The Nassau Weekly Nassau The

Home , Ivy Club, Nassau Weekly, Old Nassau, The Daily Princetonian, WPRB

Volume 41, Number 7 In Print since 1979 April 14, 2019 Online at nassauweekly.com The Nassau Weekly Nassau The

Nassau Weekly alumni. alumni. Weekly Nassau

in print by showcasing the reflections of of reflections the showcasing in print by This week, the Nass celebrates 40 years years 40 celebrates Nass the This week, 2 April 14, 2019

Celebrating 40 Years Masthead

Editor-in-Chief Serena Alagappan Dear Readers, It’s hard to believe the Nassau Weekly has been in print for 40 Publisher years. Caroline Castleman An Interview With Nass Co-Founder, Robert Faggen ‘82 But to make progress in print journalism over four decades 4 By Katie Duggan comes at a cost, which is why we need your help to keep the Nass Managing Editors in print. Faith Emba My Recollections of the Founding of Nassau Weekly As print ads become a tougher sell -- on campus and beyond Tess Solomon 5 Andrew C. Rose ‘82 -- we’ve found that despite our business team’s best efforts, we continually struggle to come up with the funding we need to put Design Editor Nassau’s Birth the Nass in print on a weekly cycle. In recent years, we have been Young Kyung Grace Lee 6 By Marc Fisher ‘81 immensely grateful to have been funded by WPRB 103.3 FM, operated by the Princeton Broadcasting Service. WPRB has been in- Assistant Design Editor One of the first Nass writers, on the importance of the credibly supportive of our content and our commitment to remain Mika Hyman 7 paper and its unique vision at Princeton. in print in an increasingly online-only journalistic landscape. Alexander Wolff ‘80 The print issue of the Nass is extremely important to many Senior Editors who have worked on the paper in the past, and especially those Tom Hoopes Sold on the Nass who have been involved with layout and design. While a move to Alex Jacobson Donnica Moore ‘81 online-only publication would eliminate the bulk of our expenses, Michael Milam it would deem unimportant the weekly labor of love that puts the An exhortation to “make something out of nothing” treasured words of our writers into a tangible, beautiful form every Junior Editors Jayme Koszyn ‘81 Sunday morning. The thrill of opening up the issue and seeing your Sarah Deneher own work featured in the center spread, or awarded the prime real Joshua Judd Porter The First Days of the Nassau Weekly estate of page 20, would be lost without a print issue. The cam- Juju Lane 8 By Richard Brody ‘80 pus-wide flipping of the cover page to get to the freshly printed Pat MacDonald Verbatims, or the breakfast-table conversations around the newest Violet Marmur Early Days of the Nass crossword, would happen behind individual screens. Of course, Tara Shirazi 9 By Davis Galef ‘81 the Nass’s online form -- and the work of our wonderful web team -- is something we take pride in as well, but we believe strongly Art Directors A reflection by Todd Purdum ‘82 that print and web components should exist side by side, com- Alice Maiden Todd Purdum ‘82 plementing each other in the celebration of the words and artwork Nora Wildberg we publish each week. The Compugraphic EditWriter 7500 This year, we are asking for your help in restating our com- Copy Editors 14 By Scott Oran ‘83 mitment to print journalism. To operate at a yearly loss, straining Max McGougan WPRB’s budget, is not sustainable, nor is it realistic to sell print ads Michael Yeung Remarks by the designers of the satiric science fiction at the same rate as our founders did in 1979. With our first-ever Andrew White 15 comic strip of the Nass in 1979 fundraising drive, we want to help WPRB help us, and keep the By James Goldin ‘80 and Don Storm ‘80 Nass free and in print for decades to come. Events Editor We thank you for your continued engagement with the Nass Mia Salas Secretly Sexy: WHERE ARE THEY NOW? and your support as we celebrate four decades of this amazing 16 A Follow-Up Top Forty List, 15 Years Later publication. During our month-long 40th anniversary drive, run- Business Manager Rachel Lyon ‘05 and Adam Nemett ‘04 ning now through May 10, we encourage you to make a tax-de- Lauren Johnston ductible donation by visiting the “Donate” tab on our website, Reflections on the Nass by the 2013 Editor-in-Chief nassauweekly.com. An extended version of this special anniver- Web Editor 18 Giri Nathan ‘13 sary issue is online as well. Stay tuned for our Reunions 2019 event Richard Yang schedule! Nass Memories All the best, Historian 20 Susannah Sharpless ‘15 Caroline Castleman, Publisher Dylan Fox Serena Alagappan, Editor-in-Chief Cover Social Chair Attribution First cover of the Nassau Weekly Anika Khakoo Volume 41, Number 7 3

Mon 4:00p Robertson Hall 7:00p East Pyne Fri 3:00p Ellie’s Studio 7:30p Richardson This “How Democracies Die” Taiwanese American Hearst Choreographer-in- St. John’s Passion with Week: Lecture with Steven Students Association Residence Conversations: the English Concert and Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt annual Night Market Karen Sherman Glee Club

Tues 4:30p Louis Simpson 7:30p Garden Theatre, Sat 10:00a Lewis Library 2:00p University Chapel “The Most Dangerous Screening of “We Are the Intercollegiate Literary Memorial Service for Place?” The USA and South Best!” Conference: The Mind Professor Uwe Reinhardt Asia in the 20th C. on the Page

Wed 14:30p Wallace Theatre 5:00p Robertson Hall Sun 12:00p 300 Wallace Hall 4:00p Taplin Auditorium Poet Jane Hirshfield ’73 Reception to Celebrate U.S. Engagement on A Masterclass with David and writer Walter Mosley the Naming of the Climate Change: Past, Finckel, Cello read Arthur Lewis Auditorium Present, and Future

Thurs 7:00p Art Museum 7:30p Taplin Auditorium Got Email Mia Salas at For advertisements, “Inspiration Night: Concert with the English Events? [email protected] contact Lauren Johnston Migrations” hosted by Concert and members of with your event and why at [email protected]. the SAB Early Music Princeton it should be featured.

Verbatim: Overheard in Firestone Overheard in Stone Overheard in Frist Overheard in Small World Woke Bridge Year History major with JP draft Freshman washed-up girl: Basic B: I’m dropping A’s Senior: This shirt is kinda due in several hours: I just Yeah, I mean, I know he does appropriative but I’m out of thought of something to do Liars’ club, but he’s a good Overheard on R Train clean laundry. to procrastinate, but then I guy! 5 year old WASP: Being forgot it. scammed is a preference. Overheard in McDonnell Overheard in Witherspoon NES major: yo, fuck the Overheard in New York Emphatic Brooklynite: You Overheard in McDonnell middle east tho… Gay male: I’m only friends just can’t be Republican on Scientifically-minded premed: with girls on birth control. the subway. I don’t trust polls anymore. Overheard in McDonnell They’ve never asked me. Have Premed, on chem professor: Overheard in Wu Overheard on Ivy patio you ever heard of anyone asked He’s like, actively decomposing. Freshman girl, Junior: I just wanted to take a poll? accusatorially: Do *you* like chocolate sauce and sprinkles Overheard in the darkroom Maria Garlock’s aura? and fuck up her whole life. Overheard in Firestone Freshman girl: What would carrels: the girl version of your name Overheard in an Uber Overheard at Terrace [In Harsh whispers] Doing LSD be? Daniela? Terrace shaman talking Terrace senior, talking is NOT a personality trait! Boyfriend: Uhh I don’t know, about minimalism: It’s all about modern concubines: that’s kinda slutty. about getting rid of things Indentured servitude is that aren’t actually necessary coming back into style. Overheard in the Art in your life. Museum Other Terrace shaman: What Overheard in Stone Nass Editor In Chief: Is there about a pasta maker? English Major: That argument a wholesome phrase with Terrace shaman #1: No -- fucked me; the thrust of it was Submit to Verbatim “ass” in it? that’s necessary. so powerful. Email [email protected]

About Nassau Weekly is Princeton University’s weekly newsmaga- Read us: nassauweekly.com us: zine and features news, op-eds, reviews, fiction, poetry and art submitted by students. Nassau Weekly is part of Princeton Contact [email protected] Broadcasting Service, the student-run operator of WPRB us: Instagram & Twitter: @nassauweekly FM, the oldest college FM station in the country. There is no formal membership of the Nassau Weekly and all are encour- Join us: We meet on Mondays at 5pm in Frist 212 and aged to attend meetings and submit their writing and art. Thursdays at 5pm in Bloomberg 044 4 April 14, 2019

PAGE DESIGN BY GRACE LEE

Interview with Learning about the origins of the Nassau Weekly and how its first writers carved out a new journalistic space on campus in 1979. Nass Co-founder By KATIE DUGGAN

atie Duggan: So can you just tell me a bit more about the Kcircumstances of founding Robert Faggen ‘82 the Nassau Weekly? Robert Faggen: Sure. I had been writing for the Princetonian, and I found that to be a little bit of a straitjacket. It was just very con- fined in the kinds of articles and journalism that you could do. It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t that interesting. And I was friends with people in the Press Club -- Marc Fisher [‘80], who introduced me to Alex Wolff [‘79] and David Remnick [‘81]. And we started to get together and talk about the possibility of an alternative newspaper. And there were differences amongst us about what kind of paper it was going to be... you know, I think that some of the members of Press Club wanted to do a kind of more incisive, and frankly irreverent, journalism that would front campus questions and issues that the Daily Princetonian just wouldn’t take on. And my take was, I was a little bit more interested in having a kind of lively journal of the arts and sciences... not academic, but getting at the intellectual life of the university. So those were two different perspectives that came together in the initial creation of the newspaper. Now, having said that, a great deal of my task was logisti- cal. You know, where do you house this thing? How do you produce it? So, remember of course, in 1978-79 when this was being hatched, there

IMAGE VIA A.WALANUS was no internet. So there were serious costs involved. You had to

CONTINUED ON PAGE 21 Volume 41, Number 7 5

PAGE DESIGN BY GRACE LEE My Recollections of the Founding of NassauNassau WeeklyNassau Weekly WeeklyNassau Weekly Nassau WeeklyNassauNassau Weekly Weekly “I am quite overwhelmed passionately interested in both well as access to a very manu- something for everybody with and somewhat surprised the liberal arts and creative ally intensive typesetting ma- an emphasis on contemporary that something that I writing. chine that was always breaking art and culture. Additionally, helped get off the ground At the time I was selling down and running out of paper I want to mention my very over as generation ago is advertising for the Princeton or toner at the most inoppor- fond memories and friend- still relevant and cherished Alumni Weekly as well as the tune times. Page layout was all ships of the comrades like Don Business Manager of that done by hand and then taken Hawthorne ‘82 (we also found- over 40 years later” famous Princeton sporad- to the printer to be shot and ed the Princeton Endowment ic and sophomoric rag—the printed for Friday morning dis- for the Arts) who diligently By ANDREW C. ROSE ‘82 Princeton Tiger—which was tribution. This was way before typed, smoked, and drank cof- the hang out at the time of computers and automation, fee most of the night to get the really do not remember ex- Katie Carpenter ‘79, John Farr so everything had to be done paper ready to go to the print- actly when Bob Faggen ‘82 ‘81, Eric Schlosser ‘81, who was manually. If mistakes were er every week as well as many I and I actually started Nassau also writing the Triangle Show, made, entire articles needed other tireless workers without Weekly, but it was most like- as well as subsequently by Brett to be retyped. In fact, to give a whom Nassau Weekly would ly over a pitcher or two (may- Watson, and many other free better idea of the lack of tech- have failed quickly in its youth. be three) of beer one evening creative spirits of writers and nology at Princeton, my father, For me it was the contact at Chancellor Green (where cartoonists, too many to men- who was exasperated at nev- and friendships with other you could charge beer on your tion, who were mentored (or er being able to contact me, Princetonians, both older and U-Store Card and at your par- more aptly censored) by Henry purchased an $800 phone-an- younger that I remember most ent’s expense as it showed Martin ’48 and John McPhee swering machine (a pitcher of fondly. I am quite overwhelmed up as ‘misc. sundries’ on the ‘53. The Tiger had a very mod- beer was $3.50) which I believe and somewhat surprised that monthly bill) which is where est office at48 University Place was the first one on campus. I something that I helped get most important meeting of upstairs from the Prince, but remember numerous calls of off the ground over as gener- our era took place. I vaguely as I recall, at the time, the Press classmates and even faculty ation ago is still relevant and remember that my St. Paul’s Club group mostly looked calling to hear this “amazing” cherished over 40 years later. classmate, Todd Purdum ‘82, down (or over) their noses technology and leaving novelty Finally, I thank Bob Faggen for who at the time was active in from their office across from messages which I now wish I his perseverance and vision the Press Club, made the ini- Firestone Library at the Prince had kept for posterity. to begin publishing Nassau tial introduction. Bob was, and staffers and the competitive At the beginning, it was Weekly. probably still is, an extremely and often toxic environment really Marc Fisher ‘80, David intelligent and intensely seri- that was prevalent in putting Remnick ‘81, and Alex Wolff ous individual who most of the out a daily paper. ‘79 who were the creative writ- Andrew Rose is a founding mem- time was consumed by his pas- Bob Faggen was certainly ing geniuses that initially made ber of the Nassau Weekly. sion for classical music and lit- the publishing and editorial Nassau Weekly into what it has erature. I think Bob recognized catalyst who worked doggedly become—a serious publication a real need for journalistic cov- to get Nassau Weekly started. for longer insightful and often erage of culture and the arts as I provided some capital (with quirky articles of general in- many of our generation were the help of paid advertising) as terest that make great reading, 6 April 14, 2019

PAGE DESIGN BY MIKA HYMAN N S A A S B T U I H N A S R S A S B T U I R H A A N S S U S B T I R H

Considering how the a boom phase. Reporters were other papers. But -- this is all in traditionally female majors. but I was enraptured with the Nass has simultaneously breaking out of tired old habits way pre-internet -- hardly any- Josh Kornbluth ’80 wrote a concept of creative tension, transformed and remained and latching onto writing styles one on campus ever saw our Dadaist analysis of a Commons because I’d read that the leg- the same. borrowed from the world of fic- work. food fight. We reviewed a new endary Ben Bradlee ascribed tion. A raft of magazines and And we saw a big opening album by Elvis Costello. We to that management style at By MARC FISHER ‘81 alternative newspapers were in the limited vision of the took readers on a road trip to The Washington Post, which I staking out more overtly adver- Prince. The campus daily did Asbury Park. Friday had plen- worshipped. Plus, Rose owned assau – “The Nass” sarial and confrontational atti- an excellent job of covering ty of promise – except for one a car, which meant we would nickname came much tudes toward powerful people the news, but they rarely pub- thing: We hadn’t the foggiest have a way to get our paper’s Nlater – was born of three and institutions. On campus, lished long, probing features, notion how to build or sustain pasted-up pages ten miles away parents: The University Press students drawn to journalism or arts criticism and essays, a business. The money we had to the printer. (Rose would Club, the group of Princeton were itching to push beyond or sportswriting that dug be- raised from the university and wrap his car around a tree with- students who wrote for news- the traditional form taught at yond the games. So in spring advertisers was enough to last in the first month ofNassau’s papers in New York, Philly and the Prince and Press Club. of 1979, a group of Press Club one edition. And one edition existence, which nearly killed New Jersey, wanted people on In spring of my junior year, writers, led by Steve Reiss ’79, was exactly Friday’s lifespan. the paper, but we managed campus to see their work. The a handful of us who were in Sue Korones ’79 and me, cre- That summer, we decided our to recruit another wheels- Prince, though dutifully re- Press Club decided to bring ated Friday, which sought to cluelessness about running a equipped business staffer to porting the news, had missed to Princeton some of that new fill those gaps. The paper was business could only be fixed save the day.) out on the bold new era of energy we were seeing in na- chockablock with ambitious by people who actually knew The second incarnation of feature writing. And an exper- tional magazines and papers. features, sharp reviews, a dash what they were doing. We ap- Friday needed a bolder look, a imental campus weekly called We were happily writing about of snark and a dose of over- proached two eager entrepre- more Princeton-related name, Friday produced one issue and campus doings and raking in writing. We profiled the leader neurs, David Bookbinder ’82 and a staff that reached beyond promptly died. nice checks from the New York of the campus anti-apartheid and Andrew Carnegie Rose ’82. Press Club. Amazed to find In 1979, journalism – hard as it Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, movement. We examined the They couldn’t have been more that no campus publication may be to believe now -- was in Trenton Times and a dozen tendency of women to enroll different from each other, had used the name “Nassau,” Volume 41, Number 7 7

we grabbed it. We brought on on reporting rather than essay anti-democratic core of would require retyping the en- mimicked our approach; we a wizard of a graphic designer, writing and memoir, which lat- Bicker), and sense of outrage tire article. It was kind of thrill- liked that too. Scott Oran ’83, and he devel- er became the paper’s stock in (Carol Phethean ’81 revealed ing. You had to be there. Eventually, running Nassau oped our bold Nassau Weekly trade. Some of our best stories how Princeton University Band We launched features that last- and maintaining a full work- logo, with a nod to People, the were deeply reported features alumni had censored the cur- ed decades: Verbatim, those load for Press Club, not to then-fairly new and cheeky such as Belkin’s elegiac pro- rent members’ raunchy half- found bits of campus dialogue, mention actual school work, Time-Life publication. We put file of the two veteran Dinky time shows). The paper was all guaranteed authentic, sud- became too much, and the oth- together what we only years conductors, or a controversial cheeky from the start: Our first denly had professors watching er Press Club members and I later realized was something look at the incestuous ties be- year included a meaty guide to their words in lectures; and found other strong writers on of an all-star squad, includ- tween student government the art of picking a gut course, PrinceWatch was our stab at campus who gradually took ing publisher Bob Faggen ’82 leaders and Prince editors at even as the administration in- creating a cross-campus rivalry over the weekly from us. Our (who became a literary biogra- one eating club; and investiga- sisted that there was no such with the daily paper. main goal was to build some- pher and English professor), tions, such as our examination thing. I have no idea if we made or thing that would last beyond sports editor Alex Wolff ’79 of how and why the Princeton Year One of Nassau was a lost money. Somehow, we just our senior year. Looks like that (Sports Illustrated writer), Borough police chief chose weekly adventure. The univer- kept printing. We dropped cop- actually happened, give or take arts editor David Remnick ’81 his wedding anniversary to sity gave us two rooms at the ies in front of every room on 40 years. (New Yorker editor and writer), stage annual raids on campus top of Holder Tower, and we campus. People read the thing. arts critic Rick Brody ’80 (New dorm rooms in search of illegal scraped together enough mon- University administrators re- Yorker movie critic), sports- drugs, or our look at anti-Sem- ey to lease a huge machine that acted: they were glad to have Marc Fisher ’80, a senior edi- writer Hank Hersch ’80 (Sports itism in bicker choices at the spat out camera-ready cold type an alternative to the Prince, so tor at The Washington Post and Illustrated editor), reporter selective clubs. that we could paste onto pages they bought ads in Nassau, and author of “Trump Revealed: An Lisa Belkin ’82 (longtime New But some of Nassau’s person- – an early phase in the comput- they were sometimes appalled American Journey of Ambition, York Times reporter, now at ality has remained consistent: erization of print production. by what they viewed as our im- Ego, Money, and Power” and Yahoo News), and reporter The first issue emphasized the By the second week, I had fig- mature, cheeky and sometimes three other books, was the Nas- Todd Purdum ’82 (New York paper’s humor (Wolff riffing ured out how to write stories irresponsible journalism. That sau Weekly’s founding editor. Times and Vanity Fair writer.) on the revelations to be mined directly onto the typesetting pleased us no end. Spurred by Nassau in its early years was from the Firestone card cat- machine, an unforgiving pro- the competition, the Prince quite different from today’s alogue), passion (Purdum’s cess in which a single error in started writing features, even Nass. We put a heavy emphasis powerful rant against the composition or keyboarding created a weekend section that 8 April 14, 2019

PAGE DESIGN BY AVA JIANG

Donnica Moore ’81 “We wanted to practice Belkin’s cover piece about the Beginning the business a different kind of long-tenured Dinky conduc- team of the “nascent” journalism—more feature- tor, included an unflattering Nass. driven, accommodating piece about the Prince. But in to individual voices, and our insomniac haze the cut- By DONNICA MOORE ‘81 reflective of the campus and-paste process caused para- graphs to be transposed, and experience.” I also have very limited rec- the exposé on our rival made “What new (ad)ventures little logical sense. We felt like ollection of the circumstanc- By ALEXANDER WOLFF ‘80 are you creating today?” es surrounding my joining the worst kind of glass-house- the nascent “Nass” (is it still dwelling stone-throwers. By JAYME KOSZYN ‘81 called that?). When The Nass What I remember most viv- Then word filtered back to launched, I was not only in the idly are three straight days of us that Prince editors had tak- I’ve left my favorite thing “Sophomore Slump” (is it still no sleep as we crashed the first en the issue and read our crit- about the nascent Nassau called that?), I was in a 30 pound issue. ical story and, after scratching Weekly for last: In 1979, the body cast for 9 months after We had launched Nassau their heads, pulled out a pair magazine was a “start up,” and having had spinal surgery. I Weekly in part because we of scissors. They cut the para- the founders created some- was red-shirted (it wasn’t called wanted to practice a different graphs out and rearranged thing out of nothing. They that then) from the swim team kind of journalism—more fea- them, so they could decipher brought me along to do my and looking for something else ture-driven, accommodating to the calumnies we upstarts had part, but they and others had to do other than organic chem- individual voices, and reflective directed their way. an idea and then made the istry (I was pre-med). And I was of the campus experience— That lifted our mood of idea manifest. And here it is, looking to make money. I have than what could be found in gloom. We may have screwed 40 years on, and The Nassau only a vague recall of reading The Daily Princetonian. up, but we mattered. Weekly is stillhere. an ad (in The Prince?) to join Back in the Stone Age, we Everyone associated with To you students who are at the business staff of this new would retype each submission The Nass over the past 40 years Princeton reading this: What newspaper and seeing there into a typesetting machine. has been part of the ongoing new (ad)ventures are you cre- would be a commission for ads The machine would spit out a proof: There was indeed a place ating today? Make something sold. I was sold. long, unbroken strip of copy, on campus for both The Prince out of nothing, please, so you which we would cut and paste and a worthy competitor. and your friends can rejoice, in on page proofs that were then the middle of the 21st century, collected and shuttled down to about how it’s all borne fruit. The Princeton Packet’s plant Alexander Wolff ‘80 is a writer for printing. for Sports Illustrated. That first issue, with Lisa Jayme Koszyn ’81 Alexander Wolff ’80 Volume 41, Number 7 9

“There was a sense that was our puzzle-master, and I we were doing something seem to remember cutting and fun and daring.” waxing tiny, typeset numbers to fit in the puzzle grid. There By TODD PURDUM ‘82 was a sense that we were doing something fun and dar- David Galef It seems impossible to being. I remember going into a lieve that it’s been 40 years class with Anne Mackay-Smith, since the founding of Nassau then the editor of The Daily Weekly. Some things I remem- Princetonian. She had a copy ’81 ber so clearly: Putting the first of that day’s Prince tucked in issue to bed on a wing and her books; across the table, “It had admirable staying as well as an early short sto- a prayer, with pretty crude as if in a duel, I had a copy of power, since it it obviously ry called “Efficiency, Friction, layout, and yet still seeing it Nassau. Little could we have filled a need.” and the Sheridan Expressway” make quite a splash when it imagined that we were help- in a double-page spread with a appeared, because its tabloid ing to create an institution that By DAVID GALEF ‘81 nice accompanying graphic. format and open design was so has lasted all these years. Our After about six months, striking, and so different from alumni track record has proved I was working as a colum- the weekly had everything, from The Prince. I can’t, for the life to be a pretty good one, I think, nist at The Daily Princetonian senior editors and staff writers of me, remember where our in the wider world of journal- when Bob Faggen started an to ads and departments. And offices were. In Holder Hall? I ism. But it’s even more gratify- alternate newsweekly under it had admirable staying pow- seem to remember there was ing to think that something we the noses of the establishment. er, since it it obviously filled a a view of Nassau Street. I re- started, with such high hopes It would be fun where the DP need. I’m delighted, but not all member the people: Alex Wolff but such uncertain prospects, was earnest; it would cover that surprised, to see it enter- and Marc Fisher and Remnick has also endured and thrived. news that the DP missed, es- ing its fortieth year. -- and, of course, Bob Faggen. Congrats to you all, and three pecially the arts. It squatted As for me, I still write The first cover story was by cheers for the old Nassau in ramshackle headquarters for anyone who’ll pay me and Lisa Belkin, a loving profile of Weekly! somewhere near the dining some who don’t, though I also an old-time Dinky conductor. Commons, and the staff al- started the MFA program in David Galef, who would go on Todd Stanley Purdum is a nation- ways seemed in the process of creative writing program at the to contribute crossword puz- al editor and political correspon- reorganization. The operation University of Mississippi. I’m zles to The New York Times, dent for Vanity Fair. maintained an air of excite- now an English professor and ment, the kind that an improv the director of creative writing troupe shows, though anyone at Montclair State University. who knows how that works See attached author bio for an has to admire all the prepara- abbreviated rap sheet. tion that goes into such a per- Todd Purdum formance. The staff met every Sunday. David Galef ‘81 is now a pro- At the start, they needed fessor of English and the cre- ’82 everything from copy-editors ative writing program director to writers. That last category at Montclair State University. A was where I came in. Nassau former fiction columnist for The Weekly published “Out of Writer, he is also a humor colum- Sight, Out of Mind,” a humor nist at Inside Higher Ed. column (because that’s almost all I ever wrote for newspapers), Volume 41, Number 7 10

PAGE DESIGN BY MIKA HYMAN The First Days of Nassau Weekly

“It set for me a prime arts journalism—and asked if model of the meaning of a I’d like to edit the movies sec- labor of love.” tion. I instantly, heedlessly, but admiringly agreed, and then By RICHARD BRODY ‘80 didn’t hear from him again...... until, arriving on cam- he Village Voice was the pus that fall for my senior year, thing to read in the nine- hanging around socially during T teen-seventies for any- Freshman Week, I got a call one devoted to informed and from Bob saying that there’d be passionately elbows-out arts a meeting on Sunday night. A criticism and relentless, un- meeting? Of what? He remind- cowed local political reporting. ed me what I’d agreed to do. I Film criticism was the thing curiously and somewhat dubi- to do for an aspiring filmmak- ously went, and I was instantly er, which I was—especially for awed by the student-journal- one whose prime reference was istic sophistication that filled the French New Wave, a group the room—mostly Press Club of directors who’d started out members, who actually got as precociously flamboyant published in the Times and critics. The Daily Princetonian other papers of national note. was a good serious newspaper, The roster of my colleagues where criticism (I wrote a little in the founding group of edi- of it there) was held to the same tors and writers at the Nassau tone of authoritative earnest- Weekly is a historic generation ness as, I’d have said, the New of journalists and writers about York Times enforced; I found it to emerge, including David an uneasy fit for the movies I Remnick ‘81, Marc Fisher ‘80, loved and the way that I loved Alex Wolff ‘79, Lisa Belkin ‘82, them. Robert Wright ‘79, and Todd One day around exam time Purdum ‘82, all brought to- ILLUSTRATION BY RAYA WARD in the spring of 1979, as I gether by Bob’s preternatural- was paying for a book at the ly clear-eyed ambitions. I was U-Store, the guy on line ahead deeply impressed—and won- of me introduced himself. dered what in the world I could His name was Robert Faggen contribute to what they’d be ‘82; he mentioned that he was doing there. starting a weekly newspaper in There I was, a movie nut the vein of the Voice—a blend with little journalistic experi- of investigative reporting and ence but a sense that—at least Volume 41, Number 7 11

when it came to criticism—the of the more experienced stu- conventions of journalism it- dent journalists and the cou- self were a hidebound inhibi- rageously devoted staff on the The adventures of its tion to inventive critical expres- business side who kept one eye sion on the same level as the idealistically on the long haul creation in that first art that it addressed. Brashly and the other closely focused bursting with the new French on the needs of the day. year were reflected criticism that, then making My admiration for my col- in the energies and early inroads into the Comp Lit leagues went together with department, was busy killing some strong and enduring new emotions in its pages off the author in order to let the friendships and some related critic take its place—and that exploits, which (resisting the brought the heavy weaponry temptation to name names) of Marx, Freud, and Heidegger included Sunday-evening strat- to the fight—I figured thatthe egizing over freshly-baked cal- Nassau Weekly, with its collec- zones at Victor’s on Nassau tively wide-open curiosity and Street, first puffs of cigarettes spirit of self-motivated discov- when we found a pack left ery, would be an apt vanguard behind on a table, a jaunt to of critical experimentation. To Hunter College in January, my great delight, my colleagues 1980, for a viewing of Hans- were game; to my retrospective Jürgen Syberberg’s seven-hour- NASS shame, I indulged these and long film “Our Hitler.”Nassau other critical caprices shame- Weekly, launched by Bob AU lessly. My own activity (unlike Faggen’s extraordinary fore- WEEKLY the impressively, responsibly sight and sure yet easy man- substantial work that other agement, was held together by Nassau Weekly writers and ed- a sense of shared purpose, an itors were doing) was a model ideal of journalism as an open of what not to do, a cautionary field of possibilities in which example of a perfect storm of personal discovery and social academic misconstrual and progress went hand-in-hand. performative passion. The adventures of its creation If my enthusiastic exper- in that first year were reflected iments were failures, others in the energies and emo- (I’m thinking, for instance, of tions in its pages; it set for David Remnick’s full-page exe- me a prime model of the gesis of the life and work of Bob meaning of a labor of Dylan, and of Robert Wright’s love. advice column, under the name of “Uncle Bob”) were re- sounding successes. (Another bit of exotica that I recall was a collaboration with Cynthia Tougas ‘83 on a two-page, col- lage-like batch of riffs and images on “The Death of Disco,” eighteen years ahead of Whit Stillman’s great film “The Last Days of Disco.”) The Nassau Weekly survived and thrived despite such playfulness thanks to the wisdom and acumen 12 13 Celebrating 40 Years of Nass

PHOTO COURTESY OF RAUL RAMOS ‘89 Ed Frauenheim ‘89, Laura Kelly ‘89 Josh Goldfein ‘88 from left.

PHOTO COURTESY OF KIERAN WILLIAMS ‘89 Cartoon by Laura Kelly ‘89. First cover of the Nassau Weekly. Nassau Weekly at 2018 Activites Fair. Volume 41, Number 7 14

The Compugraphic EditWriter 7500

“The Nassau Weekly felt the Compugraphic EditWriter in Madrid, was the paragon of like a really grown up 7500. newspaper design. I tried to thing, probably the first I guess I got the job design- emulate its then avant garde for me.” ing Nassau Weekly because modular design. no one else knew how to use Nassau Weekly’s writers By SCOTT ORAN ’83 a Compugraphic EditWriter were outstanding. Almost every 7500. one of them went on become Like dozens of my fellow the leaders of their generation In 1979, if you wanted news, freshman who were admitted to of American journalists: writ- you read a newspaper. Princeton in September 1979, I ers like David Remnick, Marc At Princeton, that meant The had been a high school newspa- Fisher, Alex Wolf, and Lisa Daily Princetonian. per editor. Belkin. Publisher Bob Fagen be- There was no Twitter or But unlike most of them (I came a scholar of Robert Frost Facebook or Instagram. No guess), I had developed a pas- and biographer of Leonard blogs or dist lists or blast emails sion for newspaper design. Cohen. Lisa’s profile of a Dinky or the internet. So much so that the summer conductor in the first issue is So when Marc Fisher ’80 before college I got a job at a still one of the most affecting and David Remnick ’81 con- print shop. and memorable profiles I have vinced Bob Fagen ’82 to create When the shop leased a ever read. the Nassau Weekly in 1979 as an Compugraphic EditWriter Money was always tight. alternative to the Prince, it was 7500, I quickly figured out how Andrew Carnegie Rose and a big deal. It was the vanguard to push the limits of this new David Buchbinder, the business of the technology driven revolu- toy. managers, were always hustling tion in journalism that contin- During my freshman week in for ads. One had a car; the oth- ues today, forty years on. 1979, I was trying to figure out er, a credit card. Sometimes the Until the 1970s, publishing my place at Princeton. I men- car broke down; sometimes the a newspaper required roomsful tioned my interest in newspa- credit card was maxed out. of expensive and noisy and dan- pers to my RA and her friend, Like any good start up, I re- gerous equipment operated by Elena Kagan ‘81, over lunch at member many all-nighters to specialists. Commons. Elena told me that a get the paper out. One time I fell By the late 1970s, digital friend of hers, David Remnick, asleep during an early morning typography had dramatically was starting a newspaper – an art history class. I woke up when changed the way newspapers alternative to the Prince -- and my head hit the desk during a were composed. Publishing offered to introduce us. slide presentation. After class, a newspaper became much Only at Princeton can you be I went home and showered and cheaper and a lot easier. introduced to the future editor went to sleep. In 1979, the state of the art of the New Yorker by a Supreme The Nassau Weekly felt like in digital typography was a Court Justice. At the time, I was a really grown up thing, proba- $50,000 digital typesetter called just pleased that these juniors bly the first for me. the Compugraphic EditWriter seemed to take me seriously. As So forty years on (how it 7500. It was the size of two file a freshman, I felt very young. pains me to write that), I’m cabinets and an old-fashioned We must have designed the grateful that the Compugraphic TV. And it could be leased for Nassau Weekly logo and chose EditWriter 7500 helped me find about $800 a month. the look of the paper within just my place at Princeton and put So anyone who could sell a few very intense weeks be- me in the company of so many enough advertising to pay cause the first issue came out in talented people at the Nassau for the lease could start a September. Weekly, at the beginning of the newspaper. I can remember perusing revolution in journalism that

Marc and David and Bob Firestone Library’s collection continues today. PAGE DESIGN BY AVA JIANG had figured this out. But they of newspapers from around didn’t know how to operate the world. El Pais, published 15 April 14, 2019

JAMES GOLDIN ’80

Don Storm ‘80 and I wrote and drew “Verity,” a satiric science-fiction comic strip for the Weekly, thanks to Bob Faggen ‘82 taking a chance on us. The strip took longer to produce than we anticipated, and we were grateful that the Weekly, in its first incarnation, came out a little less frequently than once a week!

PAGE DESIGN BY AVA JIANG

DON STORM ’80

My good friend James Goldin and I wrote the Verity comic strip for Nas- sau Weekly. I can tell you that James and I put a lot of long hours into that strip and we were both grateful to Bob Faggen for being a patient and open-minded editor for us. I was proud to be part of Nassau Weekly and am both happy and impressed that it is still going strong after 40 years. Volume 41, Number 7 16

PAGE DESIGN BY ESTI MATULEWICZ Secretly Sexy: WHERE ARE THEY NOW? A Follow-Up Top Forty List, 15 Years Later

By RACHEL LYON ‘05 Years ago when I was young and stupid, I wrote a piece for the Nass called “Secretly Sexy.” This was 2004, the carefree years of & ADAM NEMMETT ‘04 the early internet, before the term “listicle” had been invented. YouTube did not yet exist. VH1 was still a thing. (I remember being gobsmacked that they could have a show called “I Love the ‘90s” in the year 2004. Our cultural memories had already begun to telescope.) At any rate, it was that cultural context in which I 1. A nap in the sun entitled the piece a “Top-Forty List.” 2. A velvet throw pillow Secretly sexy, I wrote, was the “je ne sais quoi that attracts 3. A weekday matinee you to someone, the little things you can’t put your finger on 4. A midday UPS delivery when you’re talking about the object of your affection with your 5. Playing hookie (both phrase friends. It is the positive inverse of the Secretly Unsexy, that and act) wealth of cultural ‘sexy’ stereotypes which are secretly not sexy 6. Ice water at all. …There’s nothing lewd about the Secretly Sexy,” I noted; 7. Hair combs “that’s part of what makes it secret.” All right, young know-it-all. 8. Down-tempo disco 14 years later, I ran into the excellent Adam Nemett ‘04 at a 9. A stray unblended streak of writers conference. My first novel had just come out; his was sunscreen just about to. On a hotel patio in Tampa, Florida, he jogged my 10. The moment an avocado has memory of the Secretly Sexy list I’d written at age 21 by finding on become perfectly ripe his phone it in the Nass’ archives and embarrassing me in front 11. Citrus in winter of our tablemates by reading it aloud. Listen, a few of the items 12. Outer space on the original list I will stand by forever (chapped lips; dancing 13. A rent-stabilized apartment with a deadpan). But others have badly failed the test of time (the 14. Passing someone on a phrase ‘get yo’ freak on’? fraternities? God help me). A couple are staircase decidedly not secret, and never have been (drinking milk straight 15. Wiping sweat off a piece of from the carton; Mr. Clean). I guess I was just too young and in- gym equipment because you nocent to be aware that Mr. Clean was already known sex symbol. just had your way with it In the spirit of reviving the Secretly Sexy Top-Forty List from 16. Getting your hair cut an older, wiser perspective and getting back on the right side of 17. Casual aptitude re: home history, on the occasion of the Nassau Weekly’s 40th Anniversary maintenance Issue I asked Adam to help me come up with a new and improved 18. Casual aptitude re: gardening list. He kindly acquiesced. The results of our project are below. 19. Casual aptitude re: cooking That we are now seasoned authors in our mid-30s only, I think, 20. Cherry Coke confirms our authority. 21. A healthy plant in a clean bathroom Happy 40, Nass. 22. The change in temperature xx Rachel on stepping out of the steam after a shower 23. The damp spot that just- washed hair leaves on the couch Volume 41, Number 7 17

24. Egg cartons 25. Deli slicers 26. Nancy Pelosi 27. A naked eye (no mascara RACHEL LYON is the author of the debut novel SELF- or eyeliner) PORTRAIT WITH BOY (Scribner 2018), which was longlisted 28. Naked Eye (Luscious for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize and written up in Jackson song), & all those The New Yorker, New York Times Book Review, O Magazine, campy old hits you used to NPR’s Fresh Air, and elsewhere. Rachel’s shorter work has dance to at bar mitzvahs appeared in Joyland, Iowa Review, Electric Literature’s 29. Reruns of 90s dramedies Recommended Reading, Brooklyn Rail, Bustle, and other 30. The earnest yearning gaze publications. A cofounder of the reading series Ditmas Lit in that 90s characters fix her native Brooklyn NY, Rachel has taught creative writing upon one another for the Sackett Street Writers Workshop, Catapult, the Fine 31. A semi-ironic awareness Arts Work Center, Slice Literary, and elsewhere. Subscribe to of one’s own earnest Rachel’s Writing/Thinking Prompts newsletter at tinyletter. yearning com/rachellyon, and visit her at www.rachellyon.work. 32. Unironic enthusiasm 33. Watching two movies back to back with the ADAM NEMETT graduated from Princeton same movie star except University and received his MFA in Fiction/Screenwriting they’re vastly older in one from California College of the Arts. He serves as cre- of the movies and you feel ative director and author for History Factory, where he’s like you’ve really been written award-winning nonfiction books for Lockheed through a lot together Martin, Brooks Brothers, City of Hope Medical Center, and 34. The Weekend Times Huntington Bank, and directed campaigns for 21st Century (print edition) Fox, Adobe Systems, HarperCollins, National Renewable 35. Conway Twitty Energy Laboratory, New Balance, Pfizer and Whirlpool. An 36. Ceiling fans excerpt of his debut novel, WE CAN SAVE US ALL, was an- 37. Most GIFs thologized in The Apocalypse Reader. Adam’s work has been 38. The rare, apt adverb published, reviewed and featured in The New York Times 39. A concise, grammatical, Book Review, Los Angeles Review of Books, Salon, Lit Hub, correctly punctuated sext Fatherly, Variety, LA Weekly, The New Yorker, C-Ville Weekly 40. Straight up having a good and Cornel West’s memoir Brother West: Living and Loving time Out Loud. He lives in Charlottesville, Virginia, with his wife and two kids. 18 April 14, 2019

PHOTOS VIA THE NASSAU WEEKLY INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT PAGE DESIGN BY ESTI MATULEWICZ the writer I most admired, and because each time I feel anew a 19-year-old’s thrill of admir- ing, and aspiring, unrusted by the air of the actual world and its pressing material concerns. And because he wrote, real prettily, that writing did good. He thought the that the Nass could not just “be good,” but actually “do good” for Princeton. How might that work? First, he said that the Nass gave people of skeptical, irreverent mind a place to be, on a campus that offered few such places, and that generally re- warded unquestioning rever- ence. It scooped up kids who might otherwise “fracture con- fusingly and alienatingly” into the campus’s manifold social castes, and did not send them leaping through any hoops, or any gauntlet of interviews, just to write in its pages. Its pages were for anyone who liked the flavor (and even some who didn’t). Second, he said that it provided a concrete space for these Nassy people to talk to each other, and drink with each other, and—he couldn’t have anticipated—go to each other’s weddings, and lie out on a mid- summer riverbank with each other, and cackle at each other’s uncaptioned 2 a.m. texted images, and, with luck, contin- ue reading each other. “For very vague reasons I’ve spent twenty pages and must shortly spend 50+ more explaining to myself, I genu- inely believe that by address- “We amusedReflection ourselves, and, The closest thing I have to a reli- His reply ranged wider than expect- ing a group you give it being. perhaps infrequently, others. gious text is the email sent to sopho- ed: part capsule history of the Nass, That’s an amazing beautiful We wrote screeds on music and more me by the outgoing Nass editor, part reckoning with his own ups and thing, and it’s something the books and movies and food at an addled dispatch from an overheat- downs at its helm, part campus sociol- University misses, if just ever an emotional wattage only the ing thesis carrel, for sure, but still al- ogy, part “here’s how I hope you kids so slightly, with the near-dis- most infuriatingly clear in its concerns defibrillate this dying thing.” I revisit appearance of the only pub- undergraduate soul can muster. and charming in its tone. I’d written to it—an odd honor no other email in the lication on campus that’s for By GIRI NATHAN ‘13 him in a daze, worried I was about to dusty .edu inbox can claim—exhum- everyone without standing for take over a paper I had no idea what to ing it almost annually from its resting nothing,” he wrote, about his do with, armed with little beyond the place among offers of free congealing thesis, but about a lot more. passwords for some accounts. [Things pizza and deadline extensions denied. In pursuit of the wild boun- were all t0rnasund3r, then.] I reread it because it was written by ty he promised, we took over Volume 41, Number 7 19

the Nass. We made a paper as many weeks as we could man- age. We put something dumb on its covers, a quarter-assed pun to suit some winking image. We amused ourselves, and, perhaps infrequently, others. We wrote screeds on music and books and movies and food at an emotional wattage only the undergraduate soul can muster. We wrote about each other, about ourselves (endlessly, obviously), about our travels and vices, about the internet increasingly, about the broader world, and about the stirrings of our strange and often stifling campus. We compiled large lists of things we wished would stop existing and large lists of classes we wished would start existing. Most importantly, we compiled all those stupid sumptuous Verbatims that will one day comprise the definitive social history of this campus. Bind them all in leather and sell it. Money and feasibility never darkened our skies, then. Looking back it’s difficult to believe that we just met up in a room, then days later splayed the fruits of that conversation over layout, then days later splayed the physical version all over campus. That itself was a funny ritual: sliding out of bed, getting the car from the lot, steering it into the Terrace driveway, where I was met by for it. Copies could, hearteningly, be students are those things most miss- real life—to return to the wreckage at some hungover 70 percent found next to toilets. ing from my life as alum. I’ve enjoyed of that office, full of dead iMacs like of that issue’s writers, arriving Our ranks swelled. We threw par- plenty of blessings in the time since, huge useless jewels, inscrutable oil as if in penitence for having ties. We made new titles. We found but after years in the quasi-anony- paintings of the inexplicably nude, written the articles inside. We people who could make things pret- mous metropolitan ant hive, I’d trade stacks of yellowing archives, all the starburst and shambled across ty and others who might make them some chunk of them for access to the cast-off detritus of people I never campus, through the dining profitable. We poured the dubious weekly bat-signal of a Nass meeting. knew but felt quite certain I would halls and eating clubs and cen- nectar of Bud Light Lime in the up- It would beckon the Nassy to gather, have liked. ters for religious and student stairs of Thai Village. The Nassy low-stakes, in a small space. There life. We left our words scat- promised land described in that ed- we’d shoot the shit, make each other tered all over. We hoped people itor’s email began to take shape. We laugh and maybe even think, under Giri Nathan ‘13 is a former edi- would read it, at least out of replaced ourselves with brighter and just enough social pressure to push a tor-in-chief of the Nassau Weekly. respect for the trees, if not for better writers, went off to cocoon in good idea out of your head and onto us. Some people read it, more our carrels, then left. the printed page and back into other probably opted to recycle it, As if in prophecy, the things that people’s heads. I would like to hit up and a few even wanted to write editor claimed the Nass did for a Nass meeting once a week, in this 20 April 14, 2019

Nass MemoriesPHOTO COURTESY OF SUSANNAH SHARPLESS ‘15 “I cannot do justice to the weekend and, reader, we could not absolute force for good the … Nassau Weekly was and is in I cannot do justice to the ab- my life.” solute force for good the Nassau FOR Weekly was and is in my life; it’s Chris and Emily:2/13 terrace By SUSANNAH SHARPLESS ‘15 nestled too deeply into my heart. Jared- eating clubs But I did just spend like, an hour Elise- Skeet shooting All under the watchful eyes of a (I’m underemployed at the mo- Dan- Gun guy interview plastic Jesus, Filipa Ioannou ‘15 at ment BY CHOICE!!!!!!!) combing Marty- New Jersey is beautiful my side… the desperate reply-all through my Nass email and I firstly Pinke- Shawon pleas to be let off the email list- want to apologize for my behavior, Joel- Beyonce serv… the Ivy Club dilettantes who but I also want to inform everyone Guy- recommendations would come to one meeting, buy that some of our jokes truly hold Will Mantel- Basshunter things a Nass sweater (shout-out Liz Lian up and that it’s possible (not likely, Jubas- problem sets ‘15 for immortal branding), wear but theoretically possible) that we Sondern- Microsoft it all the time, and never write a were just as funny and smart as we Giri- Ivy lady single word… the time, post-grad- thought we were. Veronica- Matisse uation, I saw David Remnick ’81 In conclusion, I post a list I just wearing that same Nass sweatshirt found in my email, sent 2/8/2013, FOR OTHER FUTURE TIMES Susannah-Interview with a Virgin over basketball shorts in Barney to people who had promised to Yuni-Princetonian over winter break/being addicted to blogs Greengrass, and Ben Jubas ‘14 write articles for the issue we would Clara/Yuni: counter argument to anti-Beyonce just happened to be living direct- send to the printer on 2/13/13, and ly across the street, appearing to which I think gives as damning Rafi : knee-jerk negative reactionsJoel: arts to collectiveprinceton intiatives/interactive food as verify I was not hallucinating after and as honest a portrait of both my an experience/ dan comic books/ tuesday manifesto only twenty or thirty crazed texts … secretarial skills, managerial over- the failure of the upperclassmen sight, and the overall agenda of the olivia: coat-theft (spec fiction) Veronica: the uncertain future of members of the masthead to come Nass as one could wish for in an Emily/Clara/Isabel/Joel/Eliot: intro language classes help me and hungover, dutiful anniversary issue, and also doubles 2016 Bennet: weird run-ins (the universe) freshmen distribute issues from as a sampling of people who I will Giri: spaces/tabbed browsing the back of my Honda Element … always cherish for their friendship Arthur: going to the street sober my terrifyingly brilliant professor and hot takes, before “hot takes” Sarah: anti-gun control stopping in the middle of a lecture were even a thing, and triples as a Giri: paint-ball with rosen on Wordsworth to say whoever kept found poem. Louise: more readers sending her to Verbatim had to Taylor: ugandan health care stop (it actually wasn’t me, I swear) Liz: why i quit facebook ... the time someone asked during Susannah Sharpless ‘15 is a former a Monday meeting if anyone could editor in chief of the Nassau Weekly. get them on the Cottage list for that 21 April 14, 2019

Interview with Nass Co-founder Robert Faggen

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3 David Remnick was doing the you know, I was a student... the arts editing. You know, it’s in- main thing is that the paper teresting... Marc Fisher is now a kept going. typeset the newspaper, and senior editor at the Washington KD: And can I ask what the you had to print it. [...] So there Post, and of course David is the early business model was like? were a lot of production fac- editor of the New Yorker, and How did you have the resources tors. Scott Oran [‘83], who was Richard Brody [‘80], who was to keep it going? the design director-- he was also writing for us in the begin- RF: Well, we raised mon- superb. He designed the logo ning, is one of the major film ey. So we raised money from that we had then, that was very critics of the New Yorker. And alumni and Malcolm Forbes, effective... And so in addition Todd Purdum [‘82], who was who of course was the found- to trying to get stories to come also in the Press Club, was sort er, one of the main founders in on a regular basis, so that we of a writer-at-large for us, and of Forbes Magazine, maybe it really were weekly... there was Alex Wolff, who became a writ- was his father... but, Malcolm some sense, like, “Oh, they’re er at Sports Illustrated, was Forbes, who was generous going to get out an issue and our sports editor. I mean, it was enough, gave us some initial then they won’t do it again.” I a very, very, accomplished, very money to help. But we were think the Prince was taunting serious and talented group of also granted some money by us a little bit, that way. But then people who were initially writ- the Undergraduate Student another issue came out. And ing for the paper. One person Government, some seed mon- then another one. And then an- we had was Howard Gordon. ey. And we were selling ads. other one. It kept coming. But Howard Gordon is now an ex- Mainly, we had to sell ads. And But then another that meant, as you probably ecutive producer in Hollywood, we also sold subscriptions to know, that meant a few of us re- he produced Homeland, he’s people off-campus, alumni. issue came out. ally being on it every week. [...] a producer and writer... And KD: And you mailed them Nassau Weekly was very care- so we had the Press Club. And issues? And then another fully conceived. We had to es- Robert Wright [‘79], who’s writ- RF: We did indeed. Because tablish ourselves as a nonprof- ten a number of books about we were non-profit, we were one. And then it company. That was another religion and science, The able to get special bulk mail thing I had to do, it had to be a Moral Animal is his most fa- rates. So we mailed out a lot another one. It 501(c)(3)... so part of my task, mous book. We had very great of issues, but that was part of in addition to seeing the edito- interest from the Press Club, the operation. So I found my- kept coming. rial through, was also working because generally the Press self worrying constantly about to make sure we had facilities, Club is only writing limited ar- where we were going to get the we had established ourselves ticles about things that happen money to pay the printing bill, as a nonprofit, that we had on campus that are of interest and some of us were throwing typesetting, that we got to the to papers, regular newspapers. our own money into it... not printer, I mean all the logistics They were stringers, you know much, I mean, because it was of producing a newspaper. what that is. And they wanted too much... in a way we realized KD: And can I ask also what to dig into stuff that was on it was not a sustainable model, your process was like for as- campus, and so they were very we had to sell ads. And we ran sembling the staff of the early eager to do this. And it was very up some bills... we wound up team? Was it mostly reaching exciting... it was very demand- with a big phone bill, and we out to people you knew from ing. Those first two years, I ba- got behind in our printing bill Press Club, or...what was the sically served as Publisher and once or twice. But somehow process like? Editor-in-Chief for the first two we always managed to keep go- RF: Well, the Press Club years, because I thought having. And I guess it’s great that people were really interested, ing some real continuity in the WPRB bought it, you know, as so Marc Fisher, whom I had ac- beginning to keep it going was long as it allows for editorial tually known from high school, essential. Now, I didn’t man- independence, which it seems was the first editor... and then age everything brilliantly, but to do. 22 April 14, 2019

KD: Looking at the Nass to- I’m working on a biography articles and then you become day, do you think it’s very dif- now that involves a great deal a staff member... Sometimes ferent from the initial vision of journalism. But it was just it’s good, and especially when that you might have thought? an exciting thing to do, you you’re dealing with students, RF: I think we had a sense know, I don’t know that every- ambitious students of the kind that we were going to do a com- body... of course, and you may you get at Princeton, they like bination of in-depth report- be talking to some of the other to join something where they ing-- and I think we probably people, obviously Marc Fisher feel they have to, where it’s a did more in-depth reporting went into journalism, David bit of a club that they have to than you guys do, to be honest. Remnick went into journal- get into. And I think Nassau We were interested in digging ism, and I think they were very was always much more open, in and investigating things, so excited and inspired by what it didn’t have a kind of vetting we had a combination of inves- Nassau Weekly was. process quite the same way tigative reporting and also fea- KD: Yeah, and I would say that the Princetonian or the tures, profiles of people, gen- that’s the impression I get from Press Cub had. [...] I had forgot- eral cultural feature articles, the current staff as well […] ev- ten actually, because I’m so im- as well as opinion pieces. But erything that goes into just hav- mersed in something that I’m definitely, that sort of balance ing this exist every week is a re- working on I kind of remember of features and investigative ally significant experience. when it occurred to me that assignments. RF: Yes, absolutely. And I’m Nassau had been around for 30 KD: Can you maybe talk delighted that you’ve been able years... I remembered that. And a bit about after graduating to maintain this and attract... now 40 years... I’m flabbergast- from Princeton, what your path that it continues to attract stu- ed. I’m really... flabbergasted. was like? And how the Nassau dents to contribute to it. And It’s really gratifying that some- Weekly, everything you learned that it is something of a sig- thing that you were involved in from that process, maybe nificant campus presence... establishing at the college still shaped your career and future Whereas the Princetonian is exists, you know, 40 years later. writing? something that the university KD: And I mean, it’s really RF: That’s an interesting touts in a way, Nassau Weekly important to all of us. We all question. I decided at the end has always been a little bit love doing it, so we’re all so of my Princeton career that I on the edge. [...] I’m sure the grateful. wasn’t that interested in be- Princetonian has been affect- RF: That’s very gratifying to coming a journalist per se, I ed somewhat by the presence hear, I assure you. wanted to go on and study liter- of Nassau Weekly. You don’t KD: I assure you that every- ature at the graduate level and wanna wind up doing the one really loves being part of become a professor. However, same things, but I can see even this publication, trust me when my work at Nassau Weekly looking at their website that I say that we really enjoy doing enabled me to... while I never the Princetonian has proba- it. ended up creating a newspaper bly amped up its investigative RF: That’s great. That’s the again, or a magazine, I did learn and features work because of important thing, and it sounds a great deal about journalism Nassau Weekly. Another thing like it continues to have mo- from working on the paper and about the Princetonian... they mentum, and of course now it learning from my colleagues used to have a process of vet- has financial stability. Trying at the paper. I wound up con- ting their reporters, that is you to get it financially stable was tributing rather extensive in- came in and, I forgot what it very, very demanding... the terviews to The Paris Review, was called, it was some sort Daily Princetonian has a cer- which is a combination of kind of vetting process and I went tain niche market, because of literary journalism, and through it too, where you write people who want daily ads, 23 April 14, 2019

who want to advertise on a reg- unless you have any final words ular basis, and classifieds... of advice for the current Nass but the Princetonian has for staff, as we’re continuing to years had its own building [...] produce issues, as well as cele- But of course, Nassau Weekly brating this anniversary? also had its contributors. As RF: No... just, carry on! I’m you know, I’m a professor, obviously very gratified to and that’s what I wanted to know that this thing which was do, but we had some terrific kind of “let’s put on a show” all journalists. those years ago continues to be Obviously Marc KD: It is really exciting that a source of fun and learning for people are involved in excel- students, I think that’s wonder- Fisher went into lence in writing in all facets, ful. So thank you for reaching and that the Nass had some out to me, I appreciate it. journalism, David part in nurturing that creativity. KD: Thank you so much for RF: Right. I think the au- talking to me, and obviously Remnick went into thor and translator Daniel thanks so much for creating Mendelsohn [‘94], who teach- the Nassau Weekly. journalism, and I es at Bard College, did his first RF: My pleasure, there were think they were very writing, his first articles as a a lot of all-nighters, and I’m graduate student in classics at sure you’re familiar with that. excited and inspired Princeton, and he started writ- And you know, I have to say, ing for the Nassau Weekly. looking back all these years... it by what Nassau He told me that when he was was worth it. visiting Claremont [McKenna Weekly was. College]... he’s very distin- This interview has been edit- guished. But, you know, you ed and condensed. probably have a better list of the contributors than I do. [...] In the early days, we made Robert Faggen ‘82 was the sure we had volumes bound co-founder and first Publisher of and delivered to the library, to The Nassau Weekly. He is cur- get them started on the idea rently a professor of literature at that this was something to be Claremont McKenna College. bound and collected. KD: Yeah, I mean, I think the Nass has probably been the single most important thing for me at Princeton, just in terms of giving me a platform to write, and work with editors, and figure out what kind of writing I want to do, has just been really huge. RF: Well, is there anything else I can help you with right now? KD: Um, I don’t think so, 24 April 14, 2019 Crossword DOWN BY ANDREW WHITE 1. P’ton department for 31. Jamaican music genre STEM suitors 36. One waiting at an 2. Where to view emus airport? and gnus 37. They begin with “In a 3. Computer storage world,” stereotypically letters 39. It precedes man, girl, 4. Maison pour Bob or woman, comically l’éponge 41. Primadonna 5. Animated family of 42. Universal donor type, George and Jane abbrev. 6. Those, in Tijuana 43. Schnoz 7. Covered colonnade in 45. Abbreviation in a Crete or Corinth footnote 8. Goal of a professor? 47. Acronym title for Kobe 9. Prophesy Bryant or Lebron James, 10. Nobel Laureate author debatedly and activist Wiesel 49. Plot twist at the end of 11. Capitulate to Elmo’s a bad film: “It was all...” command 50. Oompa ______12. More dastardly 51. Sea between Greece 13. What to do to a libelous and Italy claim 52. Unit in the RAF 21. Faulkner novel “__ _ 53. American foodie Lay Dying” Garten 22. Dwyane with 15 total 54. Main character in an seasons on the Heat Oscar Wilde play 23. One of 12 on a cube 59. Fabled Washington 24. Hideout words, “I cannot tell _ 25. Top prize for Princeton ___” seniors won by 60. Home to the Irish Annabel Barry and 61. Out on the water Sydney Jordan ‘19 65. 2018 Oscar-winning 29. A custom one was built animated short for President Taft 66. Dough extruder? 30. Those whom you 67. It began all admission should never meet, letters from Dean cynically Hargadon ACROSS 1. Pound who wrote “In 20. Publication celebrating 38. “You have not seen the 57. Make one’s blood boil 72. Without ice a Station of the Metro 40, as in 28-, 49-, and last of me,” perhaps 58. 40, to a presidential 73. Shoe brand with a One 5. Play the fool in court? 58-across more colloquially scholar for One model 9. Celebrated, as 23. Home base for 40. Dragon guarding the 62. Remy’s brother in 20-across for its 40th Representative Beto apples of the Hesperides Pixar’s “Ratatouille” birthday O’Rourke 44. “All Things Considered” 63. It may accompany 14. Mafia lackey 26. 62-across, for example co-host Shapiro sake 15. Sevilla a Granada 27. Gift accompanying an 46. One in a “Honey Bunch” 64. Funder of Whitman direccion “Aloha” 48. Particle physics suffix College? 16. Shade of green in a 28. 40, for Jesus during the 49. 40, for readers of “1001 68. What’s above a high Crayola box of 64 Temptation Arabian Nights” card 17. First ever Best Picture 32. Type of spirit 55. Scrappy suffix, 69. Quantity found by an nomination for Netflix 33. Crime author Grafton Hanna-Barberically integral function 18. Lola or Taz, say 34. Caribou’s ilk 56. Number across from IX 70. Slake or surfeit 19. Weaponized poison 35. Construct, as a tower on a grandfather clock 71. Mares’ hairs