ALUM NI

ken of his commitment to honesty and should be taken as Shakespeare’s last ers seeking more should consult Vendler’s beauty, and well versed in suspicion and word on love, truth, beauty, or poetry. As commentary or poet Don Paterson’s chatty duplicity. in so many of the plays, the fatalistic and Reading Shakespeare’s Sonnets. But Ideas of Order This view of the sonnets should give doubt-wracked conclusion of the son- is an ideal introductory companion to the us pause. It implies that the most famous nets tears apart the repertoire of concepts sonnets—more detailed than the Arden or poems—“Shall I compare,” “When in the that advanced us to the ending in the first Norton introductions and footnotes, but sessions,” “That time of year,” “Let me not place. less overwhelming than the line-by-line to the marriage”—have by the end of the For those who have the time, the best commentaries. And it also has more than a sequence been repudiated by the poet as manner of proceeding is probably to read few sharp observations and arguments for expressions of a less mature optimism. the sonnets once in full; then to read any veteran of the sonnets to consider. That makes them no less potent distilla- Rudenstine’s essay, referring to the poems tions of powerful emotions, of course. But as needed; and finally to read the sonnets Spencer Lenfield ’12, a former Ledecky Undergrad- it should make us doubt whether any one once more straight through, with the bene- uate Fellow at this magazine, is a Rhodes Scholar sonnet—particularly any early sonnet— fit of his structural insights in mind. Read- studying classics and philosophy at Oxford.

ALUMN I Talent Behind the Wheel A Harvard summa aims for NASCAR.

by steve potter

n 2008, amateur racer Patrick Staropoli ’12 was blasting down the straightaway at Florida’s New I Smyrna Speedway, strapped into a stock car. Even on the tight track, he was traveling close to 100 miles per hour. A cacophonous roar filled the cockpit and the car shook from pure velocity, yet Staropoli stared down an approaching turn that required bal- ancing the 1.5-ton car on the knife- edge of traction. Near the end of the corner, just as all seemed fine, the car’s steering wheel popped of and fell in his lap. “I glanced up,” he recalls, “and an in- stant later I hit the wall.” Staropoli limped away from the wreckage with minor bruises. His main concern was the mechanical damage: “It destroyed the whole front half of the car.” The third- generation racer later learned that the steering wheel had been improperly the car in time for him to run a few more A grinning Staropoli celebrates after installed when he and his crew worked races that summer before heading north winning the NAPA Auto Parts 150 in Irwindale, California, last year. on the car only a few minutes before the for his freshman year at Harvard. crash. Undeterred—even by the fact that The South Florida native is the first in ated summa cum laude, was elected to Phi a crash at the legendary Hialeah Speedway his family to attend college. During four Beta Kappa, and went straight to medical seven years earlier had nearly killed his fa- years in Cambridge, he developed an inter- school at the University of Miami. In the ther—Staropoli and some friends repaired est in neurobiology and ultimately gradu- spring of 2013, he was contemplating a ca-

Photograph by Victor Decolongon/NASCAR/Getty Images Harvard Magazine 71 Reprinted from Harvard Magazine. For more information, contact Harvard Magazine, Inc. at 617-495-5746 ALUM NI

reer in ophthalmology, which would en- teams, sponsors, and fans, who would also sports where equipment and participation able him to race as an amateur in his spare see a video production of the event. fees are relatively low, and talent alone is time. While studying for final exams, he To enter the contest, Staropoli had often sufcient to attract attention from got a call that changed everything. submitted his racing résumé and the re- the professional leagues. On his smartphone screen was Michael quired self-produced video. But he was Racing runs deep in Staropoli’s family. Waltrip, a two-time winner of NASCAR’s aware that the Dream Challenge was as Both his father and grandfather competed Daytona 500 and owner of a team in the much a public-relations exercise for its on weekends in cars they built and main- Sprint Cup (NASCAR’s highest level of sponsor (Peak makes antifreeze and oth- tained themselves. Staropoli’s first trip racing, akin to organized baseball’s major er auto products) as a serious attempt to to the track was at six weeks: he mostly leagues). Staropoli, he announced, was one identify the next Jimmie Johnson or Dale slept, nestled in his mother’s arms, while of nine finalists, chosen from 700 entrants, Earnhardt Jr. An exceptional performance his father, Nick Staropoli Jr., raced. Fol- to compete in the Peak Stock Car Dream would win him the opportunity to com- lowing a four-month recuperation from Challenge. “It was the single moment I’d pete in a single professional race. It was a that 2001 accident at Hialeah, the elder been praying for my entire life,” Staropoli very long shot. A four-car NASCAR team Staropoli, who owns an auto repair shop, says. It was a one-time opportunity to can employ 200 people and require an $80 returned for three more races, winning one showcase his driving in front of NASCAR million budget—a stark contrast to other before hanging up his helmet.

pre-function space for Harvard Hall, and (Club) House Renewal accommodate small private lunches and dinners. The front service desk will be relocated to that side of the lobby as The construction in the parking lot be- General manager Steven P. Cummings, well—the better to welcome guests. All hind the Harvard Club of Boston (HCB)— who came to the club in late 2012 and will be served with new heating, ventilat- facing the Mass Pike, rather than Com- must now juggle operations during major ing, and other systems, brought up to monwealth Avenue—is a harbinger of rebuilding, said that, at a minimum, the code, and refnished historic interiors. improvements to come. Ordinary though goal was to address the overall fow of This work, expected to be done from it may seem, the current work underpins club members and staff “so they meet in February through next fall, is funded in a new back entry that will eliminate the the service experience,” rather than col- part from the $8-million proceeds of the maze of ramps and intersecting corridors liding as they vie for the elevator. The new sale of the upper foors of the annex that now confound members and guests rear entry is only one element of an inte- (above the Boston Room), which are be- proceeding to functions in Harvard Hall rior overhaul that will effect more sub- ing converted to private condominiums. and elsewhere upstairs. The entry, in turn, stantial changes: constructing a new eleva- Assuming all goes as expected, Cummings is part of a larger transformation that will tor for guests (dedicating the existing one, said, the master plan envisions future renew the club’s basic systems (the sole updated, to service use); separating kitch- work: a new tavern and cyber café in the

ARVARD CLUB OF BOSTON OF CLUB ARVARD elevator is of World War II vintage), ratio- ens to serve the Boston Room and, for current athletic space, with an open kitch- H nalize traffc patterns (so that guests do plating and serving, Harvard Hall; and re- en and seating for 100 casual-dining pa- not collide with servers rolling carts of confguring much of the frst foor, where trons; the existing grill reprogrammed food), and update facilities for twenty- people enter from Commonwealth. into a business center/library, childcare OURTESY OF THE THE OF OURTESY

C frst-century use. The Boston Room will become an up- facility, and central reception area for us- dated restaurant (with ers of athletic facilities and the squash the adjoining Back Bay courts. The 25 guest rooms (down from Room emerging as a 42, after the annex conversion) will grad- wine-themed dining ually be redone as well. space), preceded by a Maintaining calm in the face of the im- cocktail lounge sup- pending construction, Cummings said the planting the current frst phase of the work, this year, is “a little front desk, lobby ter- jolt to keep the existing members and race, and offce space. bring in new ones”—now including MIT The current cocktail affliates, given that campus’s location just lounge, on the left of across the Charles River. Thus, the project the lobby, will become is both a physical updating and an attempt to make the HCB “more family-centric.” Plan for the new As a club, he emphasized, it has an obliga- rear entry—a key to rationalizing the tion to know its customers and “a unique club’s interior opportunity to provide a very high level of spaces and use service,” in quarters to match.

72 January - February 2015 www.alumni.harvard.edu Reprinted from Harvard Magazine. For more information, contact Harvard Magazine, Inc. at 617-495-5746 ALUM NI

At 13, Staropoli told his parents he wanted to join in the family hobby. “They said they’d let me race go-karts and help Crimson on Capitol Hill: 114th me do it, but only if I kept my grades up,” he says, noting that the work ethic and The republican resurgence of 2014 af- F. (Jack) Reed, M.P.P. ’73, J.D. ’82 (R.I.); abilities to organize his time and develop fected the University’s alumni contingent Charles E. Schumer ’71, J.D. ’74 (N.Y.); strategies, mastered through racing, have in the new Congress. Three new senators Mark R. Warner, J.D. ’80 (Va.) also served him well in his academic ca- (one risen from the House) and three new reer. He kept his end of the bargain, even- representatives—including one woman— House Republicans: *Curtis Clawson, tually becoming president of his class raised the Harvard GOP total to 12, a net M.B.A. ’90 (Fla.); Ron DeSantis, J.D. ’05 three years in a row and valedictorian. gain of four. The Democrats lost two sen- (Fla.); *Bruce Poliquin ’76 (Me.); Mi- Starting in 2003, he and his parents drove ators and a representative to retirement chael R. Pompeo, J.D. ’94 (Kans.); *Elise back and forth across the state from their and two more House members to defeat, Stefanik ’06 (N.Y.) home near Fort Lauderdale to a go-kart but gained four new representatives—in- center in Fort Myers. “We bought a used cluding one woman—for a new total of 33, House Democrats: *Brendan Boyle, chassis from one of our friends and a used a net loss of one. M.P.P. ’05 (Pa.); Joaquin Castro, J.D. engine from another, carried it on an old Besides the 45 degree-program gradu- ’00 (Tex.); *Katherine Clark, M.P.A. landscaping trailer that we towed behind ates or matriculants, the 114th Congress ’97 (Mass); Gerry Connolly, M.P.A. ’79 a 17-year-old GMC Sierra,” he reports. “It includes other members with Harvard (Va.); James H. Cooper, J.D. ’80 (Tenn.); was about as bare-bones as it could be.” afliations, among them senators Lamar Elizabeth Esty ’80 (Conn.); Bill Foster, With a family less dedicated to the Alexander, Republican of Tennessee, a Ph.D. ’83 (Ill.); *Ruben Gallego ’02/’04 sport, his very first go-kart race might also former fellow of the Kennedy School’s (Ariz.); John Garamendi, M.B.A. ’70 have been his last. In the opening laps, the Institute of Politics, and Elizabeth War- (Calif.); Alan M. Grayson ’78, M.P.P.-J.D. 13-year-old passed several other karts and ren, Democrat of Massachusetts, a for- ’83, G ’87 (Fla.); Brian Higgins, M.P.A. nearly passed another. But not quite. “We mer Radclife Institute fellow and Law ’96 (N.Y.); Jim Himes ’88 (Conn.); Jo- touched tires and my kart just flipped in- School faculty member. seph P. Kennedy III, J.D. ’09 (Mass); Ron stantly,” he recalls. “I was sliding along on In the list below, asterisks mark new- Kind ’85 (Wisc.); James R. Langevin, my helmet and the kart’s air cleaner. My comers since the election of 2012: M.P.A. ’94 (R.I.); Sander M. Levin, LL.B. mom was up in the stands and her knees ’57 (Mich.); Stephen F. Lynch, M.P.A. literally buckled and she passed out.” The Senate Republicans: *Tom Cotton ’99, ’99 (Mass.); *Seth Moulton ’01, M.B.A.- race was halted and track workers pulled J.D. ’02 (Ark.); Michael D. Crapo, J.D. ’77 M.P.A. ’11 (Mass.); Raul Ruiz, M.D.- the upside-down kart of the rookie. “I (Id.); Rafael Edward “Ted” Cruz, J.D. M.P.P. ’01, M.P.H. ’07 (Calif); John P. Sar- wasn’t hurt,” he adds. “They got me going ’95 (Tex.); *Ben Sasse ’94 (Neb.); *Dan- banes, J.D. ’88 (Md.); Adam B. Schif, J.D. again, but I had to restart last.” iel S. Sullivan ’87 (Alas.); Pat Toomey ’84 ’85 (Calif.); Robert C. Scott ’69 (Va.); He finished third and an amateur ca- (Pa.); David Vitter ’83 (La.) Terri Sewell, J.D. ’92 (Ala.); Bradley J. reer was born. The following year he Sherman, J.D. ’79 (Calif.); Mark Takano progressed to racing an aging, slightly Senate Democrats: Richard Blumen- ’83 (Calif.); Christopher Van Hollen Jr., modified Camaro in Hialeah Speedway’s thal ’67 (Conn.); Al Franken ’73 (Minn.); M.P.P. ’85 (Md.); Juan C. Vargas, J.D. ’91 entry-level stock-car class, where his de- Timothy M. Kaine, J.D. ’83 (Va.); John (Calif.) but was more auspicious: he started last and finished second. During the next eight seasons, while gineer, and eventually work on the tech- sonal when he was diagnosed with celiac in high school and college, Staropoli won nical side in Formula 1 or NASCAR, gave disease in 2010. He took time away from more than his share of races. The fam- way to a burgeoning fascination with his studies and racing to counsel young ily devoted thousands of hours to his rac- how neurons work in the brain. “There’s people with the disorder, wrote a column ing; instead of going on vacations, they all the action potential of a single neuron,” he for the National Foundation for Celiac trooped to the track. But the escalating explains, “but that evolves into these big Awareness about how to manage a gluten- cost was at times a strain. Go-kart races complex thoughts about how we look free diet in college, and conducted and cost about $100 each to enter; to compete at the world.” He was also drawn to the presented a research project on “The So- with a “hobby-stock” Camaro runs $200. field’s broad applications and by sopho- cial Perception of Celiac Disease” during The price jumps to $2,000 per contest for more year was working in a Harvard Med- his senior year. the more specialized “late model” cars (the ical School lab run by neuroscientist Rob- He describes college as “a long pro- highest class in local stock-car competi- ert Stickgold. For his senior project, which cess, just grinding it out and making tion), which Staropoli drove starting his examined whether learning occurs during slow progress, while driving a race car is senior year in high school. Prize money sleep, Staropoli recruited 50 subjects to the opposite—learn quickly and then do was plowed back into the car. spend nights hooked up to monitors in the it. But now, chasing a career as a profes- At Harvard, he raced during school sleep lab. sional racing driver, I see how much more breaks. But initial plans to become an en- The interest in medicine became per- there is to racing than just driving the car

Harvard Magazine 73 Reprinted from Harvard Magazine. For more information, contact Harvard Magazine, Inc. at 617-495-5746 ALUM NI

Gearing up at the Charlotte Motor Speedway during the Peak Stock Car Dream Challenge in 2013

execution of pit stops, and timed laps on a short oval track, a road course, and the 1.5-mile high-banked superspeedway. And because successful drivers—as the public representatives of their commercial spon- sors—must be articulate and person- able, their appeal outside the cockpit was evaluated through simulations of a press conference and a TV commercial, judged by Danica Patrick. Here, Staropoli’s ready smile, good looks, and media-savvy nature probably helped out. Of the driving-skill tests, only the short oval was familiar to Staropoli, but he turned in his most impressive performance LLER E on the road course. His lap times were so fast, the event organizers sent out a NAS- GARRY GARRY CAR regular, Clint Bowyer, who struggled and how similar it is to the process of go- the sprawling motorsports facility that to match his speed. The worst pressure ing through Harvard.” serves as the heart of North Carolina’s came with the towering 1.5-mile oval, a In the summer of 2013, after finishing stock-car racing industry. There they were track configuration none of the candidates his first year of medical school, Staropoli put through a rigorous three-day program had experienced. The approach of rain joined the other eight Dream Challenge that included tests of their driving ability clouds also meant the time allotted for that finalists at Charlotte Motor Speedway, (including car-control skill on a skid pad), exercise was sharply compressed. “It was

74 January - February 2015 Reprinted from Harvard Magazine. For more information, contact Harvard Magazine, Inc. at 617-495-5746 A LUM NI crazy,” Staropoli reports. “They put new ficials for traveling too slowly. Instead, he school on a possible extension. For now, tires on the cars and we each had three laps ran among the leaders, finishing fifth and besides learning more about the business to set the fastest time we could. It was cool, beating Waltrip, who had come out of re- side of the sport, he’s been networking but I don’t remember ever being that on tirement to compete. with race teams that compete in the two edge or alert in a race car.” After that showing, Peak entered Star- national-level series just below the Sprint At the end of the evaluation, the aspi- o poli in another K&N race that fall, and Cup: NASCAR’s Camping World Truck rants were assembled in a garage around then five more high-profile competitions and Nationwide Series. He’s also secured a canvas-covered racing car to await their with the McAnally team last summer. He one smaller sponsor and is in contact with fate, as cameras recorded the event for finished in the top 10 six times and won three major ones, looking for upwards of Peak’s promotional purposes. The cover one race by passing the two top drivers the $1.5 million required to put him in a was yanked of, Staropoli reports, “and on the circuit. “He’s the total package,” car this year. If he gets the chance to com- there was my name.” says McAnally, who has spent three de- pete professionally, he will take it. “It’s a “Patrick’s energy and enthusiasm are cades in the sport and developed some life-altering decision,” he says, “but in my really exciting,” Waltrip says of Staropoli, of its current stars. “Compared with the mind it comes down to what would you now an intern in the marketing depart- people he’s racing against, Patrick doesn’t regret more 10 years from now? Medi- ment at Michael Waltrip Racing in North have a lot of races. But I’m impressed cine is an amazing, constantly evolving Carolina. “And it turned out he had the with how good he is at communicating field that I would miss but ultimately be necessary talent behind the wheel.” what he needs from the car to go faster. able to return to. Racing is now or never.” Winning the Peak challenge gave He’s very smart and great in trafc. He’s And if it’s never, will he still do it for Staropoli the chance to compete in a aggressive, but not so much that he tears fun? “Yes, absolutely,” he says, smiling. NASCAR regional junior series, the West up the car. There’s no doubt in my mind “Going racing with my friends and family Coast-based K&N. His car was prepared Patrick can make it to the pinnacle of this is what we’ve always done.” by a top team, Bill McAnally Racing, but sport.” Staropoli doubted their hopes were very To run all these races, Staropoli was Steve Potter ’69, a frequent contributor to Har- high: “I think they figured I’d qualify near granted a year of from medical school. vard Magazine and a former race driver, was a the back, run of the pace, and get black That period ofcially ended on Octo- longtime motor sports columnist for The New flagged”—removed from the race by of- ber 31, but Staropoli is working with the York Times.

seek moments.

Rediscover each other during a leisurely escape to Arizona’s sunny mountainside resort and enjoy extraordinary private casitas, celebrated dining, and an Asian-inspired spa surrounded by 53 acres of lush desert beauty. Receive a $100 resort credit when you stay three nights and mention this ad at booking.*

855.545.5701 | Scottsdale, AZ | SanctuaryAZ.com

*One resort credit per reservation; valid Feb. 1–April 30, 2015. Minimum 3-night stay required with advance reservations. Not applicable to existing reservations; cannot be combined with any other offer. Subject to availability.

Harvard Magazine 75 Reprinted from Harvard Magazine. For more information, contact Harvard Magazine, Inc. at 617-495-5746