KATHERINE LAMBERT CrossingCrossing BordersBorders

BY ELEANOR CLIFT

Doris Meissner ’63, MA’69 was in her kitchen stuffing a turkey there had been no family members, Elián Meissner’s recognition of the would have been placed in a shelter to on Thanksgiving Day when she heard news reports of a young father’s parental rights was supported await his return to , instead of by Attorney General , and boy who had been rescued by fishermen off the coast of Miami. becoming the center of a Cold War-style upheld in federal court. Behind the “I thought, ‘Oh, my gosh. This is sad,’ ” she recalled in an custody dispute. scenes, Meissner served as Reno’s “We were allowed to decide this on confidante, and took an active role in interview. “But I didn’t believe that it was going to become the merits…the issue of whether or not the delicate negotiations between such a phenomenon, such an incredible issue.” this child belonged with his father, and Washington and Cuba, and with the who was going to speak for the child, and González family members. how the future of this child was going to Patty First ’82, a deputy associate be decided.” attorney general, said that conference She had done her homework. Before calls among the various players some- siding with the boy’s father, Meissner

/PEDRO PORTAL times dragged on for six or seven hours. researched Cuban law to confirm that It would have been easy for Meissner to Juan Miguel González had custody after leave the nitty-gritty to aides, but she the mother’s death, since the parents MIAMI HERALD stuck with it. Her calm but insistent were divorced before Elián was born. manner proved to be a valuable resource. She dispatched an INS official in Havana alone in an inner tube after his mother acter that’s important,” she remarked “Everyone was so tired that people’s to interview him to determine whether he had drowned along with her boyfriend with a wry smile. “When you come to tempers started to flare,” says First. “She was a fit parent. and eight others, all Cuban nationals Washington, you learn it’s how your would get us to focus on the issue at hand When she wasn’t fully satisfied with seeking asylum in the U.S. hair looks and what you’re wearing that — that this is a six-year-old kid whose his answers, Meissner had the official The relatives argued that the counts.” She didn’t fall for the flattery, father says he wants to be reunited contact González for a second interview. mother’s sacrifice should not go and left the Capitol without holding a with him.” The level of detail that he supplied about unrewarded, and Elián’s story took on press conference. his relationship with his son, including mystical qualities with the belief that

the activities they shared, and how he dolphins had guided him to safety. The PHOTO COURTESY OF THE INS taught Elián to swim, convinced her that house where he was staying in the Little he was a caring father. On whether he Havana section of Miami became the was speaking freely, since Cuba is, in focus of round-the-clock protests and Meissner’s words, “a coercive society,” media coverage. The Elián González saga has been the most he battle over Elián González she concluded that González was With the INS apparently unable to high-profile controversy of Doris Meissner’s expressing his true wishes in wanting his enforce its ruling, Senate Democratic tenure as commissioner of the INS. But would test all of Meissner’s Meissner, who was in Madison in May to T administrative, diplomatic, and son returned to his care. leader Tom Daschle (South Dakota) accept a Distinguished Alumni Award from people skills. As head of the Immigration “It all connects,” she says. “This was invited Meissner to brief Democratic the Alumni Association, has received praise for her handling of the crisis. and Naturalization Service (INS), she a child who…knew his father’s phone members about the administration’s posi- In a USA Today column, Walter Shapiro hailed made the first decision about the boy’s number, and his father’s name and tion, and how it would be implemented. her as an “unsung hero” for her diligent fate when she ruled in January that his address, and who basically lived during Reporters who were staked outside the work behind the scenes, saying that her “quiet, unflappable competence” has served father, a thirty-one-year-old hotel worker the week with his father and the meeting room — perhaps hoping to our nation well. in Cuba, had the right to speak on his extended family, and went to school in entice Meissner to take their questions — son’s behalf. the district that his father lives in, not in commented on how good she looked in a She did not foresee when her agency the district where his mother lived.” taupe silk suit, offset with a funky neck- approved the temporary placement of The Miami branch of the family, lace made of stone beads. Her press Elián with his Miami relatives that carry- having fled Fidel Castro’s Cuba, waged secretary conveyed the compliment. Border issues continue to dominate the focus of the INS — and the media. Since Meissner ing out the law and reuniting him with a legal and emotional battle to keep Meissner was amused. “Growing (shown above, third from right) became commissioner in 1993, the INS work force has nearly his father would prove so difficult. If Elián. The boy had been found floating up, your parents tell you it’s your char- doubled — from 18,000 to 32,000 — making it the largest law enforcement agency in the U.S.

20 ON WISCONSIN SUMMER 2000 21 With the Miami relatives unwilling procedures were put in place to accom- Pamela Harriman, who was then the Those words comforted Meissner, to turn over the boy, Janet Reno inched modate caseloads that had quadrupled in ambassador to England. They had never and helped to put her husband’s death closer to the decision she dreaded: order- just two years, in part because of the met, and Meissner never would have into perspective. “It’s so true,” she says, ing government agents to remove him by anti-immigrant debate generated under imagined she had anything in common reflecting on the conversation. “Chuck force. With Meissner at her side, Reno Governor Pete Wilson in California. with this grande dame. “That was a very was at the top of his game. He loved flew to Miami in mid-April to meet with The result was that some three hun- glittery service, with lots of people walk- what he was doing, and you can’t Lazaro González, the great uncle in dred people with criminal backgrounds ing around looking at each other and quarrel with that. None of us get to whose home Elián was staying. were naturalized (out of a total of 1.3 wanting to be seen by each other, very pick our luck.” The meeting ended in a stalemate, million processed) when FBI fingerprint frankly,” Meissner remembers. “And Only weeks after her husband’s and soon after, the Miami relatives reports couldn’t be made available in there I was with Pamela Harriman, who death, Meissner was back at her desk. released a video of Elián jabbing his time. In light of the snafu, Republicans never looked around at anybody else.” Her job, says her brother-in-law, “gave finger at the camera and telling Papá called for Meissner’s resignation. As Harriman told her that Chuck her something else to think about other he did not want to go to Cuba. A child this major embarrassment for the INS than what happened to her.” Meissner psychologist retained by the INS went unfolded, Meissner testified before agrees. “As hard as it was, this job has on television to say that Elián, who Congress that her agency had made sustained me,” she says. “You have to appeared coached, was suffering from errors, although she insisted that they function. There is just no choice. And it’s a form of child abuse. The boy was no were not politically motivated. much better to have a purpose, to have longer attending school, and had Her brother-in-law, Dave Meissner something to do and to just keep pushing become a trophy for the anti-Castro ’60 of Milwaukee, says that the criticism away, which is what I’ve done.” exile community. from members of Congress — often Last summer, Meissner and her two Reno and Meissner engaged in Doris Meissner with her son, Andrew, left; her late husband, Charles Meissner; and her daughter, related to her implementation of laws grown children — Christine, a teacher, one last marathon negotiation by phone Christine. She lost Chuck, who was assistant secretary at the Department of Commerce, in the they pass — wears her down, although and Andrew, who works with an Internet same plane crash that killed Commerce Secretary while on a trade mission to from Washington with the Miami in 1996. she never shows it. “She keeps a stiff company — flew to Dubrovnik at the relatives, while an INS SWAT team upper lip. She understands it isn’t per- invitation of the Croatian government to positioned itself for a surprise raid to Sitting in the Hot Seat — sometimes just before they bash her,” sonal. But constantly going out and celebrate the signing of a deal Chuck had retrieve Elián. says First. defending the department takes its toll negotiated that means millions of dollars Not by nature a public person, Meissner has managed the INS for Meissner’s serious, almost scholarly on her,” he says. in energy capacity for the region. Meissner stood next to Reno in a press almost the entire term of the Clinton approach to immigration issues shields her The citizenship controversy came Continued on page 56 conference immediately following the administration. She was confirmed by a from the raw partisanship that has charac- at an especially trying time for Meissner, pre-dawn raid to demonstrate her unflag- unanimous vote in the Senate on October terized much of the Clinton administra- who had just lost her husband of thirty- ging conviction that what they had done 18, 1993, and has presided during a time tion’s dealings with Congress. The INS three years. Charles (Chuck) Meissner was right. Pale and drawn from lack of of enormous growth. More than ten has deep bureaucratic roots, and immigra- ’64, MS’67, PhD’69 was a senior official sleep, Meissner defended the actions of million people have immigrated to the tion issues don’t fall neatly along party at the Commerce Department, and died the INS agents, who whisked Elián to United States since 1990, the most in any lines. With Hispanics the fastest-growing in the same plane crash that took the life the airport to fly to Washington, where decade in U.S. history. The INS work voter bloc in the country, politicians are of Commerce Secretary Ron Brown on Meissner had been in her his father waited. force has nearly doubled, from eighteen changing their tune about immigration, April 3, 1996. Doris Meissner was in embassy in London the Making a rare appearance on a thousand to thirty-two thousand, making and the anti-immigrant sentiments of past Los Angeles preparing to go on a radio night before the ill-fated Sunday talk show, Meissner said, “An it the largest law enforcement agency in elections appear to have faded. talk show when the plane was reported flight, and that he and the enforcement action like this is a frighten- the country. “We’re in a different era,” says missing. others had such high hopes ing event — and what we did has to take Meissner is regarded as a fair- Meissner. “Immigrants are contributing, “I immediately flew back across the for the work they were place very quickly, and the agents have minded administrator who does her best and they are speaking for themselves.” country, fully believing that this was just doing to spur economic to be in charge.” Critics deplored the in one of the most contentious jobs in Still, the INS is a hot seat, as the Elián a quirk of some form or another,” she investment in Croatia. show of force, but the American public Washington. She receives criticism from González case demonstrates. “I don’t says. The next morning, Janet Reno was She told Meissner that largely backed Reno’s right to retrieve Republicans, who think she’s too lax on know how she’s stayed this long,” says in her living room to offer solace along she was married to a man, the boy, and by a wide margin rejected enforcement, and from Democrats, who First. “It’s a testament to her character. with Donna Shalala, secretary of Health the late Gover- the prospect of congressional hearings on don’t think she has sufficiently kept her There are times when I thought if I were and Human Services and a former UW- nor Averell Harriman, who the matter. Images of a smiling Elián with promise to restore the S in INS, making Doris, I’d want to quit.” Madison chancellor, and several other grew very, very old. “It is his father, stepmother, and baby brother it a more service-oriented, immigrant- One of those times was during the high-ranking women in the administra- not the worst thing to die eased concern about the boy’s well-being. friendly agency. administration’s “Citizenship USA” tion. “Out of terrible things, you learn for your country,” she said. “The bottom line is success,” says These are legitimate policy differ- program, which Republicans charge was some of the good things,” says Meissner, “Growing old, watching Meissner, who was there as Juan Miguel ences, but even Meissner’s harshest a transparent effort to hastily naturalize recalling the many acts of friendship that everybody around you die, Doris and Chuck met during their freshman year; they were walked to the plane at Andrews Air critics separate her personality from her immigrants so that they would vote for were extended to her. having people forget who both ILS majors. She lived on the fourth floor of Cole Hall, role as commissioner. “They go out of while he was on the fourth floor of Sullivan, with a window Force Base to greet his son. “We created Clinton in the 1996 presidential election. At a memorial service for Secretary you are, there’s nothing directly opposite hers. In 1968, Doris returned to graduate the reunification.” their way to say how much they like her Meissner says that the accelerated Brown, Meissner was seated next to nice about that.” school while Chuck served his ROTC duty in Vietnam.

22 ON WISCONSIN SUMMER 2000 23 Crossing Borders following fall, Richardson’s successor, chair an interagency task force on illegal sioners were political appointees who Continued from page 23 Attorney General Edward Levy, asked immigration, and before long she had came in with little or no substantive her to stay. She speaks highly of Levy’s taken on the aura of an expert. “It was experience. Reno convinced Meissner A Sturdy Hand efforts to restore credibility to the Justice a total accident of time and place and that, as attorney general, she would take Meissner’s story, she says, “is really Department. circumstance, in the way that so many immigration issues seriously. After all, a story of two.” She met Chuck when During this period, Chuck Meissner things in life are,” she says. Reno had seen firsthand how immigra- they were both freshmen enrolled in the was a staff aide on the Senate Foreign In 1986, Meissner left the federal tion had changed Miami, the community Integrated Liberal Studies program at Relations Committee, and had traveled government to join the Carnegie Endow- in which she grew up. “Now that was the University of Wisconsin. They regularly to Vietnam. When the city of ment for International Peace, with no very unusual,” notes Meissner, who by married two days before graduation in Saigon fell, signaling the end of the war, intention of returning to public service. then had worked for seven or eight 1963. Chuck went on to graduate school, Chuck urged Doris to join him in “I didn’t even necessarily consider myself attorneys general. “Attorneys general just and Doris supported the family while he sponsoring a refugee family. “I was not either a Republican or a Democrat,” she never paid attention to immigration.” earned his doctorate. into this at all,” she says. “It was not an recalls. “I had worked on these issues in a Little did Meissner know that one A member of the ROTC, Chuck left issue that I had paid very much attention very bipartisan way, and I think of immi- November day, a young boy would arrive for Vietnam in 1969 and didn’t return to, except vicariously through his work, gration as quite a bipartisan issue. It on Miami’s shore, and a fight over his until 1971. Doris and and I could see all of this responsibility doesn’t cut along predictable lines at all.” permanent home would begin. Little their two children becoming ours.” But Chuck was commit- So Meissner was quite surprised did she know that, in time, the entire stayed in Madison, ted — and Doris relented. when she was summoned first to the world would be paying attention to which was embroiled in When it became known that the White House for an interview, and then immigration. anti-war protests. It Meissners had a refugee family living in to meet with Attorney General Janet Doris has made regular visits back to campus over the years, returning here was a hard time for to show her children the view from Liz Waters. Known as Doris Borst during their basement, it was Doris’s colleagues Reno. The Clinton administration had Newsweek contributor Eleanor Clift, of Washington, Meissner, who was her student days, she was the president of her sorority, Alpha Chi Omega, who assumed that she was just as dedi- set aside certain senior appointments as D.C., has profiled three UW women for On Wisconsin: and active in the Wisconsin Student Association and several honor societies. cated as her husband. That impression positions that required technical exper- TV journalist Rita Braver ’70, U.S. Trade Representative apart from her husband Charlene Barshevsky ’72, and Doris Meissner ’63, MA’69. and worried about him, deepened when the couple held a huge tise, and Meissner’s name showed up on “Getting to know them up close and personal,” and raising their two offers: one in Washing- Chisholm, and Betty Friedan, she shower and asked people to bring house- everybody’s short list. Clift writes, “I can share Wisconsin’s pride in their achievements. Doris Meissner and I discovered a children alone. ton and one in San relented and took the job. hold goods for the family. A few months For years, the immigration agency particular bond in that we are both daughters of German As an undergradu- Francisco. He let Doris “Those first years were so tumul- later, the attorney general asked her to was a backwater. Most of the commis- immigrants, and grew up in ethnic communities.” ate, she majored in choose the city. She tuous,” Miller recalls. “We were a bunch history with a minor loved San Francisco of prima donnas. We couldn’t even have in French, and returned and the rich cultural a chair for more than three months so to graduate school to life it offered, but she somebody could get ahead of somebody major in political science and education picked Washington. She had discovered on the totem pole. The sturdiest hand in policy. Her undergrad days had been politics, and thought, “What better place the whole thing was Doris Meissner.” Come to the placid, but now, all around her, students to have a front-row seat than in the Meissner led the lobbying efforts were protesting. At one point, when she nation’s capital?” for the NWPC at both the Democratic ® was a teaching assistant, her classes were Meissner fully expected to be a and Republican national conventions in BADGER HUDDLE canceled for several weeks because stu- traditional wife who stayed home and 1972, and based on those experiences, dent unrest had forced the university to dabbled in politics on the side. Even applied for the in HAWAII ! close down. though she had risen to become the Program. Traditionally, only one token Saturday, November 25, 2000 Perhaps because she had sole assistant director of student financial aid woman had been selected for the responsibility for her children, Meissner at Wisconsin, she didn’t think of herself program’s class of eighteen. But that concluded that protesting wasn’t for her, as a career person, and had never set year, she was one of four women to make and that change should come about professional goals. In fact, she was busy the cut — a groundbreaking moment. peacefully through democratic decision- putting up curtains and making a home Still, Meissner was not eager to be making. She decided to get involved in for her family when Midge Miller arrived placed in the White House. Not a fan of politics, and coordinated the campaign in Washington as one of the founding President Nixon, she chose the Justice for Midge Miller, who was running for members of the National Women’s Department instead, which was then the state legislature. “I probably wouldn’t Political Caucus (NWPC). headed by Attorney General Elliott BADGER HUDDLE® only $60 have won if it hadn’t been for her,” says She recruited Meissner to become Richardson, a man of sterling reputation. Day of Game Package is $85 Miller, whose 1970 election made her the organization’s first executive director. Within weeks, the so-called Saturday (includes BADGER HUDDLE® and game ticket.) one of the first women members of the In Washington less than a month, Meiss- Night Massacre occurred, Richardson Wisconsin legislature. ner at first begged off. But then, faced was fired, and Meissner was on her way For the most up to date information on Badger activities The following year, when Chuck with pleas from such feminist luminaries to a career she had never envisioned. during our stay in Hawaii, call (888) WIS -ALUM returned from Vietnam, he had two job as Bella Abzug, Gloria Steinem, Shirley When her fellowship concluded the or visit our Web site at www.uwalumni.com The popularity of cruises has put places like Sitka, Alaska, on the map. Passenger ships now call at Sitka on almost every day dur- INDEX STOCK PHOTOGRAPHY ing summer, unloading thousands of tourists who want a taste of the Alaskan wilderness. But is wilderness what they find? In Sitka National Historical Park, totem poles, such as the one pictured at left, tell a INTOINTO THETHE WILDWILD ? ? different story. in 1867. Long before that, some millennia ago, clans of the Tlingit tribe (pro- nounced Klin-git) settled in Sitka, and they have stayed there ever since. Sitka’s national park, part of the eighty million American acres protected and managed by the National Park Service, covers only fifty-six acres, barely the picnic grounds at more-sprawling cousins in the park system. But its land, surround- ing the banks of the Indian River, has been some of the most valued territory in the state — land so precious to Russian PeoplePeople traveltravel toto nationalnational parksparks toto getget awayaway fromfrom itit all.all. ButBut and Tlingit cultures that bloody battles resulted over its control. cancan aa parkpark everever reallyreally bebe aa wilderness?wilderness? SomeSome researchersresearchers saysay Yet for a place of such human vital- ity, Sitka’s park is a strangely quiet place. no,no, andand thatthat we’vewe’ve gonegone tootoo farfar inin ignoringignoring anan importantimportant partpart It is a historical park, yes, but only in a whispered, ghostly sense. Visitors come ofof thethe parkpark experience:experience: ourour ownown history.history. here to amble peacefully in a gorgeous and inspiring forest. It is as if the banks of the Indian River, which bustled with human activity for thousands of years, have been frozen in perpetuity, as if put By Michael Penn MA’97 behind glass. This may seem like the desired result when you set aside a parcel of land to be preserved. As in national parks across the country, much effort goes into making sure that nothing changes at Sitka. It’s part of an active On just about any of the endless days of For more than five thousand years, untamed that the great naturalist John ing wilderness, they will be disappointed. management philosophy to ensure that Alaskan summer, a visitor to Sitka travelers have arrived at Sitka by boat. Muir described it as God’s laboratory. Although it is unquestionably remote, the unspoiled beauty of such places National Historical Park can peer out The village exists on the ledge of life, There are no bridges to Sitka, and barely and one can see in any direction the vast, remains unspoiled. from the rain forest toward the sea and clinging to the shore of an island in any roads beyond town. Water is Sitka’s formidable outback Alaska is famous for, A laudable goal, no doubt, but at catch a vista of a massive ocean liner Alaska’s Inner Passage and hemmed in superhighway. Sitka is civilization to its core. what cost? More people, including a parked just off shore. The sight may seem on three sides by forbidding mountains. The boats that come to Sitka these It was in Sitka, for instance, that growing community of experts at uni- incongruous — a luxurious megaship Nine thousand people live among its days bring tourists, nearly three hundred Russian fur hunters established the versities such as Wisconsin, are begin- dwarfing the harbor of a tiny fishing attractive tangle of streets, but if any of thousand of them arriving each year, world’s most powerful trading company, ning to question the long-accepted

HOLLY SMITH-MIDDLETON village. But its presence on the water- them were to walk an hour in any direc- making the town one of the most popular and it was there that the United States axiom that national parks should be front actually tells much about why Sitka tion, they would find themselves amid travel destinations in the nation’s largest established the territorial government of sheltered tracts of wilderness never developed in the way that it has. utter wilderness, land so fierce and state. But if those travelers come expect- Alaska after buying the land from Russia touched by human hands.

24 ON WISCONSIN SUMMER 2000 25 JULIE GOODMAN ARNOLD ALANEN ARNOLD ALANEN

Sitka may seem like a tiny village, an insignificant blip of land stuck in the seascape. But no place may be more central to telling the Alaskan tale than Sitka. That’s what drew Arnold Alanen here: a chance to turn a beautiful place into something more. by human activity. You might think of a land’s cultural fingerprint as being like Arnold Alanen, a UW-Madison pro- the lifeways of their ancestors, from con- never seen, and his influence helped bring the effects of a volcano. Lava streams and fessor of landscape architecture who has tinuing to subsist in harmony with the about the national park system, the ash give us visible clues as to how a spent the last five years studying Sitka, is land. Nothing, that is, until the federal world’s first network of preserved places. volcano’s eruptions have changed the one of them. He doesn’t understand why government arrived. Once the National Today, the park system is the crown jewel landscape. People like Alanen and Smith- we consider park lands only as wilder- Park Service moved in to preserve the of American environmentalism, including Middleton, sometimes referred to as nesses, given that almost none of them are. lands they so loved, the Tlingit began to nearly four hundred individual sites and landscape historians, look for manmade “Just about the whole earth now is a feel like interlopers on their own land. some of our most cherished landscapes: formations such as foot trails, camps, and cultural landscape,” says Alanen. “There Discouraged by the new forces control- the awe of the Grand Canyon, the won- Nature and culture at odds: Trees in Sitka have grown so tall that they now almost completely old structures that show how humans have been interactions with humans ling the lands, they eventually stopped der of Yellowstone’s steam-spouting gey- obscure views of the totem poles placed in Sitka’s park nearly a century ago. As illustrated have affected the land, and how they above right, UW researchers have suggested thinning the spruce trees and undergrowth to help everywhere, even on Mount Everest.” fishing the river and holding ceremonies. sers, the ancient blue hilltops of the Great visitors appreciate the grand, looming poles as they were intended to be seen. have been affected by it. In Sitka, a long history of human The only sounds heard on the banks Smoky Mountains. Overdeveloped or Alanen, one of the pioneers of the interaction explains why the Indian River of the Indian River were the whir and not, the United States has the best, most of old-growth rain forest and breathtak- help promote cultural preservation in field, has worked in places from Michi- and the surrounding rain forest hold high click of tourists’ cameras. In an attempt well-rounded park system on the planet. ing views of the surrounding mountains Sitka, he ended up signing on for a multi- gan’s Sleeping Bear Dunes National spiritual value for the Tlingit, who sur- to preserve Tlingit culture and heritage And we take advantage of it. It is and sea. But the park also contains many year research project. Lakeshore to aboriginal lands in the Aus- vived on the area’s natural resources for for future generations, the National Park estimated that in the year 2000, more artifacts of human culture, such as the Along with Holly Smith-Middleton, tralian outback, detailing their cultural five thousand years. Living in small Service did what the Russians, the than 290 million visits will be made to site of the Tlingit fort and a collection of then a student in the UW’s doctoral pro- characteristics. In Sitka, he says man- camps along the river’s banks, the tribe colonists, and the bitter Alaskan night park grounds, the equivalent of more totem poles carved by Tlingit and other gram, Alanen explored every inch of the agers were doing a fair job of communi- fished the waters, hunted sea otter and were not able to do: it drove the Tlingit than one visit each year for every man, tribal artisans. We’re meant to feel the Sitka landscape, sometimes spending cating culture. Signs and markers are deer, and carved paths through the forest from the banks of the Indian River. woman, and child in the country. The gravity of human history — but not so months at a time there. The result is five located throughout the park, spelling out for plant gathering. When Russian parks are our collective back yards — much that it makes us feel as if we’ve hundred pages of evaluation and recom- the specifics of the Tlingit battle and the traders set up a colony on the island in our playgrounds, schoolyards, sources of come all the way to Alaska without mendations, which outline how Sitka can meanings of the totem poles. Displays in 1799, the Tlingit fiercely defended their IN 1863, a young Scottish immigrant inspiration, and laboratories for explor- deserting civilization. enhance the cultural experience of visi- the visitors center add more information stake, nearly wiping out the Russian vil- left the University of Wisconsin to sample ing the natural world. In parks such as Sitka, human his- tors while retaining its rugged nature. If about how Tlingit settlers lived, as well lage in 1802. Two years later, Russians the splendor of the American frontier. Those many roles represent a monu- tory often gets treated this way. Too it is accepted by park managers and as providing a home for Indian wood- retaliated, ransacking the Tlingit fort that The son of a brutal and demanding father, mental management challenge: how do much of it is believed to be distracting to embraced by visitors, it may represent a workers and jewelers. stood near the shore and devastating the John Muir believed that nature had a we ensure that parks endure as symbols the spiritual and natural wonder of a set- change in the way that people experience But those features don’t get at the Kiksadi clan who lived there. The battle healing, spiritually lifting power, and he for generations to come? And what ting. Is it possible for a place to be both nature in national parks. deeper appreciation that Alanen wants forced the Tlingit to retreat to the other vowed to spend the rest of his days wan- should they symbolize? natural and manmade at the same time? Underlying the Sitka report is a con- people to derive from their interactions side of the island, although by the 1830s, dering the wild lands in blissful solitude. That debate has been quietly perco- That question intrigued Arnold Ala- cept in environmental study known as with nature. More than exhibits of the many had returned to establish new For the next forty years, Muir trav- lating in places such as Sitka, which may nen while visiting his daughter in Alaska the cultural landscape. It’s basically a past, he wants national parks to become camps near the river. eled to remote and beautiful parts of the be the perfect example of a park pulled in in 1994. When he casually asked at the way of acknowledging that there is more living museums, where culture is not It seemed nothing would prevent the West. His writings offered urban Ameri- opposite directions. It’s an unquestion- regional office of the National Park Ser- to nature than nature — that most land- merely explained, but preserved, pro- Tlingit, deeply committed to preserving cans a window to a country they had ably beautiful place, with a dense swath vice what park managers were doing to scapes have been shaped to some extent tected, and practiced.

26 ON WISCONSIN SUMMER 2000 27 When Smith-Middleton began to cultural aspects of its ARNOLD ALANEN his closest allies by writing an essay for interview Sitka residents, one of the lands until 1979. that questioned the park’s shortcomings as a cultural experi- Parks have had a very reality of wilderness. He argued that ence became apparent. She found that Hydra-headed mission the notion of a pristine wilderness many had no direct experience with the from the start, though. In untouched by human hands was an envi- park lands. Only elderly residents could the 1916 act that formed ronmentalist’s fantasy, representing “the recall ceremonial events held prior to the NPS, Congress false hope of an escape from responsibil- World War II. Since then, Tlingit culture directed the organization ity,” that we can somehow ignore all that in the park has become largely allegory to “conserve the scenery has happened to the land since humans — a tale told for the entertainment of and the natural and his- began to inhabit it. After he published his others, rather than preservation among toric objects and the argument, one environmental journal the Tlingit themselves. wildlife therein and to devoted an entire issue to bashing him. “Many of the Tlingit — especially provide for the enjoy- Some suggest that Cronon and oth- the most recent generation — don’t know ment of the same.” So ers are pushing an ancient belief system the traditional uses of this land,” says why has it taken so long with a ton of historical inertia. Nancy Smith-Middleton. “They need to be the for the park service to Langston, a forest ecology professor who ones who are telling the story to the pub- see both nature and has studied human interactions with lic. It’s their story.” Thus, a major theme culture as management nature through time, notes that humans in the researchers’ final report became priorities? others are just interested in the beloved Instead, students allowed romanti- the reintegration of Tlingit participation The answer may role that parks have assumed in the cized imagery to substitute for their own “We want to designate well- in the park. have something to do national psyche. As one student remarked experience. They loved nature, says Some of the suggested policies may with management biases in a recent class session, the national park Tuan, as though they were born to defined, bounded sections as the seem unparklike on the surface. The formed long ago. “Cul- system is a cultural icon unto itself. respond that way, recalling pretty lines places where we are representing researchers have recommended, for tural resources in Like Alanen’s work, the course rep- written by long-dead New Englanders, instance, that Tlingit elders be allowed national parks have had resents a shift away from the purely sci- but forgetting that those images are actu- some human artifact. You go to close the park for private ceremonies sort of a speckled his- entific evaluation of national parks. For ally artifacts of culture, not nature. across that boundary, and you’re and that subsistence fishing be permit- tory,” says Donald Field decades, parks were full of researchers And of gauzy, idealistic portrayals of ted within park borders. Other propos- ’63, MS’65, a professor who mainly did things such as count nature, there is no shortage. Writers wax back in nature.” als would heighten visitors’ awareness of of forest ecology who spores and catalog lichens. Now, the philosophic. Photographers capture feasts have drawn distinct divisions between the environment as the Tlingit and worked as the NPS’s questions are more humanistic. Field of light and beauty. A human construction themselves and the natural world for Russian explorers experienced it, senior scientist during asks his students to consider the forces such as a city, by comparison, wallows in thousands of years, dating to the very such as cutting down trees that have the seventies and eight- that move national parks. What do peo- the bad press of reality. It’s a case of the roots of Western thought. Greek schol- encroached on the fort site. As it is ies. In many parks, espe- ple want to get out of a national park grass being greener — quite literally. Outdoor recreation can take many forms, from boating near the ars, she notes, looked at the world as a now, those trees shut off views of the cially those perceived as visit? Those expectations, he argues, play As a result, nature tends to get sepa- Grand Canyon, right, to cruising the rocky terrain of Utah’s rated and specially marked off, practi- series of dualisms: good pitted against water and prevent people from under- “beautiful places,” arti- Canyonlands National Park in a Land Rover, above. Managing the a big role in how parks are managed. parks to keep all of those users happy isn’t easy. Ensuring access cally making these areas cathedrals. evil, the divine versus the mortal. Possi- standing why the fort made sense as a facts of human construc- People usually have well-formed and facilitating some recreational uses may compromise other Ironically, notes Tuan, “the very setting bly because of that influence, she says, strategic site. tion were for decades values, such as wilderness and historical reflection. That’s the notions about how a park should look up of a boundary converts a wilderness “we define ourselves as human by not The recommendations are based on methodically erased from challenge facing professors in the environmental sciences who and feel. Environmental historians will are trying to help the park system find the right balance. into a legally defined, and therefore being of nature, and we define nature as managing Sitka not as a natural place, the landscape. Old fron- tell you, however, that such expectations humanized, place.” But not many people those things that are not human. It’s or as a cultural place, but as an inex- tier lodges were torn are influenced not only by direct experi- seem bothered by the distinction. As hard for us to overcome that.” orable combination. Alanen says the down. Farm buildings the growing momentum for culture- ence with nature, but by things written William Cronon ’76, UW-Madison’s Thoreau and Emerson placed nature plan will help visitors to “go beyond the were bulldozed. Open pastures, main- based management practices. It’s now or said about nature — anything from noted environmental historian, puts it, in a spiritual context. So did John Muir, trails and see that the vegetation, the tained by generations of humans pruning much more difficult for parks to destroy Robert Frost to The Blair Witch Project. “We want to designate well-defined, who had great scientific curiosity and a stream, the birds, and the animals are and burning the landscape, were allowed structures fifty years or older. But, Field Yi-Fu Tuan, an emeritus professor of bounded sections as the places where we rational mind. “None of Nature’s land- part of the entire environment the Tlin- to grow thick with wild growth. adds, that hasn’t stopped park managers geography, often would begin his semi- are representing some human artifact. scapes are ugly so long as they are wild,” git have so respected.” “People have the ideal notion that from trying. nars by asking students to write a short You go across that boundary, and you’re he wrote, while dismissing most human The researchers’ plan may seem like these are hallowed grounds not influ- narrative about a place that held great back in nature.” activity as destructive and annoying. Agri- common sense, but the idea of interpret- enced by the polity of the day,” Field significance to them. Invariably, he EACH FALL, Field shares the benefits of A professor with appointments in culture, in particular, drew his ire. He ing a landscape’s culture has been slow to says. “When you put a manager in a found, they wrote about nature, despite his years inside the NPS with a handful three academic departments, Cronon has often referred to cows as “hoofed locusts.” achieve formal recognition in our nation’s park, [he or she] has a great deal of influ- the fact that most of them had spent of ecology students, leading a seminar on emerged as a vocal leader in the environ- Muir wasn’t totally disapproving of parks. Although cultural landscapes have ence. They can sway the emphasis of the nearly all of their lives in cities. “I knew the management of national parks. Some mental movement by slaying such sacred man’s influence. In Alaska, he welcomed been discussed in environmental texts park.” For example, regulations now call from talking to them that they enjoyed of his students will go on to become man- cows. A member of the board of gover- miners and gold-seekers, and even rea- since the 1920s, the National Park Ser- for the preservation of historic structures living in these cities,” says Tuan. “But agers or scientists workingin public lands; nors of the Wilderness Society, he had soned that their roads would make it pos- vice did not begin to formally study the in parks, a recent victory that points to somehow those experiences were the temerity in 1995 to challenge some of sible for travelers to explore new corners repressed in them.” 28 ON WISCONSIN SUMMER 2000 29 of the planet. But the predominant pic- responded by spending huge sums of fifth-grader, he had one of the formative first traditional totem pole to be raised in ture of Muir is of a solitary wanderer on money to recreate a picture of their pre- experiences of his life: a family trip to Sitka National Historical Park in more It’s not hard to understand why many a lonely sojourn to heal himself through colonial selves — although even then see the great national parks of the than one hundred years. Nearly forty feet people don’t want any sign of human peace and respite. The ruthless punish- they were still deeply affected by humans American West. tall, the red cedar pole is festooned with existence in natural areas. Humans ments doled out by his father gave Muir before whites ever showed up. painstakingly carved and colored figures, haven’t always been the best guests. A his first lesson in the imperfection of Michigan’s Sleeping Bear Dunes all the way up to the sharp-beaked figure AbuseAbuse it...it... few of the things people do in and man, and the subtle charm of the Wis- National Lakeshore contains a good THANKS TO CRUISE SHIPS, many of the raven, which to many Pacific tribes around national parks so damage their consin countryside seemed divine by example of how strange the fetish with more people are experiencing one of represents both the creator of the world physical environment that some envi- comparison. wilderness can be. The lands, stretching America’s last frontiers: Alaska. But time and a cunning trickster. The pole is the ronmental activists warn that the Muir began pushing for a network of for thirty-five miles along Lake Michigan is not among the many luxuries afforded first in Tlingit history to feature symbols parks may not survive our use of government-protected preserves, calling west of Traverse City, have a long history to cruise passengers. Places like Sitka are of both the raven and eagle clans of the them. The National Parks Conserva- them “health and pleasure grounds,” of habitation, including many historic now most often seen in a few hours, taken tribe, symbolic of the new energy for tion Association, a private watchdog which he believed could tangibly lengthen farmsteads. The park service preserved in on a whirlwind tour that often winds communicating and preserving its history. group, cites ten parks that it considers and improve the life of the visitor. He the buildings, which Alanen helped to up with a midnight chocolate buffet. Does More than seven hundred people the most endangered, listed here with wrote of “jumping from rock to rock, feel- classify and describe. cultural tourism stand a chance here? showed up in a rain storm to see the new the activities that threaten them: ing the life of them,” and “getting in touch But the NPS also preserved a Alanen and Smith-Middleton say the pole erected near the park’s cultural cen- • Petrified Forest National Park with the nerves of Mother Earth,” and “wilderness area” in Sleeping Bear, a sec- work they have done in Sitka is partly ter. The ceremony was led by tribal (Arizona): Thievery and vandalism “washing off sins and cobweb cares of the tion of wild growth that had actually about enhancing the experience of the elders, elaborately costumed and wearing results in the park losing twelve devil’s spinning.” Parks for Muir were been a hunting ground created by tourist. But they also recognize that the traditional wooden hats of their clans. tons of fossilized wood each year. positively baptismal. wealthy sportsmen. It’s a completely fab- national parks are fundamentally about It took nearly an hour to pull the totem • Yellowstone (Wyoming): During Fantasy or not, Muir’s legacy is clear. ricated landscape, full of exotic plant protecting something worth seeing. into its place overlooking the waterfront. winter, as many as one thousand Legions of modern-day Muirs have species and animals that you wouldn’t In the years since they began their But the new pole also illustrates just snowmobilers each day descend on headed into the sanctity of national park find anywhere else in northern Michigan, Sitka project, the researchers have been how tricky culture can be to translate for the park (despite laws against rid- grounds not to learn about humans; all shipped in by the hunters for their encouraged by positive sights in Sitka. people who aren’t part of it. Totem poles ing in the park), creating noise and they’ve gone to escape them. amusement. But, because it looks natural, Tlingit dancers have returned to the fort are notoriously hard for non-natives to air pollution. “I think the basic reason that we it now has the full protection and preser- site, where they are again holding cere- interpret properly, and many of their • Denali (Alaska): Snowmobilers, want to go to parks is to forget that we vation efforts of the federal government. monies to honor their fallen ancestors. meanings are cloaked in closely guarded plus plans for new roads and a are social beings,” says Tuan. “We see Environmentalists such as Cronon traditions and folk tales. Even their names resort within park grounds. nature as a place that is beyond the social argue that these sorts of willing delusions “Especially in America, there is can be oblique. Officially, the new pole is • Great Smoky Mountains (Ten- reality that we are normally submerged may end up causing more harm than called the “Indian River Tlingit History nessee/North Carolina): Air pollu- in.” The effect many derive from nature, good. If we become accustomed to ignor- hardly any place that has no Pole.” But the nuance and texture of its tion from vehicles and nearby he says, is similar to what they might ing the human presence in natural areas, human imprint. But on the other Tlingit name, which roughly translates to power plants. seek from a narcotic drug, except that they believe we will end up ignoring the “our grandparents who were the very first • Joshua Tree (California): Pro- nature, along with being cheap and legal, natural influences on human life. We will hand, from a therapeutic view, it people here to use the Indian River and posed landfill near park borders. actually heightens their senses rather fail to think about the oil that heats our may be best not to be reminded the other people who were here, too,” sim- • Stones River National Battlefield than deadening them. So, in a certain homes and fuels our automobiles as prod- of that.” ply can’t be translated. (Tennessee): A planned highway sense, building up notions of human cul- ucts of the natural world, and we’ll Only those who speak Tlingit get the would cut through the park. ture in our natural places may be the deplete our natural resources even as we full picture, and there aren’t many of • Ozarks Scenic Riverways (Mis- intellectual equivalent of a buzz kill. “It’s think that we are protecting them. As Last fall, tribal elders erected a totem them left. Once as large as forty thou- souri): May allow miners to explore a difficult issue,” Tuan says. “Especially Cronon notes, it isn’t oil companies that pole at the site to memorialize the Kik- sand, the number of natives living in the park’s watershed for lead. in America, there is hardly any place that are clamoring to drill in the Alaskan sadi hero of the 1804 battle with the Rus- Alaska is dwindling. Even with the • National Underground Railroad has no human imprint. But on the other wilderness: it’s us. sians. Such a renewed embrace of the efforts to enliven Tlingit culture through Network (various states): Not hand, from a therapeutic view, it may be Heavy thoughts, granted. But park by the Tlingit is “the most important the park, there is a real sense that soon enough money available to restore best not to be reminded of that.” Cronon argues that being aware of how a thing that could come out of our work,” there won’t be any of the Tlingit left. crumbling buildings. During the middle part of the twen- landscape has changed through history — says Smith-Middleton. Only the jet-black eyes of a raven will • Everglades and Big Cypress tieth century, the National Park Service and how history has been changed by a But what will future generations of attest to their history — a solemn, silent (Florida): Off-road vehicle use and went to great lengths to support that landscape — makes exploring nature park visitors know about the Tlingit? monument staring out to sea, a reminder new development near park escapism. In 1962, for example, the NPS more fun and memorable. “Historic mon- Even the tribe members themselves have to the cruise ships that they aren’t the grounds. adopted a policy that “biotic associations uments have a lot of nature in them, and become more concerned about how oth- first to discover the glory of Sitka. • Haleakala (Hawaii): Possible air- within each park be maintained, or natural monuments have history in them,” ers will interpret their culture and history. port expansion and creeping non- and lose it where necessary, recreated, as nearly as he says. “You’ll understand them both In 1996, the main clans of the tribe native plant invasions. possible to the direction that prevailed better if you can see those two things that still live around Sitka — families that Michael Penn MA’97, an associate editor of On Wisconsin, found common ground with many of this when the area was first visited by the simultaneously.” have long histories of internal tensions story’s sources. He, too, fondly recalls visiting the nation’s white man.” Parks across the country How does he know? Because as a and squabbles — jointly sponsored the great parks as a child.

30 ON WISCONSIN SUMMER 2000 31 JOE PASKUS Joann Jones, head of the “Jewish quota.” But UW-Madison wel- Ho-Chunk Nation from 1991–’95, received three comed her, three hours to the north and degrees from the UW — west, and then from Langdon Street to DREAMS after raising four children. the ag campus. She was chosen as the out- standing alumnus of the As part of the university’s sesquicen- year in 2000 by the Indian tennial celebration, we asked alumni to law student association. send in stories about UW grads who also between the pod of a pea found their true calling at the UW, Undeferred and that of a locust tree, whether they knew it at the time or not. he went on to become Via letter, e-mail, and a special Web site, the visionary founder of dozens of amazing stories flooded in our national park system about individuals whose unique univer- Overcoming sometimes daunting odds, (see story, page 26). sity experience helped them to go on to CARLTON HIGH- make a real difference in the world. SMITH ’73, A NORTH these alumni found their true calling ◆ ◆ ◆ CAROLINA native, was at UW-Madison — even if they didn’t denied access to his own WE HEARD FROM EDUARDO SANTANA state university. Improb- ’79, MS’85, PHD’00, A CUBAN WHO WISCONSIN CENTER FOR FILM AND THEATER RESEARCH know it at the time. ably, he says, “this great grew up in Puerto Rico, and gained his university, UW-Madison desire to learn about the natural world ... reached out to a poor, while tromping through the woods with non-resident, African- his father, a contractor who built roads BY SUSAN PIGORSCH ’80 American student and and bridges. With luck, he enrolled at “SHE HAD BEGUN HER COLLEGE curves of the Wisconsin Union Theater, inspired her opus, A Raisin in the Sun. The admitted him because they felt he had Madison at age seventeen. But like Lor- CAREER AWKWARDLY AND IT which was opening the student produc- youngest winner of New York’s Best promise.” He’s now the CEO of one of raine Hansberry, he had trouble finding stayed that way,” writes tion of Juno and the Paycock, by Sean Drama Award, and the fifth woman to the top minority-owned businesses in the his footing. Coming from a high school of Lorraine Hansberry x’52 O’Casey. earn the honor, immediately changed the nation, Specialized Packaging Group. only 350 students, he viewed the Univer- of her Madison experience “An incredible thing happened to her way the African-American experience Joan Lappin ’64, a financial investor sity of Wisconsin as being like a huge in To Be Young, Gifted, and here,” recounts theater manager Michael would be depicted on stage — and even- in New York City, was turned away by monster. He’d had a bad experience as Black. Goldberg ’64. “But first remember that tually embraced in an even more signifi- Northwestern, she says, because of the well, “with a professor who, when I “The point of things eluded she came from Chicago, and that she cant way — at UW-Madison. But that Although she’d been unhappy as an her — things like classes and note-taking and wrote that she wasn’t necessarily a happy part of the story would take two more LN TRUDEL GLENN undergraduate, an experience at the UW lecture and lab. She found most of them camper in Madison. It was a time when generations to develop. would make an enormous impact on Lorraine Hansberry’s life: a play at the Wisconsin unspeakably dull and irrelevant to virtually she was considered not an African-Amer- ◆ ◆ ◆ Union Theater. “I remember rather clearly anything she had ever had on her mind or ever ican, but a Negro.” Coming in from the that my coming had been an accident,” she THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN HAS wrote. “Also that I sat in the orchestra close expected to.” On top of it, she was one of cold that day in the late forties, she col- to the stage: the orchestra of the great only a few African-American students on lapsed into the theater’s earth-colored LONG BEEN THE PLACE WHERE STUDENTS modern building which is the main theater campus at the time, an urban out-of- upholstery, and soaked up O’Casey’s — both the ambitious and the ambivalent plant of the University of Wisconsin.” In the — have found opportunities and intellec- play she saw, Sean O’Casey’s Juno and the stater, and a woman at that. “All that she Irish dialect. She came out in a daze. Paycock, she was touched by “the woman’s imagined college to be had yet to materialize,” “It’s very clear in her book that this was tual insights that would have otherwise voice, the howl, the shriek of misery fitted to Hansberry continues. “The only thing her apotheosis,” Goldberg continues. eluded them. By its very creation, this a wail of poetry that consumed all my senses and all my awareness of human pain, which had not disappointed was — the snow. “It was a life-transforming experience.” land grant institution was designed to endurance and the futility of it.” What, what was it about the snow?” Hansberry had been enraptured by educate individuals with promise — At that moment, the first black O’Casey’s honest ode to the human regardless of pedigree. The children of playwright to win the Best Play of the condition — its Irish drunkards, Irish immigrants needed blue blood to break Year Award from the New York Drama braggart, and Irish liar — who thereby the ice around the Ivy League. But the Critics had not a clue as to what would set the stage for genuine heroes. people of Wisconsin voted to build be her calling. Vikings and Scandinavian “[O’Casey’s] melody was one that I had bridges to their university of higher lore captivated her, yet she was begin- known for a very long while,” Hansberry learning, and invited the world to come ning to become one with the “sound of writes. “I was seventeen, and I did not think to Madison to take part in an unprece- the mighty Congo drum.” To give her then of writing the melody as I knew it — in a dented approach to higher education. soul some respite — perhaps to rest her different key; but I believe it entered my con- John Muir, the son of Scottish immi- grants, came from nearby Portage. Upon In May, Cuban-born Eduardo Santana became the first student of Hispanic origin to receive a eyes from the lake’s flat white — Hans- sciousness and stayed there.” In 1959, at age professional degree in wildlife ecology. He had a rocky start at Madison back in the mid- berry wandered into the modernist twenty-nine, the artist’s epiphany having his epiphany over the similarities seventies, but went on to pursue his passion: the conservation of North American birds.

38 ON WISCONSIN SUMMER 2000 39 ALAN DECKER asked him a question after class, told me It was exactly the right remedy for She was elected to the 1995 Home- New York City between roles staged that I did not belong in college,” he Santana, who lacked real-life experience. coming Court, and spent a semester from Paris and London to San Diego. writes. Fortunately, his adviser, a medical He returned to UW-Madison to earn abroad in Florence, Italy. “It was one of “I had to defer my dream of being an student, suggested that he should talk three degrees, and as of May, he became the most memorable experiences of my actor on campus because there was no with Professor Joe Hickey, a wildlife the first student of Hispanic origin to life,” writes Cotter. “Most importantly, sense of inclusion, ethnic diversity, or ecologist, whose course he’d enjoyed as receive a professional degree in wildlife the people I have met throughout my nontraditional casting. It was a heart- an elective. “My adviser was black,” ecology. As a professor at Mexico’s experience at the university have helped breaking experience.” Santana continues, “so at least I figured University of Guadalajara, he has already me to realize how to reach my future Yet like Lorraine Hansberry, De Hickey wasn’t racist — an important received international awards and recog- goals,” and she hasn’t wasted any time. Shields had no idea that Madison would consideration in as much as I had had nition for his work in the Sierra de Cotter led several “Kids with also offer the transformative experience some ugly experiences in Madison.” Manantlan Biosphere Reserve, where he Courage” reunions for UW patients who of his life. He followed the vanguard who The two got along right away, and focuses on the conservation of birds in have been treated for childhood cancer. demonstrated for the creation of an Santana officially became an undergrad- North America. With her mother, Maury Cotter, director African-American Studies department — uate in the Department of Wildlife “Joe Hickey would be pleased,” San- of UW-Madison’s Office of Quality the first in the Big Ten, and perhaps the Ecology, even though he’d never heard of tana says. “I finally have my ‘union card,’ Improvement, she developed a book first in the nation outside of those in tra- Aldo Leopold and couldn’t identify a which, in this business, is my PhD.” about kids with cancer, and then an ditionally black institutions. common thistle. Professor Hickey was online resource for childhood cancer sur- “The idea of upholding America as a ◆ ◆ ◆ ever-encouraging, Santana says, and he vivors (www.outlook-life.org). melting pot wasn’t just black students earned steady As — that is, until age KELLY COTTER ’98 NOT ONLY FOUND Currently, Cotter is enrolled as a law agitating for representation,” De Shields nineteen. HER FUTURE AT UW–MADISON — student at UW-Madison. “I am interested says. “All of us were losing out on a valu- “All of a sudden, studying wildlife it saved her life. This native of the city in being able to help make a difference,” able education because a demographic of did not seem to be all that relevant,” he was diagnosed with leukemia in 1988. she says, “by being involved with patient the population was being marginalized.” writes. “There were too many problems Under the care of the UW Comprehen- advocacy, medical ethics, and health Amidst this milieu, he was nonetheless to solve in the world and not enough sive Cancer Center, she received a bone policy.” In short, she’s committed to determined to make his mark in the “As is true with all young people,” says André De Shields, “it takes time ... and it takes hind- time. I couldn’t process everything.” He marrow transplant from her then-eight- extending the meaning of public service sight to appreciate those life lessons that you take for granted.” After three decades away, the theater, even if he had to head off cam- would have flunked out, had his prag- year-old brother, Adam. The procedure by giving hope to others. actor has reconnected with the UW to promote a professorship honoring Lorraine Hansberry. pus. He joined the iconoclastic Broom matic professor not suggested that he was a success, and Kelly went on to Street Theater under the direction of ◆ ◆ ◆ drop out instead, and got him a job with explore all that UW-Madison could offer she needed more. “I wanted to learn is taking advantage of one’s educational Stuart Gordon ’69 (also an Emmy win- the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. to an undergraduate. FINDING ONE’S TRUE CALLING DOESN’T about the human services departments, opportunities. ner, whose screenplay became the basis ALWAYS HAPPEN WHEN YOU’RE AN because large numbers of our people are for Honey, I Shrunk the Kids). Then he was ◆ ◆ ◆ undergrad, of course. It can take much served by these agencies,” she recalls. So asked to take a leading role in the Madi- more time — and seasoning — as it did she went on to earn a master’s in sociol- YOU WOULDN’T EXPECT ANDRÉ son Community Theater, now known as for Joann Jones ’82, MS’83, JD’87 of ogy. Then she realized that most Indian DE SHIELDS ’70 TO EVER COME BACK the Madison Rep. Wisconsin Dells. The former president of issues end up in the courts, so she went to the UW. After all, this Emmy winner “It was a precedent-setting experi- the Ho-Chunk Nation originally had no back to school yet again — this time, to and Tony Award nominee was only here ence,” De Shields recalls. “I was twenty- desire to attend college. Raising four earn her third UW degree, in law. for eighteen months in the late sixties. As one when I was cast as El Gallo in their children wherever her spouse’s career Jones was elected tribal president a transfer student, his tumultuous tenure debut production of the Fantasticks. It’s a with Kodak took them was demanding shortly thereafter, when a schism split spanned protests against the Vietnam role that is ordinarily the sole domain of enough. Yet she found time to teach her nation over casino and gaming issues, War, the black student strike, and the white actors, and it was a first in non- Indian culture in the schools of North and what should be done with the mil- Mifflin Street riots. As an African- traditional casting.” It was 1968, and De Carolina, Texas, and Florida. And lions of dollars in profits. American actor, he says he was denied a Shields had met with success, yet he through her work, she discovered that “I foresee all those who want to fur- leading role in any campus production, as brooded for nearly three decades because state and local government aid programs ther their education doing so,” Jones these roles were thought to be written he’d only acted off campus, at alternative to the tribes weren’t succeeding because says of the casino income, echoing the exclusively for white males. And even the venues. there weren’t enough American Indians sentiments of the Wisconsin Alumni alternative student acting troupe he “At a time when the fortresses of with degrees to run them. Association’s American Indian Alumni helped to launch — “Screw Theater, with exclusivity were being challenged and “I wanted to get a political science Council, which has raised more than all puns intended” — was closed down dissolved around this country, the uni- degree so I would know the political $100,000 to help Indian students attend after just two Union Play Circle perfor- versity still institutionalized — I won’t systems Indian people had to deal with,” UW-Madison. “I see UW graduates mances. They were controversial enough, say racism — but racial elitism,” De Jones told On Wisconsin Magazine. Start- returning home with their skills to build in fact, to make their way into Johnny Shields notes. “It wasn’t until 1998 that I ing at age thirty-six, she began her our communities into viable places to Carson’s “Tonight Show” monologues. could do what I had always dreamed of undergraduate degree — and daily com- live.” Jones says it doesn’t matter if “It’s no secret. For thirty years, there doing here: to act while being embraced Cancer survivor Kelly Cotter, shown at graduation with her brother, Adam, has embraced Madi- son’s commitment to public service. She’s led “Kids with Courage” reunions for other UW mute to Madison. But as soon as she had students are seventeen, or forty-seven- was no love lost between me and the uni- by the resources of my chosen profes- patients treated for childhood cancer, and she’s in law school now to study patient advocacy. earned her bachelor’s, she realized that year-old returning adults. What matters versity,” says De Shields, who lives in Continued on page 51

40 ON WISCONSIN SUMMER 2000 41 Dreams Undeferred dents, faculty, and the seasoned alumnus Continued from page 41 brainstormed: What could they do to sion.” In celebration of the Madison make a difference? Rep’s thirtieth anniversary, he accepted “That’s when the whole idea of the the role of Sheridan Whiteside in The Lorraine Hansberry Visiting Professor- Man Who Came to Dinner. ship got started,” De Shields continues. A few months earlier, De Shields Every semester, an individual with both had stepped onto the Union Theater scholarly insights and firsthand knowl- stage for the very first time — on a tour edge of underrepresented ethnic minori- with jazz musician Wynton Marsalis. ties in the dramatic arts will come to campus to assist with student produc- “Those values and those relationships tions and the university’s cultural com- munity. “The hope of the idea is that that have become the foundation of there will be permanent evidence attest- my adult life, and that will carry me ing to the university’s commitment to through for the rest of my life, were diversity,” De Shields explains. “We must realize how everyone’s established in part during the eighteen higher learning experience is diminished months I spent as a student at the because of the ill-conceived approach of homogeneous education,” he concludes. University of Wisconsin.” “We must, we absolutely must, reflect in our approach to education the diverse He’d unexpectedly reconnected with old society that has always prevailed in friends, beginning with the Union’s America.” Michael Goldberg, and something began As a young person, De Shields to change. believed revolution must “happen now, “Although I could not have known it or it won’t happen ever,” he says. “My then, my lifelong friendships were estab- realization as an adult is that revolution lished at Madison, and that’s what’s is a constant thing, a continuum. The important to me,” De Shields says. change has to happen from one genera- “Those values and those relationships that tion to the next, and each successive have become the foundation of my adult generation is informed by the former life, and that will carry me through for the generation. So what we are achieving rest of my life, were established in part now is the seed of change that was not during the eighteen months I spent as a planted first in the sixties, but back in the student at the University of Wisconsin.” fifties” — when playwright Lorraine So it was easy to accept the Madison Hansberry was young, gifted, and black Rep’s invitation to come back to Madi- on campus, and A Raisin in the Sun still son, and to continue to reconnect with clung to the vine. friends such as Zorba Paster ’69 and Ben “It took two full generations of Sidran ’67. “Then Sandy Adell from students passing through the university African Studies and Sally Banes from the to finally say, ‘Enough is enough,’ ” De Department of Theater and Drama asked Shields adds. “We must now do some- me if I could please come and speak to thing concrete and lasting so that the their students,” De Shields remembers. “I mission of the school rings true to a was happy to comply, but dismayed that higher and equal education for all who the African-American students were still pursue those goals.” so few in number, and were still lodging the same concerns that I had thirty years before — that there was very little oppor- Many thanks to interns Kira Winter ‘99 and Jill Cornell ‘99 for coordinating the “Alumni Who Made a tunity for artistic self-expression, and Difference” project. If you know of someone who found that there seemed to be hardly any a starting point at UW-Madison after facing obstacles to education elsewhere, please write to us at “Alumni Who commitment to multiculturalism, blind Made a Difference,” 650 N. Lake Street, Madison, WI casting, and inclusion.” Together, stu- 53706, or e-mail [email protected].

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