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Summer 2017 Columbia College CCTToday Anita After Annisa On the eve of her famed restaurant’s closing, chef Anita Lo ’88 contemplates the transition ahead Compass CEO Robert Reffkin ’00 | Graduation 2017 | The Revival of Pearl River Mart “Every day, I learned something that forced me to reevaluate — my opinions, my actions, my intentions. The potential for personal growth is far greater, it would seem to me, the less comfortable you are.” — Elise Gout CC’19, 2016 Presidential Global Fellow, Jordan Program Our education is rooted in the real world — in internships, global experiences, laboratory work and explorations right here in our own great city. Help us provide students with opportunities to transform academic pursuits into life experiences. Support Extraordinary Students college.columbia.edu/campaign Contents features 14 After Annisa On the eve of her famed restaurant’s closing, chef Anita Lo ’88 contemplates the transition ahead. By Klancy Miller ’96 20 “ The Journey Was the Exciting Part” Compass CEO Robert Reffkin ’00, BUS’03 on creating his own path to success. By Jacqueline Raposo 24 Graduation 2017 The Class of 2017’s big day in words and photos; plus Real Life 101 from humor writer Susanna Wolff ’10. Cover: Photograph by Jörg Meyer Contents departments alumninews 3 Within the Family 38 Lions Telling new CCT stories online. Joanne Kwong ’97, Ron Padgett ’64 By Alexis Boncy SOA’11 41 Alumni in the News 4 Letters to the Editor 42 Bookshelf 6 Message from Dean James J. Valentini High Noon: The Hollywood Blacklist The Class of 2017 is a “Perfect 10.” and the Making of an American Classic by Glenn Frankel ’71 7 Around the Quads New Frank Lloyd Wright exhibition at MOMA 44 Reunion 2017 organized by Barry Bergdoll ’77, GSAS’86. Alumni reunite on campus. 12 Roar, Lion, Roar 46 Class Notes Men’s Tennis wins fourth Ivy League title; Archery wins national championship; 85 Obituaries 96th annual Varsity C awards presented. 88 Alumni Corner 30 Columbia Forum: Signs of Your Identity Inspired by his 50th reunion, a writer looks back Photographer Daniella Zalcman ’09 sheds on “The Sixties.” By Thomas Hauser ’67 light on a dark time in Canadian history with her award-winning project. WHERE ARE THEY NOW? | JUNE 12 Now on CCT Online CCT “We had a reputation — fans, followers and customers — so there’s a mix of PRINT EXTRAS THE LATEST people who understand the legacy of • Graduation 2017 photos and speeches 5001 FLAVORS.” LION’S DEN | JUNE 1 • Academic Awards and Prizes winners — Sharene Wood ’94 • Reunion 2017 photos “ … The question of who • Dean’s Pin recipients has the information, or who has access to the • Poems from Ron Padgett ’64 TAKE FIVE | JUNE 23 information, is as important as the information itself.” “King Lear remains, for me, — Ben Ratliff ’90 the greatest achievement Like Columbia College Alumni of the human mind. I would facebook.com/alumnicc not trade it for all of Mozart, View Columbia College alumni photos Michelangelo or Chekhov.” instagram.com/alumniofcolumbiacollege — Terrence McNally ’60 Follow @Columbia_CCAA Join the Columbia College alumni network college.columbia.edu/alumni/linkedin college.columbia.edu/cct JÖRG MEYER Within the Family A New Destination for Columbia College Today lick, click, tap. Click, click, tap. This is the soundtrack to our days — the click of the mouse, the tap of fingers, the rat-a-tat rhythm that C accompanies our online wanderings. Everyone has their go-to destinations for news or a social fix, but why not make room for one more? Come, click over in our direction: CCT online is doing something new. There, for the first time, we’re publishing original, web-only content between issues. It’s easy to find — just look on our home page under “The Latest.” We cheered when our inaugural post went live in May, and the glow still hasn’t worn off. Original digital marks the start of a new era for CCT. Yes, we’ve put our issues online for many years, and will continue to do so. But we are now a publication that truly bridges print and web, with a richness of offerings in both spaces that befits the way most of us read today. Want to curl up with a longer fea- ture? Pour a cup of coffee and page through the print magazine. Want a quick alumni hit while you’re on the go? Click on the web- site; we post our most frequent feature, “Take Five,” every Friday. Other stories go up biweekly, monthly and quarterly. When we were mapping out plans for “The Latest,” we talked a lot about what its aim would be and how to differentiate the new online The monthly section “Where Are They Now?” is what it sounds content from the print while remaining true to the spirit of CCT ’s like — a catch-up with the subject of an earlier CCT profile. (Fun mission. Time and again, we returned to the idea of creating a place fact from the most recent installment: that glitzy Cher-inspired outfit for your alumni voices. We wanted to find more ways to put you in Vanessa Hudgens wore to host May’s Billboard Music Awards was conversation with one another, to invite reflections on your time at by 5001 FLAVORS; Sharene Wood ’94 is the company’s CEO.) And the College, to share your professional expertise and to express your because our alumni so frequently make headlines, we’ll be posting opinions. Ultimately, we wanted to capture the diversity of viewpoints regular updates in a biweekly version of “Alumni in the News.” and experiences that characterize the Columbia College community. Developing this roster of recurring web features, and working on In the end, our desire to hear more from you — along with a the stories, has been an invigorating — and just plain fun — addi- commitment to diversifying the types of stories we produce — tion to our days. Special thanks go to deputy editor Jill C. Shomer served as our guiding principles. “Take Five” and “Lion’s Den” are and associate editor Anne-Ryan Heatwole JRN’09 for being the cre- two expressions of this. The first features reminiscences from alumni ative forces behind most of the content. We hope you’ll visit often about their College experiences, prompted by five questions, a fasci- (college.columbia.edu/cct). Go ahead and bookmark our page. Or if nating exercise in revisiting our younger selves, the things we most you haven’t already followed Columbia College Alumni on Facebook remember and what we’d choose to do over (or not). The second is (facebook.com/alumnicc) or Twitter (@Columbia_CCAA), I encour- a monthly column by a guest writer sharing their perspectives on age you to do so; we’ll be sharing there whenever a new “Latest” post culture and current events (former New York Times music critic Ben goes live. And please let us know what you think. Jill can be reached Ratliff ’90 penned the excellent debut). at [email protected] and you’re always welcome to write me at Alumni expertise and experience also figure prominently in the [email protected]. sections we call “Think Tank” and “Like Minds.” In “Think Tank,” Thanks, and happy clicking! we pose a topical question to a small group of alumni experts. (When President Trump pulled out of the Paris Accords, we knew that climate change would be the first topic.) In “Like Minds,” we ask two alumni to interview each other about a subject that’s impor- tant to them both. The tone here is more personal — like a coffee- Alexis Boncy SOA’11 house chat that we all get to listen in on. Editor-in-Chief Summer 2017 CCT 3 Columbia College Letters to the Editor CCT Today VOLUME 44 NUMBER 4 SUMMER 2017 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Alexis Boncy SOA’11 EXECUTIVE EDITOR Lisa Palladino DEPUTY EDITOR Jill C. Shomer ASSOCIATE EDITOR Anne-Ryan Heatwole JRN’09 FORUM EDITOR Rose Kernochan BC’82 CONTRIBUTING WRITER Shira Boss ’93, JRN’97, SIPA’98 Supporting Gorsuch ART DIRECTOR Eson Chan I write to dispel some of the persnickety comments attributed, unfortunately, to Published quarterly by the fellow Columbians about Neil Gorsuch ’88. Columbia College Office of Neil has been lambasted for the newspaper he founded, violating postering rules, Alumni Affairs and Development for alumni, students, faculty, parents supporting unpopular causes, his quotation in the yearbook and his fraternity, among and friends of Columbia College. many other things. The students who actually knew Neil can attest to his character. ASSOCIATE DEAN, In fact, more than 150 of his classmates, both Democrats and Republicans, submit- COLUMBIA COLLEGE ted a comprehensive and thoughtful letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee in ALUMNI RELATIONS AND COMMUNICATIONS support of his nomination. Bernice Tsai ’96 I was friends with Neil. He created “The Fed” [Federalist Paper] to encourage respect- ful and open dialogue among students from a voice not often heard at Columbia. I was ADDRESS ALL CORRESPONDENCE TO: the dummy who violated the sign posting rules in his run for school senate, and I can Columbia College Today verify that he knew nothing about it. I lived at the Fiji house for three years, and I can Columbia Alumni Center attest that the wild allegations in the press were unfounded and outrageous. 622 W. 113th St., MC 4530, 4th Fl. New York, NY 10025 During the Senate hearings, many of Neil’s colleagues praised his good nature, 212-851-7852 respect for others and sharp intellect. These were the same qualities we saw at Colum- EDITORIAL bia and why so many of his friends came out in strong support of his nomination.