesley College Alumnae Association, which has a mission “to support the institutional priorities of Wellesley College by connecting alumnae to the College and to each other.”
ifc_pg1_toc_final.indd 2 1/31/20 2:50 PM ifc_pg1_toc_final.indd 3 1/29/20 11:08 AM From the Editor VOLUME , ISSUE NO.
bout a decade ago, I indulged my longtime fantasy of working at a food magazine, and we did an “Iron Chef Wellesley” story, asking alumnae chefs and food writers to come Editor Alice M. Hummer up with a recipe using squash for our fall magazine. The late Carol Hart Field ’61, a maven of Italian food writing, contributed Torta della Zucca/Pumpkin Tart, which had Senior Associate Editors Lisa Scanlon Mogolov ’99 a crust made from a special kind of cookie. We hired a food stylist and ended up with Catherine O’Neill Grace Apictures of said tart that looked positively mouthwatering. Design Clearly, I wasn’t the only one who thought so. I arrived at work one day just before Hecht/Horton Partners, Arlington, Mass. Thanksgiving to fi nd a message on my voicemail: “Alice! I’m making the pumpkin tart for my Principal Photographer favorite husband. What in the world are Marie biscuits, and where do I get them?” And then Lisa Abitbol there was an audible click. The caller had neglected to identify herself. Student Assistant Except in this case, it wasn’t a problem. At the time, I’d guess literally millions of people Grace Ramsdell ’22 across the United States could have identifi ed who left that message. I myself was well Wellesley (USPS 673-900). Published fall, winter, acquainted with the voice: Every day for years, Linda Cozby Wertheimer ’65—as host of NPR’s spring, and summer by the Wellesley College All Things Considered—had fi lled me in on the day’s happenings as I drove home. I particularly Alumnae Association. Editorial and Business appreciated her intimate knowledge of Washington politics and the wisdom and acuity with O ce: Alumnae Association, Wellesley College, 106 Central St., Wellesley, MA 02481-8203. which she framed the news. I trusted her. Phone 781-283-2342. Fax 781-283-3638. I was thinking about that voice as I was editing the wonderful piece by Amita Parashar Periodicals postage paid at Boston, Mass., and Kelly ’06, “The Broadcast Pioneers” (page 30), about four Wellesley women who cut a path for other mailing o ces. Postmaster: Send Form 3579 to Wellesley magazine, Wellesley College, so many female journalists. I realized that in my mind’s ear, I can hear the voice of each one of 106 Central St., Wellesley, MA 02481-8203. them: Lynn Sherr ’63, Cokie Boggs Roberts ’64, Linda, and Diane Sawyer ’67. For decades, I have seen or heard them covering space shuttle launches, analyzing election returns, interview- WELLESLEY POLICY One of the objectives of Wellesley, in the best ing world leaders, and anchoring the nightly news. They have reported from the center of so College tradition, is to present interesting, many crucial events that they really have become part of our national fabric. The outpouring thought-provoking material, even though it of grief and deep admiration from around the country when Cokie Roberts passed away last may be controversial. Publication of material does not necessarily indicate endorsement of fall bears witness to this. the author’s viewpoint by the magazine, the These women broke into the news business at a time when “we don’t hire girls” was a stan- Alumnae Association, or Wellesley College.
dard response at a job interview. Sherr remembers how sure she had to be of herself: “Don’t Wellesley magazine reserves the right to edit let them defi ne who you are. You know who you are and what you can do.” And despite overt and, when necessary, revise all material that discrimination, these alumnae persisted, helping one another along the way. Sherr remembers it accepts for publication. Unsolicited photo- graphs will be published at the discretion of a group of female correspondents—from competing news organizations—who would gather for the editor. meals and to trade information. They never stopped researching, analyzing, and asking probing questions, so they could bring cogent, penetrating coverage to their audiences. KEEP WELLESLEY UP TO DATE! The Alumnae Office has a voice-mail box We—and our democracy—owe them a great deal. Maybe part of what we owe them is to to be used by alumnae for updating contact follow their careful example of weighing and understanding what’s happening around us. Today, and other personal information. The number is we obviously get our news in immensely different ways than viewers/listeners in the 1960s, 1-800-339-5233. thanks to social media. Which means the opportunities for receiving misinformation or partial You can also update your information online truths—and swallowing them—are vast. In “Truth in the Age of Twitter” (page 26), Wellesley when you visit the Alumnae Association web- site at www.wellesley.edu/alumnae. computer scientists discuss how we can evaluate what’s being promulgated as fact online with a critical eye, particularly in this 2020 DIRECT LINE PHONE NUMBERS election season. In a small way, we all need to ask the College Switchboard 781-283-1000 Alumnae O ce 781-283-2331 same kinds of questions that trusted journalists Magazine O ce 781-283-2342 have asked for years—before pressing the share Admission O ce 781-283-2270 button. Reporters R Us. Career Education O ce 781-283-2352 Development O ce 800-358-3543 And if anyone wants the recipe Linda Wertheimer made for her favorite husband, INTERNET ADDRESSES give a holler. Real women—and yes, real www.wellesley.edu/alumnae magazine.wellesley.edu journalists—cook.
Alice M. Hummer, editor
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pg2-3_letters_final.indd 2 1/31/20 2:33 PM Letters to the Editor Wellesley welcomes short letters (300 words maximum) relating to articles or items that have appeared in recent issues of the magazine. Send A New Leader your remarks to the Editor, Wellesley magazine, For Career Education 106 Central St., Wellesley, MA 02481-8203, email your comments to [email protected], As this magazine was going to press, or submit a letter via the magazine’s website, President Paula Johnson announced the magazine.wellesley.edu. appointment of Susan Brennan as the College’s new associate provost and execu- Maine-ly Praise tive director of career education. Brennan I attended Mount Holyoke and Smith and grad- is charged with leading career education, uated from Wellesley (thanks to Dean Bonnie a key priority of the College, as well as with Downes Leonard ’59 interviewing me while I innovating and expanding its services to nursed my newborn son in her office in 77). facilitate undergraduate career explora- That equals a plethora of mailings and alumnae tion and alumnae career transitions. Civic journals in my mailbox here on my island in engagement and fellowships will also fall Maine. But, over time, I’ve learned to simply under her aegis. direct all but the Wellesley magazine to the “As a visionary leader with a track recycle pile because they don’t have articles record of success and a passion for liberal that interest me, they don’t have that special arts education, Susan is uniquely suited career development. She previously served zing of a layout to lure me in, and they don’t to further strengthen Wellesley’s commit- as associate vice president for university have what I assume to be your unique touch ment to prepare and inspire every student career services at Bentley University in and imprint. Your work stands head and shoul- to craft a lifetime of opportunity and realize Waltham, Mass. She is a graduate of the ders above the competition. Major kudos from their full potential,” Johnson said. University of Pennsylvania with a major in Isleboro, Maine! Brennan, who will assume her duties history, and holds an M.B.A. from Babson Diana Roberts CE/DS ’88 on April , will be coming to Wellesley from College and an M.Ed. in administration, Isleboro, Maine the MIT Sloan School of Management, planning, and social policy from the Harvard where she is currently assistant dean for Graduate School of Education. A Tour, Please! I can’t wait to experience this wonderful space (“A Living Cathedral,” about the new lobal Flora, fall ’ ). I trust you will be open for tours when I return for reunion, une 2020. Barbara Bolin Monsler ’65 Honoring Cokie The Puzzle Tradition Pleasanton, Calif. Regarding the memorial tribute for Cokie Regarding “Puzzle Me This” in the fall ’ issue: Boggs Roberts ’64 (“In Memoriam,” fall ’ ): After graduation in 4, I went to work for Dell The Editor Writes #RememberingCokie—story about #welles- Puzzle Magazines. We began a series of Math In response to “From the Editor” on the Alumnae leyalum Cokie Roberts ’64 by npratc former Puzzles and Logic Problems magazines; I edited Achievement Award recipients (fall ’ ): I found host Linda Wertheimer’65 tribute in many of those, in addition to taking charge of the editor’s message, as well as the people she Wellesleymag. Proud of our accomplished alums. math and number puzzles for all the magazines. inspired, an inspiring comfort and reminder of —@mfarahad (Mani Ardalan Farhadi ’84) We had a puzzle called Number Place, and the true existence of Wellesley community. Los Gatos, Calif. I liked it a lot, so started putting lots of them shar.es a3pe5T Via Twitter into the Math Puzzles and Logic Problems —@Etche_homo (Heather Corbett Etchevers ’92) issues as well as encouraging other editors to Bouc-Bel-Air, France The Woman Behind the Underground use them in their magazines. I left Dell in 6 Via Twitter In response to the profile on Shelly Anand ’0 and then, a few years later, started seeing my (Class Notes, fall ’ ): Love this wellesleymag beloved Number Place puzzles with a new name: Remembering Ruth Anna Putnam profile of maanandshelly as she celebrates sudoku. Congratulations to Tantan Dai ’22, and As a Ruth Anna student from way back, I TEN YEARS of running wellesleyunderg welcome to my former world. (I was also brie y enthusiastically echo Prof. Mc owan’s words of while litigating on behalf of undocumented a highly ranked crossword puzzle competitor but tribute (“In Memoriam,” fall ’ ). She changed immigrants domestic violence survivors, dropped out.) my life in too many ways to describe. ow rare raising 2 kids now writing her st book for Gail Accardi ’84 it is for someone in academic life to be so self okilaBooks. New York effacing and yet at the same time so strong an —@agentsaba (Saba Sulaiman ’09) in uence on those she met. Shreveport, La. Continued on page 76 Catharine Wells ’68 Via Twitter Newton, Mass.
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#WellesleyVotes
AT THIS DANGEROUS moment for As I re ect on these turning points, I am humbled by democracies around the world, all those who have sacrificed to fulfill America’s promise I’ve been heartened by a surge and feel a profound responsibility to carry on their work. in student voting on campuses in I am reminded both of how far we’ve come—and how far the United States, with Wellesley we have yet to go. prominent among them. Spurred by such sentiments, widely shared across our Across the nation, eligible campus, we recently launched #WellesleyVotes, a non- students voted at an average partisan campuswide initiative to foster civic engagement, rate of 39.1 percent in the 2018 voting, and other forms of democratic participation. mid-terms, up from an anemic 19.7 percent in 2014, accord- #WellesleyVotes will serve as an umbrella for a range of ing to a landmark report from the Institute for Democracy programs and opportunities tied to effective citizenship, an and Higher Education at Tufts University. At Wellesley, the ideal that reaches far beyond U.S. borders. numbers were far higher, with 52.3 percent of eligible stu- While we’re just getting started, much is in the works. dents voting in 2018 compared with just 16.4 percent in 2014. One program I’m especially excited about is a spring break All in all, women’s colleges boasted the highest overall voting intensive for up to 30 students interested in running for rates nationally in 2018—50.3 percent—putting Wellesley a elective office, hosted by the nonpartisan nonprofit She few points above this outlier average. Should Run. Yet for all this good news, big questions linger: Why More broadly, we will be exploring ways to raise our aren’t students voting in far greater numbers? How can voices in more powerful ways—to both stand up for our we better support our students as citizens, at the ballot box beliefs and look for common ground. In these polarized and far beyond it? times, I can think of no skill more essential to the future These questions have loomed large for me in recent months, as I reflect on all that hangs in the balance. Everywhere I look, I see women—and women’s rights— We will be exploring ways to raise our facing new threats. Having spent most of my career in med- voices in more powerful ways—to both icine and women’s health, these are areas that especially concern me. I think, too, of ongoing and as-yet-unsuccessful stand up for our beliefs and look for efforts to secure equal pay, affordable child care, and fair common ground. and respectful treatment in all areas of our lives. Such threats are all the more poignant for their his- torical context. As we move into the 2020 election season, of democracy both in the U.S. and around the world. Along we mark the 00th anniversary of ratification of the th with our campus community—students, faculty, and staff—I Amendment, which barred states from restricting the right hope that all of you reading this will join with us in this to vote based on sex. (As the late and legendary Cokie endeavor. (And if you’re on social media, use the hashtag Boggs Roberts ’64 once observed on National Public Radio, #WellesleyVotes to connect with us and each other.) the 19th Amendment did not “grant” women the right to College is practice for life—that is the message of the vote: “We had the right to vote as American citizens. We great 2016 book Practice for Life: Making Decisions in didn’t have to be granted it by some bunch of guys.”) College, co-authored by Lee Cuba and Joseph Swingle of This year also marks the 25th anniversary of the famous the Wellesley faculty and two Bowdoin colleagues. It’s an proclamation by Hillary Rodham Clinton ’69 that “human idea I’ve carried with me over the past three years, one rights are women’s rights and women’s rights are human that becomes more resonant with each passing day. Our rights,” made during her speech in Beijing to the United students can’t practice for life without practicing citizen- Nations Fourth World Conference on Women, while last ship. It’s up to us to ensure that they have every chance year saw the 400th anniversary of enslaved Africans’ to do so. arrival in what is now the United States, the start of a barbarous and unresolved chapter in our nation’s history. —Paula A. Johnson, president
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pg4-15_wow_final.indd 4 1/31/20 1:58 PM A Home in Singing The Tupelos get together for six hours of rehearsal Lizette Ortega ’ didn’t sing in high school, but every week—and for its members, the a cappella says, “It’s become a really big part of my identity group feels like a home away from home. here. I had friends who struggled to transition to “There’s something wonderful about being Wellesley. The Tupelos made it so much easier.” able to sing with people,” says president Charlotte The deep connections current Tupelos feel Stout ’. “It’s a really close-knit group, which also extend to their alumnae, particularly when the group adds to our sound.” performs the Indigo Girls’ “Love’s Recovery.” Kyler Murria Castro ’ chimes in, “I’ve been “There’s part of the song that only the seniors singing since I was . It’s a passion of mine. It’s sing,” says Stout. “When it’s your first time as a a passion of all of ours. It’s different when you senior singing that part, it’s a beautiful thing. When share a passion. Like a family, we support each other alums come to a concert, they get up and sing it with in ways that go beyond the rehearsals and the mem- us. We just get really emotional.” orization and making sure we’re on top of the music.” The Tupelos have been harmonizing since , —Catherine O’Neill Grace and claim the title of the College’s oldest a cappella group. “The Wellesley Archives posted something that said we were the oldest group, so I’m going to stand by that,” says Stout. LISA ABITBOL LISA
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Peace Work Diana Lam ’20 LISA ABITBOL LISA
he first time Diana Lam ’20 visited As a first generation student, Lam says, “I students arrived on campus to find they had no Wellesley, she had been accepted and looked at my major as a choice of what would be rooming assignments. (A new online housing was trying to decide whether to enroll. the most marketable. What would be the most system, human error, and recent storm damage Her mother was with her. “You take employable? That’s how I chose political science.” to rooms led to the housing issues, which were two Californians who have lived in a But things changed once Lam secured her quickly rectified by the College.) The dissat- drought all their lives, put them in front post-graduation job at Bank of America in New isfaction spilled over into concerns about the Tof Lake Waban, of course they’re going to say York City. At the time, she had a year left at state of the College’s residence halls in general. yes,” she says. Wellesley. She asked herself: “What does that Lam says that through it all she tried “to model, “I grew up just outside Los Angeles,” says mean for what I want …? Having a job has given and get my peers to remember, that there is no Lam, the youngest of four. “My dad is a refugee me the opportunity to breathe, to think about us. There is no them. There is just a Wellesley from the Vietnam War, and my mom is an immi- my interests and passions—and that’s peace College community.” grant from China. We grew up without a lot, but and justice studies. So I changed my major. The Lam emphasizes that her time at the College we had an understanding that not only was edu- beauty of Wellesley is that you can do that.” has not been all about success. “You’re catching cation an integral part of being a full member of Last fall, Lam did an independent study me as a senior,” she says. “You didn’t catch me as society, but so was service.” focusing on applying peace and justice theo- a sophomore when I was struggling with figuring Wellesley’s Non Ministrari sed Ministrare ries to her work with College Government. out a multitude of things. I want to be very clear: motto resonated powerfully for Lam. Another “Wellesley College Government is an example I made a lot of mistakes in the past three years. deciding factor, she says, was the liberal arts of local government on a very small scale,” she I’ve had a lot of different challenges that I had curriculum, “the chance to explore whatever you says. “It’s very political. I’m trying really hard to work through.” want to explore.” to be a peace builder within CG.” That said, Lam is proud of her time at And explore she has. Lam, who this year is Lam says, “I never really thought of myself Wellesley. “I was recently thinking, I am actually College Government president, quickly focused as someone who would lead the table or even be living not only the dreams of my ancestors. I’m on political science and economics. But, “in at the table. I just knew that I really cared about also living the dreams of who I was four years between, I tried computer science, I tried hor- being implanted in the community that I’m in.” ago when I first stepped foot on campus.” ticulture.” Distribution requirements pushed her She got involved in College Government at the to take subjects that “I normally wouldn’t have had urging of her “big,” a CG senator. “She gave me —Catherine O’Neill Grace the bravery to try. And first year shadow grad the confidence to run.” ing really helped, because I’m first generation The 2019–20 academic year began with dis- and it took time to figure everything out.” satisfaction among the student body when 20
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FACTS ON FINANCE: PART 1 Mind the Gap What a Year at Wellesley Costs $98,530 $100K As College treasurer and vice president for The College’s finance and administration, Piper Orton over- challenge is to fund 80K $70,200 sees Wellesley’s budget and financial operations. the gap between cost per student She sat down with the magazine to answer 60K and the net revenue $41,859 a series of questions about College finances. per student. First up: How much does a Wellesley education 40K
actually cost, and what does that mean for the 20K long term? 0 In fiscal year 20 (the 20 academic year), 2011 2017 2012 2014 2016 2010 2019 2015 2018 the total cost to educate each Wellesley student 2013 was ,530, rton says. This includes faculty salaries—Wellesley has a low faculty student Cost to Educate Each Student Comprehensive Fee Net Revenue Per Student ratio, allowing for small classes—but also This includes faculty and sta Tuition, room, and board Comprehensive fee less everything affiliated with the four year resi salaries, buildings, energy costs, financial aid, averaged dential experience. That’s the buildings them dining services, athletics, etc. per student selves, energy costs, dining services, res hall staff, deans, athletics, and so much more. This cost is comparable to most schools in Wellesley’s “ ur challenge each year, year after year,” to afford a Wellesley College education. But cohort—elite liberal arts colleges. says rton, “is how to fund the gap between the fact is that our growth in financial aid has far The comprehensive fee—tuition fees, room, the cost of the education per student and the net exceeded the growth in endowment for financial and board—was 70,200 in FY . “Every revenue per student tuition, room, and board .” aid. We need to keep building the endowment student at Wellesley, even those whose families The main gap stopper is income from the endow in order to ensure that we can continue to are paying the full comprehensive fee,” rton ment. Wellesley also applies current use dona support people for generations to come.” says, “is actually receiving a discount from the tions to the gap, as well as other small sources cost of the education of almost 30,000.” of funding. —Alice M. Hummer Sixty percent of Wellesley students receive “We have only been able to do this,” rton financial aid. Therefore, in FY , the net tuition, adds, “because of generations of alumnae In the next issue: The College’s endowment room, and board revenue per student was 4 , 5 . who have given funds to the College to hold in The result is a gap of nearly 57,000 per student. perpetuity to enable others who come after them
WELLESLEY AWAY What drew you to SFS in Tanzania? Where are you living, and what other activities I figured that doing an environmental studies are you involved in? Fieldwork program in an African country would be a great My campus is located in Rhotia village, which is way to bring my two majors together, and I in northern Tanzania. Throughout the semester really liked that SFS was a more structured I have been volunteering what time I can at a program. The directed research component was tree nursery and a library in town. also something that appealed to me. What’s your favorite part of the day? What are you studying? We do this thing every night after dinner as a I am taking Introduction to Swahili and East group called Re AP where a different person African Culture, Wildlife Management, Wildlife asks a re ection question, gives three iswahili Ecology, and Environmental Policy. We study words, does announcements, and does a different management strategies and research presentation. It is a great way to get to know techniques in Tanzania in Wildlife Management, more about the people who are in the program and in Ecology, we study different animal with me and what they do outside of the program. ecologies. There’s a lot of time outside of the My presentation was about my oceanography classroom between field exercises and traveling research last summer. lectures. Classroom time was mainly to set up What has surprised you most about life the basics that would be applied out in the field. in Tanzania? Thanda Newkirk ’21 Tell us about your research. Definitely the pacing. Life in Tanzania moves a Major: Environmental studies and Africana studies Directed research takes place during the second lot slower than it does in the United States, and Hometown: Centreville, Va. half of the semester. Mine is focused on the it took a while to get used to, but I have really Program: School for Field Studies (SFS) in Tanzania: socioeconomic and environmental impacts of grown to appreciate it. Center for Wildlife Management Studies brickmaking on local communities.
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Elaine Lustig Cohen Inward Longing, 1967 Acrylic on canvas, 50 by 50 in., Museum purchase, Erna Bottigheimer Sands (Class of 1929) Art Acquisition Fund, 2016.4
COURTESY OF THE ESTATE OF ELAINE LUSTIG COHEN
Cohen’s personal and professional connections to a broad community of artistic, intellectual colleagues nurtured her unusual career, and provide an important context for her paintings. Inward Longing is among a number of early paintings Cohen created as she began to shift away from design commissions and to prioritize making art. The large square composition fea- tures an array of trapezoids, in deep pinks and bright reds, that converge, but remain just out of alignment, to articulate a small, bright white square at the center of the canvas. Darker red triangles and trapezoids fill the four sides of the X, intensifying the compressed sensibil- ity of the geometric forms. Using tape to mask paint fields as she worked, Cohen defined sharp edges between the hot colors, and created thin white lines to draw the viewer’s eye around the arrangement of shapes and toward the central, rotated square. Deceptively simple in its at Where Art, Architecture, planes of acrylic paint and simple geometry, Cohen’s work masterfully confounds the stability And Design Intersect of the square canvas with a dynamic and vibrant composition that achieves a sense of movement. In 2015, shortly before Cohen passed away, her paintings were exhibited at Philip Johnson’s ELAINE LUSTIG COHEN (1927–2016) was an her independent career was born. In 1956, she Glass House in New Canaan, Conn., and an accomplished graphic designer when she married publisher Arthur Cohen, with whom she interview with the artist was published in painted Inward Longing in 1967. Best known later founded Ex Libris, a unique bookstore and Artforum. Cohen remarked, “My abstraction for her pathbreaking freelance career in the gallery on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. never came from narrative; it came from archi- 50s and 60s in the male dominated field Cohen’s creativity thrived at the intersec- tecture.” Produced at a key moment in Cohen’s of graphic design, Cohen created hundreds of tion of art, architecture, and design. Among career, and distinct from American midcentury book covers for clients such as Meridian Books her most important early clients was architect art movements such as abstract expressionism, and New Directions, while also parenting her Philip ohnson, who asked her to fulfill Lustig’s pop art, and minimalism, Inward Longing repre- young daughter. commission to create signage for the now-iconic sents an important, alternative aesthetic vocab- Soon after completing a B.F.A. at the Seagram Building on Park Avenue. Her award- ulary of color and shape informed by a broad University of Southern California, she married winning typeface remains a key aspect of the design sensibility. The recent addition of Cohen’s acclaimed designer Alvin Lustig, and acquired building’s identity. For the Jewish Museum in work to the Davis Museum collection enriches her own sharp eye for design under his sup- New York, Cohen helped define its progressive the complicated story of modern art Wellesley portive tutelage. Following Lustig’s untimely identity in the mid-1960s with a series of spare, students will see and learn. death, when Elaine was just 28, his clients wel- bright designs for catalogues, including the comed her ability to take over his projects, and important 1966 exhibition Primary Structures. —M. Rachael Arauz ’91
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A Medieval Mystery
ON A SUNDAY MORNING last May, Ruth Rogers, curator of Special In August, Rogers and codicologist Lisa Fagin Davis, who originally Collections at Wellesley, sat down to enjoy one of her favorite medieval catalogued the College’s collection of pre-1600 manuscripts in 2001, and manuscript blogs, and was shocked to discover a post about two Books of Emily Bell, the College’s collections conservator, traveled to the MFA’s Hours in Wellesley’s collection—Manuscript 27 and Manuscript 29. conservation lab with the book. Rogers and Davis selected targets for The blog’s author, Peter J. Kidd, a London-based medieval manuscripts testing, focusing on reds, blues, and greens. They selected miniatures expert, wrote that he doubted the authenticity of parts of those two books, that were likely original to be scanned as a baseline, and those that were which he had examined prior to an exhibition of illuminated manuscripts suspect were scanned for comparison. in Boston in 2016. Further, he wondered if some of the illustrations were The results were immediate and obvious. Each of the three suspicious created by the Spanish Forger, who painted numerous miniatures and initials had noticeable levels of arsenic in the green paint, a telltale signa- panels in a late-medieval style in the late 19th century and into the 20th ture of “Scheele’s reen,” a pigment fi rst manufactured in 775. century. The forger boosted the value of manuscripts by adding sought- “It just adds another layer of history that we didn’t know. If anything, after illustrations. Kidd thought that in Wellesley’s Manuscript 29, for the combination of art connoisseurship and technology we used to fi nd the example, there were several historiated initials—an initial that begins a truth, I think makes [the manuscript] far more interesting,” says Rogers. section of the manuscript and includes an illustration—that looked wrong. She uses this particular manuscript frequently when classes visit Special The poses of the characters in the illustrations are not typical of the period, Collections, or when teaching her own course on the history of the book. Kidd wrote, and the context in which they appear is often “bizarre.” Now she has a fuller story to tell about it. Rogers was surprised, but also intrigued and excited. She arranged to take Manuscript 29, a Book of Hours from the late-15th-/early-16th- —Lisa Scanlon Mogolov ’99 century that was written and decorated in the Northern Netherlands, to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston for ray uorescence testing. (Manuscript 27 sat the trip out.)
This saint’s twisted, contrapposto posture, not typical of Renaissance paintings, tipped o a medieval manuscript expert that she might be fake. COURTESY OF WELLESLEY COLLEGE SPECIAL COLLECTIONS
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Celebrating 10 Years Of the Albright Institute
Korbel Albright ’59 Institute for Global Affairs with events throughout the year, starting with several panels held this past October. Current and former fellows from across the country and around the world came together to speak about their experiences and to network. And Albright was part of it all, including opening an exhibit of memorabilia from her time at Wellesley to her days as secretary of state. Albright remains a vital part of the Institute and its focus on fostering global leadership for women. Each year, the insti- tute selects 40 student fellows from a variety of majors and disciplines. The fellows then meet for a three-week intensive during Wintersession, attending lectures given by Wellesley professors and visiting luminaries (including alumnae in a wide range of fields), and working in multidisciplinary groups on a pressing global issue. Each group then pres- KELLY FITZSIMMONS ents to a distinguished visiting professor, getting feedback and input on their work. This Last October’s anniversary IT STARTED WITH a group of 40 young women. experience is followed by a summer intern- celebrations included a panel Plus a former secretary of state. And some of ship to apply what they’ve learned. discussion titled “The Albright Wellesley’s leading scholars. And an idea. This year’s program was built around Institute at Wellesley: Training Future Global Leaders,” with “From my own experience of having the 25th anniversary of the Fourth World the secretary, former fellows climbed my way up the ladder in Washington, Conference on Women, where Albright was Halimatou Hima Moussa there were certain things that I wish I had head of the U.S. delegation as the United Dioula ’10, Esther Im ’12, learned better in terms of really understanding Nations ambassador at the time. Albright Zsofia Schweger ’12, and Joseph Joyce, the Albright’s how people from various disciplines need herself served as the distinguished visiting founding faculty director. to work together to get something done, professor. In January, she heard presenta- the importance of being able to summarize tions from the fellows on topics ranging from things in a way that is understandable, to the gendered impact of climate change and be able to give public presentations, and to drought in South Africa to women’s involve- work in teams,” Secretary Madeleine Korbel ment in con ict resolution in Afghanistan. Albright ’59 told a packed Alumnae Hall “By bringing this theme in, we [were] auditorium last fall. “And I thought, ‘Wouldn’t trying to both have a moment that [allowed] it be interesting to build on the incredible us to re ect on the history of women’s leader- education that people get at Wellesley and ship in global affairs and the secretary’s role, continue to get at Wellesley but prepare more but also be able to cast it as this moment of women for global leadership?’” thinking about unfinished business, what is Now the College is celebrating the mile- left for us to do, as a way of celebrating and stone 10th anniversary of the Madeleine encouraging people to think about the next
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HALIMATOU HIMA MOUSSA DIOULA ’ Albright internship: United Nations Foundation Currently: Ph.D. candidate and
ALBRIGHT FELLOWSALBRIGHT Cambridge-Africa Trust scholar at the University of Cambridge Impact: “If there is one thing I took out of the Albright Institute —and there are many—it is that push to say what I think in 10 years as well,” says the institute’s current moments where I feel maybe I faculty director, Professor of Political Science shouldn’t. It’s so important that Stacie Goddard. we speak up, especially when we feel uncomfortable, because Although celebrating the past 10 success- that is probably when it matters ful years has been at the forefront this year, the most.” thinking about the next decade is already underway, according to Goddard, who took over as faculty director last July. “We now
have a network of 400 fellows who have been HANNAH HARRIS ’ through this experience. So on the one hand, Albright internship: Working with I get to take the reins at this moment where I refugees in Greece think we’ve proven ourselves as having a suc- Currently: Project manager for the cessful model, but what that also allows us to Inclusive Astronomy Program at do is begin to think about how we can develop the International Astronomical Union our programming even further,” Goddard Impact: “I’m not apologetic about says. The institute is looking at ways to not knowing something yet, and expand its reach in the Wellesley community I won’t let people try to shame me. That was a lesson I learned the fi rst and outside it, with possibilities ranging from day. My background in physics an annual symposium, to a global leadership can be applied to issues in education lab, to working more closely with faculty and and international relations, and existing Wellesley courses. I do bring something to the table and have a unique perspective that To support this ongoing work, Secretary I might not have anticipated.” Albright announced her $1 million donation this past fall, the fi rst major gift in a 5 million fund-raising campaign Wellesley has launched for the institute. These funds will help keep educating women for roles in global leader- ship, a critical part of the original vision for the SANDRA CHUNG ’ institute. “We are developing these models to teach our students to engage in the world, to Albright internship: U.S. State Department internship at the U.S. really become impassioned about these global Consulate General Shenyang challenges,” Goddard says. in China And Albright knows a thing or two about Future plans: “For now, I hope to be global challenges. When last fall’s panel in the D.C. area, doing something turned to the current state of global affairs related to U.S. foreign policy.” and what the future might bring, she was Impact: “My experience with the forthright. “It’s tumultuous now, but it’s institute broadened my thoughts and perspectives about my life. nothing like what it’s going to be,” she said. It defi nitely helped me understand “I think that we need to be ready for that, and my fervor for public service.” there’s no better group than Wellesley women to lead.”
—Jennifer E. Garrett ’98 LOUISA CANNELL
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ust because they’re sisters, and they all play golf, and they all play golf at Blue, a familiar situation. She admits it was a bit of a challenge at first to be both Wellesley, doesn’t mean they agree on everything. captain and big sister, but she works hard to remain fair to everyone. “I try to J The MacVicar sisters all started playing at the same time as kids, but treat them like any other player on the team,” she says, and she tries to make they don’t remember it quite the same way. “I thought golf was boring, so my sure her teammates “don’t feel like it’s the sisters against everybody else.” dad would spend hours trying to make golf fun by creating games for us,” Kate Of course, on an eight-person team, with only five players working toward the MacVicar ’ recalls. team’s score at any given tournament, it can be a MacVicar-heavy experience. Caroline MacVicar ’ has a slightly dierent recollection. “We joined the The golf team plays a split schedule between fall and spring, and it competed in LPGA Girls Golf program that’s run by former women golfers, and seeing their four tournaments last fall—three of which featured all three sisters. In fact, at dedication and love for the sport as a young girl made me fall in love with golf,” the Williams Invitational, the Blue’s final fall tournament, the sisters were the she says. “Golf is unique … in that every course you play on has its own unique top three finishers for Wellesley. This performance earned Ryan Liberty League challenges, so it never gets boring.” Performer of the Week, and Caroline nabbed Liberty League Rookie of the Week. Ryan MacVicar ’ credits the program with helping them get started with— It will be bittersweet as Ryan gets in her final collegiate swings this spring, but and get invested in—golf. “That was a great way to help connect us to other girl they all agree that they want to have a successful season by each other’s sides. golfers, because golf is so male-dominated, it can be a little intimidating for a “I hope that we can make it to the NCAAs, especially since this is Ryan’s last year young girl,” she says. here and our last year together,” Caroline says. But however the season ends, it Regardless of their start in the sport, they’ve been committed to it for years. won’t be the last time the sisters hit the links together, Ryan says, though she Twins Caroline and Kate played with Ryan as eighth graders on their Northridge anticipates a slightly dierent experience in the future. “I’ll be looking forward High School team in Tuscaloosa, Ala., and got to enjoy two years playing with to when some of that pressure is removed and I can just play for enjoyment.” their sister, the captain. (Their high school team had six players, which means that, yes, the team was half MacVicars.) Ryan is currently the captain for the —Jennifer E. Garrett ’
Kate, Caroline, and Ryan MacVicar
Swing Sisters
LISA ABITBOL LISA 12 WELLESLEY MAGAZINE
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BY THE NUMBERS / THE WELLESLEY COLLEGE DIGITAL SCHOLARSHIP AND ARCHIVE 739,355 20,19223 66,425 195 Total downloads since the Items in this digital repository, New faculty publications Student theses downloaded Countries in which individuals repository’s establishment— which collects the College’s posted in 2018–19 in 2018–19 are downloading material items ranging from the 1949 scholarly output, unique research College president’s report to holdings, and archival records issues of the Wellesley News*
REPORTS FROM AROUND CAMPUS College Road
Fossil-Fuel Divestment Tanner 2019 Students and faculty raised their voices during the fall In ctober, the ffice of Communications and Public Affairs semester to call for the College’s divestment from fossil OVERHEARD went all out with a humorous set of posters advertising the fuel companies. In December, students presented a peti- Tanner Conference. And its efforts worked: There were no tion with more than signatures to President Paula sad presenters at Tanner, just students speaking to packed Johnson, and the following week, the faculty overwhelm- rooms. The conference brings the community together ingly passed the following resolution: to learn about student experiences in internships, study “We believe that the dangers of climate change are abroad, civic engagement, and other opportunities, and urgent enough that we cannot go on doing business as attendees this year could choose from 4 panels with 23 usual, and we support those who take action against presenters. Among the speakers were Eve Montie ’20 and the existential threat climate change presents. For this Christine Burns ’20, who were interns at the Lobkowicz reason, we believe Wellesley College should join other ‘my favorite Collections, the largest privately owned art collection in the institutions that have made commitments … to divest thing about tower Czech Republic. They got hands on museum experience from fossil fuel companies. Wellesley has the opportunity court in the doing everything from cleaning and cataloguing works to to be a leader on this issue. marketing. “As a senior considering various career paths,” “We recognize that divestment will impose tangible snow is when a pile Burns says, “this internship narrowed my field of search constraints on the investment o ce’s tools for managing of snow slides o because I realized how much I love the hands on, collabora tive, and exible environment that comes with working at the College’s endowment and that it may entail some of the roof and it costs for the College. Nonetheless, we believe that small scale institutions.” divestment by the College would contribute importantly sounds like to the growing national and international consensus that the building is action must be taken in response to climate change. collapsing ’ Accordingly, we are willing as a community to manage these potential costs in order to make the statement that — Tweet by a member we view divestment as a moral imperative.” of the class of ’20 Deborah Foye Kuenstner ’, the College’s chief investment o cer, is leading an assessment of the ways climate change will aect the College’s endowment port- folio over the next decades, with special focus on energy investments. The Wellesley College Board of Trustees’ Subcommittee on Investment Responsibility was to hear proposals for action regarding the endowment from the community at its February meeting, and if the investment committee so recommends, the full board could take up the topic later in the year.
*You can explore this resource at repository.wellesley.edu.
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rofessor of Art Rebecca Bedell ’80 works Much of Bedell’s earlier work centered on the inside an icon of midcentury modernism, intersection of art and science. Her 2001 book, P the ewett Arts Center. er offi ce walls The Anatomy of Nature: Geology and American are hung with contemporary paintings by Landscape Painting, 1825–1875 (Princeton), colleagues, among them associate professors explored the impact of new scientifi c fi ndings on of art Daniela Rivera and David Teng Olsen, the Hudson River School artists. and emerita professor Bunny Harvey. But her Her interest in science goes back to Wellesley. interests often incline to earlier eras. “The classes that had the most important effect Bedell’s most recent book is Moved to Tears: on the way I understand the world were my Rethinking the Art of the Sentimental in the two classes in what was then called ecology, United States (Princeton). In it, she aims to and would now be environmental science,” she uproot what she terms “the still tenacious recalls. “I started out a biology major, and then I modernist prejudice against sentimental art.” took art history, which I had never been exposed In the 18th and 19th centuries, she says, the to in my little high school in southern Illinois. sentimental was highly valued. “It meant art that It was different than now in that it was very had an ability to touch you, to transform your feel- Western-focused. But I learned to ask questions ings and make you feel more connected to others— of works of art that can be applied not just to the art that had a socially transformative role. And Western canon but to any work of art. My ambi- then that shifts with the advent of modernism, tion as a teacher is to provide [students] with which redefi nes sentimental’ art as something tools for looking and thinking about works of art feminine and commercial and domestic.” that they can carry anywhere.” Modernist criticism of the sentimental began Bedell worries that today’s students are in the mid-19th century in France, and took a turning away from her discipline. “There is a while to reach the U.S. But the attitude “is still broad societal suspicion of the humanities in with us,” Bedell says. “ Sentimental’ is still one of general,” she says. “There’s a question about, the most negative, derogatory terms that critics What’s the value of art history? Is it just an ing at works of art.” elitist and exclusionary course of study?’ In her book, she seeks to defi ne and compli I hope that we can move past that and cate “ideas about what sentimental art looks like, draw people in to work with some who made it, and the cultural work it does.” of the most wonderful, beautiful, Among the artists Bedell examines in moving, and transformative things Moved to Tears are Charles Willson Peale in that have ever been made by human the late 18th century; George Inness (whose beings on the planet.” 1877 landscape, A Gray Lowery Day, is one of One might call her sentimen- her favorite paintings in the College’s Davis tal. And that’s a good thing. Museum), Winslow Homer, Mary Cassatt, and John Singer Sargent in the 19th; and Frank —Catherine O’Neill Grace Lloyd Wright in the early 20th century. In a chapter on “Sentimental Landscapes,” Bedell considers Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Mass. It was “part of the socially transformative ambitions of the sentimental in the 19th century to create cemeteries that weren’t terrifying places, that would be sooth- ing and comforting, both to people who were con- templating their own death, and people who had lost loved ones—to create a landscape that was meant in this sentimental way to wrap its arms around you and comfort you,” she says. Bedell sees a similar effect in the College’s landscape. “There’s that sense of embracing a comforting nature and connecting to the natural world, which carries through into current envi- S e n t i m e n t a l ronmental art. It’s about our connectedness to the natural world, the harm we’ve done to the natural world, our need to care for the natural world—all sentimental feelings in the way I understand the term.” Journey
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Busting the Model-Minority Myth
THE DEMOCRATIC presidential candidate debates were not on the syllabus of Genevieve Clutario’s fall course, The Asian-American Experience. But with a record number of Asian Americans and Pacifi c Islanders vying for the nation’s top position—three at this writer’s deadline—it is not surpris- ing that they sparked classroom discussion. In particular, when candidate Andrew Yang quipped at a debate last September in ouston, “I’m Asian. So I know a lot of doctors,” it drew a lot of laughter in the audience, as well as a lot of heat on social media. Yang, who is Taiwanese American, came under fi re for leaning into racial stereotypes about his Asian ness. is biggest applause line is, “The opposite of Donald Trump is an Asian American man who loves math,” and his campaign sells baseball caps that read simply: MAT . “ The students bring up things that they hear in the Twitterverse. That is something new for me,” says Clutario, Andrew W. Mellon Assistant Professor of American Studies. She nonetheless incorporated their ques tions into one of the topics central to the course: the model-minority myth. “So I asked them, Do you know what the model minority myth is?’ A lot of the students shared their own experience with the model-minority myth. Then we looked into the longer history,” she says. Clutario had her students read contemporary online essays about Yang’s comments in Medium and Vox. They analyzed a Time magazine cover from the 0s depicting several young Asian Americans, titled “Whizkids.” Then they ABITBOL LISA went back even further to an article from the late 50s where the phrase “model minority” was fi rst used in regard to apanese Americans. “The IN THE CLASSROOM students were great about being super critical about why it’s called a AMST The Asian-American Experience myth, and how sometimes even positive stereotypes can be harmful to people, and what is a stereotype and how is it used.” This course explores the breadth and depth of the experience of Pulling from a range of sources—from the personal to pop cultural Asian-Americans, the fastest growing racial group in the United to academic—is not only a feature of Clutario’s teaching style, but of her States. Who or what is an “Asian-American”? How have concep- academic research and education path as well. tions of Asian-Americans changed over time? Students draw from “I feel like my academic journey took a long time, but it makes sense multiple disciplines to answer these questions and analyze specifi c because it was so interdisciplinary,” she says. Clutario holds degrees in topics ranging from food, fashion, and karaoke, to colonization, war, comparative literature, fi lm and media studies, and history, and accepted and immigration. an appointment in American studies at Wellesley this fall after previously being on the faculty at arvard. Readings er research focuses on questions of gender, race, and empire building Keywords for Asian American Studies, edited by Cathy Schlund-Vials, in the Philippines, and she is currently at work on a book, Beauty Regimes, K. Scott Wong, and Linda Trinh Vo (NYU Press); The Making of Asian that uses fashion, beauty pageants, garment work, and embroidery to America: A History, by Erika Lee (Simon & Schuster) address those questions. This is an academic inquiry sparked, in part, by Clutario’s experience growing up as part of the Filipino diaspora in the Los Capstone Assignment Angeles area and her mother’s abiding interest in Filipino beauty queens. Students are asked to interview an immigrant or child of an immi- Clutario hopes that this same interdisciplinary approach will help her grant about their experience living in America. They learn how to students answer the burning questions they bring with them to class. “The gather data through oral history and how to use that data to narrate students come in with so many questions,” she says. “I hope that I give a story. Possible projects might be a documentary, a podcast, a tra- them the tools to fi nd those answers in different fi elds: history, sociology, ditional oral-history paper, or something more creative, such as a media, and take those skills to understand their own place in the world.” miniature fi lm, zine, or graphic novel.
—Sarah Ligon ’03
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Reviews of books by Wellesley authors
Tokyo Time Travel Desert Healing
In tracing the various ways that the apanese DUNE SONG, the debut novel by Anissa measure time—through the burning of incense, Bouziane ’ 7, shares the spiritual and physical the slow pour of a coffee, the arrival of the journey of eehan Nathaar, a Moroccan American Yamanote railway line—The Bells of Old Tokyo, Muslim woman who seeks healing and affirma- Sherman’s first book, centers on a vision of time tion of her identity and purpose after witness- as a subjective foundation of all experience. She ing the terrorist attack in New York City. creates a rich, culturally uent text of episodic Published first in French in Casablanca in 20 7 meditations that move forward and backward in and recently released in the U.S., the story is time to ultimately offer wisdom not only about told in alternating chapters between New York apanese temporality but also the impact of the and Morocco as eehan moves through an epic ow of time on human life. journey of self discovery, finally finding peace in Following in the footsteps of composer the deserts of her father’s homeland. Yoshimura iroshi’s book Edo’s Bells of Time, Before , eehan was at a crossroads. er Sherman works from the premise of a travel- Ph.D. advisor had passed away before she could ogue, venturing forth to look for the eight lost complete her history dissertation, and she lacked bells that once surrounded Tokyo and served to funding to continue. Living in New York with her delineate its neighborhoods. What ultimately sister, Rizzy, a photojournalist who finds purpose results is far more complex, as the book becomes traveling around the globe capturing important a sort of spiritual and philosophical pilgrimage, world events, eehan is passing the time working one in which she locates residual moments of as a paralegal to pay rent. nonstandardized cultural time that linger in our It seemed this aimless path could continue contemporary digital age. indefinitely, until the falling of the World Trade Moving between models of time bound to Center towers. eehan sees the first tower nature and its contemporary mechanic standard- crumble before her eyes and is deeply affected. ization, Sherman displays a talent for combining The event and its aftermath shift her world per- vast research with embodied experience, blend- spective. She had always thought “that death on Anna Sherman ’92 The Bells of Old Tokyo: ing references to apanese literature, art, and this scale, with this level of collective violence, Meditations on Time and a City language with journalistic engagements with Picador both experts and everyday people. She unfolds Continued on page 76 352 pages, $28 how the apanese language offers numerous ways of expressing time, from words for stop- A QUICK VISIT TO TOKYO leaves an impression of watches and races, to terms that mark instants speed, density, and efficiency. But years of wan- and moments, seasons and periods, af uences of dering down its endless streets complicate this time and mere particles. vision, offering a more heterogeneous version In conceptualizing time in a way that is not of place. For Anna Sherman ’ 2, a resident of merely progressive, as it is in the West, but Tokyo since 200 , the city can best be understood instead as more manifest, myriad, and complex, as a multifaceted timepiece where the digital the apanese, as Sherman learns in her journey, jostles against the analog, as the bells of the conceive of time as a creature, made metaphori- global stock markets ring alongside the rituals cal in the cyclical stories of the odiac, which of Shinto prayer bells. gives rhythms to both time and space. Thus Anissa Bouziane ’97 Dune Song Continued on page 76 Interlink Pub Group 368 pages, $16
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Comfort Food
Karen Grigsby Bates ’ contributed everybody else. You know, a reporter’s different iterations. But that pot of an essay entitled “The Feeding Gene” supposed to stay out of the story. shrimp creole that I fed the Senegalese to Apple, Tree. In it, she describes When I sat down at first, I wondered, student—when he said, “Tastes like her memories of her family’s power- “How do I write about me and then home,” I realized, oh, it wasn’t just ful need to feed others, including go back to being, you know, a third- shrimp. It was having somebody invite strangers. We asked the veteran NPR person observer?” So that was a little him to share a meal, because his own journalist, who is based in Los Angeles, hard. people aren’t anywhere nearby, and he about her experience writing the piece, may not get back to them anytime soon. and what food means in our world. You write about serving shrimp creole you cooked to a Senegalese What’s the power of feeding others? Where you surprised when the visitor when you were a student at Feeding people transmits a lot more memoirist Lise Funderburg Wellesley. You clearly inherited the than just a delicious taste in the asked you to contribute to this feeding gene. mouth. When you cannot agree with Apple, Tree: collection? Yes. Food is one of the great pleasures people about other things, maybe Writers on Their Parents My initial reaction was, “Are you sure of life—if you’re in a situation where you can agree about what makes the Lise Funderburg, editor you want me in this? Ann Patchett’s in you can eat on the regular. And if perfect cornbread, or how long you University of Nebraska Press 232 pages; $24.95 there!” She said, “Yes, I know what I’m you’re not, then it’s a necessity that should cook greens, or whether you doing. Are you going to do it or not?” And you crave. For us, living where we do, serve shrimp with the heads on or with I said yes. She let us pick our topics; we as we do, it’s a luxury to be able to the heads o . It builds a bridge. were free to write what we wanted. ruminate on butter sliding o baked potatoes, and the crunch of a fresh- —Catherine O’Neill Grace Your piece is a very personal essay. baked chocolate chip cookie after it Is that a form you enjoy writing? comes out of the oven and it’s still hot Grace is a senior associate editor of this magazine. It’s probably the first one that I’ve done. and gooey in the middle. Food means I don’t write about myself; I write about a lot to people in different ways, in
Freshink
Nancy Smith Atwood ’ , editor Anne Brandzel Judy Foreman ’ Helen Lefkowitz Horowitz ’ Nancy Shoemaker ’ Coming of Age in a Hardscrabble Devereux-Mills ’ Exercise Is Medicine— Traces of J. B. Jackson: Pursuing Respect in the World: A Memoir Anthology, The Parlay Effect: How How Physical Activity Boosts The Man Who Taught Us Cannibal Isles: Americans in University of Georgia Press Female Connection Can Health and Slows Aging, to See Everyday America, Nineteenth-Century Fiji, Change the World, Oxford University Press University of Virginia Press Cornell University Press Narges Bajoghli ’ Parlay House Books Iran Reframed: Anxieties of Barbara Heldt ’, translator Susan Elia MacNeal ’ Judith Hirschhorn Wurtman ’ Power in the Islamic Republic, Ellen Carol DuBois ’ A Double Life by The King’s Justice: A Maggie Before Her Voice Was Still: A Stanford University Press Suffrage: Women’s Long Karolina Pavlova, Hope Mystery, Friendship in the Shadow of ALS, Battle for the Vote, Columbia University Press Bantam Leap Year Press Francine Banner ’ Simon & Schuster Crowdsourcing the Law: Trying Caroline Chamberlin Diane Silvers Ravitch ’ Sexual Assault on Social Media, Suzanne Falter ’ Hellman ’ Slaying Goliath: The Passionate SEND US YOUR BOOKS Lexington The Extremely Busy Woman’s Children of the Raven and the Resistance to Privatization and If you’ve published a book and Guide to Self-Care: Do Less, Whale: Visions and Revisions the Fight to Save America’s Keven Ryan Bellows ’ you’d like to have it listed in Achieve More, and Live in American Literature, Public Schools, Late Harvest: Poems, “Fresh Ink” and considered for the Life You Want, University of Virginia Press Knopf Conflux Press review, please send two copies Sourcebooks Carol Helmstadter ’ Martha Ronk ’ to Catherine Grace, Wellesley Sabrina DeTurk ’ Beyond Nightingale: Nursing on Silences, magazine, 106 Central St., Street Art in the Middle East, the Crimean War Battlefields, Omnidawn Wellesley, MA 02481-8203. I.B. Tauris Manchester University Press
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in the
Unexpected
The Photographs Of Olivia Hood Parker ’63
By April Austin
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pg18-25_parker_final.indd 19 1/29/20 12:03 PM For photographer Olivia Hood Parker ’63, a beautiful been the raw material of Parker’s art for more than 50 or evocative object seizes her imag- years, part of what Kennel has described as Parker’s ination regardless of its origins. In 2012, her plumber “magpie aesthetic.” was replacing the leaky rubber appers in her toilet From an early age, Parker enjoyed going out into tanks. He was preparing to throw the old ones away, nature and bringing back objects that she arranged in but Parker stopped him. Her attention was captured old shoeboxes. She possessed a talent for drawing and by the gorgeous blue-green corrosion on the old parts, painting and had wanted to attend the Rhode Island which reminded her of ancient bronze sculpture. With School of Design, but her parents urged her to go to an eye toward a future photograph in which she might Wellesley. Originally, Parker had planned to major in pair the flappers with Chinese bronze sword hilts science, but she chose to study art history instead. from the second century B.C.E., she rescued them from The coursework steeped her in a rich curriculum that the trash. included historic methods of making art, as well as the BOB PACKERT/PEABODY ESSEX MUSEUM
PREVIOUS PAGE “Olivia sees the potential in coupling [plumbing history of genres such as still life. As she pursued her Feral Tape, 1984, gelatin parts] with these Chinese treasures,” says Sarah painting, she retained a scientist’s curiosity. silver print, 11 in. by 13 ½ in. Kennel, Keogh Family Curator of Photography at “In any kind of art, you’re experimenting,” she says. ABOVE the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, who organized “You want to see what will happen if … . It’s the same in Parker in her studio in Essex, the recent retrospective, Order of Imagination: The science. For anything to get done, you have to go off the Mass., with poodle Rover Photographs of Olivia Parker, at the Peabody Essex edge of the map. The hope is finding something in that
OPPOSITE Museum in Salem, Mass. “This points to her two sides: uncharted territory.” Interior with Birds and her long interest in history but also her interest in the Parker, who received an Alumnae Achievement Peaches, 1981, dye diusion material world and finding things in unexpected places.” Award in 1996, draws inspiration from plunging into print (Polaroid), 30 ¾ in. In a visit to Parker’s spacious, window-wrapped unknown territory. Her photographs speak of strange by 22 in. studio north of Boston, you encounter a cabinet of and wonderful juxtapositions, invented worlds, and curiosities: trays of shells and bones, cast-off mechani- moments of transition. She’s interested in processes and cal parts and pieces of scientific equipment, old maps instances of ux, such as dishes and owers falling from and charts, glass prisms and shards of twisted metal. collapsing shelves, or a piece of fruit changing from In an order known only to Parker, objects are stored over-ripeness to decay. Her photography appears in the in horizontal filing cabinets, and still others occupy collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum nearly every remaining horizontal surface. They have of Modern Art in New York, and the Museum of Fine
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pg18-25_parker_final.indd 21 1/29/20 12:03 PM Arts, Boston, among others. This past November, she was inducted into the International Photography all of Fame. Parker’s methods involve photographing a group of In any kind of art, you’re experimenting. objects in the studio or natural phenomena in the field and layering or manipulating the images to achieve the final photograph. She might set up a shoot by arranging You want to see what will happen if … . objects on the oor, for example, paying close attention to the natural light ooding through the windows. She It’s the same in science. For anything to get done, frequently places clear or colored glass bottles in the path of the light, which lends a wavering, otherworldly appearance. The evolution of her career has been marked by what you have to go off the edge of the map. curator Sarah ennel characterizes as a “sustained engagement with the history of art, a keen sensitivity to light and composition, and a willingness to experi- The hope is finding something ment with photographic technique.” Parker began her artistic career as a painter, but in the early 70s, she shifted to photography, making in that uncharted territory.’ assemblages of natural and human made elements that —OLIVIA HOOD PARKER ’63 she combined with Merlin like skill into photographs that hinted at shadowy worlds and strange truths. She also explored beyond the reaches of what was then accepted practice in the darkroom. For example, she
Gamecock, 1999, inkjet print, 30 in. by 37 ½ in.
pg18-25_parker_final.indd 22 1/29/20 12:03 PM exploited the possibilities of split-toned prints, in which her role as a wife and mother. After graduating from a print is left in the toner for a longer length of time. Wellesley, she married John Parker in 1964. The couple Parker liked the more painterly quality that split- welcomed their first child in 67, and their second two toning gave her prints: The black and white images devel- years later. The family lived in a rambling summer oped areas of warm browns and cool blues. Her work home perched on a cliff overlooking the Atlantic in even managed to win over Ansel Adams, the authority Massachusetts, and Parker carved out studio space on all things photographic, who had earlier decreed that in the living room and in a glassed-in porch. split-toning created an “unpleasant effect.” He eventu- Kennel says, “The implicit family expectations made ally invited her to teach at his workshops in Yosemite. her more committed to figuring out a way to work,” In the late ’70s, she was one of the many artists whether that meant working at home, a mom’s day out invited by the Polaroid Corporation to test its products. shooting photos in a graveyard, or creating a community Over more than 10 years, she explored the possibilities with other artists in the area. of Polacolor instant color film. During this time, she “The challenge of making art when raising a family— created ravishing still lifes that in their color saturation that was something that I just kept working at,” Parker and subject matter recall 7th and th century Dutch says. “Fortunately, despite the teasing, my family was masterpieces, but with her own twists. sympathetic.” Her children’s friends, she says with a “A painter is in control of her canvas in a way few smile, called her “weird mom.” photographers are,” says Henry Horenstein, a pho- Each challenge Parker faced seemed to become a tographer and professor at the Rhode Island School of catalyst for the next step in her growth as an artist. Design who has known Parker for five decades. “Most of When she broke her leg in a 1995 skiing accident and us have to deal with what’s given, what’s out there, and was confined to the house for a year to recuperate, she make that fit to our vision. Libby constructs her images learned Adobe Photoshop. “She was one of the earli- more like a painter than most photographers.” est fine art photographers to adopt digital cameras,” Parker’s professional career evolved alongside says Kennel. The medium of digital photography and
ABOVE Measuring Space, 1990, inkjet print, 20 in. by 24 in. (from 8 in. by 10 in. black and white negative)
LEFT Hybrids, 1978, dye diusion print (Polaroid), 10 in. by 8 in.
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pg18-25_parker_final.indd 23 1/29/20 12:03 PM ABOVE Honeymoon, 2016, inkjet print, 14 ⅝ in. by 22 in., part of the “Vanishing in Plain Sight” series
RIGHT Missing Piece–Ibis, 1993, inkjet print, 10 ¼ in. by 8 ¾ in.
CENTER Heart and Flower, 2010, inkjet print, 33 in. by 22 in.
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pg18-25_parker_final.indd 24 1/29/20 12:04 PM A painter is in control of her canvas in a way few photographers are.
Most of us have to deal with what’s given, what’s out there,
and make that fit to our vision. Libby constructs her images more like a painter
than most photographers.’
—HENRY HORENSTEIN, PROFESSOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY AT RHODE ISLAND
SCHOOL OF DESIGN
Child, 1980, dye diusion the ability to store endless numbers of images were a was like to be ohn. To see with his eyes. print (Polaroid), 10 in. by 8 in. boon to Parker’s subsequent work. The resulting photographs in the ongoing “ anishing But her truly defining challenge came in the form in Plain Sight” series are her “most painterly,” accord- of her husband’s illness. In 20 3, ohn, a financial ing to both ennel and orenstein. The liquid effects of analyst with a great interest in the arts and education, light, the blurred edges of mysterious origins, the frag- was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Shortly after menting of forms into diminishing planes, these hint at his diagnosis, Parker was shown a scan of his brain. “I the tremendous changes taking place in ohn’s mind. was shocked. There were huge black areas. It looked “She’s honoring a 50 year marriage with the deepest like there was nothing left at all,” she says. But he was form of empathy,” Kennel says. in denial about his condition. “ e said to me, Please John died in 2016, just before Parker started working don’t tell anyone that I’m ill,’” Parker says. “ ther with ennel on the retrospective. The exhibition, which people would have looked for drug trials to stave off the closed last November, was planned so that the viewer disease, but he never even said the word Alzheimer’s. moved chronologically through Parker’s work, conclud- is neurologist had him write the word down and ing with selections from “ anishing in Plain Sight.” spelled it for him.” But Parker didn’t want the exhibition to end on such a She began researching the disease and attempting somber note. Instead, a large screen played a video of to manage her husband’s changing personality and Parker in her studio, light pouring in, demonstrating increasingly unpredictable and often violent outbursts. how she works. It’s the place she clearly feels most at She tried to imagine what John was going through. home, and the continuity of that image provided a satis- After the difficult decision was made to move him to a fying note on which to end the exhibition. care facility, Parker found stacks of notes on which he When asked what has kept her going through all the had written things he did not want to forget, including challenges, Parker points to her desire to keep experi- names of friends, and, most poignantly, the places he and menting and see where things go. She says simply, “I Parker had visited on their honeymoon (opposite, top). just really like to work, to see what will happen if … .” Parker began to photograph not only the detritus of her husband’s life—the digital watch he could no longer April Austin is deputy editor and books editor of the use, the zippers and fasteners he could no longer manip- Christian Science Monitor Weekly. During a previous stint ulate, the reminder notes—but also to imagine what it at the Monitor, she edited and wrote about the arts.
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pg26-29_misinfo_final.indd 26 1/29/20 12:07 PM WELLESLEY COMPUTER SCIENTISTS ARE STUDYING HOW WE CAN BE LESS SUSCEPTIBLE TO MISINFORMATION ONLINE AND HOW TO KEEP FALSEHOODS FROM SPREADING BY CATHERINE CARUSO ’10 | ILLUSTRATIONS BY RUNE FISKER
SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS like Twitter and Facebook have quickly become Googled the candidates, Google’s real-time search function meant that part of daily life for many of us, offering an endless conveyor belt of those tweets about the candidates (instead of tweets by them, as is now entertainment while we’re riding the subway, relaxing on the couch, the case) came up at the top of the results. or sitting in the waiting room at the doctor’s office. Yet this stream of Metaxas and Mustafaraj dubbed the attack a “Twitter bomb” in a social media content is a double edged sword: Not only does it have the paper on their findings. (The paper, “From bscurity to Prominence potential to entertain us and expand our minds, but it also reveals the in Minutes: Political Speech and Real Time Search,” received the limitations of how we process the information we encounter. WebScience 20 0 Best Paper Prize and is available at bit.ly 34TuN7 .) Social media content can trick us into believing something that isn’t “We were not expecting to find anything weird with the data we col- true, or confirm the biases we already have, further polarizing us in lected, but suddenly we found the first set of bots that were created to our beliefs. There is perhaps no place where this problem is more in uence the voters in Massachusetts,” Metaxas says. concerning than in politics, where misinformation has major implica- “No one had used Twitter at that point to target an election,” tions for our democratic process. But why are we, as a society, so sus- Mustafaraj adds. As early as 2006, both parties were harnessing ceptible to misinformation? ow does misinformation spread? What oogle search to promote negative information about their opponents, can we do to combat it? These are the very questions that Wellesley and Metaxas says that given the high stakes, it would be surprising if computer science professors Takis Metaxas and Eni Mustafaraj have researchers had not found such attempts to in uence elections. been studying for more than a decade, since a discovery on Twitter in Their discovery left them wondering how else Twitter was being anuary 20 0 drew them into a social media mystery. leveraged to spread misinformation to the masses. To find out, they It all started with a special election in Massachusetts: Sen. Ted built TwitterTrails, an artificial intelligence system based on machine ennedy had died, and Democrat Martha Coakley and Republican learning that finds and analyzes all tweets related to a particular story Scott Brown were in a battle for his vacant seat. The election, while going back a week in time. important for the state, wasn’t expected to have much reach beyond This analysis is designed to reveal whether a story is true or false it. And yet, Metaxas and Mustafaraj noticed something strange: The by measuring key metrics related to spread and skepticism: who first candidates were trending on worldwide Twitter, suggesting that they tweeted about it, when it began gaining momentum, who is spreading were being talked about by large numbers of people everywhere. it, whether different groups tweeting about it are talking to each other, So why was this local election suddenly global news? To find out, the and how skeptical people are about its accuracy. The idea, Metaxas says, pair began collecting tweets about the candidates, which led to what is that if users believe a story is true (and that often maps to a story Metaxas calls “a very shocking discovery”: Many had been produced by actually being fact), they will share it widely and won’t express much Twitter accounts created just days before the election. And these accounts skepticism about its veracity. owever, if readers aren’t sure whether a “were tweeting the same link over and over again to increase the volume story is true, they either won’t share it widely, so it won’t spread quickly of tweets and make this topic trend,” Mustafaraj says, with accounts such on Twitter, or they will share it while saying they are skeptical about as CoakleyAgainstU and CoakleySaidThat targeting Coakley. it. Developed primarily for journalists, TwitterTrails has been used to After analyzing over 5,000 tweets, Metaxas and Mustafaraj real- analyze around , 00 stories on topics ranging from whether Putin’s ized that they weren’t from new users who were particularly invested motorcade was shaped like a phallus (it wasn’t) to whether NASA pub- in the Massachusetts election. Rather, many of the accounts had been lished a study that debunks climate change (it didn’t), and it is over 0 created by anti Coakley groups, such as the conservative, Iowa based percent accurate at discerning whether stories are true or false. (For American Future Fund, with the goal of quickly spreading negative more about TwitterTrails, visit twittertrails.com.) information about the candidate. In fact, nine accounts created by Despite its success, Metaxas became interested in when and why the American Future Fund sent 2 tweets in two hours, reaching TwitterTrails fails. “The success rate is quite remarkable, but it is about 60,000 people before Twitter shut them down. Plus, when people not enough—that was my big surprise,” Metaxas says. Perhaps the
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pg26-29_misinfo_final.indd 27 1/29/20 12:07 PM most glaring example was Pizzagate, a conspiracy theory from the people independently think about the question, the more likely it is we 2016 presidential election alleging that Hillary Rodham Clinton ’69 will arrive at the correct answer.” and other Democrats were running a human trafficking ring in the basement of a pizza restaurant. The story was false, yet TwitterTrails ARE NEWS SOURCES TRUSTWORTHY? thought it might be true, misled by the story’s rapid spread after it Mustafaraj took a break from politics after TwitterTrails, but she felt was mentioned by a pro government Turkish newspaper eager to compelled to dive back in when she saw social media being used once highlight political problems in other countries, and a lack of skepti- again to spread misinformation during the 20 6 presidential election— cism, since those talking about it already believed it. but with more reach and higher stakes. “I decided that I have to go This example highlights a key condition that affects how informa- back to this because this problem of what is truth and what is not has tion spreads on social media: polarization. “In 20 2, one of the shocking now become even more dangerous,” she says. Her alarm stemmed not things that happened to me was being exposed to some research that only from the current situation, but also from her experience living in said, if you give polarized people the same set of data, they become more Albania under a totalitarian regime. “I grew up in a society in which we, polarized,” Metaxas recalls. The reason? People look selectively at the in a certain way, abolished the real truth, and we were asked to believe data, accepting the parts that confirm their prior beliefs, while reject- in a reality that was fake,” she explains, with the government control- ing the parts that don’t. The challenge of polarization, he adds, is that it ling media, television, and just about everything else. “That marks you not only relates to what information we believe, but it also has a strong as a person, how easy it is to create an alternate version of reality.” emotional component, which prevents us from logically and impartially She began by interviewing people about how they decide if news assessing new information. “If you have a polarized audience, it is much sources are trustworthy. She discovered that many base their decision easier to spread fake news and rumors—people essentially would not on whether oogling a news outlet brings up a “knowledge panel,” listen with an open mind to what the other side is doing,” Metaxas says. the rectangular box on the right side of the page that provides basic Now, in collaboration with the University of Oxford Centre for information about the outlet. The knowledge panel for the New York Technology and Global Affairs, Metaxas is using TwitterTrails to Times, for example, includes when it was founded, where it is head- measure polarization within political contexts such as Brexit and the quartered, and who owns it. owever, these knowledge panels can be upcoming election in the United States. “We’re trying to study how problematic in a couple of ways. First, few local news sources have polarization grows, and what affects polarization: Is it affected by only knowledge panels—only a third of the ,000 Mustafaraj tested did real life news, or is it also in uenced by false rumors?” Metaxas says. —generally because they don’t have Wikipedia pages, which provide “I think the contribution we can make is to detect highly polarized the information for these panels. Additionally, untrustworthy sources situations in politics, and maybe figure out interventions to help people may mimic these panels to trick readers. “What we wanted to do is have a more reasonable dialogue.” look at how many local newspapers in the United States had good web presences, or when you search Google, did you understand that they were a legitimate local news source as opposed to a misinformation site,” explains Emma Lurie ’ , who worked with Mustafaraj on the ‘IF YOU CREATE AN ENVIRONMENT project, and is now a Ph.D. candidate at the School of Information at the University of California, Berkeley. [ON SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS] … WHERE EVERYTHING Mustafaraj then shifted her focus to the root of the problem: LOOKS THE SAME AND SOUNDS THE SAME, Wikipedia. “Wikipedia is really important because in the whole web ecosystem, it’s now one of the most trusted sources of information,” YOU CREATE THIS CONFUSION OF WHAT IS THE SIGNAL Mustafaraj says. Not only is a Wikipedia page often a top oogle AND WHAT IS THE NOISE.’ result, and the basis for knowledge panels, but it is also used by virtual assistants such as Siri and Alexa. “There is nothing else for free out ENI MUSTAFARAJ, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF COMPUTER SCIENCE there that has the scale that Wikipedia has in terms of information, and this unfortunately has made Wikipedia itself a target of misinfor- mation, because if you manipulate Wikipedia, you manipulate oogle On an individual level, he says, one way to combat polarization is and all these other things,” Mustafaraj says. with critical thinking. owever, he recognizes that this can be chal- Wikipedia also has a more fundamental issue: It is edited by regular lenging. e suggests trying to approach claims or questions scientifi- people, not professionals, and those people tend to write about their cally—creating a hypothesis, and finding and analyzing evidence that interests—so there are detailed pages for every Star Trek episode, both supports and refutes that hypothesis before drawing conclusions. yet few pages for local news sources. Moreover, Wikipedia is plagued ften, he adds, people stop after finding supporting evidence, thus by gender bias—only 0 to 5 percent of editors are women—which fueling polarization. Metaxas also cautions against being too trusting translates into a gender imbalance in the entries themselves. of any particular source, and of information that we take in through our To begin tackling these issues, Mustafaraj tapped the Wellesley senses—pointing out that memory, in particular, can be faulty. “If your community for a Wiki edit a thon, part of a larger effort at multiple data that you’re using your critical thinking to evaluate are already colleges and universities called Newspapers on Wikipedia. After being compromised because either your trusted sources have fooled you or trained to edit Wikipedia, students began creating knowledge panels your senses have fooled you, then it doesn’t matter how much logic you and full Wikipedia pages for local news sources. Mustafaraj has con- put in, essentially you will get out garbage,” Metaxas says. “The more tinued teaching her students how to edit Wikipedia, and she edits the
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pg26-29_misinfo_final.indd 28 1/29/20 12:08 PM resource herself whenever she has time—she encourages anyone who slick, uniform format that can make it almost impossible to discern might be interested to become an editor, and start contributing. “I feel accurate sources from untrustworthy ones. “If you create an environ- like we need to be informed citizens who participate in shaping our ment like this where everything looks the same and sounds the same, information ecosystem—we cannot just leave it to the algorithms and you create this confusion of what is the signal and what is the noise,” to the companies,” Mustafaraj says. “We have to fight misinformation Mustafaraj explains. These challenges are only compounded by the with the facts and our engagement with the truth.” fact that so much information on the internet is not entirely true or false, making it even harder to know what to believe. “The slew of THE COMPLICATIONS OF FACTCHECKING borderline content that isn’t fully untrue and isn’t actually factual is When Emma Lurie wrote her honors thesis last year with Mustafaraj, much more concerning, much more pervasive, in our current media she explored another possible course of action against misinforma- ecosystems,” Lurie says, and it is her biggest concern heading into tion: fact-checking. She focused on Google’s short-lived feature that the 2020 election. used machine learning techniques to check the accuracy of a claim by For Mustafaraj and Metaxas, the current informational landscape matching it with other information on the subject. The idea behind the also reveals a deeper issue. “It’s not just a matter of facts. It’s a matter feature was simple—it would fact-check a claim from a news story by of … your system of values, and how you use this system to interpret cross-referencing it with other articles on the topic, linking to sources the facts in the world,” Mustafaraj says. “Looking for a technical solu- that confirmed or refuted it. owever, the execution proved compli- tion to what is a cultural and societal division is going to be hard.” cated, as the feature struggled with how to match a claim to a rel- So what can we as individuals do to counter biases stemming from evant source in certain situations, such as when a claim was made with our values when we encounter new information, or information that conditional language (“vaccines may cause autism”) or when a claim doesn’t mesh with our existing worldview? Metaxas thinks becoming reported someone else’s incorrect statement (“Jenny McCarthy said, more self-aware is a good place to start. “We need to understand our- ‘Vaccines cause autism.’”). The feature was discontinued in 2018, but selves, and not to think that the world is just either facts or lies. It is despite its shortcomings, Lurie remains optimistic. “I think it’s clear really the way you look at things that matters,” he says. “My ultimate to me that there’s no one solution, there’s no one thing you can do to goal is to try to figure out how I can help myself , my students, the fight misinformation as an individual consumer or as a tech platform, general public, understand why we believe what we believe. If we can but that doesn’t mean it can’t get better.” achieve that, then it’s likely that we will not be fooled so easily.” Social media platforms themselves also hinder the fight against misinformation. These platforms have enormous reach, and can be Catherine Caruso ’10 is a Boston-based science writer whose work has used for microtargeting, where specific groups are targeted with spe- appeared in various publications, including Scientific American and MIT cific claims. Moreover, they are designed to funnel information into a Technology Review.
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pg26-29_misinfo_final.indd 29 1/29/20 12:08 PM Cokie Boggs Roberts ’64 working at the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia in 2000 PION-
30 WELLESLEY MAGAZINE STEVEFENN/ABC/GETTY IMAGES
pg30-37_broadcast_final.indd 30 1/29/20 12:10EERS PM THE BROADCAST
Lynn Sherr ’63. Cokie Roberts ’64. Linda Wertheimer ’65. Diane Sawyer ’67.
Today, they are news legends who have blazed a path for generations of women, but when they started out, they encountered fierce discrimination. PION-By Amita Parashar Kelly ’06
WINTER 2020 31 STEVEFENN/ABC/GETTY IMAGES
EERSpg30-37_broadcast_final.indd 31 1/29/20 12:10 PM WE DON’T HIRE GIRLS. Women can’t credibly report the news. We don’t hire women for that job. Those were the refrains repeatedly heard by four Wellesley alumnae who would go on to be among the most recognizable names in journalism—Lynn Sherr ’63, Cokie Boggs Roberts ’64, Linda Cozby Wertheimer ’65, and Diane Sawyer ’67. They all started out with the same fire for telling stories and finding answers. And despite entering the field at a time when discrimination was ever-present, they persisted with an astounding level of boldness, breaking the field wide open for themselves and genera- tions of women to come. Before they started their careers, they rarely saw themselves re ected in the faces they saw on TV or the voices they heard on the radio. They were told that one woman was enough for an organization or that they’d be better off as researchers or secretaries. But Wellesley built them up and taught them to expect more from themselves and the world, and to use “sharp elbows” when they were needed. When Roberts, beloved for her smart political analysis and wit, died in September 2019, it became clear they all shared one other essential quality: They pulled each other up along the way. Together, Wellesley’s broadcast pioneers have served the public for decades, providing hard-hitting journalism from political conven- tion oors and campaign planes, interviewing world leaders, and anchoring national news programs. They have won awards and written books. But even after they got in the door, the industry didn’t change overnight. They contin- BETTY LANE ued to struggle for equality for decades. And it would be even longer before others—including women of color—got their shot. Lynn Sherr ’63 holding a film cas- sette after doing an interview for WCBS in New York in 1973
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pg30-37_broadcast_final.indd 32 1/29/20 12:11 PM Sherr interviewing a participant in a women’s rights march, ca. 1970 AP
WHEN LYNN SHERR was about 9 years old, she “We were forever tilting against the admin covered NASA space shuttle missions, women’s published her first edition of the Sherr Family istration and trying to make things happen, and issues, national politics, and much more. Sherr News. It involved painstakingly picking up I loved it,” she says. won an Emmy Award for her coverage of the tiny rubber letters with long, skinny tweezers, After her junior year, she had a summer job 0 election, as well as a eorge Foster Peabody arranging them, and then inking and printing lined up in the Associated Press news library but Award and a racie Award, among others. blocks of copy. It was such a painful, “ridiculous” ended up winning the Mademoiselle guest editor But that first summer after Wellesley, she hit process that it also became the only edition of contest, which gave her several months working a brick wall. ard. her family’s paper. “But I loved it,” she says. “I on the August issue of the magazine. Even “Every single male, white newspaper editor in absolutely loved it.” though she didn’t really want to cover fashion, New York basically said to me, we don’t hire girls,” Early on, she “understood the magic” of she found the New York publishing world incred she says. “It’s just the way things were. They telling stories and getting the answers to the ibly exciting. didn’t want us, certainly not right out of college.” many questions she had. “I didn’t know how I After graduation in 63, Sherr barreled out She saw men just out of college hired as was going to get there,” she says of her decision into the real world, determined to find a perma reporters. The women, meanwhile, were hired to become a journalist, “but it never occurred to nent job in news. She moved to New York, sent to be researchers or to work at the clip desk— me I wouldn’t get there.” out r sum s cold, and doggedly followed up to cutting out articles and putting them in folders. At Wellesley, she majored in reek and try to get in the door. “This is the way the world was then,” she says. joined the Wellesley News, where she and her She would eventually spend more than three There was no thought of shattering a glass classmates “committed what I would consider decades with ABC News, as a national corre ceiling she says she wasn’t even expected to look serious journalism.” spondent and a correspondent for 20/20. She over the pile of folders on her desk.
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pg30-37_broadcast_final.indd 33 1/29/20 12:11 PM But Sherr kept at it, even as she realized want that job,’” she says. “‘You don’t have men There was one problem. “I was not made to how much she was swimming upstream. “I was who are wanting to be the women’s editor.’” do the weather,” Sawyer says. She had trouble directed at a time to go somewhere where they “When I think about it now, I can’t believe I paying attention and seeing the West Coast on didn’t want me,” she says, “and I never let it really had the guts to say that … ,” she says. “I the map because she was nearsighted. “It was stop me.” put on some boldness I think I didn’t really have, a lot of hilarities, as I see it, looking back.” She She took a job at Condé Nast, the parent but it was a great time to do it.” really just wanted to report the news. company of Mademoiselle, the only place she Sawyer doesn’t describe the bias in hiring could get paid for the first year and a half. that many of her contemporaries do. Instead, Meanwhile, she constantly browsed the (then- YOU WOULDN’T KNOW IT watching her on she had an “astonishing” stroke of luck when segregated) women’s help wanted ads, looking ABC, but Diane Sawyer describes the student her boss at that station let her do the news. for something else. who entered Wellesley in the early 1960s from “He so believed in everybody in his tiny news- She eventually made her way back to the Louisville, Ky., as shy and introverted. room,” she says. “He treated us as if we were Associated Press, where she stayed for seven “I was always by Lake Waban having an iden- working for the BBC—as if we were the most years and worked her way up to feature writer. tity crisis of some kind,” she says. important news organization of any day, no By the 1970s, the working world was starting But over her four years at the College, she matter what we were covering. And so I really to change. But there were still moments when and her classmates started to believe they were felt his encouragement.” she had to push through walls. While at the AP, going to go out to change the world for the better. In 1970, she moved to Washington, D.C., to she was offered a job as the new women’s page “I just still look back at the miracle of all work as a press aide for the Nixon White House editor, which she declined. She didn’t believe the those women with all that intelligence and all of and later went to CBS News as a political cor- AP should have a separate page for women’s that sense of possibility,” she says. respondent. She made history when she became issues and was offended at the very idea. After graduation, she started her TV career the first female correspondent on 60 Minutes. “I said, with a boldness that no 20- in a tiny local market back in Louisville—as a She joined ABC News in the late 1980s and has whatever-year-old should have: ‘No, I don’t “weather girl,” as they were called then. been there ever since. For five years, Sawyer was
Linda Cozby Wertheimer ’65 in her office at NPR headquarters in Washington, D.C., in 1992
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pg30-37_broadcast_final.indd 34 1/29/20 12:11 PM Diane Sawyer ’67 with co-anchor Charles Kuralt on the set of CBS I THINK News’ Morning in 1981 ‘ [ ROBERTS] BELIEVED, MAYBE, WOMEN WOULD
BE THE CBS/GETTYIMAGES
ONES TO She decided she really wanted to get a job in news, but she assumed that job would be as someone’s secretary. Until she went to Wellesley. “Wellesley disabused me of the idea of SAVE THE secretary,” she says. She was stunned by her “dazzling” and smart classmates, and she says Diane Sawyer ’67 Wellesley convinced her that “you may have to work your ass off to do it, but you can do it, what- PLANET. ’ ever it is. You know, you want to become a rocket scientist? Fine. You want to write novels? Fine.” But, as with Sherr, the transition from the anchor of ABC World News and over her career ONE DAY AS A TEENAGER, Linda Wertheimer insulation Wellesley provided came fast and there has interviewed world leaders including was at home in Carlsbad, N.M., a small mining hard. “There was a lot of possibility,” Wertheimer Fidel Castro, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, and town,’ sitting in her dad’s recliner while her says, “and a tremendous amount of disappoint- George W. Bush, and covered nearly every major mother ironed. NBC reporter Pauline Frederick ment and frustration and fury once you got out.” world news event. Her journalism has been rec- came on her TV. “She was on the steps of the She temporarily worked for the BBC after ognized with Emmys, duPonts, and Peabodys, UN, and she explained that the Russian tanks graduation from Wellesley and then went back and she has been inducted into the Television were rolling into Hungary,” Wertheimer recalls. to New York to look for a job. Academy Hall of Fame. It was the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, and She describes one interview with an NBC Sawyer says Wellesley solidified her sense Wertheimer says she didn’t know anything executive who told her that women were not of curiosity—and her desire to tell the stories of about Hungary or tanks. But she exclaimed to credible at delivering the news. “You just people who are changing the world. her mother: “That’s a woman!” want ed to rise up and y across the desk and “I find it hard to do a story that just presents Her mother replied, “Very good, Linda.” She strangle this person,” she says. She didn’t, but the problem,” she says, “and doesn’t look for the didn’t consider it profound, but to Wertheimer it after about 20 minutes, she says she “threw a people who believe that there could be a new was. “It was like a giant thing that I’ve suddenly fit,” giving the executive a piece of her mind. She dawn of a new day.” realized that women can do that work.” was not hired.
35 WELLESLEY MAGAZINE WINTER 2020 35
pg30-37_broadcast_final.indd 35 1/29/20 12:11 PM After working for WCBS Radio, she got didn’t have to take crap from anybody. … That decades as a political correspondent, analyst, married and moved to Washington, D.C., where was a very big thing in my life.” and anchor, mostly at ABC News and NPR. She she had to start the tedious and discriminatory was also a best-selling author, writing extraor- job hunt again. dinary women like Abigail Adams and Dolley Then, a friend of her husband told her about a WHEN COKIE ROBERTS died last September, Madison back into the history books. She won new startup in town: National Public Radio. She there were two kinds of tributes. She was recog- three Emmys, an Edward R. Murrow Award, met with an early founder who was dedicated to nized for pioneering broadcast journalism and and many other honors. creating a network that was smart and grounded political analysis with her smart reporting that After Wellesley, she got her first job with a in reality, and that meant including women on air. helped America understand the news. But to television production company run by Wellesley Wertheimer would go on to spend nearly 50 the people close to her and the millions watch- alumnae, and she was soon anchoring a program years at NPR and hugely in uence the way the ing, there was something else. “She made you on the Washington, D.C., NBC station. When network sounds today. She was the first direc- brave,” Sawyer says, “because telling the truth Roberts got married and moved to New York, tor of All Things Considered in 1971, hosted to each other and about the world was a way of she quit her job and started to look for another the program for 13 years, and provided award- traveling beyond the horizon.” one. She experienced much of the discrimination winning coverage of politics and Congress. She Sawyer says Roberts was the person she Sherr and Wertheimer recall. It “turned out to was the first woman to anchor network cover- would head straight for in a room—“because be a pretty depressing experience,” she said in a age of a presidential nomination and of election there is so much news, so much joy, and so much video for Wellesley four years ago. “I heard over night in 1976. Like her Wellesley colleagues in provocative vitality that you just have to be in and over and over again, ‘We don’t hire women broadcast news, she has won numerous journal- there [with her]”. to do that.’” ism awards, including duPonts and honors from If there is Washington royalty, Roberts Filmmaker Nora Ephron ’62, who had the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and was it. Her mother and father both served in lived in her residence hall, connected Roberts American Women in Radio and Television. the House of Representatives. That upbring- with a short-term job, and after a stint report- NPR paid less than the TV networks, but ing gave her a deep sense of obligation to help ing abroad, she joined NPR in 1977 and later there was one big advantage: There were fewer America understand Washington, and she spent ABC News. people to compete against for opportunity once you were in. “If I … had gone to work for the New York Times,” Wertheimer says, “there would have been a whole slew of great big men I would have [had] to assassinate before I could make any progress.” It’s an incredibly humble explanation for Opposite: Roberts with Maryland Sen. Barbara Mikulski at the Democratic her tremendous success. She became known for National Convention in Chicago in 1996 being smart and fast—and for mastering the details of any story she had to cover. In 1994, the New York Times wrote about Wertheimer, Cokie Roberts, and NPR legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg, cred- iting the three with “revolutionizing political reporting” and birthing “a new kind of female punditry.” The story referred to “demure Linda, delicately crashing onto the Presidential cam- WELLESLEY paign press bus.” Despite her reporting successes, Wertheimer had to continue to fight for equal treatment along CURED US OF the way. In addition to being paid less than they ‘ may have been at the TV networks, she says the female reporters at NPR had desks in the copier room while the men worked in offices. THE IDEA THAT She recounts a time on the Ronald Reagan campaign plane where another reporter was intoxicated and crawling all over her. “I went to WOMEN WERE the … press secretary, and I said, ‘If you don’t get this giant asshole away from me, I am going to throw him out the door while the plane is in the air. I promise you, I’m going to do it.’ ” The NOT GOOD female reporters were then put in a separate section on the plane—not exactly a win. But Wertheimer says Wellesley gave her the TO OTHER backbone to stand up for herself. “It gave me not Linda Cozby Wertheimer ’65 only the sense that I could do anything and should do anything and would do anything, but that I WOMEN. 36 WELLESLEY MAGAZINE ’
pg30-37_broadcast_final.indd 36 1/29/20 12:12 PM Among those closest to Roberts was having two girls on the set?’ And it really was Wellesley is at the heart of many of those Wertheimer, who had known her since the early supportive and wonderful,” Sherr says. Many connections. days of NPR. They remained very close friends female reporters and editors, especially many “Wellesley cured us of the idea that women and colleagues until her death. They covered at NPR and ABC, shared similar sentiments. were not good to other women, that women Capitol Hill together, working in a way rarely “I think [Roberts] believed, maybe, women couldn’t be around other women,” Wertheimer seen among Hill reporters even today: They would be the ones to save the planet,” Sawyer says. “The notion that women were somehow split the duties of covering the House and says. going to attempt to eliminate any other women Senate, passing stories and interviews back and that were in their immediate vicinity. I think we forth seamlessly. didn’t have that.” It’s another quality Wertheimer attributes, AFTER COKIE ROBERTS died, journalists The real legacy of these alumnae is not the at least in part, to the Wellesley spirit. “She’s remarked on how an incredibly connected struggle or the discrimination: It’s the bold sense never trying to do you in,” Wertheimer says. network of women had gotten them through of possibility they held onto despite it. “Don’t let “ ur whole philosophy was, when office politics those years of struggle. They have had decades- anything stop in your way. Don’t let them define get scary, when somebody comes in and decides long collaborative professional and personal who you are,” Sherr says. “You know who you that they really want to have the job you have, friendships with each other and with other are and what you can do.” you just keep your head down and keep filing, women from different organizations. because we’re better than almost anybody, and For decades, female broadcast reporters— Amita Parashar Kelly ’06 is a Washington we can do it.” from competing organizations—would gather editor at NPR, honored to be walking the path Sherr shared election-night duties with for meals at the political conventions or in that Wellesley’s pioneers in broadcasting, espe- Roberts at ABC News. She was often the only Washington to catch up and exchange notes. cially NPR’s “Founding Mothers,” blazed. woman on set, delivering polling analysis. And Sherr remarked that after a while, the men then came Roberts, owning congressional races started to lean a little closer to their table, lis- on primary and election nights. “She came over tening for sourcing tidbits. to me on the set and she said, ‘Isn’t it great
WELLESLEY ‘CURED US OF THE IDEA THAT WOMEN WERE NOT GOOD TO OTHER WOMEN.
WINTER 2020 37 ’ REBECCA ROTH/CQ ROLL CALL/GETTY IMAGES
pg30-37_broadcast_final.indd 37 1/31/20 2:18 PM WCAA
News and information from the worldwide network of the Wellesley College Alumnae Association
FROM THE WCAA PRESIDENT Life Lessons
DURING THIS ACADEMIC YEAR , we are celebrating know, when did you know, what you wanted 50 years of the Alumnae Achievement Awards, to do?’ I didn’t have any Paramecium Pond the highest honor that Wellesley bestows upon super-moment. But as I worked, I saw new its alumnae. The award ceremony is truly an opportunities, and I tried to see more and more inspiring evening, and it was wonderful to see of where I wanted to go. And so my one piece so many students, alumnae, parents, faculty, and of advice is, don’t think when you walk out the staff in attendance during the Very Wellesley door of Wellesley at your graduation, you have to Weekend last October. have your whole life planned. Please don’t plan One of our recipients for 2019 was Carol it. Please let it happen. Please enjoy the time Remmer Angle ’48, who was given advice by you have here—treasure it, soak it up, use every her sister-in-law as she was choosing a college: minute of it, make lifelong friends here—but “Go to Wellesley. They do things!” And Diane know that after you walk out this door, you will Rowland ’70, the other recipient for 2019, visited have many opportunities to shape your life and Wellesley as a prospective student. When she to change it as I did.” told her high school counselor that she wanted As I listened to them in Alumnae Hall that to attend the College, his response was, “Why evening, I was struck by how many generations would you do that ? You could find a perfectly of students had come before, and how timeless good husband if you went to UConn.” Diane then the advice was. told the audience, “That was the first man whose I hope this reminds you that there are so advice I didn’t take … . There’s been lots of ’em.” many reasons to connect with other alumnae As I listened, laughed, and re ected during when you have the opportunity. Reconnect with RICHARDHOWARD the ceremony, which was accentuated with the College if you haven’t recently, and think several beautiful musical interludes by the did! So she is a good reminder that any liberal about how you can encourage curious young Wellesley College Choir, I thought about the arts major can lead to just about any career women who may not have it all figured out yet to sage advice they both provided to students in one wants to pursue. Today, as our exciting new think about attending Wellesley. Then they too the audience. science facilities are emerging, combined with a can join our amazing alumnae network, enjoy It is interesting to note that Carol Angle new focus on inclusive teaching pedagogy, we will lifelong friendships, learn how to think critically, was an English major who went on to become facilitate scientific literacy for all of our students. and ask the difficult questions. And they can live a physician. As she said, “One regret is that I In addition, we will continue to be able to provide our motto, Non Ministrari sed Ministrare—not was so intimidated by the science faculty back world-class research and internship opportuni- to be ministered unto, but to minister—whether in the ’40s that I never discussed it with them. ties for our science majors. locally, nationally, or internationally. And all I can say to that is to the students today, Diane Rowland also shared an opinion about Hats off to our alumnae. You do things! talk to your faculty.” Carol shared that she had the journey of life: “Life evolves. It doesn’t an epiphany at Paramecium Pond one day and just happen, and I know many of the students —Martha Goldberg Aronson ’89, president, realized she wanted to become a doctor. And she I’ve talked to today said, ‘Well, how did you Wellesley College Alumnae Association
38 WELLESLEY MAGAZINE
pg38-41_wcaa_final.indd 38 1/29/20 12:17 PM Community Market
IN OCTOBER, members of Wellesley-in-Westchester participated in a day of service at the Open Door Family Medical Center in Mamaroneck, N.Y., in collaboration with Feeding Westchester and the Larchmont Mamaroneck Hunger Task Force. The last Saturday of every month, volunteers help run a monthly market to distribute , pounds of fresh produce to community residents in need. During the October event, alums, a spouse, and six teenage children helped set up tables, unload produce, pre-bag smaller items, and distribute fresh fruit and vegetables—grapes, apples, peppers, grapefruit, spaghetti squash, romaine lettuce, and cantaloupes. Jamie Beck Jensen ’, the club’s vice president who helped organize the event, says, “The Wellesley-in-Westchester group believes we best serve local organizations when we join them in already organized eorts. … It is messy work—but such a mean- ingful way to give back, break down stereotypes, and learn more about the complex delivery of health care.”
—Lisa Scanlon Mogolov ’ ROSSA COLE
WINTER 2020 39
pg38-41_wcaa_final.indd 39 1/29/20 12:17 PM WCAA LISA ABITBOL LISA On Board With the WCAA
organizations in her community, Program Committee, where I BLUEprint and reunion to give she sat down to talk about how the serve as committee co-chair. This alumnae an opportunity to engage WCAA board operates and what committee oversees and evaluates with board members. makes it unique. the programs of the Association. I have served on the Nominating Why do you enjoy serving How would you describe your Committee, which researches on this board? role as a WCAA board member? and identifies prospective board It is an opportunity to give back to My primary responsibility as members, and on the recent search the College while helping to foster a board member is to support committee for the WCAA’s new that same sense of community with the mission and help shape the executive director. alumnae that we enjoyed as stu- WHEN DOLORES ARREDONDO ’, strategic priorities of the WCAA, dents. I really enjoy the strategic of Whittier, Calif., joined the board including supporting the College’s How much of a time thought leadership as we plan for of the Wellesley College Alumnae priorities and connecting alumnae commitment is it? the needs of alumnae today and Association in 2018, she brought to the College and each other. That uctuates, depending on also consider the future needs of extensive volunteer experience the deliverables of the board both the College and our alumnae to the table. She had served What is your particular focus? committee. For example, when I community around the world. Wellesley in a variety of roles: I currently serve on three was serving on the Nominating president and founding board committees: (1) the Strategic Committee, it was possible to How is it dierent from other member of the Wellesley Latina Communications Committee, commit up to 10 hours in a given boards you’ve served on? Alumnae Network; president and which provides strategic oversight week if we were in the middle of Not surprisingly, my fellow WCAA board member of the Wellesley of alumnae communications; (2) developing a slate of candidates for board members always come to Club of Pasadena; and member the Executive Support Committee, the board’s review and approval. meetings well prepared with all of the Southern California which provides support for Board members also attend three of the pre-reading completed and Leadership Gift Committee. and evaluates the WCAA’s two meetings a year on campus. They Also a veteran of boards for senior staff members; and (3) the are intentionally scheduled around Continued on page 76
Above: The 2019–20 Board of the Wellesley College Alumnae Association. (Front row, l. to r.) Albina Thakkar Heidebrecht ’03 (chair of Alumnae Admission Representatives), Martha McGowan Marlowe ’68, Shivani Kuckreja ’16, Martha Goldberg Aronson ’89 (president), Crystal Churchwell ’07 (chair of the Wellesley Fund), Charlotte Hayes ’75, Kimberly Miller Davis ’88; (Back row) Sally Katz ’78, Cheryl Whaley ’87, Stephanie Hsieh ’89, Sarah Jean Kelly ’05, Alice Hummer (editor, Wellesley magazine, ex ocio), Margo Loebl ’82 (treasurer/secretary), Kathryn Harvey Mackintosh ’03 (executive director, ex ocio), Amy Tsui Luke ’90, Dolores Arredondo ’95. Missing: Leslie de Leon ’07.
40 WELLESLEY MAGAZINE
pg38-41_wcaa_final.indd 40 1/29/20 12:18 PM WCAA
Celebrating Extraordinary Volunteers
AT THE ALUMNAE ASSOCIATION’S fall weekend of volunteer training, BLUEprint, the WCAA celebrated significant This magazine is published service with its annual Sed Ministrare Volunteer Awards. Meet the 2019 recipients: quarterly by the Wellesley College Alumnae Association, an autonomous corporate body, independent of the College. Erin Corcoran ’13 was the driving force behind the Washington Wellesley Club’s The Association is dedicated successful programs for four years in her capacity as vice president of programs. to supporting Wellesley’s She coordinated large events with guests such as President Paula Johnson and institutional priorities by Madeleine Korbel Albright ’59 that attracted hundreds of alums, and she planned connecting alumnae to the College and to each other. small events that connected alums over a glass of wine or tea. No matter what size the event, Erin made sure the programs were inclusive, accessible, and interest- WCAA BOARD OF DIRECTORS ing to as many alums as possible. For the class of 2013, Erin was a Wellesley Fund President rep as well as reunion co chair for her class’s fifth reunion in 20 . Martha Goldberg Aronson ’89
Treasurer/Secretary Lauren Young Durbin ’99 has held many different volunteer positions with Margo Loebl ’82 the Richmond Wellesley Club: admissions representative, vice president, club webmistress, and finally president of the club in 20 4. Lauren also serves as Dolores Arredondo ’95 Crystal Churchwell ’07, the mid-Atlantic rep for Wellesley Alumnae of African Descent, also known as chair of The Wellesley Fund WAAD. Described as someone who “strongly believes that the Wellesley alum Kimberly Miller Davis ’88 community is strengthened by greater inclusion and engagement of alums Leslie de Leon ’07 across all of Wellesley’s diverse official and unofficial alum groups,” Lauren Charlotte Hayes ’75 Albina Thakkar Heidebrecht ’03, volunteered to co chair a working group on inclusion and diversity in 20 to chair of Alumnae Admission help provide the Alumnae Association board with recommendations for how to Representatives broaden alumnae engagement. Stephanie Hsieh ’89 Sally Katz ’78 Sarah Jean Kelly ’05 Julia Griffith ’71 has been deeply involved with the Wellesley Club of Sarasota Shivani Kuckreja ’16 and has held every leadership position, sometimes more than once. Julia is Amy Tsui Luke ’90 described as “the force that has kept this club not only alive, but thriving.” er Martha McGowan Marlowe ’68 dedication also extends to her class. She served as class secretary from 2007 Cheryl Whaley ’87 through 2011, sat on the planning committee for their 2016 reunion, and currently Ex o ciis serves as the webmistress. Julia’s dedication has inspired her fellow volunteers, Kathryn Harvey Mackintosh ’03 who see her as a “wonderful example of a humble, strong, dedicated Wellesley Alice M. Hummer woman who does all she can to help club members stay connected to the College, Alumnae Trustees and to each other.” Lawry Jones Meister ’83 Alvia Wardlaw ’69 Grace Toh ’83 Nominations for these awards come from alumnae around the world. If you know club, class, or Shared Interest Group Suzanne Frey ’93 volunteers who inspire you, you can nominate them until April 1, 2020, at bit.ly/SedMinAward. Amanda Hernandez ’18
ALUMNAE ASSOCIATION SENIOR STAFF
Executive Director Phishing Alert! Kathryn Harvey Mackintosh ’03 Editor, Wellesley magazine Alice M. Hummer PLEASE BEWARE OF ONLINE FRAUD , particu- Wellesley group will be asking you to make larly recent phishing schemes that have a gift-card purchase and then ask for the Senior Director Janet Monahan McKeeney ’88 hit groups in the Wellesley community. You activated codes. In the case of a request for may receive what looks like a legitimate a fund transfer, always get a verbal confir- Director of Alumnae Association email from someone in your club, class, or mation by calling a known number before Board and O ce Operations Helen Gregory ’90 SIG with a request to purchase gift cards taking action. or wire funds somewhere. While the name To keep your Wellesley address safe, Director of Alumnae Marketing may be someone you know, the actual email address the College’s computing help desk will no longer be and Communications Stacy Chansky it comes from will likely not match up with what’s in accepting password reset requests by email. Please your address book. (You can see the return address by visit https:// webapps .wellesley .edu /alum _pwd _reset/ hovering your cursor over the sender’s name. Never to make a change. If you have questions, please call press reply on a suspect message.) No one from a 7 2 3 7777.
WINTER 2020 41
pg38-41_wcaa_final.indd 41 1/29/20 12:18 PM Cool Classmates A student, name and year unknown, poses with a snowwoman on campus. Recognize her? Let us know who she is.
Photo courtesy of Wellesley College Archives
pg42-79_notes_final.indd 42 1/31/20 2:19 PM CONTINUED
of Tokyo’s circumference, interspersing slow to feel at home anywhere, but eventually she Letters to the Editor moments in the intimacy of the now-shuttered becomes more comfortable with her own identity. Continued from page 3 but still-legendary Daibo Coffee shop with tales But first she must undergo physical and mental of various city places, experiences, and histories healing through the love of people with fewer from the Tokugawa shogun prisons to the con- resources and power and their desert tribal Here’s to Alumnae Editors temporary clubs of Roppongi. Science, art, and medicine and ceremonies. Isn’t it time that Wellesley celebrated alumnae philosophy overlap in evocative ways. In investi- Bouziane, herself the daughter of a French editors? They are the opposite of the usual gating Hisashige Tanaka’s Myriad Year Clock, a mother and a Moroccan father, writes that high yers who are amply credited for their work masterpiece of Japanese clockmaking from the Jeehan symbolically “came to the Sahara to be and are meant to inspire us all (“The Woman later Edo period that can show time in seven buried … to feel the heat from every grain of Who Fought Lead,” and “Making the Case for ways, Sherman reminds us that clocks are more sand press against every inch of me scorched Medicaid,” fall ’19). They don’t get nearly enough than machines: As philosophies of time, they by the refracted fire of the sun.” The experience credit, but nothing makes or breaks a book like exceed the numbers they present. connects her to those who literally were buried a good editor. Throughout The Bells of Old Tokyo, on , and brings healing. I am writing now because I recently discov- Sherman invokes a sense of space and place This is a powerful tale that takes on one of the ered that both my excellent editors at university that is remarkable—alternately photographic, central traumas of our time, and has something to presses were Wellesley grads. They are: Janet then poetic, scholarly, and human—and she is teach us in the telling. Bouziane inspires with her Bernstein Rabinowitch ’58 of Indiana University unafraid to document the occasional moment of story that shows the importance of taking “home” Press, who edited my book Terrible Perfection: cross-cultural incomprehension, or to detail the with you wherever you go, building community, Women and Russian Literature in 1987, and sense of fear that followed the 2011 earthquake and persevering against the unimaginable. Christine Dunbar ’02 of Columbia University and Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. Press, who recently edited my translation of a For both the expert on Japan and the cultur- —Marisa Shariatdoust ’09 19th-century Russian novel, A ouble ife, by ally curious, The Bells of Old Tokyo offers an Karolina Pavlova. evocative journey, one that illuminates how time, Shariatdoust is an advancement officer for leader- Janet and Christine don’t know each other, as an abstract category, can be translated into ship gifts at Babson College. but maybe this letter will uncover a noble modes of production, methods of imperial rule, Wellesley sisterhood that truly embodies our means of waging war, or patterns of grief. motto, with no gold pins attached. Barbara Heldt ’61 —Lisa Hinrichsen ’99 WCAA Oxford, ngland Continued from page 40 Hinrichsen is an associate professor of English at Katharine Leaf Bates the University of Arkansas. While I was visiting my parents’ home on Cape ready to ask tough and thoughtful questions. Cod this summer, I spent a lovely afternoon It is the perfect balance of a professional board DESERT HEALING sprinkled with a personal touch. We share our catching up with my mother in her plant filled Continued from page 16 veranda. As I had just finished reading the love for Wellesley College and our alumnae com- spring ’19 issue of Wellesley magazine (it takes with the capacity to touch so many people … munity, and it really shows in meetings and every a while to arrive to my home in France!) and belonged to older continents.” interaction. This is not the same experience and had seen the ad featuring Katharine Leaf Bates The attack is more than a catalyst for level of commitment that I experience on many before leaving for the United States, a plant my Jeehan: It fundamentally changes the way she other boards. mother had caught my eye. Its mother was given is able to navigate the world and how people see What new insights have you gleaned thanks to to me when I visited the greenhouses on my first her. She experiences Islamophobia and xenopho- your board service? day at Wellesley in 5, the very first year of bia at work and social gatherings. She’s eventu- the plant distribution program. Katharine Leaf ally let go from her job, and it’s clear that she can Many of us still think of the College as we expe- Bates, my first year plant, has lived for decades, no longer continue living invisibly. had left a rienced it when we were students. Regardless of thanks to my mother’s green thumb! “scar that would be permanent.” when we graduated, that is our reference point. Margaret Jenkins ’89 Jobless and still processing without direction However, the needs of the College are vast, Mareil Marly, France or many resources, Jeehan reconnects with Ali, a complex, and evolving with changing times. I former roommate and lover. They discuss trav- have developed a new appreciation for where eling to the Moroccan dunes to work on a story the College is today. I’m grateful for President about human trafficking of migrants crossing the Paula Johnson’s leadership to continue to elevate Shelf Life desert. But Ali fails to materialize at Casablanca Wellesley College and ensure its place as an elite airport, so Jeehan heads for the remote dune institution for many future generations. town on her own. TOKYO TIME TRAVEL The decision seems rash, but Jeehan is des- —Edited by Alice M. Hummer Continued from page 16 perate to feel at home again and prove that her embodied, Sherman pursues time with a per- “life had not been wasted.” The journey is full of spective that understands it cannot be fully obstacles. While Jeehan is Moroccan, everyone domesticated or tamed. She tells of her unfold- identifies her as a “khareejia,” or a foreigner. ing comprehension as she moves around the ring At first, the term is a reminder of her inability
76 WELLESLEY MAGAZINE
pg42-79_notes_final.indd 76 1/29/20 12:29 PM CLASS NOTES
THE WELLESLEY COLLEGE CLUB Welcomes You
We invite all Wellesley alumnae, faculty and staff, parents of students, Davis Scholars, and residents of surrounding communities to become members of the Wellesley College Club, located on the shores of Lake Waban.
Stay Socialize Whether you’re bringing your child to look at the College or are We’re open for buet lunch Tuesday through Friday and coming to reconnect with alumnae friends, we welcome you have a variety of other events throughout the year— to our lakeside rooms. Complimentary continental breakfast, including summer barbecues, Canines & Cocktails (you high-speed internet, and parking are all included. and your pooch are invited to relax on our patio), and holiday dinners. Celebrate Meet If you’re planning a wedding, a bar/bat mitzvah, or some other celebration, our event sta is ready to help you with the details. We oer light-filled rooms with the latest conference We can accommodate groups up to 200 people. technology for your meetings or training sessions. Corporate events are welcome.
For more information, visit wellesleycollegeclub.com, call 781-283-2700, or email wcc.wellesley.edu.
WINTER 2020 77
pg42-79_notes_final.indd 77 1/29/20 12:29 PM DEVELOPMENT OFFICE
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Three First-Years And a Fish By E.B. Bartels ’10
My fi rst year at Wellesley, I had a pet betta fi sh. She was purple (to instead. A couple of days later, Wanda started to look puffy, and my match my class color), and she lived in a small plastic tank on the top of then premed roommate (who also had an interest in marine biology) my tall, honey oak dresser in Cla in 07, alongside my two roommates diagnosed poor Wanda with dropsy, usually caused by an infection. and me. er name was Wanda. There was no cure. My roommate suggested we try a humane method That fi rst year, I experienced many life milestones: I lived away of euthanasia: suffocating the fi sh with grain alcohol. from my parents for the fi rst time, I had the cartilage on my left ear f course, I had no liquor as I was not yet 2 (I had learned my pierced, I got in trouble for underage drinking in a dorm kitchen, I lesson), but some of the older dorm residents did, and so, one night, tried and loved guacamole. Wanda was a milestone, too—she was the in the Cla in fi rst oor kitchen, my two roommates, several other fi rst pet I’d had that I didn’t have to negotiate for. My mom is vio Cla inites, and even a buddy who came all the way from the new lently allergic to dust, mold, pollen, and anything with fur, feathers, dorms (they were so far away) gathered to send Wanda off. I slipped or hair. Therefore, I spent my childhood aggressively researching the pinecone shaped purple betta from a cup of water into a cup of, different allergy friendly animals and arguing the merits of each in ironically, Poland Spring vodka. Suddenly, all dropsy induced lethargy pathetic, pleading letters I would leave on my mom’s pillow. I grew up gone, Wanda ipped, her small body spun with ferocious strength, an almost only child, with three half siblings a decade my senior, no splashing at the surface of the vodka. We watched as the fi sh snapped cousins my age, in a neighborhood of older people. I went to a small like a ag in a hurricane. She twisted from side to side, her mouth Montessori school in my town where there were only three (three!) opening and closing in a perfect circle. ne fi nal shiver, and Wanda other girls my age in my class. I was desperate for companionship, was still. and since I wasn’t fi nding many eligible humans, I turned to animals. I My heart sank. The fi sh that had bonded me with my roommates, wore my mom down eventually, and I grew up with a menagerie of fi sh, that made friends in the dorm, even across campus, was gone. Would birds, turtles, and dogs. But my fi rst year at Wellesley, I found myself they even want to hang out with me now? But then I felt a hand on living away from home and petless, so when I learned that dorm policy my shoulder, and another on my back. I looked up from the vodka and allowed fi sh, I immediately got my friend to drive me to PetSmart on dead fi sh and saw the Cla in kitchen was still full of my friends. I was Route , and I came home with Wanda. I didn’t have to ask my mom. sad that Wanda was gone, but look at what she left me. I didn’t have to ask anyone. I just went and got a fi sh. It was more When I was a kid, I wanted pets as substitute friends. I loved exhilarating than the cartilage piercing. my dogs and turtles, fi sh and birds, because they loved me, kept me While Wanda was clearly my pet—I was in charge of feeding her, company, were always there for me. But as I’ve gotten older—even cleaning her tank—my roommates also enjoyed her presence. In our though I still love having pets—I’ve realized that animals helped me housing offi ce assigned triple, in a room maybe not originally designed fi nd my people. Now I am writing a book about the different ways to hold three beds, things could get tense, but Wanda smoothed things that people mourn and remember their pets after they die—inspired over. She was the one thing we could always talk and joke about, have by Wanda and my other childhood pets. And while this book is obvi in common. ther Cla in residents started to notice my betta, too, ously about the animals we love, it’s also about the people we fi nd on and they’d ask about the fi sh and come over to visit her. People were the way, who love animals as much as we do, and who are there for drawn to Wanda. us afterward, when those animals die and we are left alone in a dorm But Wanda was not long for this world. ne night, I didn’t feel like kitchen. The roommate who diagnosed the dropsy is still one of my buying a bottle of Poland Spring Water from the vending machine in best friends, and, a decade later, we still remember the puffy purple the dorm basement I used unfi ltered water from the Cla in kitchen fi sh in Cla in 07.
E.B. Bartels—who shares her Cambridge, Mass., home with a tortoise named Terrence—is the author of ood rief: n Loving Pets ere and ereafter, a narrative nonfi ction boo about the ways we mourn and remember our pets after they die, to be published by Houghton Mif in Harcourt in .
80 WELLESLEY MAGAZINE
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KEEP IN TOUCH | KEEP INFORMED MAGAZINE.WELLESLEY.EDU
Diane Sawyer ’, then co-anchor of Good Morning America, interviews President George W. Bush in . For more, see “The Broadcast
Pioneers,” page . KRISANNE JOHNSON/WHITE HOUSE/GETTY IMAGES
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