Damon Winter
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Fall 2019 Columbia College Today CELEBRATING CENTENNIAL A CORE Q&A WITH PRESIDENT BOLLINGER Y.A.’S QUEEN TEEN-LIT AUTHOR MELISSA DE LA CRUZ ’93 IS TOPPING THE BESTSELLER LISTS MEET ME AT THE PLAZA DIG INTO A JUICY READ ABOUT NEW YORK’S MOST FAMOUS HOTEL DAMON WINTER ’97 FINDS THE LIGHT The Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist considers the decade after “Hope and Change” “My favorite work from the Core was Plato’s Republic. It helped me to learn how to think (still working on it!).” - John W. Lombardo M.D. CC’69 “The Core has been a huge part of my everyday life. It exposed me to a lifetime’s worth of enjoyment of the classics, philosophy and art.” - Ilan Hartstein CC’85 What’s Your Core Story? Share a fun memory, favorite Core work or personal reflection and be part of our community memory project to honor the Core Curriculum’s Centennial. Submit online or email us your #CoreStories and join us this year for our #CoreCelebration. core100.columbia.edu/corestories [email protected] Contents features 14 Finding the Light A decade after “Hope and Change” — and a Pulitzer Prize — photojournalist Damon Winter ’97 feels freer than ever before. By Boris Kachka ’97, JRN’98 22 The Core Endures President Lee C. Bollinger speaks about the curriculum’s enduring legacy. Interview by Alexis Boncy SOA’11 26 The Teen-Lit Queen CCT joins the fan club of bestselling author Melissa de la Cruz ’93. By Anne-Ryan Sirju JRN’09 Cover: Photograph by Béatrice de Géa Contents departments alumninews 3 Within the Family 36 Hittin’ the Books 4 A Visual Odyssey 37 Message from CCAA President Michael Behringer ’89 6 Message from Dean James J. Valentini Celebrate the Centennial by sharing your Core Stories. Reflecting on a century of shared intellectual experience. 38 Lions Jeffrey Kessler ’75, LAW’77; Katherine Katcher ’07; 7 Around the Quads Sari Beth Rosenberg ’97; Noël Duan ’13 This year’s Hamilton Medal honoree, CASE Gold for CCT and more. 42 Bookshelf Sounds Like Titanic by Jessica Chiccehitto 12 Roar, Lion, Roar Hindman ’03, SOA’09 CCT talks with the author of Tough Luck: Sid Luckman, Murder, Inc., and the Rise of the 44 Class Notes Modern NFL. Celebrations 30 Columbia Forum: The Plaza: The Secret 84 Obituaries Life of America’s Most Famous Hotel Alex Navab ’87 by Julie Satow ’96, SIPA’01 A tribute to a well-lived landmark. 88 Core Corner Our Centennial cartoon caption contest kicks off with an illustration by Edward Koren ’57. Now on CCT Online CCT PRINT EXTRAS THE LATEST LION’S DEN | JUNE 20 • Thank you to our FY19 CCT donors TAKE FIVE | JULY 12 “ I’m really good at reading. I know that sounds like a weird “ [My favorite spot on campus] thing to brag about. And I wasn’t the Sundial or the know that everyone who went Like Columbia College Alumni library; it was the darkened to Columbia probably feels facebook.com/alumnicc room in which any given like they’re good at reading. art history class took place. I know I’m not the only one View Columbia College alumni photos Spending an hour with nothing who read five books a week instagram.com/alumniofcolumbiacollege to do but contemplate the throughout college. The beauty of paintings was problem with me is that I liked Follow @Columbia_CCAA church, psychotherapy and reading five books a week. Valium all in one.” That was a good pace for me. Join the Columbia College alumni network — Crime fiction writer So I decided to continue it — college.columbia.edu/alumni/linkedin Charles Philipp Martin ’76 for the rest of my life.” — Publisher and novelist Miriam Parker ’00, from “Reading, college.columbia.edu/cct Writing and … Not Much Else” JÖRG MEYER Columbia College CCT Today VOLUME 47 NUMBER 1 Within the Family FALL 2019 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Happy Anniversary, Alexis Boncy SOA’11 Core Curriculum! EXECUTIVE EDITOR Lisa Palladino oll out the sheet cake and start counting candles — we’ve got 100 to light DEPUTY EDITOR Jill C. Shomer for the Core Curriculum, which is celebrating its centennial this year with all due ceremony. The guest of honor needs no introduction. Generations of ASSOCIATE EDITOR alumni have gotten up close and personal with the Core, gained knowledge Anne-Ryan Sirju JRN’09 R and insight from its teachings, and had their hearts and minds opened to new ways of FORUM EDITOR looking at the world. Rose Kernochan BC’82 Here at CCT, in this and each of the next three issues, we’ll mark the milestone with features and other special content. It felt only right to begin with a conversation with CONTRIBUTING EDITOR President Lee C. Bollinger, who speaks powerfully to the Core’s value in raising funda- Thomas Vinciguerra ’85 mental questions about life and society, and instilling habits of mind that last a lifetime. ART DIRECTOR The Core may be the signature program of the College, but as he observes, its mission Eson Chan resonates across all the schools of the University, and has a tremendous role to play in the nation and in the world. Other Core touches in this issue are a playful visual take on The Odyssey, one of the Published quarterly by the signature texts of Literature Humanities (page 4), and the launch of our Core Cartoon Columbia College Office of caption contest. This installment, on page 88, comes courtesy of the incomparableNew Alumni Affairs and Development Yorker illustrator Edward Koren ’57. The winning caption will be announced in our for alumni, students, faculty, parents and friends of Columbia College. Winter 2019–20 issue, with the winner receiving a print of the cartoon, signed by Koren. We also invite you to tap into your inner muse and send us Core haiku. Your 5-7-5 ASSOCIATE DEAN, stylings could be inspired by a text, a professor or any other aspect of your Core experi- COLUMBIA COLLEGE ALUMNI RELATIONS ence. A sampling from our early submissions is scattered throughout Class Notes, and AND COMMUNICATIONS more will be featured in the next three issues. Bernice Tsai ’96 Caption contest entries and haiku both may be emailed to [email protected]. Outside of the Core, our cover story considers the evolving eye of photojournalist Damon Winter ’97. It’s been a decade since Winter won a Pulitzer Prize for his images ADDRESS Columbia College Today of Barack Obama ’83 on his historic presidential first campaign trail; today, as The New Columbia Alumni Center York Times’s first Op-Ed photographer, Winter is finding ways to say more with his cam- 622 W. 113th St., MC 4530, 4th Fl. era than he ever thought possible. (Winter’s partner, Béatrice de Géa, who specializes in New York, NY 10025 editorial, documentary and portrait photography, is the talent behind our cover shoot.) We also catch up with bestselling author Melissa de la Cruz ’93, who’s built an avid PHONE fan following — as we saw at this past summer’s BookCon — among the young adult 212-851-7852 set. The prolific de la Cruz talks to us about her career in vampires, Disney villains and EMAIL dystopian themes (to name just a few of her subjects!), and speaks to why she’s become [email protected] such an ardent ambassador for the YA genre. Speaking of books, for a double dose of juiciness, check out the “Columbia Forum” WEB excerpt from Julie Satow ’96, SIPA’01’s new release, The Plaza: The Secret Life of America’s college.columbia.edu/cct Most Famous Hotel, and our “Bookshelf ” feature about Jessica Chiccehitto Hindman ’03, ISSN 0572-7820 SOA’09. The latter played for four years in a professional classical musical ensemble that Opinions expressed are those of gave faked concerts. It’s a jaw dropper of a tale. the authors and do not reflect Welcome, to all our new parents reading CCT for the first time. And to everyone else, official positions of Columbia College welcome back — that fall feeling never changes; a new semester is under way! or Columbia University. © 2019 Columbia College Today All rights reserved. Alexis Boncy SOA’11 Editor-in-Chief Fall 2019 CCT 3 4 CCT Fall 2019 Fall 2019 CCT 5 Message from the Dean A Century of Shared Intellectual Experience his issue of Columbia College Today is the first in Volume 47 of our alumni magazine. More significantly, it is the first issue published in the 100th anniversary year of the T Core Curriculum. Many things make Columbia Col- lege special, but the Core is the most special. The Core is not just a collection of required courses; it is also central to the identity of Columbia College and the expression of our ideals. So the Core — its past, present and future — is quite appropriately our focus this year. In this issue of CCT, you’ll find a variety of features that might remind you of the Core’s promise to all undergraduates, as well as invite you to revisit the unifying role the Core plays in the lives of so many former students. I believe the Core is the greatest communal, organized, general education effort in the world. Each year, the entire first-year and sophomore classes study in the Core, engaging with hundreds of instructors, thousands of pages of text, and countless discussions and debates. There is nothing on a scale like it anywhere else. The endurance of the Core conveys our conviction that there are certain things that every educated person should have exposure to. SEAS’20 DANIES JAIME When our students are exposed to fundamental, and often difficult, ideas, there is value in both knowing the ideas’ origins and also in and concentrations that allow them to explore their individual and developing a response and understanding of them that is shaped by specialized academic interests.