Red, and blue flags Summer 2011 A profile of activist Dorothy Height Visual perception of the universe “Dark green” religion Color War at summer camps Negro Leagues baseball COLOR Sustainable living Comics “working blue” Historically black colleges and universities The profitability of “going green” An appreciation of writer John D. MacDonald Navy blue suits for interviews “Green War” over renewable energies A member of The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi won a game of Jeopardy! — and more than $19,000. About Us Phi Kappa Phi Forum and Its Phi Kappa Phi Forum mission statement Phi Kappa Phi Forum, a multidisciplinary quarterly Relationship with the Society magazine that enlightens, challenges and entertains its diverse readers, serves as a general- interest publication as well as a platform for hi Kappa Phi Forum is the multidisci- The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi. plinary quarterly magazine of PThe Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi. Phi Kappa Phi Forum Each issue of the award-winning journal (Issn 1538-5914) is published quarterly by reaches more than 100,000 active members as The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, well as government officials, scholars, 7576 Goodwood Blvd., Baton Rouge, La. 70806. Printed at R.R. Donnelley, educators, university administrators, public 1160 N. Main, Pontiac, Ill. 61764. and private libraries, leaders of charitable and learned organizations, corporate executives ©The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, 2011. and many other types of subscribers. All rights reserved. Nonmember subscriptions $30 per year, domestic; $45 outside the U.S. It is the flagship publication of Phi Kappa Phi, Single copies $10 each; $3.25 each for active, the nation’s oldest, largest and most selective dues-paying members. Periodicals postage paid all-discipline honor society, with chapters on Baton Rouge, La., and additional mailing offices. more than 300 college and university cam- puses across the country. Phi Kappa Phi was A note on content founded in 1897 at the University of Maine The views expressed in this publication and upwards of one million members spanning The first organizational meeting of what came to are not necessarily those of the staff of Phi Kappa Phi Forum, the Society the academic disciplines have been initiated be known as The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi staff, or the Board of Directors of since the Society’s inception. Notable alumni took place in Coburn Hall (above) at the University The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi. include former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, of Maine in Orono, Maine, in 1897. The Phi Kappa Phi former NASA astronaut Wendy Lawrence, name was adopted on June 12, 1900. Although the Submissions The Ohio State University head football coach national headquarters have been located in Baton Address material intended for publication to: Jim Tressel, writer John Grisham, YouTube Rouge, La., since 1978, the vast majority of the Peter Szatmary, Editor Society’s historical documents are still kept at the Phi Kappa Phi Forum co-founder/CEO Chad Hurley and poet Rita The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi Dove. The Society began publishing what’s founding institution. 7576 Goodwood Blvd. now called Phi Kappa Phi Forum in 1915. Baton Rouge, La. 70806 addition to book reviews, poetry and humor. Spring, summer and fall issues Plus, these issues compile member news, Reprint permission The spring, summer and fall issues chapter updates and Society developments, Mail to: (usually mailed late February, late May and along with letters to the editor, the Permissions Department Phi Kappa Phi Forum late August, respectively) feature a variety Phi Kappa Phi bookshelf and general 7576 Goodwood Blvd. of timely, relevant articles from influential announcements of interest to keep readers Baton Rouge, La. 70806 scholars, educators, writers and other abreast of Society programs and activities. Fax to: (225) 388-4900 authorities, oftentimes active Phi Kappa Phi Through words and images, Web links Copying for other than personal or internal reference use without permission of members, who offer variations on an and multimedia components, the magazine Phi Kappa Phi Forum is prohibited. overall theme. intends to appeal to the diverse membership Notables to have contributed pieces of Phi Kappa Phi by providing thoughtful, Phi Kappa Phi Forum staff th include Ronald Reagan, 40 President of the instructive, helpful — and sometimes Editor: Peter Szatmary United States; Myrlie Evers-Williams, civil provocative — material in smart, (800) 804-9880 ext. 42 rights trailblazer; Warren Burger, 15th Chief engaging ways. [email protected] Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court; Molefi Layout: R Studios (freelance) Kete Asante, African-American studies Winter issue Proofreader: Martha Allan (freelance) groundbreaker; Sally Ride, former NASA The winter issue (mailed late November) Editorial consultant: Traci Navarre Director of Marketing and Member Benefits astronaut; Ernest Gaines, fiction writer; and celebrates those who win monetary awards (800) 804-9880 ext. 22 Geoffrey Gilmore, former director of the from Phi Kappa Phi. [email protected] Sundance Film Festival. The Society distributes more than $700,000 Phi Kappa Phi Forum also encourages annually through graduate and undergraduate Change of address movers and shakers to speak for themselves scholarships, member and chapter awards, and To request a change or correction to your through exclusive interviews. Q & As have run grants for local and national literacy initia- mailing address, send your new address along the gamut from public servants such as Lynne tives, and Phi Kappa Phi Forum applauds the with your old address, your name, phone numbers (cell, home, work), email address, Cheney, former chair of the National Endow- recipients in this edition, listing them all and member status and member number. ment for the Humanities, to famous artists such spotlighting a few. (For more information Note: Your member number is the first as playwright August Wilson to literary critics about Phi Kappa Phi monetary awards, go multi-digit number from the left directly such as Stanley Fish. online to www.phikappaphi.org/awards.) above your name on your mailing label. Send to: (For other significant contributors, go As an arm of the Society, Phi Kappa Phi Change of Address online to www.phikappaphi.org/forum.) Forum helps uphold the institution’s mission: The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi The spring, summer and fall issues “To recognize and promote academic 7576 Goodwood Blvd. further contain columns on fields such as excellence in all fields of higher education and Baton Rouge, La. 70806 education and academics, science and to engage the community of scholars in Archive technology, and arts and entertainment in service to others.” ■ Postmaster Send address changes to: The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi www.PhiKappaPhi.org 7576 Goodwood Blvd. Baton Rouge, La. 70806 Contents Summer 2011, Vol. 91, No. 2 This Issue: COLOR Denotations and connotations of color affect the spectrum of existence in manifold ways: across galaxy and biosphere, nations and races, work and leisure, and more. PHI Kappa PHI FOCUS Coloring the Cosmos By Grace Wolf-Chase 2 President’s Message 4 By William A. Bloodworth, Jr. Extracting data from light in outer space forms a Editor’s Note basis of modern observational astronomy. By Peter Szatmary 3 Letters to the Editor Coming Next Issue Corrections Dorothy Irene Height: A Life Well-Lived 29 Phi Kappa Phi Bookshelf 8 By Lea E. Williams 30 Society Developments The activist for African Americans, women, and the 31 Chapter Update underprivileged died one year ago April. 32 Member Spotlight 33 Member News 34 In Memoriam 12 Gaian Earth Religion COLUMNS and the Modern God of Nature 22 Sports and Exercise By Bron Taylor By Angela Lumpkin The worldwide “green” ecological movement impacts 23 Arts and Entertainment spirituality, ethics, and evolutionism. By (William) Arnold Johnston and Deborah Ann Percy 24 Workplace and Employment By Kimberly Thompson 25 Education and Academics Three Cheers for Red, White and Blue By Timothy L. Hulsey 16 By Jim Bernhard 26 Business and Economics Flags of many countries contain only these three By John T. Harding colors. Why? And what do the colors mean? 27 Science and Technology By Mark H. Griep Features 28 Book Review For Pure Spectacle and Strong Emotion, Race and the University: 19 A Memoir Nothing Beats Color War By George Henderson By Leslie Paris Reviewed by Harold E. Cheatham Many U.S. summer camps end their season on a 35 Poetic Pause venerable high note with a type of Olympics. “Living Canvas” By Autumn James 36 And One More Thing … with Bob Zany SUMMER 2011 1 President’s Message By William A. Bloodworth, Jr. President Barack Obama pointed out that Board of Directors olor. HBCUs “continue to be important engines of SOCIETY PRESIDENT It’s an interesting economic growth and community service, William A. Bloodworth, Jr., Ph.D. theme for this issue of and they are proven ladders of intergenera- Office of the President C Augusta State University Phi Kappa Phi Forum — and tional advancement for men and women of 2500 Walton Way in broad social terms, it’s a all ethnic, racial, and economic backgrounds, Augusta, Ga. 30904-2200 theme that affects all of us. especially African-Americans.” [email protected] We know that the According to the White House Initiative, SOCIETY PRESIDENT-ELECT national self-image of color is now much 105 HBCUs serve more than 300,000 Diane G. Smathers, Ed.D. Emeritus College closer to our social reality than it once was. students in 20 states, the District of Columbia, E-304 Martin Hall I work at a university in the American South and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Ninety-one of Clemson University Clemson, S.C. 29634 whose students were once all white. Its these institutions grant baccalaureate degrees. [email protected] ethnic demographics now resemble those of I point to these facts because our honor SOCIETY PAST PRESIDENT the surrounding community.