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Macalester Winter 2021 Winter Today MACALESTER WINTER 2021 TODAY Wise Words for Turbulent Times Alumni share perspectives on how to move forward. MACALESTER TODAY WINTER 2021 10 12 24 FEATURES LEFT TO RIGHT: SMEETA MAHANTI; MACALESTER COLLEGE ARCHIVES; COURTESY OF JASON BEAL ’22; NICOLE MONDESTIN; GO SUGA BEAL ’22; NICOLE MONDESTIN; OF JASON COURTESY COLLEGE ARCHIVES; MAHANTI; MACALESTER SMEETA RIGHT: TO LEFT Breaking New Ground Demoya Gordon Makes the with Biostatistics 10 Case for Justice 30 Suzanne Dufault ’15 applies a biosta- The 2006 alum fought against Prada’s tistics lens to pressing public health racist iconography—and won. problems, including dengue fever. An American in Paris 32 “You’ve Got a Chance to Make Josh Timberlake ’96 found This Country Whole” 12 a career that applied both of Mahmoud El-Kati shaped generations his majors and took him on an of students. He’s no longer teaching, international adventure. but his work continues. Lecture Notes: Wise Words for Rumors in History 34 ON THE COVER: Turbulent Times 18 Professor Karin Vélez examines We asked Macalester alumni who have lived Alumni share perspectives how fiction can overshadow reality, through personal and on how to move forward. even when we have all the facts. societal upheaval to share the lessons that have 24 helped them weather Democracy in Action turbulent storms. In last fall’s election season, a new class immersed students in the ILLUSTRATION: KOTRYNA ZUKAUSKAITE democratic process. STAFF EDITOR Rebecca DeJarlais Ortiz ’06 [email protected] ART DIRECTION The ESC Plan / theESCplan.com CLASS NOTES EDITOR Robert Kerr ’92 PHOTOGRAPHER David J. Turner CONTRIBUTING WRITER Julie Hessler ’85 ASSISTANT VICE PRESIDENT FOR MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS Julie Hurbanis 30 34 CHAIR, BOARD OF TRUSTEES Jerry Crawford ’71 PRESIDENT DEPARTMENTS Dr. Suzanne Rivera VICE PRESIDENT FOR ADVANCEMENT Correspondence 2 D. Andrew Brown Sounding Board 3 ASSISTANT VICE PRESIDENT FOR ENGAGEMENT 1600 Grand 4 Katie Ladas Creative theater, everyday ethics, MACALESTER TODAY (Volume 109, Number 1) and images of resilience is published by Macalester College. It is mailed free of charge to alumni and friends Class Notes 36 of the college four times a year. Circulation is 32,000. Books 38 TO UPDATE YOUR ADDRESS: Weddings 42 Email: [email protected] Call: 651-696-6295 or 1-888-242-9351 In Memoriam 44 Write: Alumni Engagement Office, Macalester College, 1600 Grand Ave., St. Paul, MN 55105-1899 48 Last Look TO SHARE COMMENTS OR IDEAS: Email: [email protected] Phone: 651-696-6123 Macalester Today is printed on Rolland Enviro 100, a 42 100 percent recycled paper. Our printer, Royle Printing of Madison, Wis., is FSC® certified. (FSC® C22017) WINTER 2021 / 1 CORRESPONDENCE With Gratitude I am a pediatrician, neck-deep in the COVID- CONNECT WITH US Made By Mirella 19 world and trying to understand how @madeby_mirella Visit Mac’s social media hub at mRNA vaccines might work. I’m read- macalester.edu/macsocial and join in by ing NIH articles and the only reason I can The most special commission ever!!! using the #heymac hashtag when you post understand the content is because of Lin My college roommate @natari.h2o on Twitter or Instagram. Aanonsen’s cellular biology teaching and asked for me to make matching shirts for my roommates and I of Jan Serie’s immunology teaching. our house senior year this was Twenty-seven years later and I can still the sweetest and most personal remember my verbal test for immunology, Jackie Manz commission & I discovered I love having to describe class switching and @manzjackie1 stitching houses!? We love and miss creating a Velcro model to use. Jan’s immu- you 1533!! nology tests were the most intense testing This should be in every middle and experiences in all of my academic years. high school English and history Thank you to the amazing Macalester classroom! @ncte faculty—then and now. Your impact trans- forms and saves lives—both directly and indirectly. Nicole Groves ’94 Black Mountain, N.C. In Memory I was deeply saddened to hear of Profes- sor Karen Warren’s passing. Karen’s impact Mayana River on my life has been profound, and I know @maya_ana01 this is true for many others as well. Her en- thusiasm and support were unparalleled. It so this is my classroom now ig was her name and recommendation that #zoomuniversity #mac2024 got me into graduate school. The last time we spoke in person, I was honored and proud to tell her the work I was doing pro- fessionally was a direct correlation to what she taught me. Every day, in every aspect of my life, I use the critical thinking skills Karen helped me develop. It is because of this, and many other reasons, I know she is truly Resting in Power. Russell Tenofsky ’89 San Francisco I was touched to read of Professor Michael Keenan’s death in Macalester Today. He was a colleague of my father’s in the Eng- CORRESPONDENCE POLICY lish Department, hence a family friend. He We invite letters of 300 words or fewer. was also my freshman composition pro- Messages may be edited for clarity, style, fessor. He wore dashikis to class, lectured and space and will be published based on in a warm and welcoming style, and gave their relevance to issues discussed in us what I have found to be sound writ- Macalester Today. Share your thoughts: ing advice over the years. Regarding our assignments: “Don’t hand me a turd in a • Email: [email protected] greasy bag!” • Tweet: @macalester using the hashtag Maya Suzuki Daniels ’12 and Elijah Chiland #macalestertoday Ross Huelster ’79 ’12 shared a photo of their child, Silas • Mail: Macalester Today, Macalester College, Bayfield, Wis. Mercy, enjoying Macalester Today. 1600 Grand Ave., St. Paul, MN 55105 2 / MACALESTER TODAY SOUNDING BOARD Practicing Gratitude t the beginning of a new year, it is customary to look for- ward, casting off the disap- pointments and challenges ofA the previous year in favor of goals and resolutions for the days ahead. But 2020 was such an extraordinary year that I find myself still reflecting on the many losses we experienced collectively, and on the deliberate practice of gratitude I decided to undertake throughout this past holiday season as a way to forge ahead with pur- pose and hope for the future. Of course, there are numerous cul- tural and religious traditions built around routines of ceremonial thankfulness in November and December. But I’m talking About an hour later, the buzzer unex- I’ve had numerous occasions over about something more intentional, a delib- pectedly sounded again. This time, it was the past year to feel similar pangs of tear- erate appreciation of human kindness that neighborhood friends bearing a(nother) inducing gratitude. To members of the Mac took on even greater resonance in the past frozen turkey and a bag full of all the side family who welcomed my spouse and me year of grief and struggles. dishes we would need for a holiday dinner. with affection and generosity over a summer When I was eight years old, my We laughed with joy. Three Thanksgiving when so many were experiencing pain and parents separated and, after weeks of dinners? What good fortune! grief. To our students who studiously upheld nomadic “visits” to friends and neighbors We scarcely had time to put away all the COVID-19 precautions required by who could host us for a few days at a time, this third unexpected bounty when—you our college’s Community Commitment my mother moved with her four young guessed it: the buzzer sounded again. This and successfully reduced the risks of viral children into a studio apartment. It was time, representatives from a local non- spread. To faculty and staff who transformed late fall. As the holidays approached, our profit organization came to bring us all the every aspect of our programs to deliver a apartment soon filled with donated bunk food our family would need for ... a fourth Mac experience under the most challenging beds, a worn couch, mismatched sheets Thanksgiving meal. of circumstances. And to our alumni, the and towels, hand-me-down clothes. The Now, this may sound like the plot of largest branch of the Mac family tree, who kindness of strangers was humbling. We a sitcom but indeed it presented quite a have sustained us with gifts of time, talent, dared not hope for the kind of Thanks- predicament. The tiny refrigerator in our and treasure despite the many challenges giving feast to which we previously had efficiency kitchen did not have a freezer they face in their own communities. been accustomed because the frugality that could hold a frozen turkey. So, my Last year brought great difficulties, required to survive on food stamps would mother got to work. She cooked all four and more sorrow than some of us thought not permit such indulgences. turkeys in two days and shaved off every we could hold. It also brought extraordi- Fortunately, a beloved relative stepped scrap of meat before using the bones to nary displays of heroism, courage, and forward to provide a turkey. And my make broth. Not only did we eat turkey on fortitude. Did we know we were capable of mother stretched our meager resources to Thanksgiving Day, we also over the next withstanding such tests of our character create some semblance of a holiday menu. few weeks ate turkey sandwiches, turkey and compassion? Perhaps not. But we rose It wouldn’t be fancy, but there would be a tetrazzini, turkey hash, turkey chili, turkey to the challenges and can look ahead with Thanksgiving dinner. rice casserole, and turkey soup.
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