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11-1-1999 Macalester Today November 1999 Macalester College

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Gary Hines y74 Musician-bodybuilder leads Grammy-winning m Sounds of Blackness LETTERS

LEASE SEND letters intended for other towns. Violet married a young man publication to Letters to the Editor, Corrections from the town and returned to Minne- Macalester Today, College Relations, apolis to teach and raise a family. We kept P Art Professor Jerry Rudquist will continue Macalester College, 1600 Grand Ave., in touch all these years. I was out of town teaching full time through the 1999-2000 St. Paul MN 55105-1899. You can also for three months and only learned of her academic year, then enter the four-year send your kuer by fax: (651) 696-6192. death reading August's Mac Today. phased faculty retirement program Or by e-mail: [email protected]. in 2000-2001. In August's Macalester Violet was a beautiful woman in body We reserve the right to edit letters for Today, we erroneously reported that and spirit. She had a lovely singing voice conciseness and clarity. he had entered the retirement program which I remember her using to encourage this year. a disparate group of rural kids to embrace and celebrate life. I remember her just last A photo caption on page 18 of the August year still taking classes for life and spirit Student activism issue misidentified one of the alumni enrichment. I WAS very glad to see my uncle, Harris attending a Class of '74 gathering during I loved her. Wofford, featured in the August Mac Reunion Weekend. The photo showed Marian Phocas Johnston '58 Today with two current Macalester Markie Harwood '73 of Springfield, Va., Woodbury, Minn. students. whom we erroneously identified as e-mail: [email protected] While 1 am delighted that Macalester Barbara Mustoe-Monteith '74. Our students are interested in volunteerism, apologies to both Markie, who is a 1 am left wondering whether any current journalist with the Federal Times, and students are involved in activism to Barbara. —the Editors Sport utility vehicles change society. The difference I READ the "Quotable Quotes" in the between the two is whether one August issue and was disappointed by your brings to their work a critical inclusion of Professor Clay Steinmans analysis of the power structures quote on the contribution of SUVs to in our society, and a commit- global warming gases and loosely tying ment and ability to change the them to the "... destruction of those inequality in society. I would natural landscapes" by using "expected to suggest that volunteerism alone account for" sales data in his statement. does very little to change society I would like to see his empirical data in the long run. upon which he based this statement of While I was a student at "destruction" and why you believe this to Macalester, I worked with other be such a "noteworthy comment." I believe students, faculty and staff to ini- the truth is, we do not know all the factors tiate the first Women's and Pictured at a Class of '74 gathering during that cause the sun to heat our planet Earth, Gender Studies Program, and Studies of Reunion last May are (from left) Bob Matters and it is irresponsible to point the finger of American People of Color Program. We '74, Joel Monteith, Markie Harwood '73 (in blame at the gases given off by the SUV for organized effectively around a diversity of back), Loretta Frederick '74, Jane Lin Falle '74, global warming and certainly "for the issues like divestment in South Atrica and Doug Strandness '74 and Doug's wife, Lynette. destruction of those natural landscapes." examining the societal factors leading to Remember we pointed the finger of blame women's inequality and a rape culture. I to support workers' rights, I wonder where at the logging industry for the destruction was deeply grateful to Professors Karen Mac students stand. Could Mac Today of the "only" nesting habitat of the spotted Warren, Peter Rachleff, Emily Rosenberg please cover the current state of student owl, and then we found their nests in the and others for inspiring in me both a criti- activism at Macalester? red"K"ofaK-Martsign! cal analysis and a sense of action to Jen Wofford '89 When I attended Mac, one of our envi- change injustice. Washington, D.C. ronmental concerns was the "return of the Many of us left Macalester having Ice Age." Now just 3Q years later on a gained incredibly useful organizing skills, 5-billion-year-old Earth, we're talking and we are still organizing for social justice about global warming. I think we have a I've been organizing for social justice for Violet BjombergTupper '44 lot more to learn about what is truly hap- 10 years and currently work for the I WAS heartsick to read about the death pening to our planet before we recklessly national AFL-CIO Organizing Depart- of Violet Tupper '44. One may talk about point fingers of blame at objects of truly ment as the Northeast recruitment Mac's tar-reaching influence and lessons unknown impact, especially those like the coordinator. I certainly hope the next gen- taught, retained and spread, but Violet SUV that add safety and quality of life to eration of Mac grads does more than Mary lived them. the people of this planet. Many young simply volunteer on occasion. In a time I was 10 years old when I first met her. impressionable minds may read Professor when many college students are working She was a missionary sent to our very tiny Steinmans quote and take it as truth, not to expose the injustice of sweatshops and town of Starks, Maine, along with another realizing it is only one man's opinion. I do young woman, to teach us elementary not see anything noteworthy in his com- schoolchildren in our brand-new and ment, other than its narrow view of what enlarged three-room schoolhouse every factors affect our environment. Friday. These women also conducted continued on inside back cover church services in our town and three

MACALESTER TODAY ABOUT THIS ISSUE

2 At Macalester Macalester Today Campus Center is named; honoring John B. Davis; Vladimir Nabokov meets Robert Frost; Director of College Relations and other campus news. Doug Stone Executive Editor Nancy A. Peterson 8 Macalester Yesterday Managing Editor Macalester founder Edward Duffield Neill Jon Halvorsen Art Director Elizabeth Edwards 9 Mike Today Class Notes Editor President McPherson reflects on what the Internet can do — and what it can't. Robert Kerr '92 10 Alumni & Faculty Books Macalester College

Chair, Board of Trustees Timothy A. Hultquist '72 13 Hands-on History President Students reach into Israel's past and discover a lot about themselves. Michael S. McPherson Vice President for College Advancement Richard Allen Ammons 16 The 'Minority' View Alumni Director U.S. alumni of color reflect on how Macalester shaped their lives. Second in a two-part series. Elizabeth Rammer Assistant Alumni Director Molly Glewwe 23 Rhyme with a Reason Alumni Director Emeritus Steve Caiman '92 and the art of hip-hop A. Phillips Beedon '28

Macalester Today (Volume SS, Number 1) 24 Blood Ties is published by Macalester College. It is mailed free of charge to alumni and Mixed Blood Theater draws upon Mac theater talents as it pursues Dr. King's dream. friends of the college four times a year. Circulation is 25yOOO. For change of address, please write: 30 Woman's Work Alumni Office, Macalester College, 1600 Grand Ave., St. Paul, MN Sarah Craven '85 acts globally to secure human rights for women. 55105-1899. Or call (651) 696-6295. Toll-free: 1-888-242-9351. To submit comments or ideas, write: 32 Sounds of Healing Macalester Today, College Relations, Gary Hines 74 leads the at the above address. Phone: Sounds of Blackness to Reconciliation. (651) 696-6452. Fax: (651) 696-6192. E-mail: [email protected] 35 Alumni News On the cover Steve Woit Calendar of alumni events photographed Gary page 30 Hines '74 in late August on the Concert Hall 36 Class Notes stage of the Janet Wallace Fine Arts Center at Macalester. See page 32. 48 Macrocosm Kathleen Osborne Vellenga '59 remembers when she and her classmates were 20-somethings.

NOVEMBER 1999 AT MACALESTER

Campus Center College's new gathering place named in honor of alumna Ruth Strieker-Dayton

ACALESTER'S new central gathering place will be called the M Strieker-Dayton Campus Center in honor of Macalester graduate Ruth Strieker-Dayton '57, President Mike McPherson announced in October. Strieker-Dayton and her husband, Bruce B. Dayton, have been major contributors toward the $18.5 million building, which is under construction and will be com- pleted in 2001. Strieker-Dayton has been a member of the college's Board of Trustees from 1978 to 1984 and again since 1995 and also serves on the executive committee of Touch the Future, The Campaign for Macalester College. She is a former presi- dent of the Alumni Association Board of MII1MD Directors and in 1987 received the Distin- guished Citizen Citation, given by the Alumni Association for achievement and for contributions to society and the college. She is owner and executive director of Ruth Strieker-Dayton '57 and her The Marsh, A Center for Balance and daughter Kimberly Strieker '87 Fitness in Minnetonka, and is widely were special guests in 1998 at the known for promoting physical fitness and dedication of George Draper Dayton well-being. Hall. The residence hall includes a In addition to being generous donors to wellness center named after Ruth. the Annual Fund, the couple made major contributions toward construction of a The Student Union had room for new residence hall named for George offices and a Grille, but half the Draper Dayton, founder of the department building space could rarely be store and one of Macalesters first major used. By combining the food ser- benefactors. The Dayton family has been vice with gathering places and active in Macalester College for more than rooms for guest lectures and 100 years. In keeping with Ruth Strieker- other events, Macalester finally Dayton's interest in mind/body health, the will have a place where most residence hall counts a wellness center people will see each other regularly and ger a $1 million "capping" gift from The among its features. where faculty can come to eat and present Kresge Foundation of Troy, Mich. Last uThe Strieker-Dayton Campus Center lectures and engage in discussions." March, the foundation challenged Macal- will be a central part of life on the Macal- He noted that without a campus center, ester to raise $11.5 million to build the ester campus, and we are pleased that it the college has had to hold special events Campus Center. will bear the name of an alumna who has in classroom buildings, isolated from one The college also has two other chal- contributed in so many ways to the college another and with no food service avail- lenge grants: and to our sense of community," said able. "The new building will certainly be a • The Bush Foundation will match McPherson. more attractive venue for student life and dollar-for-dollar campaign gifts of $25,000 The Campus Center will house a dining activities and various campus programs. I to $200,000 from individuals in support of service, a lecture hall, student organization look forward to seeing it completed and to the Campus Center, Kagin renovation or facilities and other services designed to hanging out over there," McCurdy said. endowment priorities. Its contribution will bring the campus community together. The Campus Center is part of the col- be applied to the Campus Center. As of Anthropology Professor David lege's comprehensive fund-raising this fall, $500,000 in contributions had McCurdy, who served on the Campus campaign, which has raised $46 million been raised toward the Bush Foundation s Center Planning Committee, said Macal- toward its goal of $50 million. The cam- $1 million challenge. ester "has never had an effective center. paign will close May 31, 2000. To complete construction of the Cam- • The W.M. Keck Foundation made a pus Center, the college still must raise $300,000 challenge to Macalester in sup- $1 million in gifts, which in turn will trig- MACALESTER TODAY AT MACALESTER

The 270-seat lecture hall will be a Touch the Future, highly visible space within the new Cam- Assistant alumni director The Campaign for pus Center. Housed on the lower level of MOLLY GLEWWE has joined Macalester TAacalester College the new building, the hall will be the site as assistant director of alumni relations. for intellectual and social gatherings Glewwe (pronounced Glov'-ey) came to Goal: $50 million involving students, professors, staff mem- Macalester in August from the Office of bers, alumni and friends. The hall will be Alumni Relations and Development at Allocation: equipped with state-of-the-art Hamline University School • $24 million to endow faculty and technology to support teaching of Law. academic programs and student and other presentations, and A 1998 graduate of the Uni- financial aid and student programs with an assisted-listening versity of Wisconsin-Madison, device. It also will be wheel- • $16 million toward capital projects, she earned a bachelor's degree chair accessible. including new Strieker-Dayton Campus in history and history culture. Center that will become focal point of Volunteers and Development As a student, she served for community activities staff members arc seeking to three years as a member of the raise $1 million for the project. Wisconsin Alumni Student • $10 million for current giving, To learn more about the lecture Board and was involved with including the Annual Fund hall and the opportunity to planning and implementing Raised so far: $46 million as of honor Davis through a gift to campus and community pro- Sept. 30 the project, please contact Tom jects, including alumni Wick, director of development Molly Glewwe weekend. Campaign ends: May 31, 2000 • (651-696-6034, ore-mail: [email protected]). Donors who make commitments of $10,000 or more, which port of a $1 million endowment for sum- can be fulfilled over a multi-year period, U.S. News ranking mer student-faculty research stipends. The will be recognized on a plaque that will be Macalester remains 24th in list college scill muse raise $100,000 toward prominently displayed in the lecture hall. of nation's top liberal arts colleges the $700,000 needed to meet the terms of All donors will be included on a list that MACALESTER remained in 24th place the Keck challenge. will be presented to Davis. among the top 40 national liberal arts col- leges in the latest rankings by U.S. News & World Report. The college tied for 24th John B. Davis last year with Barnard, Colorado College, Lecture hall named after Connecticut College, Oberlin and Uni- Macalester's 13th president versity of the South. THE LECTURE HALL in the new But this year, Ivlacalester was the only Campus Center will he named in college to be ranked 24th, while the other honor of John B. Davis, Macalester's five schools tied for 25th place. 13th president, who served from 1975 In 1998, Macalester moved into the top to 1984. tier of schools, ranking 25th. The college "His breadth of vision and confident ranked 32nd in 1997.'" leadership inspired the colleges fac- The year 2000 edition of "America's ulty, statt and students, strengthened Best Colleges" guidebook arrived at news- ties to our alumni and the larger com- stands in August and is available online at munity, reaffirmed the college's www.usnews.com. commitment to a high-quality liberal U.S. News ranks colleges by seven arts education and put the college on broad categories: academic reputation, solid financial footing," President retention rates, faculty resources, student McPherson said. selectivity, financial resources, graduation Davis retired from Macalester in rate performance (the difference between 1984, the year after his wife, Barbara, actual and predicted graduation rates) and died. Widely admired for his concilia- alumni giving. tory skills, he has been called on to Ivlacalester ranked very strongly in aca- rebuild several troubled institutions in demic reputation — only 16 colleges the Twin Cities. He and his wife, Joy, ranked higher. remain loyal friends of Macalester and In the "Best Values" category which lists have stayed involved in important col- "great schools at great prices," Macalester lege activities, such as the Touch the was 19th among national liberal arts col- Future campaign. In 1992, he received leges. This category looked at areas such as Macalester's Trustee Award for Distin- the percentage of students receiving grants guished and VIeritorious Service. based on need (67 percent at Macalester),

John B. Davis served as president from 1975 to 1984.

NOVEMBER 1999 AT MACALESTER

Body of work Gabriele Ellertson, an art instructor who has taught drawing at Macalester for 14 years, will have a solo exhibition of her work Nov. 19-Dec. 20 in the Macalester Art Gallery. She is pictured with her 1997 painting "Silky Chicken Buddhist Style." In an essay for a catalog accompanying the show, New York art critic Eleanor Heartney wrote: "Gabriele Ellertson was trained as a medical researcher and X-ray technician, and has fought a number of battles with illness on her own and her family's behalf. Such experiences bring a heightened sensitivity to her depictions of the human body. She endows human and animal forms with a poignant vulnerability that grows from her own consciousness of the body's inherent fragility." An opening reception will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday, Nov. 19. More Information: (651) 696-6416

the average cost a student pays after receiving grants ($15, 361) and the average discount from the total cost (the Macalester with a reduced teaching the Macalester Festival Chorale during the percentage of total costs including tuition, schedule. past seven years. During this time the room and board, fees, books and other Edwards first taught at Macalester in Chorale, an ensemble of 85-120 student expenses covered by the average need- 1974 and joined the full-time faculty in and community singers, has performed a based grant). 1978 after a national search. In addition to broad range of repertoire for large, enthusi- In another category, which did not teaching conducting, women making astic audiences both on and off campus. affect the rankings, Macalester tied for music, and various music history and liter- Their performances have balanced inno- third in the proportion of international ature courses, she has successfully directed vative and canonic works from chant by students (11 percent). Last year, the col- lege tied for second. In the overall rankings of national Clews o/2003 liberal arts colleges, Swarthmore ranked No. 1, followed by Amherst, Williams and • Number: 460 (271 women, 189 men); 3,161 applications, highest total ever Wellesley. • Regional distribution by high school: -23% Minnesota -7% West/Southwest J. Michele Edwards -28% other Midwest -4% Southeast Music professor retiring after 25 years; -15% New England/Mid-Atlantic -3% Mid-South holds dual appointment in Women's -7% Northwest -13% outside U.S. and Gender Studies Program • Largest school delegations: 7 students from South High School, Minneapolis; 5 each J. MICHELE from George Washington High School, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Red Cross Nordic United World College in Norway; 4 each from Marshall School, Duluth, Minn., Hopkins EDWARDS, profes- High, Hopkins, Minn.; Mayo High, Rochester, Minn.; Kodaikanal International School, sor of music with India; and American School, Japan dual appointment in the Women's and • Nations represented (by citizenship): 40 Gender Studies Pro- • U.S. students of color: 77, or 17% of the entering U.S. students, largest number gram, will retire in entering class since 1992 effective June 2001. -33 Asian American -16 Hispanic During the next two -21 African American -7 Native American academic years, • Children of alumni: 15; 7 with a grandparent who attended Macalester; Edwards will con- 20 who are following one or more siblings to Mac tinue her work at • Academic distinctions:

J. Michele Edwards -42 National Merit Scholars and Finalists -51 ranked 1st or 2nd in class • Most common female names: Emily (11), Anna, Elizabeth and Jennifer (6 each) • Most common male names: Daniel (7), Andrew, Benjamin and David (6 each) • MACALESTER TODAY AT MACALESTER

A new year begins President McPherson and Student Government President Collin Mothupi '00 (Johannesburg, South Africa), left, were the speakers at the opening convocation in September. It began with the traditional procession led by the Pipe Band and the flags of the countries represented in the student body. The convocation concluded with a prayer for peace read by five students, each in her or his native language. They included Ironelly Mora '00, below, of Elizabeth, N.J, a native of the Dominican Republic, who read the prayer in Spanish.

President McPherson spoke of beginning "a new era for planning at Macalester." Through a set of facilitated conversations, "we aim to involve literally hundreds of Macalester people this fall—students, faculty, staff, alumni, trustees—in focused discussions of our core values and purposes," McPherson said. The starting point will be a Statement of Purpose and Belief created by the faculty in 1971. The president said the goal is to have a statement ready to bring to the Board of Trustees by the end of February that will "collectively affirm what we stand for." The real challenge, he said, "will be to translate those principles into action."

curricular development focusing on women of color. Hildegard von Bingen to world premieres a newly commissioned work by inter' Reflecting on her 25 years of teaching at along with numerous major choral- nationally recognized composer Libby Macalester, Edwards said, "I have thor- orchestral works such as Haydn's The Larsen and this spring to record Marta oughly enjoyed working with the students Creation and requiems by Verdi, Brahms Ptaszyhska's Holocaust Memorial Cantata at Macalester. They are bright, creative and Mozart. for commercial CD. and often willing to challenge conven- In diverse thematically organized pro- Edwards also contributed to the forma- tional ideas. I have learned a great deal grams, Edwards and the Chorale have tion of the Women's and Gender Studies from their questions and their willingness collaborated with local musicians, includ- Program at Macalester and gave strong to probe. In addition to their expanded ing Sowah Mensah and the Macalester leadership as director during crucial years knowledge and experience of music, I African Ensemble in "Music of the of growth and expansion during the late hope students leave my classes with an African Diaspora," and with a Jewish Can- 1980s and 1990s. Her terms as director array of life skills." tor and an Islamic ensemble in "Jerusalem marked an era that included increased stu- Provost Dan Hornbach said Macal- 3000." Under Edwards' baton, Festival dent and faculty involvement, hiring of ester wishes Edwards continued Chorale was invited to appear in Rose- the program's first full-time faculty mem- professional success. mary Clooney's White Christinas program ber, development of a major in women's with the Minnesota Orchestra, to present studies, the move into new offices in Old Main and a Ford Foundation grant for NOVEMBER 1999 AT MACALESTER

Book Keeping Works by Nabokov and Frost strengthen library's collection of rare books

HAT DO Vladimir Nabokov, studies and was active in theater at Macal- friendships there. We are really very happy the Russian emigre novelist, ester, where he met and studied with the that Macalester has his Nabokov collec- W and Robert Frost, the New Eng- Russian poet Josef Brodsky during one tion because David's interest in Russian land poet, have in common? semester. He earned a master of library sci- literature was nurtured at Macalester, par- Rave, signed and first-edition works by ence degree from Columbia University in ticularly through his association with both writers constitute the two most recent 1984- Co-founder of the Archive of Con- Professor David Lowe." major sifts to the rare books collection in temporary Music of New York in 1986, he The Frost books were a gift in 1997 Macalester's DeWitt Wallace Library. also worked in rare-book collecting, spe- from the Foster family: David A. Foster '67 First organized in cializing in the of Minneapolis, his three siblings and their 1961-62, the calleo ^ """ works of Nabokov, tion boasts such 'Our focus for building Stanley Elkin and treasures as a first edi- his friend David tion of Samuel the collection is on American Mamet. His long fas- Johnsons 1755 Dictio- authors who achieved cination with film na)"y and Diderot's culminated in No, prominence in the first half 13-volume Encyclope- But 1 Saw the Movie, dia. But most of the of the 20th century.' an anthology of books are by Ameri- short stories which can writers, such as — Bruce Willms he edited and which Willa Gather, Kay was first published in Boyle, Hamlin Gar- 1989. David land, William Faulkner, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Wheeler died in 1997 in New York City. Edna St. Vincent Millay and Sinclair Among the Nabokov works given to Lewis. The library has 287 works by Lewis Macalester are a 1955 first edition oiLolita alone, far more than by any other author. published by Paris Olympia Press and a "Our focus for building the collection is 1967 Russian translation of the novel, on American authors who achieved promi- done by Nabokov himself and inscribed in nence in the first half of the 20th century. Russian and autographed by Nabokov. It just makes sense to build on that The latter work has been valued at $6,000 strength," says Bruce Willms, who is in by a professional appraiser. charge of collection development at the "David was an ardent collector. It was a library. "We didn't have any Nabokov in passion for him," his mother said. "People the rare books collection until this gift was tell me they were so amazed by the knowl- proposed, but he fits our criteria. Collec- edge and information he had at his tions like these tend to appreciate. One of fingertips. Macalester was a very important the things that adds to its value is the com- part of his life. He made very dear, lasting pleteness, the Above: Bruce Willms holds a comprehens i veness 1955 first edition of Lolita, of the collection." given to Macalester from the About 50 first- collection of the late David edition works by Wheeler '80 (pictured at his Nabokov in the col- graduation on page 7) by his lection of the late mother and two brothers. The library has also received a David F. Wheeler '80 major gift of works by Robert were given to Macal- Frost. They include the book ester in 1998 by his New Hampshire, which Frost mother, Charys dedicated "To Vermont and Wheeler o( Geneva, Michigan." In April 1950 he 111., and brothers Tim- wrote on this gift copy to a othy of San Diego friend: "Also to New Jersey, and Eric Wheeler '70 Colorado, Massachusetts and of LaCrosse, Wis. Iowa where to my certain knowledge my friend Charles David Wheeler H. Foster has lived and majored in English flourished." Foster, who died literature and Russian in 1995, was the father of Macalester alumnus David A. Foster '67.

MACALESTER TODAY AT MACALESTER late parents, Charles and Doris Foster. they wanted it to he "a significant contri- Trustees Award Charles, a University of Minnesota Eng- bution to a rare books collection rather William George of Medtronic lish professor and hook colleetor who died than just another contribution." The recognized for his philanthropy in 1995, was a elose college has also friend and former received many and community leadership student of the other hooks from FORMER TRUSTEE William W. George, poet's at Amherst Charles Foster's who heads Medtronic, Inc., received the College. collection. eighth annual Macalester Board of Trustees N lost of the "My father went Award for Meritorious and Distinguished 11 Frost hooks in to Amherst because Service in September. the collection he had a vision of George, a college trustee from 1987 to include Frost's being a poet," 1993, has "served with enthusiasm, distinc- handwritten greet- David Foster said. tion and a strong sense of values as a ings CO Foster, who "He started corre- corporate CEO and chairman, community was 30 years his sponding with Frost leader, philanthropist" and trustee, the cita- junior, and his wife. In one hook, a 1942 before he got to college. The impression tion said. "Your leadership qualities and first edition of A Witness Tree, Frost wrote: 1 had growing up was that my father, in style are an inspiration not only to your "Charles Foster thinks I have a lovers many respects, felt a lot closer to Frost employees and colleagues, hut to the young quarrel with the world'1—the famous than he did to his own father. Frost was men and women of Macalester and other phrase that was later used on Frost's tomb- inspiring him to do what he wanted to. colleges throughout stone. The Foster collection also includes My grandfather and Frost actually had a the community." 17 Christmas cards that Frost sent to his confrontation in Amherst, Massachusetts, George joined friend and other Frost ephemera. one day about young Charlies future." Medtronic, Inc., the David Foster said he and his siblings To make sure the books are well world's leading wanted to keep the Frost collection preserved, they are kept in a climate- medical technology together and Liave it to Macalester because controlled room. company, in 1989 as president and chief operating officer. He was elected CEO in Quotable Quotes 1991 and became chairman of the HERE ARE SOME of the noteworthy eomments made recently on and around the campus: hoard in 1996. In 1997, he William George "EMILY S. ROSENBERG'S scholastics are so great at a Division III served as general chairman of the United [new] book, Financial Missionaries to the school, you don't expect favors by being a Way of Minneapolis campaign, contribut- World: The Politics and Culture of Dollar soccer player. The school realizes that. We ing $1 million to United Way himself. Diplomacy, 1900-1930 (Harvard haven't taken advantage of anything, and His family also became members of the University Press), is an example of what people respect that," "One Percent Club," donating 1 percent of might be called the new diplomatic Kate Ryan-Reiling '00, All-American their net worth annually to charitable orga- history—grounded in multi-archival midfielder and co*captain on the Macalester nizations. He, his wife, Penny, and their research and cognizant of recent women's soccer team, quoted in a Sept. 6 two sons, Jeff and Jon, have also established developments in cultural studies. Ms. St. Paul Pioneer Press article on the "Scots' the George Family Foundation to benefit Rosenberg, a historian at Macalester encore performance" as the women prepared many causes. College, examines the diplomatic practice to defend their national championship George has served as vice chair oi the of financial strong-arming through U.S. Minneapolis Institute of Arts, chair of coordination of private-bank loans to "UNFORTUNATELY, many colleges Abbott Northwestern Hospital, president developing economies. Her book is rilled and universities are producing biologists of the Guthrie Theater and member of the not only with the murmuring of diplomats, whom Herbert Marcuse would have Harvard Business School Board of Direc- but with the holler of pop culture as well." referred to as 'unidimensional.1 They are, tors. In 1998, he was named one o( the The Chronicle of Higher essentially, illiterate biologists who have "Top 25 Managers" in the world by Education, in a Sept. 24 article by never read Theodosius Dobzhansky, Ernst Business Week and one of the "Top Five Jefj Sharlet on diplomatic Mayr, Richard Dawkins, or even Executives of the Decade" by Twin Cities historians. For more on Darwin—to the point where they believe Business magazine. Professor Emily that if you know how to operate a Previous recipients of the Trustees Award Rosenbergs book, see sequencer, you know how to do science. have included Kofi Annan '61, Walter page 11. To answer the larger questions in biology, Mondale '50, former Macalester President we need to provide our students with John B. Davis, Jr., former Macalester "WE'RE RESPECTED broader perspectives and an appreciation Trustees Carl B. Drake, Jr., Mary Lee on campus. We did this of science as a human endeavor." Dayton and Margaret Weyerhaeuser through hard work, doing Aldemaro Romero, a Macalester Harmon, and Bruce B. Dayton. O our homework, eating professor and director of the Environmental well and getting Studies Program, in a letter published in the enough sleep. The Sept. 24 New York Times. • NOVEMBER 1999 MACALESTER YESTERDAY

munity movers and shakers. And finally, The single-minded Neill created ideas better than he could execute them. He ultimately returned to man who invented the Presbyterian Church when he realized the cost to Macalester of his departure. Macalester College The Presbyterian Synod of Minnesota adopted Macalester at the end of 1880, by Rebecca Gonzalez-Campoy '83 and Neill offered to resign as president of the college to make way for a Presbyterian. N 1999, the 125th anniversary year However, he made it clear he would agree of the signing of Macalester's charter, to the transfer of the college to the synod I it's only fitting to feature the college's only if the college remained exclusively for founder, Edward Dufheld Neill. men, even though nothing in the school Neill and his wife came to Minnesota in charter prohibited coeducation. 1849, the year the Territory of Minnesota Baldwin School suffered serious finan- was established. An eager pioneer and cial problems. Meanwhile, the Macalester Presbyterian missionary from Philadelphia trustees bought the land where the Macal- via Galena, 111., Neill began a long career ester campus now stands in 1881. In a devoted to the ministry and education. letter to W.W. McNair, secretary of Macal- He was called Minnesota's "apostle" of ester's Board of Trustees, Neill offered his education. "Neill adapted to the new Northwest the rich heritage of privately- Edward Duffield Neill, 1823-93 endowed education in the East, of which he was a product," wrote Macalester Pro- Born: Philadelphia, Aug. 9, 1823 fessor J. Huntley Dupre. Neill was one of the first trustees of edu- Education: University of Pennsylvania; cation and the first secretary of the Board Amherst, bachelor's degree, 1842; attended Andover Seminary (Delaware), of Education of St. Paul; the first superin- 1844; private instruction for the ministry tendent of schools of the Territory; the founder of Baldwin School and of the Col- Married: Nancy Hall, 1847; lege of St. Paul; the superintendent of five children public instruction of the new state; the Macalester career: first chancellor of the yet-unorganized founder and University of Minnesota; and the founder president, of the short-lived Jesus College. All this 1874-84; before he founded Macalester and served professor of Edward Duffield Neill, in old age history, English literature as its professor of history, English literature and youth and political economy. and political economy, 1884-1893 Neill left Minnesota for a decade, first seriously. He didn't believe the to serve as chaplain of the Minnesota First country needed any more edu- Died: Sept. 26, 1893 Regiment during the Civil War. He gave cational institutions. However, comfort to wounded soldiers during heavy he said he would be happy to fighting in the battles of Bull Run, Fair stand corrected. And Neill was just the library of 500 Oaks and Malvern Hill. He later held man to do it. Before his death in 1873, books and wrote: positions in the Lincoln, Andrew Johnson Macalester deeded his Winslow House in "It becomes us to and Grant administrations. what is now Minneapolis) to the cause provoke each other to He returned to Minnesota "with the with two caveats: Neill had to raise do good, and to go forward in determination of building up a College for $25,000 for the college's endowment and the grand work of building up a broad col- young men upon a broad Christian basis," the college had to be named after lege in this vast North-West Territory he wrote. His first effort—Jesus College— Macalester. which in the words of the 'Ordinance of failed because of lack of public support for By December 1874, Neill had the 1787' will promote religion, knowledge college education to supplement the newly endowment money in hand and the char- and morality, the essentials of good formed University of Minnesota. ter was signed. Baldwin School became continued on page 47 Neill turned to Charles Macalester, an Macalester's preparatory department. But elderly millionaire philanthropist, for sup- Macalester College remained nothing but port of his educational interests. At first, a name and a hope for several years. This is the ninth in a series of profiles of great Macalester didn't take Neill's proposals Neill left the Presbyterian Church in figures in Macalester's history by Rebecca 1874 for the Reformed Episcopal Church. Gonzalez-Campoy 'S3, a writer who lives in His departure alienated many of the peo- Shoreview, Minn, ple whose support he needed to get Macalester College off the ground. His decade-long absence from Minnesota had left him out of touch with the new corn-

MACALESTER TODAY MIKE TODAY

The answer, boiled down to a word, is simultaneity here that is, often, most Will the Internet relationships. Even in that rarity at Macal- cheaply and effectively achieved by just ester, a large lecture course, a relationship getting everybody in the same room. Pre- replace the classroom/ is forged between professor and students sumably this is why lots of people in the over the course of a semester. The oppor- computer and networking industries spend Let's discuss. tunity to track the lecturers thoughts and much of their lives on airplanes, flying to expressions, to sense the rhythm of an conferences for real meetings. Chat rooms by Michael S. McPherson unfolding narrative, can't be duplicated by and e-mail lists are a great extension of" the reading a transcript or reviewing notes. discussion in class, but not a satisfactory HERE HAS BEEN a flurry of news Even video and audio recording won't do substitute. stories lately about several Web it: why else do people pay a fortune to see All this is only one dimension of the T sites where notes Shakespeare in a theater rich interaction that is central to the resi- from college classes are or risk lung cancer by dential college experience. From the posted for free. Managers of venturing into smoky laboratory to the studio, from the playing the Web sites pay people to clubs to hear jaz: per- field to the student government, there is a sit in the classes and take formed live? Moreover, density of interaction in the residential col- notes, and hope to clear a any skilled lecturer will lege setting that computers are very far profit by selling advertising tell you that the facial from duplicating. expressions and body lan- to the sites' patrons. The ONE OF THIS is cause for compla- guage of the audience immediate responses from cency about what we do or for hostil- provide important cues N faculty and university offi- ity to new educational technologies. There to the lecturer—hard cials at the schools from are lots of things computers and the Inter- ones to duplicate in which notes originated was net can do as well as or better than cyberspace. to want the sites to disap- humans, and much more cheaply. I had a pear, owing to worry about Still, if college were professor in graduate school who used to the impact on class atten- only big, rather imper- read to us from his econometrics book. He • dance and about the sonal lectures (and, sadly, was obsolete 30 years ago, or 200 (indeed, professors' or the universi- at some schools it's not Adam Smith decried the same practice at ties' copyright in the much more), then the Oxford in the 18th century), but the Inter- material being given away. Internet might be a net has made it clearer than ever that the These are both legitimate concerns, but decent substitute. But college can be so mechanical conveying of information is it is inconceivable in this Internet age that, much more. Most Macalester classes rely best left to machines. There are a thousand in the long run, colleges and universities heavily on a discussion format — on an ways in which these new technologies can can prevent sites like these, or their func- intense, multi-layered conversation among extend our reach and can free us to do our tional equivalents, from coming to be. Any students and the professor. To track the real work better, and we have only fact, idea, turn of phrase or piece of argu- levels of that conver- scratched the sur- ment that can be uttered in a lecture hall sation in real time, to face. With the help can be written down on a page, and any- relate your own evolv- Any veteran teacher of discussion of generous grants thing that can be written down will, sooner ing thoughts and classes will tell you the experience from the Andrew or later—and probably sooner—hnd its reactions to those of Mellon Foundation, way onto the World Wide Web. Moreover, your colleagues emerg- is like nothing else in their lives. a number of our fac- it has to be an uncomfortable thing for fac- ing along with It is as deeply rewarding an activity ulty are actively ulty members or colleges to find themselves yours—this is hard to engaged in projects in the position of trying to suppress the free duplicate in front of a as any I have known. and workshops transmission of information. If someone monitor. Any veteran exploring the uses of can learn from a professor's notes posted on teacher of discussion these technologies classes will tell you the experience is like the Web, we ought to make sure the profes- for learning in and out of the classroom. sor gets compensated for them, but we nothing else in their lives. The teacher needs a kind of "dual consciousness": fol- As we explore new educational tech- oughtn't want to hide them from students nologies and refine old ones, we must never who could benefit from them. lowing the threads of talk in the room and, at the same time, tracking the trajec- lose sight of what lies at our core. Our job So this small incident raises a rather tory of the discussion she had in mind in at Macalester — and it is not easy — is to large question: what exactly do colleges designing the class. It is, in my experience, make sure that we deliver on the promise and universities provide to their students as deeply rewarding and physically drain- of genuine human interaction in a frame- that can't be replaced by a Pentium II com- ing an activity as any I have known. work designed to promote personal, social puter with a fast Ethernet connection? and intellectual growth, and that we do How, to bring the point home, can we jus- Interactive video teleconferencing can this in everything we do, every day. I tify asking families to pay upwards of a get you part way there, and that technol- hundred thousand dollars for their son's or ogy will surely find greater use as time goes daughter's education at Macalester College on, but real time, "live" interaction will Mike McPherson, the president of at a time when the world's collected wis- still require everybody involved to plunk Macalester, writes a regular column for dom is increasingly available with the click down in front of their monitor at the same Macalester Today. of a mouse? time and give the group their undivided attention. There is a need for physical

NOVEMBER 1999 9 ALUMNI & FACULTY BOOKS

Courageous women; Dollar Diplomacy; murder in Boston Shaping the Discourse on Space: ume brings together 19 essays that offer memory movement, America in the grip Charity and Its Wards in Nineteenth' innovative approaches to a class-conscious of an "amnesia plague" and the need for Century San Juan, Puerto Rico pedagogy. stories about the past to help organize by Teresita bAarttnez-Vergne (University Sherry Lee Linkon is a professor oi the present. of Texas Press, 1999. 235 pages, $32.50 English and coordinator of the American Among the contributors arc Macalester hardcover, $17.95 paperback) studies program at Youngstown State Uni- Professor of English Emeritus Alvin As an inchoate middle class emerged in versity, where she is also co-director Greenberg, Patricia Hampl, early 19th century Puerto Rico, its mem- of the Center for Working-Class Margot Livesey, James bers sought to control not only public Studies, Alan McPherson and space but the people, activities and even Sylvia Watanabe. attitudes that filled it. Their instruments In Memory of My Feelings: Baxter is the author, were the San Juan town council and the Frank O'Hara and American Art most recently, of the fiction Casa de Benehcencia, a state-run charita- by Russell Ferguson '77 (University collection Believers and ble establishment charged with of California Press, 1999. 160 pages, BurningDown the House: responsibility for the poor. $39.95 cloth) Essays on Fiction. He was In her new book, Macalester history American poet Frank O'Hara recently honored with an Professor Teresita Martinez-Vergne, a (1926-66) was intimately involved Academy Award in Litera- native of Puerto Rico, with the art world of the ture from the American explores how municipal offi- 1950s and '60s, a tune when Academy of Arts and cials and the Casa New York had become the charles E Letters. de Benehcencia shaped the cultural capital of the world. As an discourse on public and pri- associate curator at the Museum of 1001 Ways to Market Your Books vate space and thereby Modern Art, he organized a series by John Kremer '71 (Open Horizons, marginalized the worthy of important exhibitions, notably of 1998. 704 pages, $27.95) poor and vagrants, indigent the work of Franz Kline and Robert This is the fifth edition of what has and unruly women, Motherwell. become a standard reference work in the destitute children and In this book, Russell Ferguson, book industry for promoting books. "liberated" Africans. Her associate curator at The Museum of John Kremer has been the editor of the research clarifies the ways in Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, Book Marketing Update newsletter for more which San Juan's middle explores this key period in modern than 13 years. He is also the author or class defined itself in the >Vergne art by presenting artists who were Book Marketing Made Easier, High-Impact midst of rapid change. Her book also offers associated with O'Hara and whose seminal Marketing on a LowAmpact Budget (Prima insights into notions of citizenship and the works are reflected in his poetry. Featuring Publishing), and the Complete Direct Mar- process of nation-building in the Caribbean. more than 80 works by 23 artists, the book keting Sourcebook (John Wiley & Sons). focuses on works closely tied to specific poems by O'Hara, notably Jasper Johns' Teaching Working Class Published a book? edited by Sherry Lee Linkon '81 "In Memory of My Feelings — Frank (University oj Massachusetts Press, 1999. O'Hara" and Grace Hartigan's "Oranges." Editors' note: If you have published 344 pages] $60 cloth, $18.95 paperback) The exhibition, "In Memory of My or contributed to a book recently, we This book explores the possibilities and Feelings: Frank O'Hara and American would like to mention it in Macalester problems that arise in teaching working- Art," is being held at The Museum oi Today. Some publishers send us news of class students, who have made up an Contemporary Art in Los Angeles through books by alumni and faculty authors, but increasing proportion of students enrolled Nov. 14, 1999; at The Wexner Center for many others do not. Hence, we often must in higher education since the 1970s. At the Arts in Columbus, Ohio, from Jan. 28 rely on authors themselves to let us know the same time, working-class studies has to April 16, 2000; and the Parrish Art about a book, or to make certain their emerged as a new academic discipline, Museum in Southampton, N.Y., in May publishers notify us. updating a long tradition of scholarship on 2000. To have a book mentioned in these labor history to include discussions of pages, send us a publisher's press working-class culture, intersections of class The Business of Memory: The Art of release or similar written announcement with race and ethnicity, and studies of the Remembering in an Age of Forgetting that includes the following: title, name of representation of the working class in pop- edited by Cliarles Baxter '69 (Graywolf publisher, year of publication, retail price ular culture. These developments have Press, 1999. 256 pages, $ 16 paperback) (if known), number of pages, a brief, fac- generated new ideas about teaching that For another volume in the Graywolf tual description of the book, and brief, incorporate both a sensitivity to the Forum Series, novelist and short-story factual information about the author (such working-class roots of many students and writer Charles Baxter asked a dozen as professional background or expertise the inclusion of course content informed other creative writers to reflect on relating to the book's subject). A review by an awareness of class culture. This vol- memoir, memory and forgetfulness in an copy is welcome but not necessary if all of information-driven society. The resulting this information is provided. essays address such topics as the explosion The address, e-mail, fax and phone of interest in the memoir, the recovered- numbers for Mac Today are on page 1. • i o MACALESTER TODAY ALUMNI & FACULTY BOOKS

For more information: Open Horizons, porary debates about the nature of restruc- The Voice That Was in Travel P.O. Box 205, Fairheld, IA 52556-0205. turing processes and their interconnection by (University oj Oklahoma Phone: 1-800-796-6130 or (515) with public policy. The importance of Press, 1999. 116 pages, $19.95 cloth) 472-6130. E-mail: JohnKremer® words and their manipulation is In 20 stories, ranging in length from bookmarket.com. Fax: (515) 472-1560. emphasized. one-page vignettes to novellas, Macalester Web: http://www.bookmarket.com David Knight is dean of the College of English Professor Diane Glancy offers Social Science at the University of insights into contemporary American Financial Missionaries to the Guelph m Ontario, Canada. Indian life and the sense of displacement World: The Politics and Culture her Indian travelers endure. Whether the of Dollar Diplomacy, 1900-1930 A Cinderella Affidavit characters are working or on pleasure trips, by Emily S. Rosenberg (Harvard by Michael Fredrickson '67 in Oklahoma, the back roads of Arkansas University Press, 1999. 352 pages, (Forge Books, 1999. 384 or Italy, their journeys are always super- $45 doth) pages, $25.95 cloth) imposed on the memories of old tribal A volatile global economy is A legal thriller inspired migrations. challenging the United States to by a famous murder case This volume is part of the American rethink its financial policies in Boston, Michael Indian Literature and Critical Studies toward economically troubled Fredrickson s first novel con- Series. The general editors are Gerald countries. In this book, Macalester cerns a routine drug raid Vizenor and . history Professor Emily Rosenberg gone awry. When a police Glancy is also the author of a new suggests that perplexing questions officer is killed executing a novel, Fuller Man (Moyer Bell). Set in about how to standardize practices Michaei Fredrickson '67 no-knock search warrant in rural Missouri, it is the story of the within the global financial system, and Bostons Chinatown, the cops arrest and Williges family, a thereby strengthen market economies in charge a man for the crime but the court family divided, and unstable areas of the world, go back to the orders them to produce the confidential Hadley, the obser- early decades of this century. Then, "dollar snitch whose information was the basis for vant narrator. diplomacy1'—the practice of extending the warrant. The book's title is a term used Hadley's father private U.S. bank loans in exchange for by cops and prosecutors for an affidavit is a newspaper financial supervision over other nations — that relies on fictitious information, usu- reporter and his provided America's major approach to sta- ally a fake snitch. free-wheeling inde- bilizing economies overseas and expanding Fredrickson is the general counsel to the pendence and its influence. Board o\ Overseers, the agency in charge absences from the In her interdisci- of prosecuting attorneys for legal wrong- family are the source plinary study, doing in the state of Massachusetts. A of bitter fights Rosenberg shows Rhodes Scholar, he studied English litera- between him and his how U.S. loans- ture and language at Oxford University wife. Their stormy Diane Glancy for-supervision and earned a law degree from Harvard Law relationship influences each of the three arrangements with School. He lives in Watertown, Mass. children in profound ways. other countries Glancy and Mark Nowak, a professor at became central to Women of Courage: Inspiring Stories the College of Saint Catherine, have foreign policy from the Women Who Lived Them co-edited Visit Teepee Town: Native debates during the by Katherine Lane Martin '70 Writings After the Detours (Coffee House 1920s, when (New World Library, 1999. 369 pages, Press, 1999), an anthology dedicated to increasingly vocal $14.95 paperback) postmodern Native American poetry and critics at home and Women of Courage features the stories of poetics. It features work by such writers as abroad assailed dollar diplomacy as a new 41 women who have had life-changing , Lise MeCloud, Barbara form of imperialism. She explores how experiences and called Tedlock and Peter Blue Cloud. such arrangements were related to broad upon their inner Glancy is also the author of The cultural notions of racial destiny, profes- resources to conquer Cold-and-Hunger Dance (University of sional expertise and the virtues of challenges and grow Nebraska Press, 1998), a collection oi manliness. She seeks to illuminate the stronger. Among the essays influenced by her Cherokee heri- dilemmas of public/private cooperation in women who shared their tage and Christian faith. They offer an foreign economic policy and the incalcula- stories are polar explorer imaginative account of journeys to and ble consequences of exercising financial Ann Bancroft, writer from the margins of memory, everyday power in the global marketplace. , artist life and different cultural worlds. Being Judy Chicago, marketing a "marginal voice in several worlds," Restructuring Societies: guru Faith Popcorn, she feels empowered "to tell several Insights from the Social Sciences actress Sharon Gless and stories at once." She describes the co-edited by David Knight '64 (Carleton physician Elizabeth migratory process oi Native Ameri- Pirruccello NewhuIL can storytelling and the narrative University Press, 1999) Katherine Lane Martin This multi-disciplinary examination of Katherine Martin is a societal change due to economic and former senior editor of New Realities maga- social "restructuring11 considers contem- zine, an author and screenwriter. She lives in Lake Oswego, Ore. NOVEMBER 1999 11 ALUMNI & FACULTY BOOKS multivocality it produces as a "cold-and- the college during its first half-century. He ducted at the Institute for Defense Analy- hunger dance." was also involved in many of the major sis in Princeton, N.J. Eventually involving Chax Press in Tucson, Ariz., has also educational and social issues of his time. more than a hundred researchers from recently published two books of poetry by Strongly opposed to slavery, he spent three around the world, the problem was finally Glancy, The Closets oj Heaven and months in England in 1863 seeking to win solved by Doron Zeilberger at Temple (Ado) ration. greater support for the Northern cause. University in 1995. Iver Yeager is Scarborough Professor Bressoud also describes the serendipity To Heal the Scourge of Prejudice: Emeritus of Religion and Philosophy at that often occurs when mathematicians The Life and Writings of Hosea Easton Illinois College. An ordained minister of chase the solution to a good problem. In edited by Ceorge R. Price and James the United Church of Christ, he is also this case, the solution spawned a host of Brewer Stewart (University oj Massachusetts the author of Church and College on the new questions and revealed deep struc- Press, 1999. 123 pages, $30 doth, $14.95 Illinois Frontier, 1829-1867. tures that no one thought had existed. paperback) Bressoud also uses the story of the search Hosea Easton (1799-1837), a black Scooter Mania! for proof as a frame from which to hang minister, activist and intellectual from by Eric Dregni '90 (MB/ Publishing Co., introductions to interesting mathematical New England, rose to prominence in the 1998. 96 pages, $14.95) topics, including generating functions, lS20s and '30s by joining the struggle of Scooter Mania! charts the history of determinant evaluation techniques, parti- free African Americans to resist Southern motor scooters from their dawn when tion theory, symmetric functions and slavery and secure racial equality. From Amelia Earhart sang their hypergeometric series. Usually this experience he developed a deep praises through the popular film viewed as unrelated, they all understanding of the problem of "race" in Roman Holiday to the present- played a role in the ultimate the United States and became a trenchant day revival. Eric Dregni's text is solution of the problem. critic of white supremacy and its devastat- complemented by more than The first two chapters of the ing consequences. SO illustrations. The cover book are being used this fall in This volume, edited by Macalester his- photo shows Tim Gartman '89 Bressoud's first-year seminar, tory Professor Jim Stewart and George on his Lambretta TV 175. "Discrete Mathematics: The Price, who teaches Native American stud- Art of Counting." ies at Salish Kootenai College and the Comprehensive Volleyball University of Mon- Statistics: A Guide for Healing Our Anger: tana, restores to Coaches, Media and Fans Seven Ways to Make Peace print the only by Stephanie Schleuder in a Hostile World extended writings (America?! Volleyball Coaches David Bressoud by Michael Obsatz (Augsburg of Easton that have Association, 1999. $21.95) Books, available February 2000. 128 pages, survived. The book Stephanie Schleuder is now in her sec- $12.99 paperback) also provides a bio- ond year of coaching the volleyball team Macalester sociology Professor Michael graphical portrait at Macalester, which she guided to a third- Obsatz, who is also a family counselor, of Easton and his place finish in the conference in her first writes about how spiritual concepts of family, drawn from season, after a successful career at the Uni- grace, forgiveness, compassion and justice primary documents versity of Minnesota and University of can help people be peacemakers in a as well as secondary Alabama. In this book, she explains how sometimes hostile world. His book deals sources. to compile and utilize statistics to advance with such questions as understanding Jim Stewart individual players and the entire team. anger and how it Julian M. Sturtevant, 1S05-1886: The book is replete with forms, explana- works; reducing President of Illinois College, Ardent tions and tips designed to help a team stress; learning quick Churchman, Reflective Author achieve success in a myriad of situations. ways to defuse one's by Iver F. Yeager '44 (Illinois College, own anger and that 1999. 537 pages, $31.56 cloth, Proofs and Confirmations: The Story of of others; developing $26.25 paperback) the Alternating Sign Matrix Conjecture a more realistic atti- Julian Sturtevant was a contemporary of by David Bressoud (Cambridge Universitytude toward life; and Macalester founder Edward Duffield Neill. Press and Mathematical Association oj building one's spiri- Both men experienced the frustrations of America, 1999) tual resources. finding sufficient funds to sustain a new This book by David Bressoud, chair of Obsatz also college in "the West." Sturtevant, an 1826 Macalester's Mathematics and Computer helped prepare the graduate of Yale, assisted in founding Illi- Science Department, is the first joint pub- Instructor's Manual nois College, a Christian, independent lication of Cambridge University Press to accompany the Michael Obsatz liberal arts college in Jacksonville, 111. The and the Mathematical Association of seventh edition of Understating Human story of his life is virtually the history of America. Bressoud sets out to describe Sexuality (McGraw-Hill), by Janet Shibley recent research in mathematics that is Hyde and John DeLamater. The manual is accessible to anyone who has completed a. designed to help teachers enhance their course in linear algebra. The central prob- classroom lectures. # lem discussed in the book, first posed in 1980, was a fairly simple-looking counting problem that arose from research con-

I 2 MACALESTER TODAY The Macalester contingent at the site

Han on

Unearthing a Roman temple in Israel, Macalester students reach into the past, and discover a lot about themselves

Story and photos by Doug Stone the hot Israeli sun. They were Protestant, Catholic, Jewish and people from multiple religious MRIT, NORTHERN ISRAEL —While studying traditions, all working toward a com- last spring in Edinburgh, Scotland, Theresa Vogel mon goal. '00 received an e-mail asking her to come to this Their archeological finds for the dusty, brown, panoramic hillside tucked between first year of a dig were quite extraordi- Lebanon and Syria to look for a 2,000-year'old nary, according to the dig's organizer, Roman temple. It was an offer she couldn't refuse. Macalester classics Professor Andy After barely a week back home in the Twin Cities, Overman. They included uncovering she left again, for the Mideast. six feet of wall of the Roman temple, Ben Rubin '01 spent last spring studying the site architectural ornaments, coins, pot- of the Roman temple in his history and classics tery and a sense of the history of the texts, trying to figure out why it was built "in the site. (See story on page 15.) middle oi Perhaps more significant than the nowhere." A par- discoveries themselves, however, was ticipant in an what the students learned: about archeological dig ancient history, archeology and spiri- last year on the tuality in the birthplace of three great Black Sea in religions; about teamwork; and about Ukraine, he came themselves. to Israel to test his "They were absorbing ancient Israel research theories while living in modern-day Israel," *•*&%&. • and "because I'm addicted to archeology." Overman said one afternoon after a '4> '' Jason Schlude '02 saw the dig as a chance to long day of digging. "Every day those h. travel and a way to adhere to his philosophy of students go out with trowels in their f experiencing as much as he can, knowing that "if I hands and they have more knowledge don't do something, I'll regret it." at the end of the day and have an Vogel, Rubin and Schlude — together with 1 2 opportunity to advance that knowl- Above: The Macalester other Macalester students, four professors and eight edge. This is internationalism and student research group leaves the site others, including a Macalester alumnus-—spent outside the classroom." for the day. three weeks living on a kibbutz (Israeli cooperative farm), getting up at 4:30 a.m., walking 300 yards Excitement and pride Far left: This rosetta down and up a hill, and digging for eight hours in stone, an ornament above "Israel just has so much history. It continues to a column holding up the make history," said Vogel, also a veteran of the Roman temple, was found Black Sea Project. during the excavation. Doug Stone, director of college relations at Macalester, For the second year in a row, Vogel, a classics and accompanied Mac students to Israel last .summer. Hts religious studies major, was a site supervisor, Her articles on several Macalester alumni who live in Israel job was to oversee the work ol four other students will appear in February's Macalester Today.

NOVEMBER 1999 13 Right: Jason Schiude '02, left, measures elevations at the site. Below: Rabbi Bernie Raskas, a visiting professor at Macalester, and his wife Leah hosted a party at their Jerusalem apartment for the Macalester group. Among the guests were Jason Schiude '02 (St, Louis), left, GregStoehr '98 (Winter Park, Colo.), Theresa Vogel '00 (Minneapolis) and Ben Rubin '01 (Madison, Wis.).

in one of seven dig "squares'1—sectioned-off sites experiences on the dig have influenced Vogel's where the actual work takes place. "We were a little plans after Macalester. She may go to law or grad disappointed that what we found school and is interested in international relations, [in her square] was from the archeology, classics and international law. The dig in Israel Byzantine period [later than the Roman period of the temple], but Mysteries in the dirt Goal: uncover remains of a Roman temple we found many interesting things For Rubin, going on the dig was the result of a Where: hillside in northern Israel and that's all part ot archeology. longtime interest in classics and archeology. He "The teamwork is great," she took four years of Latin in high school and four Mac participants: Faculty members Andy said. "Everyone is interested in semesters of Greek at Macalester. His father is Jew- Overman, Richard Dunn and Nanette learning. Everyone's excited. ish and Ben has studied Hebrew. "Studying Judaism Goldman, and 15 students Everyone takes pride in their and Christianity has shown me how similar reli-

Lodging: Kibbutz Kfar SzoldT founded in work. We have to get up early, gions are. Coming to the Holy Land was amazing to 1936 by European Jews and moved to hut no one complains. The dig me: the Wailing Wall, the Church of the Holy Sep- present location at foot of Golan Heights reinforced the idea that I love ulcher, the Dome of the Rock. I learned about in 1944 archeology and like to travel. It Islam." A classics and English major, Rubin wants reinforced Toughest part: getting up at 4:30 a.m. my interest every day in Israel and the Middle Best part: side trips to Jerusalem, the 11 Dead Sea and Masada, and Bethlehem East. When Could do without: shelling alerts on the Vogel was kibbutz loudspeaker o younger, "I always thought of digging for trea- sure. I thought of this as digging for treasure ... digging for history, for information about the period, for informa- tion about the area." Her

MACALESTER TODAY to teach, and his experiences reinforced that desire. Rubin and two classmates studied the area while At history's crossroads ar Macalester. While some ot their theories about Schlude, who is from St. Louis, found the dig "a the temple were not borne out, they still learned a life-changing experience. It's what 1 hoped 1 would great deal about rhe Herodian Dynasty and about get out of Mac. I became intoxicated with it." Israel 2,000 years ago. The physical work on the dig appealed to "The site is full of mysteries," Rubin said. "You're Schlude, whose father is a bricklayer. He dubbed almost invading someone's place. It [his square] is a himself "the blue-collar scholar." "The archeology ^•You're studying the late Roman or Byzantine house or marketplace, hut was spectacular, but the trip to Jerusalem was amaz- past, but you're its a mystery. You're studying the past, but you're ing." Raised a Catholic, Schlude said that "Jewish really studying yourself. You're in the dirt, dirt in people have had such an impact. It's neat to see all really studying your mouth, your eyes, all over your body. It's a dif- this and the land and where it came from. It's a yourself.' ferent experience than sitting in the classroom crossroads for so much." • reading a hook." — Ben Rubin '01

A fortunate fire led to dirty work in Israel HEN A FIRE LAST YEAR exposed an probably built around the time of the Roman archeological site on a northern Israeli Emperor Herod about 2,000 years ago to honor W hillside, the district archeologist called Emperor Augustus, who visited the area about his old colleague, Professor Andy Overman of 20 B.C.E. (Before Common Era), Overman says. Macalester. Moti Avam, the Israeli, knew "It was a public monumental complex." Overman would be interested in the relation- Overman's Macalester students uncovered six ship between the Roman Empire and Jews of feet of what he believes is the wall of the temple. the period. They also found an architectural ornamentation It was a fortunate call, indeed. from a column. Overman, who conducted earlier digs in Israel The Macafester dig's first year attracted consid- and on the Black Sea in Ukraine, is convinced the erable attention among archeologists in Israel, Omrit site will reveal a wealth of information where digs are commonplace. Nearly every day about the "interplay between Judaism and pagan- brought a new group of visitors, including former Gen. Amir Drori, the head of the Israeli Antiquities Authority. Overman plans to return to Omrit for several more years because, he says, there is so much to look for. He also envi- sions involving Macalester

Professor Andy Overman shows the layout of the archeological site to former Israeli Gen. Amir Drori, the head of the Israeli Antiquities Authority.

scholars from other fields such as geology, geography, communi- cation studies, computer science, religious studies and environ- mental studies. And he plans to keep bringing Macalester students and alumni. "We believe there is no experi- ism, between the local Jews and the Roman ence like this. It's hands-on," the classics scholar political rulers, and about the history of the era, says. "It's learning to work closely and rigorously a time when Judaism was changing and Christian- with other people. It's easier to go to the library ity was being born. The site is historically and and write a paper. Here you have to work architecturally significant. Nowhere except in together. It teaches civility. Archeology is also an Jerusalem do we have major Roman architecture excellent way for students to practice their inter- like this." pretive skills, fitting small pieces of the puzzle Preliminary archeological evidence and histori- together." — Doug Stone cal descriptions by Josephus, a Jewish writer at the time, indicate that the temple at the site was

NOVEMBER 1999 15 The

VIEW U.S. alumni of color reflect on how Macalester shaped their lives.

Second in a two-part series. a

Macalester's first Alumni of Color Reunion, which was held Oct. 15-17, will be covered in the February issue of Macalester Today.

16 MACALESTER TODAY

/ ° Opportunities program at Macalester. Hassan applied and was accepted. "My experience at Macalester was one of the most important and pivotal experiences of my life," Hassan, a Minneapolis attorney, says now. "It opened my eyes up to the world outside the little neighborhood in which I lived. The educational process, the reading, the intellectual exchange, it all gave you a broader view." His classroom education at Macalester took place against a backdrop of his- toric events that would shape a generation and made Hassans Macalester years even richer. Jeff Hassan '73 "It was the period of the Came to Mac from: Vietnam War and the civil Minneapolis rights movement. There were so many dramatic Major: political science social and political events Mac mentors: taking place." Those were Professors Shelton the contributing factors, Granger and Michael but it was inside the class- Allen Rynkiewich room where Hassan began to think and question. A Current home: Brooklyn political science major, he Park, Minn. took classes on world poli- Career summary: tics and revolution, on lawyer in private constitutional law from the practice in Minneapolis, late Theodore Mitau and Washington, D.C. and sociology classes on "social now Minneapolis again. deviancy." Clients include "I wrote a paper about Minneapolis School how being black was Board, Metropolitan socially deviant in and of Council, St. Paul itself," he recalls. "That's the way society looked at Urban League and Jeff Hassan'73: We want it. I remember reading books that had been written Piper Jaffray. recognition for the EEO program about black people by people who weren't black, and thinking, 'They're talking about us, talking and for what it accomplished. about me.' It was probably the first time I looked at And reconciliation/ and thought about how black folks are represented and viewed by the larger society." by Doug Stone Growing up in Minneapolis and St. Paul, the son HILE HIS PEERS were busily apply- of a white mother and African American father, ing to colleges, Jeff Hassan '73 was Hassan says such exploration was "particularly making little preparation in early interesting for me. Until that time, 1 was oblivious 1969. A high school senior at Min- to political and social casting and stereotyping that Wneapolis Central and a member of the National had taken place I wasn't consciously aware o\ Honor Society, Hassan remembers thinking that racism or discrimination." "someone was going to swoop me up and take me Macalester in the early 70s was "way ahead of away to college. God looks out for babies and fools the curve socially and politically. We had coed and I fall into the latter category." dorms, political activism, demonstrations, the EEO Then his older brother, who had helped raise Hassan, heard about the Expanded Educational

NOVEMBER 1999 17 program itself." Hassan adds that he pushed himself obliged to give back. That is the legacy of the "to see how close I could go CO the edge without EEO: people went back to their communities. tailing over. I would look over the precipice." As a There was a commitment to service, a commitment smile comes over his face, he says, "God, if my kids to help others." ever did that kind of thing...." Because the program was regarded so positively Hassan remembers fondly his academic adviser, by the participants, Hassan says, their perception political science Professor Shelton Granger, and that some other members of the Macalester com- anthropology Professor Michael Rynkiewich. munity viewed EEO as a failure "was a surprise and Granger advised him about how to prepare for law a major disappointment to us." And that perceived school by developing his writing skills and by tak- attitude led in part to the Alumni of Color The ing classes—such as math and science — that teach Reunion Oct. 15 — 17, Hassan says. discipline and logical thinking. Rynkiewich asked "We want recognition for the program and for Hassan to think about what he was really interested what it accomplished," he says. "And reconcilia- in learning. He wanted Hassan to develop a bibli- tion. Students of color need to hear that the INOR1TY' ography. "A lightbulb went on.... You mean I can program was successful. Finally, the college needs to VIEW develop my own curriculum and determine what 1 recommit [to the ideals behind EEO]. There are really want to learn?11 students out there just like us who are bright and He became a member of the Political Science need the opportunity to be exposed to learning, to National Honor Society, did a number of indepen- blossom and explore and develop." dent study courses and had an internship his senior Hassan says that Macalester "was the single most year with the late Sen. Nick Coleman, one oi the significant social and academic event in my life. state's leading political figures. That feeling is shared by most students of color." o "The EEO program took students from lower- income backgrounds who had abilities but wouldn't have had opportunities to attend private schools Ann Scales '83: The beauty like Mac and it allowed them to grow and develop and benefit," Hassan says with pride in his voice. of the place is that it lets you find "Students have achieved a good deal of success and your own way, and then it helps the program is as relevant today as it was then." Hassan certainly has been successful. After grad- you be the best you can be wherever uating from the University of Minnesota Law that path leads you.' School, he started his own law practice in 1977 in Minneapolis. "We called it 'money law1: it you've by Donna Nicholson got the money, we'll take the case." He handled ROWING UP in a black neighborhood divorces, immigration and some criminal cases. in St. Louis, attending a black high After a few years, he began to focus on civil litiga- school, Ann Scales 'S3 chose to enroll at tion, particularly personal injury cases. He handled Macalester—which she thought of as a major sexual harassment case for the attorney G"this white, cold, intellectual but nonetheless general's office that established employer liability in rather austere place"—precisely because it was so such cases. He formed Hassan and Reed in 1985, different from anything she had experienced. but moved to Washington, D.C., in 1991 to be "It was like my equivalent of Broadway," she with his wife, Rochelle Avent-Hassan '73, who was recalls. "If I could make it there, I could make it working there as a dentist. He worked in the firm of anywhere." Jordan and Keys until 1997, when the Hassans Scales not only made it at Mac, she thrived. "I decided to move back to the Twin Cities. "There's found that I could meet the standards of a college no sense of community [in Washington].... like Macalester. I was just as smart as the white stu- And the call of my family [back in Minnesota] dents there. I was just as beautiful. I could speak became stronger." English just as well. And 1 had just as many ques- Returning to his old Hassan and Reed firm in tions as they did." 1998, Hassan, with his three partners, is trying to One of Scales' first recollections upon arriving at develop what he calls an "institution-based" Mac was "seeing white students protest apartheid in practice in Minneapolis, representing such organi- South Africa. Having come from a city like zations as the Minneapolis School Board, the St. Louis, where the races are pretty well separated Metropolitan Council, the St. Paul Urban League and I lived in the black community, I thought, and Piper Jaffray, as well as individuals in the 'Wow, white people are upset about this, too.' " community. A political science major and journalism minor, From his first days out of law school, Hassan has she wrote stories for the Mac Weekly and the col- been guided in part by the desire to give something lege's News and Publications Office en route to ^) back. "We had been given an opportunity for four highly successful career as a newspaper reporter. years of college. That wasn't the result of our Since 1996, she has been the White House corre- efforts, but the people who came before us. We felt spondent for the Boston Globe, covering the Monica Lewinsky case and President Clinton's

MACALESTER TODAY Ann Scales '83 most remarkable thing about the place to me... .The Came to Mac from: St. Louis beauty of the place is that it lets you find your own way, and then it helps you be the best that you can Major: political science be wherever that path leads you.'1 Mac mentors: Professors Dorothy Dodge, Patricia Scales fondly recalls professors like Patricia Kane, Kane, George Moses and Mahmoud El-Kati, and "who made me love F. Scott Fitzgerald and gave me alumni such as Melvin Collins 75 and Stanley an appreciation for Hemingway and some other Berry '76 great writers"; Dorothy Dodge, who taught her "how the overlay of politics affects every single thing we Current home: Washington, D.C. do"; and Mahmoud El-Kati, "the conscience of the Career summary: reporter for St. Louis Globe campus when we were there." And there was George Democrat St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Dallas Morning Moses, "this older white man who told this 18-year- News and now Boston Globe, where she has been old black kid from North St. Louis that 'you can White House correspondent since covering the write and you have a special talent. I'm just going I thought I was open- 1 1996 presidential election to teach you what I know to help you develop it. It was the most selfless act I'd ever been a witness minded and tolerant, to. And he did!" but I really wasn't impeachment trial, and traveling with the presi- There were African American alumni like until I went there. dent to such places as Africa, the Mideast, Paris Melvin Collins 75, Stanley Berry 76 and others, and London. "great role models," who were also supportive. And It's like the whole world "[Macalester] opened my mind with people who she could "escape" to Black House, which felt opened up to me.? had enough of an open mind to accept me where I much like home. "There probably wasn't enough of was and not to look at my background as an excuse a social life for black students on campus. That's for why I should fail but as a reason for why I why we needed Black House, to have our own par- should succeed there," Scales says. "That was the ties. Black alumni took care of us; they were like

MARK CHARETTE

£&* «at*

The White House, visible in the background, is Ann Scales' beat for the Boston Globe,

4* OVBMBER 199 9 I 9 brothers and sisters. We had a whole village taking Sheridan Enomoto '99: I had care of us." "My view of race and ethnicity was forever the opportunity to create changed by my going to Mac," Scales says. "1 my own education' thought 1 was open-minded and tolerant, but I really wasn't until 1 went there. It's Hke the whole by Jan Shaw-Flamm '76 world opened up to me and I could see brothers and HERIDAN NOELANI ENOMOTO '99 finds sisters and people who looked remarkably different it impossible to fit in any single box — those from me. That's the part of the experience I will ethnic identity boxes that Americans are never, ever torget. I understood finally where Iran commonly asked to check. For her, "multi- The was, where Egypt was. scultural" is personal as well as political. "Some of these places I would finally get to visit The strands of her heritage are carried in her very [while covering President Clinton], but there were name. Sheridan is her African American mother's people there 1 had known because I met them at middle name, and also recalls her father's Scotch- Macalester. That was the most profound impact the Irish ancestors. Noelani, "heavenly mist" in college had on me — it opened up my world." • Hawaiian, represents that branch of the family, and Enomoto links her to her Japanese ancestry. It was her cousin Stanton Enomoto '89 who first recom- mended Macalester. The international aspect of the college attracted Sheridan, who had visited per- 'Being native Hawaiian, haps a dozen countries by junior high. I felt that I could learn more "Because of the way about the Indian community Macalester is," she says, "there are oppor- already in Minnesota and tunities to be open to also teach others about new perspectives since 5 so many people come my own culture. from different places." As such, it was a natural community in which to cultivate var- ious components of her heritage. Enomoto already had a thorough grounding in Hawaiian culture, including 10 years of dancing hula, and once on campus she quickly became involved in the revitalization of

Sheridan Noelani Enomoto '99 Came to Mac from: Inglewood, Calif.

Major: Comparative North American Studies

Minor: psychology

Career plans: applying to AmeriCorps*VISTA to be followed by graduate school in creative arts therapy

2 O MACALESTER TODAY "The Esther-fest": That's what her nephew Jay called it when many family members of Esther Torii Suzuki '46 gathered last May to celebrate her Alumni Service Award at Macalester. Esther is standing between her sister Lucy Kirihara, left, and her husband, George Suzuki '47, right. Their daughter, Nami Suzuki Vizanko '71, center, is also a Mac grad.

PIPE (Proud Indigenous People for Education), a itself, and to allow students to study historically student group for indigenous peoples. marginalized racial and ethnic groups." "Being native Hawaiian, I felt that I could learn "Race is more complex than just black and white. more about the Indian community already in Issues of race go beyond that," says Carlson, director Minnesota and also teach others about my own cul- of the program. "Having students who are multi- ture." As PIPE chair, she worked with Mac alumni racial really brings home the point. Sheridan was Janice LaFloe '92 and La Von Lee 77, students and particularly good at that. She made people around other Twin Cities groups to produce the gathering, her think about race in a new way just because she "Native Women on the Cusp of the Year 2000." was so interested. She was much more sophisticated For two years, Enomoto co-managed Cultural in her understanding, so much further ahead in her House, which supports a multicultural learning life experiences, [and ready] to start thinking about community at Macalester through various activi- these things academically." ties, including Art Night, Poetry Slam and Music Looking back on the experience of developing Fest. In her senior year, friends introduced her to the Comparative North American Studies major, capoeira, an African-Brazilian martial art that Enomoto says, "I had the opportunity to create my incorporates playing instruments and singing in own education. When someone said I could not do Portuguese. "One reason I got involved," says it, or it was impossible, I tried another way to do it. Enomoto, "was to have a balance between my These challenges really fostered my educational Hawaiian culture and my African culture." growth. Instead of expecting someone else to do it One of the challenges of her college years was to for me, I did it for myself, and that's what I was able encourage others to recognize her multicultural to do at Macalester. Now others can say, 'Someone 1 heritage, rather than just one portion of her lin- else did it; I can do it, too. " o eage. "It's a comfort issue. People usually feel more comfortable with what they can personally identify with, so that's what they see in you." Esther Torii Suzuki '46: Macalester Enomoto s intense interest in cultures led her to Comparative North American Studies, and she was a haven in a world of madness' became one of the first Macalester students to grad- uate with that major. Her senior project was a by Jon Halvorsen "literary ethnography,'1 a work of creative non- AMERICAN HISTORY has finally caught up fiction in which she explores her own perspective with Esther Torii Suzuki '46. Ever since on her grandfathers experience. A Japanese Ameri- 1994, when she made her first public can, he served in the military intelligence language . speaking appearance, the retired social school during World War II while stationed at worker has enjoyed a sort of second career as a Minnesota's Fort Snelling. She credits Professors highly sought-after "storyteller,11 a Japanese Ameri- Jim Stewart, Clay Steinman, Diane Glancy and can elder who relates her own life, trials and Janet Carlson with "helping to foster the idea, triumphs. empowering and supporting me." Whether shes addressing junior high school kids Carlson, a chemistry professor and a founder of in Chicago, Asian immigrants in the Twin Cities or the Comparative North American Studies program, said the program "has two main goals, to create aca- demic situations for students to study race as a topic

NOVEMBER 1999 21 appearing in a "cabaret" at the Minnesota History ens the pain with humor. For example, she recalls Center with the Asian American Renaissance, the how she truthfully answered "Yes" in 1942 to stan- warm, diminutive, witty Suzuki makes a compelling dard personality-test questions like: "Do you feel witness to her times. people are out to get you?" Or she'll observe that "I'm so gratified," the 73-year-old Suzuki says, Macalester admitted three men and three women "because it seems I have an audience. Before, no of Japanese descent—-"I suppose so we could date one listened to me." each other." Macalester was more than a college to Esther "People don't like to hear a sob sister," Suzuki Suzuki. "Macalester was a haven in a world of mad- said in an interview this fall. "I was asked to give a ness," she says. In the hysteria that followed Japan's lot ot talks at Macalester when I was [a freshman]. The attack on Pearl Harbor, she and her family were I would go to these churches and say, 'This intern- among the 120,000 people ot Japanese descent who ment is unconstitutional,' and I would tell the were torced from their homes by the United States truth about it. Everyone in the audience, especially government—even though most of them, includ- older church women, would tell me, 'My dear, you must realize this is wartime.' They would ° either justify it or they would get defensive. 3 I used to cry on the way home after 1 gave •j- these talks. ; "As I got older, 1 decided that I have to let people know what happened but I can- not try to guilt anybody because no one will accept that, so I made it more palatable. I tell these little stories. There is a point to I have to let people every story, but I don't come right out and say it. My daughter says that is how I am know what happened getting my message across-—obliquely." [to Japanese She has co-authored a play about the internment experience, but Suzuki speaks Americans], but on other important subjects. She seeks to I cannot try to guilt dispel stereotypes about Asian Americans, noting how tiresome it gets when people anybody because keep asking about her country of origin. The no one will accept only Asian social worker in Ramsey County when the first wave of Southeast Asian that, so I made it immigrants arrived in 1975, she is especially more palatable. concerned about today's immigrants, young and old. "When I speak to Asian students in high schools and so forth, I tell them, 'Don't he ashamed of your parents —speaking Eng- lish is not the only measure of intelligence.' "I want to encourage [recent Asian immi- grants] not to give up, and also I want the public to know they will make real con- ing Esther and her two sisters, were American tributing citizens. I have to do things to make citizens. She was not even allowed to attend her things better." O high school graduation in her hometown of Port- land, Ore. After several months in a detention camp, and just hours before the rest of her family Esther Torii Suzuki T46 was sent by guarded train to be "interned" in Idaho, Esther was released from custody because Macal- Came to Mac from: a detention camp in ester had accepted her as a student. Frightened and Portland, Ore., her hometown, where Japanese alone, the 16-year-old arrived in St. Paul by train in Americans were being held in 1942 September 1942. Major: sociology In 1996, for her 50th reunion, Suzuki spoke of the "kindness and acceptance" she met with at Mac mentors: Mary Gwen Owen, Milton McLean, Macalester. "Without Macalester College, I Margaret Doty, Edwin Kagin, Georgiana Palmer, wouldn't he where I am today," she wrote. Kano Ikeda, Charles Turck When she tells the story of her family's ordeal, Current home: Minneapolis and her own escape to Macalester, she always leav- Career summary: retired social worker; devoted volunteer for Macalester and former Alumni Board member; now frequent speaker on her experiences as a Japanese American

2 2 MACALESTER TODAY Steve Colman '92 at Macalester this past spring. He and his 1998 national champion slam teammates from New York's Nuyorican Poets Cafe are riding the wave of a poetry revival.

light up the auditorium. People jump to their feet and clap their approval. "It felt more like a rock concert than a poetry reading," Colman says later, chuckling. "They were really hooked into the words." It's not like Colman's never seen people get excited about poetry before. He and the other members of the 1998 national champion slam team from New York's Pro-noun rallies Nuyorican Poets Cafe have had plenty of experience working an audience I wanna hear a poem into a frenzy with their socially con- where ideas scious rhymes. They're riding the wave of a poetry revival that started earlier kiss similes so deeply this decade in Chicago and New York, metaphors get jealous, and slowly made its way to the rest of where subject matters the country. so much Today, Nuyorican poets are celebri- that adjectives start holding ties of sorts, and people come to the cafe from all over the world to hear pro-noun rallies at city hall. them read poems in raucous competi- — from "I Wanna Hear A Poem" tions, where entrants are judged for the by Steven Colman quality of their writing—and the style oi their presentation. In fact, the mar- ket for poetry's so strong right now that Colman is a full-time poet, touring the country to read at col- leges and universities; editing poetry anthologies; recording tracks for albums; and leading workshop Rhyme with a Reason Steve Colman moves to the top in the new art they call hip-hop

by Andy Steiner 90 residencies, like the one that brought him—and two of his fellow team members —to Macalester A\'BE IT'S BECAUSE of Springfest at Macal- this past April. ester, or maybe its the warm, clear night, or In some ways, the New Jersey native is an maybe it's just because they like poetry. No unlikely candidate for a career in poetry. It's not matter what the reason, when hip-hop poet like he's been spending the years since graduation MSteve Colman '92 steps to the microphone center writing sonnets in a garret. Rather, post-Mac he stage at the Janet Wallace Fine Arts Center, the spent some time organizing unions in Iowa, work- overflow crowd hoots and hollers its approval When ing with mentally retarded adults in New York and he launches into "Hip-Hop Scotch," a rhyme about getting a master's degree in history from Case West- growing up a white boy in black culture, the audi- ern Reserve University. All along he was writing ence strains to hear the words. Then Colman continued on page 34 reaches the final stanza: At first they thought I was a snake because I shed my skin. Andy Steiner '90 wrote about Gregory Stavrou '93, Then they saw how I could shake, arts and humanities coordinator at the Virginia Piper that's why they took me in. Cancer Institute in Minneapolis, in May's Mac Today. He punctuates the words "how I could shake" with an old-school breakdance move. Cheers and laughter

NOVEMBER 1999 23 Blood Ties Trampling over racial barriers, Mixed Blood Theater draws upon generations of Mac theater talents as it pursues Dr. Kings dream

by Carolyn Griffith who, as part of his senior thesis, directed many of the Caucasian OR JACK REULER '75, founder and artistic Chalk Circle cast members in No director of Mixed Blood Theater in Minneapolis, Place to be Somebody, a '60s play things have come full circle back to Macalester— about racial conflict. 'That cul- if you'll forgive the forthcoming pun. In the fall of tural soup was an interesting mix. 1998, Reuler's 12-year-old daughter, Taj, performed There were a lot of tensions, and in a Macalester production of Bertolt Brecht's The a lot of wonderful discoveries. Caucasian Chalk Circle. It was the same play that, MBT was a natural outgrowth 25 years earlier, brought Reuler together with the of that." small circle of classmates and cast mates that would Mixed Blood Theater now help him build Mixed Blood from the ground up. operates with about a $1 million Today, Mixed Blood continues to thrive as a budget and has 170 employees on vehicle for both outstanding drama and social contract in the course of a year. change, and has renewed its role in helping younger The organization s resources are Mac alumni launch their careers in theater. evenly divided among its three In its early days, Mixed Blood drew sustenance enterprises: the main stage shows from the youthful energy of a handful of Macalester on Minneapolis' West Bank, tour- students and recent graduates, their frustration with Since its founding in 1976, Mixed racial politics and their desire to create, on stage, Blood Theater has drawn upon a the kind of world envisioned by Martin Luther couple generations of Mac talent. King. This founding group—which included Jack Reuler, foreground, who is still Reuler, Stephen Yoakam '75, Kim Hines '77, Faye the artistic director at Mixed Blood, Price '77, Russell Curry '78 and James Williams '77, Is pictured this past summer among others—coalesced during that production with classmate and close friend of Caucasian Chalk Circle. Stephen Yoakam '75, rear, a veteran of the Guthrie Theater, and young "The interesting thing about Mac in the early f '70s was that there were all these African American actors Andre Samples 99 and students coming from places like Chicago, Aditi Kapil '94. St. Louis, Philadelphia and Detroit to lily-white Minnesota. It was a cultural mix, but at the same ing shows and EnterTRaining, a time a culture shock," recalls Stephen Yoakam, venture that dramatizes issues of cultural diversity for corporations and professional associations. Carolyn Griffith, a St. Paul free-lance writer, wrote "We do a hundred to 125 perfor- about theater Professor Sears Eldredge and his new mances a year here at the theater, play in August's Macalester Today. and the touring company does 500 or 600 shows for schools, community centers and churches in nine or 10 states. L^st year, we performed in 67 of Minnesota's 87 counties," Reuler says, noting that these shows, dramatizing African American, Hispanic

24 MACALESTER TODAY •

1 C ml ; 1 1

1- • i

• : mm,

Above: Aditi Kapil '94, center, appeared in Good News About Third World Shoes at Mixed Blood in 1997. Kapil, who majored in theater, is now getting more and more roles in Twin Cities theater. Right: Stephen Yoakam '75, left, in Ohio Tip-Off at Mixed Blood in 1985.

That cultural soup American, Native American and Asian American "Quite honestly, if the playwright hadn't been so culture and history, were written expressly for insistent, we might have tried to create a stage fam- [at Macalester schools. ily that was genetically realistic," Reuler says. in the '70s] was an EnterTRaining, MBT's corporate training arm, Dr. King's dream performs for only 20 to 25 audiences a year, far interesting mix. Since its inception in 1976, Mixed Blood has fewer than the main stage or touring companies. There were a lot staged works that challenge the way audiences view These shows take far more effort, because most are issues of race, gender and class. " 'Dedicated to the custom-written for particular companies or indus- of tensions, and a lot 1 spirit of Dr. King's dream has always been our catch tries. In the last decade or so, EnterTRaining has of wonderful phrase,1' Reuler says, adding, "We don't do 'victim dramatized racial bias in the legal system for the theater'; we show positive images of people." There Hennepin County District Attorney's staff, as well discoveries/ is, however, no list of criteria by which a season's as for police officers, private law firms, law schools — actor works are selected. "I pick plays I like,'1 Reuler says and law professors, Reuler's partner in this venture, Stephen Yoakam '75 simply, without apology. well-known Twin Cities playwright and columnist One of the ways MBT keeps audiences on their Syl Jones, has written such training vehicles as a toes is in the way roles are cast. The "color-blind "country-western musical set in a small Minnesota casting" label that's been widely used, Reuler says, town" to illustrate the intertwining of violence and is a misnomer. "I think of what we do as culture- medical treatment, and a "Motown opera on pre- conscious casting," he says. natal care." Both were written for health care For example, the theater recently staged Boy, organizations. written by Asian American playwright Diana Son, "EnterTRaining has opened up such great about a doctor with three daughters who wants a avenues of opportunity for us to say things," Reuler son — and decides simply to treat his fourth female notes. "It's been fabulous, because the people we're child as though she were a boy, a tactic that seems talking to actually have the authority to change to work until the child reaches adolescence, "The policy, and by changing policy to change attitudes playwright was adamant that she didnTt want this to within their own organizations. And unlike most be an Asian' play, but a parable about the human non-profit programs, it more than covers its costs." condition," Reuler says. The family members were played by actors of different races, by design, to Moving on, branching out show that the issue of a father wanting a son cuts Most of the 70s Mac contributors to Mixed across cultural lines. Blood's growth have long since moved on in the dramatic world. Carl Lumbly 73 is well known for character parts in film and television, Russell Curry

26 MACALESTER TODAY For Yoakam, that happened at MBT during the early '80s, and again from 1988 to '93, at the Guthrie. While playwright and actor Kim Hines made lifelong friends at Macalester, her col- lege experience was soured by the racism she experienced as the campus community slowly and unevenly adapted to its new com-

Cast of characters: Mixed Blood and Mac N ALL, 25 MAC ALUMNI have worked, in one capacity or another, briefly or for long periods, at Mixed Blood Theater in Minneapolis, Iaccording to founder Jack Reuler '75, who is still the artistic director. Here are their names and current occupations: Karah Bausch '96, production assistant, film/video, Twin Cities Sean Brennan '96, free-lance production assistant, script supervisor and assistant editor in film/video production, Twin Cities Brian Bull '91, host of "Morning Edition" and assistant news director, South Dakota Public Radio Genoveva Castaneda '96, soft-prop artisan, Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis Jane Clark '77, photography editor, SmartMoney magazine, New York Russell Curry '78, actor, Los Angeles Kim Hines '77, playwright, Twin Cities Aditi Kapil '94, actor, Twin Cities Corrine Larson '97, free-lance costume designer for theater, Twin Cities Eric Laurion '99, actor at Mixed Blood this fall Ken LaZebnik '77, writer and co-producer of TV series "Touched by an Angel" 78 is a reg- Carl Lumbly '73, actor, Berkeley, Calif. ular on the TV soap opera "Sunset Beach" Sara McFadden '95, stage manager, Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis and Faye Price 77 is dramaturg at the Guthrie. James Williams 77 joined Penumbra Theatre. Alan McCutchan '76, lives in Maplewood, Minn. Stephen Yoakam 75 and Kim Hines 77, in particu- Jane Eldridge Miller '76, professor of literature, Princeton University lar, have become pillars of the Twin Cities theater Alison Neet '78, actor, Brooklyn, N.Y. community. Faye Price '77, dramaturg, Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis, and actor Yoakam stayed with Mixed Blood until the mid- '80s, when he joined the Guthrie Theater in Twin Cities Company. Still a member there, he spent part of Jack Reuler '75, artistic director, Mixed Blood the past winter in Los Angeles, exploring opportu- Andre Samples '99, actor, Twin Cities nities during the television "pilot" season. In Sarah Schreiber '89, theater consultant in Minneapolis office of addition to MBT and the Guthrie, Yoakam has per- formed in Minnesota with the Chanhassen Dinner Schuler & Shook, Inc., and free-lance lighting designer Theatre, the Actors Theatre of St. Paul, the Play- Kim Walton '79, lives in Oakland, Calif. wrights Center, Park Square Theatre and also at David Wheeler '80, deceased (see page 6) the Arizona Theater Company, the Actors Theater Paul Whitaker '97, graduate school, lighting design, Yale University of St. Louis, Washington, D.C.'s Arena Stage and School of Drama the Kennedy Center, and Seattle's Contemporary James Williams '77, actor with Guthrie, Penumbra and other Theatre. Twin Cities theaters Yoakam numbers two Mixed Blood shows among Stephen Yoakam '75, actor, Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis and his proudest: a 19S2 production of One Hundred elsewhere • Years of Solitude, and a year or so earlier, Accidental Death of an Anarchist. "In a theater company, there'll be a period of about five years when you're clicking on all cylinders as an ensemble," he says.

NOVEMBER 1999 27 plexion. A theater major who'd begun acting with The question of ethnicity in the the Children's Theatre Company at the age or 12, theater is particularly interesting Hines managed to get a part in a Macalester pro- or kapil, who is of Bulgarian and duction of The Caucasian Chalk Circle—cast as the Indian ancestry and grew up in cook. Frustration with the racial stereotyping fueled Sweden. "1 look Indian, but I've her desire to help get Mixed Blood off the ground. never lived there. I'm European to A different kind of frustration prompted her to the core, and 'technically' more leave MBT after several years to join Penumbra, an suited to the works of Chekhov all-black theater whose own founder, Lou Bellamy, and Strindberg had helped build Mixed Blood. "Most of the plays Jack liked had terrible roles Mixing the races: For women," Hines says, noting that she later left Penumbra for similar reasons, and began Its all in the family] writing plays precisely because of the scarcity of N ADDITION TO PROVOKING good, black, temale characters in existing dra- audiences to think about race, matic literature. Associate artist since 1994 at gender and cultural issues, Minneapolis' Illusion Theater, where she acts, I Jack Reuler has succeeded in The fact that my writes and directs, she's also worked with the creating his own small world Guthrie and the Southern Theatre, as well as overt ethnicity and mirroring Dr. King's dream, wherein with theaters in Philadelphia, Oakland and questions of race and culture are my cultural identity are Chicago. This past winter two of her plays ran so well understood that they can simultaneously on Minneapolis stages, and in at such odds with each remain tacit. March her My Lord What a Morning, a commis- At Mixed Blood, the blood truly other makes Jack's sioned script about opera singer Marian is mixed. Reuler's daughter is of Anderson, premiered at the Kennedy Center. particular brand of both Sri Lankan and European American ancestry. His partner in colorful casting New Mac blood EnterTRaining, Syl Jones, is African In his own words, Reuler "got reinvested" in a blessing for me American. Jones' wife is white and Macalester in the early 1990s, paving the way for a they have four interracial children. — actor new generation of Mac theater people to find a Steve Yoakam is white and his wife Aditi Kapil '94 home at Mixed Blood. In 1991, Reuler received a is black. Distinguished Citizen Citation from Macalester. In Among the most recent Macites to become 1993, Sears Eldredge, chair oi the theater depart- ment, invited him to talk to a senior seminar. And involved with MBT, Eric Laurion '99 is of white and during Commencement/Reunion Weekend in Latin American ancestry, while Andre Samples '99 1995, he emceed a showcase of writers and actors, has white and black parents. and connected with another battery of people. "In 1987, we had this picnic at my house, and "We've had a wave of really good Macalester peo- that's when it hit me," Reuler says. "We had ple, both on stage and back stage, since 1994," 35 people — about a dozen couples and their chil- he says. dren. All but one of the couples was interracial; all Aditi Kapil '94 was one of the seniors in that '93 the children were interracial." He notes that MBT seminar. "At the end of the class I asked if I could staffers have included every possible hyphenated audition for him," she recalls. "You walk into the combination. theater world thinking it's going to be really hard, A TTEMPTING to explore the questions inherent that you're going to have to struggle — I was in awe l\ in belonging to two races, Reuler in 1991 com- of MBT; I thought maybe Jack would let me sweep missioned a number of writers to create vignettes the floors or something. But he cast me right away," that would be quilted together into a play called Kapil marvels. Melting Pot Rebels. That work was never completed Under Reuler's direction, she performed at a or produced, but next year, drawing on some of summer theater connected to St. Cloud State Uni- that material, Syl Jones will create a new play versity, soon after her graduation. After that, she about "biracialness." worked with EnterTRaining. "I worked with five Since the late 1980s, when multiculturalism experienced actors, and it was a really great way to became a buzzword, some in the arts world have learn," she says. Kapil's been involved with Mixed looked askance at a white guy running a theater Blood ever since, but has also performed at Pills- whose works are about race. With 10 years at MBT bury House Theatre, St. Cloud's New Tradition already under his belt, Reuler was able to shrug off Theater, the Playwrights Center, Theater Mu and, such criticism. this year, in Jungle Theater's Macbeth and Park "I've embraced that 1 work with issues of race, Square Theater's production of The Heiress. but I do it as a white person," he says. "I know I can always retreat into a world of skin privilege. I know what I don't know — 1 don't tell actors how they should define their roles, based on some pre- conceived notion about a character's race." — Carolyn Griffith MACALESTER TODAY Russell Curry '78, center, than Asian writers. The tact that my overt ethnicity wasting your own and everyone else's time. More and Faye Price '77, second and my cultural identity are at such odds with each than 80 percent of MBT's productions have that from right, in Mixed other makes Jack's particular brand of colorful cast- core integrity," he says. Blood's 1987 production of ing a blessing for me," she says. Kapil was pleased Artistic differences aside, Hines, too, admires The Colored Museum. and surprised when her audition for the Jungle Reuler, and sees her MBT years as pivotal in her Curry is now a regular on Theater, known for strong, traditional productions, own professional the TV soap opera "Sunset netted her the part of Lady MacDuff. Helping to start Mixed development. Beach" and Price is "Helping to start dramaturg at the Guthrie Blood really gave me a Theater in Minneapolis. A way to see the world Mixed Blood really At the same time that Reuler is introducing his sense of my own power. gave me a sense of my own power. I daughter to his alma mater, the Macites who make I felt like, "If I can do this, their way to Mixed Blood find a welcome as warm as felt like,'If I can do a familial embrace. "I really enjoyed the sense of I can do anything."^ this, I can do any- camaraderie and community—it's not just 'all thing,' " Hines says. — playwright business' there," notes Eric Laurion '99. Because he's Kim Hines '77 With each suc- bilingual in English and Spanish, he became part of cessive wave of the tech crew for The True History of Coca-Cola in immigration to the Midwest—most recently from Mexico, performed this past winter in both languages. Laos, Russia and Somalia—creating new cultural Kapil notes that both Reuler and his daughter and ethnic frictions as well as wonderful possibili- Taj participated in her wedding to Sean Brennan ties, Reuler is likely to be in business for a long time '96, which was performed by a judge who serves on to come. "Mixed Blood has been a great voice for MBT's advisory board. "MBT is very much a family me," Reuler says. "I'm not a politician, preacher or place; I feel like if I was dead broke, I could call orator, but theater's been a voice for the way I want Jack, and he'd give me a job," Kapil says. to see the world. When I started this, my notion Though he hasn't done a show at Mixed Blood was that it would be successful when it was no in more than 10 years, Yoakam says "I still think of longer necessary. But that's part of the idealism and it as one of my artistic homes," and a place with an naivete of being 23." • above-average artistic success rate, from the actor's viewpoint. "If four out of five of the shows you do are blessed with honesty and integrity, you're lucky. And the absence is palpable; you feel like you're

NOVEMBER 1999 29 during the tour. "I think the congressional aides arrived with visions of Western doctors dragging women into the clinics by the hair!" she joked. As Washington representative for UNFPA, rhe largest internationally funded source of population assis- tance to lesser developed countries, Craven is determined to dispel notions of coercive tactics and other misconceptions that led to the termination orK last year of U.S. funding for the agency. "My No. 1 goal on this job is to get U.S. funding for UNFPA Sarah Craven '85 reinstated," she said. To that end, she works to educate the Washing- ton power structure — including Congress, the acts globally to secure State Department and the Agency for International Development—on UNFPA's work in 150 coun- human rights for women tries. She coordinates her work with a coalition of nonprofit groups concerned with global women's health, human rights and the environment. Craven by Paula Hirschoff }66 noted that UNFPA staff toil under a "double whammy: We're in the U.N. and we're in family OMEN WITH BABIES strapped to their backs planning, which are both areas of continuing con- crowded into the clinic waiting room, weary after troversy." But she actually relishes the role. walking hours from their mountain homes in According to David Harwood, chief of staff at the Bolivia. In the clinic's operating room, doctors were U.N. Foundation, Craven is a passionate, outstand- treating a 16-year-old girl who had miscarried after her boyfriend kicked her in the stomach. A statue of the Virgin Mary stood atop an ultrasound machine, serenely watching over the chaos. The scenes made a deep impact on a group of U.S. con- gressional staff who were touring United Nations Population Func (UNFPA) clinics in Bolivia and Ecuador last March. They saw local medical staff providing pre- natal, natal and maternal services. They learned that these clinics are the sole source of primary health care for many impoverished women. They came to realize that UNFPA, by supporting clinics that keep women healthy, plays a vital role in preventing abortions. Sarah Craven '85, who accompanied the delegation to South America, rejoiced at the change in attitudes she observed

Sarah Craven '85 at the U.N. Foundation building in Washington, with the U.N. flag in the background. She is the Washington representative for UNFPA, the largest internationally funded source of population assistance to lesser developed countries.

MACALESTER TODAY Top left: Sarah Craven '85 with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan '61 this past June in New York. The occasion was a reception on the fifth anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development. Lower left: with the late Congresswoman Bella Abzug, left, and Chief Bisi Ogunleye of Nigeria at the U.N.'s World Conference on Women in 1995 in Beijing.

health care, the best way to slow growth is to pro- vide women with education and economic opportunity, to support them in the context of their families and communities. Once women are edu- cated, they hear fewer children." Beginning as an undergraduate at Macalester, Craven dreamed of working in the field of inter- national human rights and development. Born and raised in Hawaii, she chose Macalester for college because she wanted to be different from her private high school classmates who favored West and East coast schools. She took an anthropology course her first year. "[Professor] Dave McCurdy opened my eyes to the world," she recalls. "Without his influence, IVi probably be practicing law in Hono- lulu." She majored in both anthropology and political science. AFTER EARNING a master's degree in anthro- So much of what L\ pology from Cambridge University, she -Z JL came to Washington in 19S7. She dropped happens on the Hill by the office of Sen. Spark Matsunaga (D-Hawaii) is based on personal to pay a constituent visit and walked out with her first Washington job — with the senator's Subcom- relationships. mittee on Aging. Subsequently, she worked for Sen. As an anthropologist, Timothy Wirth (D-Colo.). Although she was not involved in international issues, those years on the you can use participant Hill gave her vital lessons in coalition building and observation to strategizing to accomplish legislative goals in the ing advocate for women's reproductive health and nation's capital. understand how rights on the international stage. Craven also earned the law degree that she relationships work. Craven hopes to organize an educational tour to describes as "a union card in this town," although China, similar to the South American trip, to give she had no plans to practice law. "The law studies key congressional staff an opportunity to view helped clarify my thinking, writing and negotiating UNFPA in action. China tops the list for such a skills," she said, but "anthropology is where my tour because legislators hold many misconceptions heart is." Anthropology is her "secret weapon," use- about population programs there. "Critics have ful both inside and outside Congress. "Each blamed UNFPA for China's past abuses in meeting congressional office has its own unwritten code of population goals. But the UNFPA program in conduct. You have to learn how to decode the China is a model for voluntarism and human rights. behavior. So much of what happens on the Hill is China has agreed to lift all birth quotas [which based on personal relationships. As an anthropolo- restrict each couple to one child] in the 32 counties gist, you can use participant observation to where UNFPA works," she said. Moreover, UNFPA understand how relationships work." will provide women with a wider range of contra- While studying law at Georgetown University, ceptive choices, literacy programs and micro-credit she moved closer to her professional goal, serving funding for women entrepreneurs. an internship in Geneva, Switzerland, with the uOur true emphasis is actually economic International Commission of Jurists; a one-year development," Craven said. "It's hard for nations to Ford Foundation International Law Fellowship, develop when their population growth is running at examining the African Human Rights Charter; and unsustainable rates. In addition to reproductive continued on page 34

Paula Hirschoff '66 is a writer/anthropologist, based in Washington, D.C., who focuses on international development issues.

NOVEMBER 1999 31 "Coming here, it's always special," says Gary Hines, photographed on the Concert Hall stage at Macalester's Janet Wallace Fine Arts Center. Behind him is the cover art for the Sounds of Blackness' new album.

lWe can reconcile our differences or we will destroy ourselves / declares Gary Hines '74, who leads the Grammy-winning Sounds of Blackness. Appropriately enough, the group's new album is called Reconciliation,

visualize that? Yes, we did. It's the whole scriptural thing of speaking it into existence." It took about 20 years, but led by Hines, the oun Sounds of Blackness won a Grammy Award in 1992 for best gospel performance by a choir for the of group's debut album, The Evolution of Gospel The Twin Cities-based group has also won Grammy Awards for two other, multiple-artist projects: The Healing Apostle him soundtrack (1999) and Handel's Messiah—A Soulful Celebration (1993). by Jon Halvorsen Hines, the director, producer and chief song- writer, and Russell Knighton 72 are the only S COLLEGE STUDENTS, Gary Hines and his friends original members still with the 30-member would sit backstage in Macalester's rehearsal rooms group. They began at Macalester in 1969 as the and muse about the time when they might take their Macalester College Black Choir. In 1971, musical group on the road and even win a Grammy. Knighton approached Hines, then just a sopho- "We can never say we knew we'd win a Grammy," Hines recalls. "But did we believe and did we Jon Halvorsen is the managing editor of Macalester Today.

MACALESTER TODAY more, about becoming the music director. "They had the foundation for it — to establish a legitimate black music ensemble to embrace the whole range [of black music]," Hines recalls. "We needed a name." "Macalester College Black Choir11 did not reflect the variety of music that the group per- formed, nor the fact that it drew upon students from Hamline and other Twin Cities colleges, although Mac students made up the core. A student publication named Sounch of Blackness proved inspirational, Hines says. Macalester continues to be "home" to the Sounds. Its not just that the group often rehearses at the Janet Wallace Fine Arts Center. Macalester is also where you'll find Hines on many weekday mornings. Right after his daily workout at a blue- collar gym in Mm- neapolis, he heads This is my life's purpose. over to Mac, slips [We want] to make a positive into a practice room in the Music difference in people's lives. Department and spends 30 minutes or more playing the piano. That's where he sat down for an interview one morning this past August. A longtime bodybuilder with an impressive physique — he was Mr. Minnesota in 1981-—the 47- year-old Hines is gracious, warm and exquisitely polite, the kind of person who often uses your first name in conversation and listens as intently as he speaks. He also exudes confidence. It's quickly apparent that Gary Hines believes: in his religion, in his music, in himself. Reared in the strong Christian faith of his parents and grandparents, he belongs to the Progressive Baptist Church, though Hines, foreground, and he is quick to add that he is not concerned with reli- Liberation Affairs Committee). Russell Knighton '72, gious differences. "I'm a Christian. Jesus is Lord for Not to mention his passion for music. at middle left wearing me," he says. "But I revere the quote of Gandhi "Coming here, it's always special," he says of his glasses, are the only when asked, 'What religion are you?' He said, 'I'm a morning ritual at Mac. "It takes me back. If I would original members still Jew, I'm a Muslim, I'm a Hindu, I'm a Buddhist,' have 15 minutes between classes, I would rush over with the Sounds of et cetera. That's more the spirit of what I am." [to the Music Department] even just for that 5-, 10- Blackness, which began at Macalester in 1969 INES, THE YOUNGEST of six children, minute period and try to work something out on as the Macalester moved with his family to Minneapolis from the piano." College Black Choir. H Yonkers, N.Y., in 1964, when he was 12. His He thanks many Macalester faculty and staff for mother, Doris Hines, a well-known jazz singer, had their support: Dale Warland, Edouard Forner, Donald fallen in love with the city during her tours. "When Betts, Doris Wilkinson, David Lanegran, Thad we first moved here, we [children] hated it," he Wilderson, Sowah Mensah, among others. And he's recalls. "The music was way behind [New York], the grateful to friends like Jeff Hassan '73 (see page 17), fashions were way behind." Hines eventually grew to who negotiated the first recording contract for the like the city and still makes his home in Minneapo- Sounds, and Sharon Sayles Belton '73, the mayor of lis, but he admits he's still a New Yorker at heart. Minneapolis, who still serves on the Sounds' board But the musician to whom Macalester proudly of directors. Most of all, he credits history Professor gave an honorary degree in 1997 almost chose Mahmoud El-Kati, his "cultural, political and spiri- Dartmouth for his college education. He was "just tual mentor." The two first met when Hines was about there" when he had a talk with Earl Bowman still in junior high and El-Kati would talk to young '50, then assistant to Macalester's president, and people about African American history, black pride Don Hudson, Mac's football coach. They persuaded and folks like Duke Ellington. him to enroll at Macalester, where he majored in continued on inside back cover sociology, played offensive guard on the football team, threw the discus on the track team, and was active in student government and BLAC (Black

NOVEMBER 1999 33 COLM A N continued from page 23 their audiences and inspire radical social change. poems, mostly for himself, but by 1997, he decided So, 20 years from now, will Colman still be stand- to take a leap and step on stage at the Nuyorican. ing at the mike, reading poems about revolution He was a success, and soon poetry became his life. and working the crowd? Probably not, hut he plans "How ir happened is I started reading and people on sticking with poetry for the time being. His twin wanted to hear me. What brother David, also a Mac happens is people just emerge cWhat happens is people just emerge grad, is getting his Ph.D. in on the scene. I was one of history at the University of them. It wasn't anything I set on the scene. I was one of them. Iowa. Colman thinks one day out to do." It wasn't anything I set out to do.? he'll likely follow his lead. But now that he is a poet, "I want to continue to prac- Colman has focused on making his poetry culturally tice as an artist and perform tor a few years and then significant. While he does write about love and sex go back to school later on when I feel like I have and food and other personal subjects, a thread of some experience to bring with me. I've always political activism is woven through all of his work. wanted to go through the back door, to have acade- In fact, the entire Nuyorican team are self-described mia come to me. Is this arrogant? I guess I mean I poet-activists, who use their words to challenge want to have something to offer it, too." •

CRAVEN continued from page 31 to meet demographic targets. After the conference, a one-year fellowship with the National Women's priorities shifted to an emphasis on reproductive Law Center, working on reproductive health issues. health. In addition, other women's priorities came Then one day she spotted a notice that the Cen- to the fore. "In Bolivia, legislators passed the first tre for Development and Population Activities national domestic violence law giving women a (CEDPA), based in Washington, D.C., needed a cause of action to bring abusive spouses to court. coordinator of international advocacy for the In Gambia, women who conducted female cir- International Conference on Population and cumcision were retrained to earn a living by other Development, which was to take place in Cairo in means. In Nigeria, women organized a political 1994. "I leaped at the chance. Finally I network that mobilized 1 million was working for an international ^They used to say women to get involved in the election development organization." process. Even China is opening up to I was working on C E D PA, Craven's job was to pre- new approaches." pare women leaders from around "chick" issues. After four years at CEDPA, Craven got a call from Wirth, then undersecre- A the world for the Cairo confer- [But today] ence and later for the Fourth World tary of state for global affairs, asking Conference on Women, held in Beijing. women's rights have her to coordinate the U.S. review of progress resulting from the Cairo con- During conference preparatory meetings, become integral she trained these women in techniques ference. In that position, she advised tor reaching their goals for women's to every discussion and informed top officials on popula- tion and reproductive health policy rights. She recalls the four women who of human rights.5 came to New York from Romania, where and programs. A year later, when family planning had been illegal under Wirth left the State Department to communism. "They were distressed at first because head the U.N. Foundation, she joined UNFPA to the official Romanian government delegation was continue her work on women's rights. all-male," she recalled. With Craven's help, they Craven and her husband, Matthew McGuire, a ensured that women's voices would be heard. "By securities attorney, live in Washington. Together the end of the first week they were having coffee they do pro bono work for the Legal Clinic tor the with the male delegates. A week later they had Homeless. They know many individuals in the drafted the delegation's talking points tor the con- D.C. homeless community and greet them on ference. They didn't have a chance to say goodbye downtown streets. Once a month they get new to me because on their way to the airport they were clients at Miriam's Kitchen, a soup kitchen near lunching with Romania's permanent representative the State Department. to the U.N. By the end of the Cairo conference, Despite her dismay over the lack of U.S. finan- one of them had worked her way onto the official cial support for UNFPA, Craven is optimistic about delegation to the conference." global progress in international women's rights. The Cairo conference was a catalyst for tremen- "Years ago on the Hill, they used to say 1 was work- dous change in population program priorities ing on 'chick' issues. I don't think people would say throughout the world, Craven said. Previously, gov- that today. Women's rights have become integral to ernments had focused on providing contraceptives every discussion of human rights. Women's voices are being heard and making a difference. We have much to be hopeful about." •

34 MACALESTER TODAY ALUMNI NEWS

Motion pictures Close friends Peter Berg T84, an actor, director, and writer, and Ari Emanuel '83, a Hollywood talent agent, were featured speakers at the Los Angeles regional campaign event last spring. From left: Ari, Jasper Simon '96, Sherman Wu '99, Marie Zemler '98 and Peter.

Calendar of alumni events OR MORE INFORMATION On any whatshap.html. Or call the campus events Dec. 9: Bay Area Happy Hour, of the following, call the Alumni line: (651) 696-6900. 6:30-8:30 p.m., Tonga Room, Fairmont F Office, (651) 696-6295, except where Dec. 4-5: Alumni Board of Directors Hotel, San Francisco (see below) noted. Toll-free: 1-888-242-9351. For more meet on campus Feb. 12: Regional Macalester campaign current information on alumni gatherings Dec. 8: Alumni from Macalester, event, Phoenix, Ariz., brunch, home of Win in your area, see the alumni Web page: Carleton and several other colleges invited and Maxine Houghton Wallin '48, The www.macalester.edu/~alumni/calendar. to Festival Chamber Music Society Con- Boulders (call Tom Wick at 651-696-6034 For campus events, see the on-line campus cert, Merkin Hall, New York; contact: Rob for more information) events calendar: www.macalester.edu/ Nutt'90, (212) 353-1164; e-mail: May 19-21: Reunion Weekend and [email protected] Commencement; Commencement takes place Sunday, May 21 Alumni Association Board of Directors Bay Area Happy Hours: Contact: Emily Stone l98, (510) 420-6958 or Officers: Members: Paul E. Smyke '85 [email protected] Molly McGinnis Stine '87, Phyllis Bambusch Jones '44 Kimberly Gehrman-White '86 Boston Happy Hours: Contact: Mary president John W. Ring '51 Thomas A. Moberg '86 Kate Little '97 and Lauren Paulson '97, Robert C. Ringold '52 Helga L Ying '87 (617)713-2971 David C. Hodge '70, Virginia McElfish Damberg '53 Jennifer P. Lundblad '88 New York Happy Hours: Contact: vice president Dale W. Turnham '58 Nancy Schatz Alton '92 Nora Koplos '93, (212) 222-4102 (h) or Grant Killoran '86, Kathleen Osborne Vellenga '59 Michael A. Hecht '93 [email protected]; and Rob president-elect Harriet M. Lansing '67 Carrie L. Norbin '94 Nutt '90, (212) 353-1164 or Georga Larsen Parchem '67 Per von Zelowitz '94 [email protected] Edward Swanson '64, Linda Karrer Trout '69 Minh Ta '97 Washington, D.C., Happy Hours: secretary-treasurer Caryn Davis Hanson '71 Contact: Paul Batcheller '95, (202) Margaret J. Westin '74 Student members: 224-7306 or [email protected]; and Louisa E. Chapman '75 Chad Jones '00 Chuck Szymanski '91, (202) 473-5733 or Kathleen Angelos Pinkett '75 Karan Singh '00 [email protected] • Juan A. Figueroa '77 Diya Malarkar '01 Kenneth F. Schwartz '80 Harmony O'Rourke '01 Carla A. Morris '85 Christine Swanson '01 NOVEMBER 1999 35 MACROCOSM

born near the end of the Depression and Our own children were pre-video, pre- there weren't many of us. Second, the Intemet and almost pre-MTV. We're glad United States was all geared up with indus No one knew about the global econ- try and research during the war effort, but omy then; no one could ignore its vast to be here was not leveled by the war as Europe and effects now. Asia had been. I just assumed that ample We came of age before the feminist and A 6os-something remembers job opportunities existed because we were sexual revolutions. The latter came with all very clever people, full of energy, good the pill. We were in the fading years of seg- when the Class 0/59 humor and the will to make the rest of the regation of the sexes. Did we question the were 20-somethings world as good as the Mid- warning bells in our west. In short, I was full of dorms and the strict by Kathleen Osborne Vellenga 59 confidence and didn't dwell hours? We were locked on bigger issues. out if we were late, and UR 40TH REUNION1! I've Yes, I knew people of color wore girdles, no matter become accustomed to the old had limited rights "down how skinny we were, so Olady that looks back at me in the South," but I was skeptical of we would not appear to mirror, but what throws me is meeting the stories of discrimination be trying to attract lust- someone with graying temples whose right here in the Twin Cities crazed men with a wiggle. nametag says: Class of '72. They were in told to me by a few local stu- The point was to keep us the first kindergarten class I taught! They dents of color in our class. It young women from losing were babies when my classmates and I wasn't until later that I came our virtue, and the point graduated from high school. to realize the "civil rights" of that (which I learned We are at the age where we can't struggle included all of us. I later) was that children remember anything, but understand knew my grandmothers had to have a father who everything. couldn't vote until after all would support them. Forty years is an introspective time. their children were born, but One writer pointed out We've became wise about all that informa- my mother had been only recently that the sexual tion stored in our brains. It's the concept, 6 years old when women got revolution put the burden not the nouns, stupid. I don't know about the vote, so I assumed women's "issues" for preventing pregnancy on women, the rest of my classmates, but despite all were solved. I didn't know that when my which gave men of all classes the opportu- that mind-boggling theory we were exposed uncles came back from the war and my nity to consort with many women and not to at Macalester, I wasn't doing much aunts gave up their jobs making war stuff, feel responsible. introspecting 40 years ago. Mostly check- we were only entering the era when women The feminist movement which brought ing out my love lite, my grades, my of all classes — not just the wealthy — us into the job market crashed head-on roommates' love lives and grades. would not have any work other than taking with the sexual revolution. Did any of us— I knew I would get a job. I care of children at home, men or women — in 1959 know we were on knew I would probably spending the family budget, the verge of that? running the machines. I become a mother. I knew the We wore girdles, VVT/E GRADUATED at the dawn of the bomb probably wouldn't be knew both my grandmothers no matter how skinny W information age. Yes, there were dropped, but did feel uneasy. drove horses to hnng in the crops, made butter, sold computers then, but they computed, they I knew communism abroad we were, so we would eggs, canned like crazy, and didn't write. They took up an entire room had become a cruel dictator- and cost enormous sums. A few of us still ship and that communism at not appear to be trying I knew my mother got rest- less after we were all in don't truck with them, but we live in a home was threatening. I to attract lust-crazed global society sustained by them. knew we elected white school. men with a wiggle. Here we are! Glad to be here, well aware Protestant males to be presi- Some of my classmates now that not only our parents but even we dent and everything else, but may have thought more don't live forever. Adjusting to enormous Coya Knutson was a Minne- than 1 did about what "post- change, we're rejoicing in the third genera- sota congress-somebody and I thought something" we were: post-horse and buggy, tion now arriving in our extended family or maybe my friends Nancy Slaughter '58 or post-trains connecting the country, post- neighborhood. Mary Gludt '59 would follow her. mass production of cars — then nearly We won't all be here for the 50th What I didn't think about was the signif- everything else, post-radio bringing infor- reunion, but we'll all have lived a long, full icance of our generation's position in mation, post-party-line telephone, life in a time of extraordinary, incompre- mid-century. I didn't think of us as "Post- post-silent movies. Post colonialism — hensible change. The innocents of 1959 World War H." The war ended only well, maybe dying colonialism. now have pearls of wisdom for the Class of 10 years before most of us graduated from None of us could be aware of the pre- 1999. Should we tell them? • high school, but we had been little kids in somethings we were, having lived our most 1945. That was a different era to us. The significant years before the enormous fact that all of us could find work was a changes that came with the war. We were Kathleen Oshorne Vellenga '59, a former combination of two things: First, we were pre-television (for those of us in the hinter- Minnesota state legislator, is director oj The lands, that continued through high Children's Initiative in St. Paid. This article school). None of us grew up with the daily was adapted from remarks she prepared this visual images during our significant years. past May for her 40th Macalester reunion. 48 MACALESTER TODAY LETTERS continued from inside front cover The dormitory room they shared at Wallace Hall I believe 1 have a better and much more positive became the scene of an overnight session of ham- environmental quote to add for the young impres- mering out a lighthearted and often humorous script sionable mind: "The world is progressing and based on the news items from other campuses com- resources are becoming more abundant. I'd rather go bined with whatever they had gathered from the into a grocery store today than to a king's banquet a Mac campus during the week. Enthusiasm overcame hundred years ago." —Bill Gates. tiredness as they mounted a streetcar the next day James F. Burho '70 and headed downtown to their scheduled broadcast Glendale, Ariz. each week. The women had made personal contacts with stu- dents on other campuses through their activity as members of the Macalester debate team. But when Radio days they tried to transfer the broadcast privilege to IN RESPONSE to the appeal of Carleton Sumner another campus, they found no one willing to take Gholz '99 in the May issue of Macalester Today for it on. the history of campus radio station WMCN, here's Thus, out of sheer exhaustion, "Campus Com- a tidbit from two radio enthusiasts of some 60 mentators" was discontinued, but the team, Barbara years ago: Lee Durkee Strite and I, happily recalled our "radio Calling themselves uCampus Commentators," two days" when we attended the 60th reunion of our Macalester seniors of 1938, the "Bev and Barb" team, class at Macalester a year ago. set up a "news network" by which they gathered But did they participate in the early days of newsworthy items from Twin Cities colleges and WMCN? Of course, but only as inspired precursors! shaped them into a 15-minute script for live broad- Beverly Batzer O'Reilly '38 cast over one of the city's commercial radio stations, Jackson Heights, N.Y. KSTP, every Friday afternoon.

H i N E s continued from page 33 positive difference in people's lives with this music "Mahmoud was our role model for Sounds o( that's therapeutic and spiritual and uplifting." Blackness, in terms of embracing the whole music Although the Sounds of Blackness is commonly of a culture and people, and presenting it to people thought of as a gospel group, its music draws upon of all backgrounds," Hines says. "Mahmoud always diverse influences—from blues and jazz to reggae talked about music in general, and African music in and R&B—in keeping with Hines' own broad particular, as being healing and having a functional tastes. Depending on his mood, he enjoys listening place in life, as opposed to just art for art's sake." To to such disparate artists as James Brown, this day, whenever the two run into each other, "I'll Rachmaninoff and Jewel. say, 'Mahmoud, do you got a word for me?' He The new Sounds of Blackness album, always has something that will feed me." Reconciliation, features the diverse sound. And, as Hines admits to being a workaholic. His day always, it's music with a message. This time, the begins with his morning prayers, followed by a half- message is nothing less than millennial. hour workout in the gym, the piano practice at 1O

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