7/27/21 11:29 AM7/27/21 11:29 AM SUMMER2021, VOLUME 113, NUMBER 4

RETHINKING ALCOHOL ADDICTION … LEON KASS … LIFE AFTER INCARCERATION … SLEEPING PRESIDENTS SUMMER 2021 UCH_summer2021 cover and spine_v4.indd 1UCH_summer2021 cover and spine_v4.indd 1 UCH_ADS_v1.indd 2 7/26/21 2:12 PM EDITORˆS NOTES

VOLUME 113, NUMBER 4, SUMMER 2021

EDITOR Laura Demanski, AM’94 SENIOR EDITOR Mary Ruth Yoe ASSOCIATE EDITOR Susie Allen, AB’09 MANAGING EDITOR Rhonda L. Smith ART DIRECTOR Guido Mendez ALUMNI NEWS EDITOR Andrew Peart, AM’16, PHD’18 GRAPHIC DESIGNER Chloe Reibold BUSINESS ADMINISTRATOR Denise Dentley CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Jeanie Chung; Carrie Golus, AB’91, AM’93; Lucas McGranahan; Maureen Searcy

Editorial Office The University of Chicago Magazine, 5235 South Harper Court, Chicago, IL 60615 TELEPHONE 773.702.2163 EMAIL [email protected] University of Chicago Alumni Relations and EAT, MEMORY Development has its offices at 5235 South Harper Court, Chicago, IL 60615 TELEPHONE 773.702.2150 BY LAURA DEMANSKI, AM’94 ADDRESS CHANGES 800.955.0065 or [email protected] WEB mag.uchicago.edu

The University of Chicago Magazine ’ve long had my suspicions about you readers, and now I’m sure. (ISSN-0041-9508) is published quarterly (Fall, Let me begin at the beginning. We love to get letters to the Winter, Spring, Summer) by the University editor. The first missive to hit the Magazine’s in-box after each of Chicago in cooperation with Alumni Relations and Development, 5235 South issue goes out into the world is, for us, akin to the first robin in Harper Court, Chicago, IL 60615, and sent to spring or a new green shoot—a happy sign of life and, we hope, a all University of Chicago alumni. Published harbinger of more to follow. Even when the words are harsh, we continuously since 1907. Periodicals postage paid at Chicago and additional mailing want to hear from you. offi s. POSTMASTER Send address changes to But what makes readers write? Like anything one cares about The University of Chicago Magazine, Alumni a lot, we turn this question over and over, reason and hypothesize and Records, 5235 South Harper Court, Chicago, Ipredict. Those predictions are frequently off the mark. Last year, fol- IL 60615. © 2021 University of Chicago lowing an issue that covered the early months of COVID-19, medical Advertising Contact uchicago-magazine imaging breakthroughs, and Pulitzer Prize–winning journalism, I noted @uchicago.edu or visit mag.uchicago.edu/ to friends that we received more letters about Ribs ’n’ Bibs, the much- advertising. The Magazine is a member of the Ivy League Magazine Network, whose clients lamented 53rd Street barbeque joint, than about any other topic. include other colleges and universities. These One year later, the evidence has become conclusive. The encomi- advertisements help the Magazine continue to ums to Morry’s and Salonica in this issue’s Letters section, heartfelt deliver news of the University of Chicago and its alumni to readers. Please contact the editor and eloquent, tell the tale: nothing gets your fingers typing more than with any questions. when we invoke Hyde Park eating establishments. IVY LEAGUE MAGAZINE NETWORK And hooray for that. If University of Chicago alumni love their food Heather Wedlake, Director of Operations TELEPHONE 617.319.0995 WEB ivymags.com memories, well, don’t we all? One of my favorite writers, M. F. K. Fisher, EMAIL [email protected] points out in the foreword to The Gastronomical Me (1943) that our memories of the meals we’ve eaten are tightly tangled with our whole The University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual life stories. “It seems to me,” she writes, “that our three basic needs, orientation, gender identity, national or ethnic for food and security and love, are so mixed and mingled and entwined origin, age, status as an individual with a that we cannot straightly think of one without the others.” That has disability, protected veteran status, genetic information, or other protected classes under rung true to me since I first read it. the law. For additional information, please see So when you find yourself in a Medici reverie, a T-Hut trance, or a equalopportunity.uchicago.edu. Shake Day daydream, free associate from there and, if the spirit moves, write us about it. We and your fellow hungry readers will eat it up. Oh, and me? I will never stop missing Caffe Florian’s veggie pizza and

©istock.com/blindspot AM’94 Demanski, Laura by Photography hope I never have to start missing Jimmy’s grilled cheese and fries. ◆

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2021 1

UCM_Ednotes_Summer21_v4.indd 1 7/27/21 9:48 AM Vol. 113 / No. 4 SUMMER 2021 mag.uchicago.edu

Pipes and pomp A bagpiper prepares for the University’s 534th Convocation, which included both virtual and in-person celebrations of the Class of 2021.

On the cover No Hyde Park summer would be complete without an afternoon basking in the splendors of Promontory Point.

Illustration by Nick Lu. Smith Jason by Photography

TOC_v3.indd 2 7/27/21 12:44 PM 1 Editor’s Notes 4 Letters 9 On the Agenda

Features

A measure of pleasure By Maureen Searcy For nearly two decades psychologist Andrea King has followed a group 24 of social drinkers to find out why only some develop alcohol use disorder.

A questioning mind By Laura Demanski, AM’94 32 Leon Kass, LAB’54, SB’58, MD’62, continues the conversation.

Abiding convictions By Susie Allen, AB’09 Punishment doesn’t end after incarceration, writes Crown Family School 36 associate professor Reuben Jonathan Miller, AM’07. Plus: An excerpt from Halfway Home: Race, Punishment, and the Afterlife of Mass Incarceration.

Executive dreaming By Carrie Golus, AB’91, AM’93 In Sleeping Presidents, artist and writer John Ransom Phillips, AB’60, 44 PhD’66, takes viewers inside the minds of (almost) every one from George Washington to Joe Biden.

11 49 UChicago Journal Peer Review Research and What alumni are

Photography by Jason Smith Jason by Photography news in brief thinking and doing

TOC_v3.indd 3 7/27/21 12:44 PM The University of Chicago Magazine welcomes letters about its contents or about the life of the University. Letters for publication must be signed and may be edited for space, clarity, and civility. To provide a range of views and voices, we encourage letter writers to limit LETTERS themselves to 300 words or fewer. Write: Editor, The University of Chicago Magazine, 5235 South Harper Court, Chicago, IL 60615. Or email: [email protected].

53rd Street to Wall Street to the Chicago Journal office with my after each Sox homer or directed deri- Thanks to Chip Forrester, AB’77, for copy, barely on time. sively at departing opposition pitchers. cofounding the Chicago Journal and James Graff, AB’81 The 1978 season would prove a writing such an engaging account of WASHINGTON, DC disappointment, turning the previous its glory years (“Alternative History,” year’s very respectable 90–72 record Spring/21). When I got to the Univer- almost on its head. But the games were sity, the Journal had more going for it Reporting from Comiskey fun to go to nonetheless, especially than the Maroon: a great office with I’m writing to offer my thanks, twice, with a press pass in my pocket (I still windows overlooking Harper and to Chip Forrester. The first thank- carry it). I even turned in a cover story, 53rd, an aim to cover the communi- you is for his reminiscence about the a lengthy interview with the Sox’s ty rather than the University, and a Chicago Journal, which brought back showman owner, Bill Veeck (in the masthead of slightly older and vastly happy memories of my days as the September 13, 1978 issue—you can look more sophisticated people than me. A Journal’s sporadic baseball columnist. it up, as the baseball statisticians say). tip from Chip landed me my first suit- Sometime late in the winter of By the late summer of 1979 I had de- and-tie interview, with the president 1978, I came across a copy of the cided to move to the Boston area, which of Hyde Park Bank. He fumed at be- paper in the basement of Swift Hall turned out to have far more aspiring ing asked by someone of my callow and read an entertaining column baseball writers than it needed. Shortly ilk about the loss the bank had taken about horse racing (perhaps a reader after I moved, a check for $40 arrived due to fraudulent acts of a former vice can identify who the author was). from the Journal, payment for my last president—who by then was working At the time I was in the middle of a couple of columns. I had badly mis- at a tollbooth on the Tri-State. quite undistinguished career as an judged how long it would take me to find It was heady stuff, as was button- MA student in the Divinity School, a job in Boston, and that money (about holing the YMCA about its uncon- and my mood was as gloomy as the $150 today) kept me fed for a while. So, scionable closing of the Hyde Park Y. Chicago season. The column made me more than 40 years too late but for the Other friends—including Curtis Black, realize that I would much prefer to second time in one letter: thanks, Chip. EX’79, and Nancy Cleveland, who also write about sports than plod through Steven Feldman, AB’76, AM’79 wrote for the Journal—eventually Heidegger’s Being and Time. WASHINGTON, DC founded another free paper, Haymar- I lived just a block from the paper’s ket, which aimed to expose the city’s offices, so I walked over, trudged many social and cultural injustices. I up the stairs, and, mustering more Rethink again had the bug for journalism, and when chutzpah than I am normally capable In “Democracy Rethought” (UChicago I said so to my general studies adviser, of, announced to the coeditors—a Journal, Spring/21), I learn that the Karl “Jock” Weintraub, AB’49, AM’52, somewhat surprised Margaret Center for Effective Government was PhD’57—as I turned in my senior pa- Roberts, AM’72, and Gordon Crovitz, formed out of concern for American per on the very eve of convocation—he AB’80—“What your paper needs is a democratic institutions. Cited in cocked an eye and said: “With your baseball writer.” There being no other support are the COVID-19 response trouble with deadlines?” candidates, I landed the assignment. and “the disinformation campaign The Chicago Journal got me go- The Journal paid me a modest sum during and after the 2020 presidential ing, and things worked out. I secured for each column, but what I really election.” No mention of concern a staff writing job at the University coveted were the two free tickets I re- about the pervasive disinformation of Chicago Magazine (then housed ceived to White Sox home games. The campaign and corruption regarding in the Robie House garage), went 1978 season began with great prom- the 2016 campaign’s assault on to Munich for grad school, spent 20 ise, coming after a surprisingly good democracy via the ultimately years as a foreign correspondent for campaign the year before. That was repudiated Russia collusion narrative, Time, and have worked for the last the year of the Hit Men—Oscar Gam- wherein elected officials, intelligence seven years as a news editor for the ble and Richie Zisk led the American agency officials, the press, and other Wall Street Journal—a fate that would League with 31 and 30 home runs, re- institutions participated. have astounded (and maybe appalled) spectively—and was the original “Na The irony is most stark given the

my former self, trudging up the steps na na na, hey hey, goodbye!” era, sung quotation from University president Photocourtesy Carol A. (Garstki) Westbrook, AB’72, PhD’77, MD’78

4 THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2021

UCH_Letters_v4-in PDF locked.indd 4 7/27/21 9:32 AM Robert J. Zimmer highlighted on page In his six-volume history of WW I, the social array of staff and customers. 32: “One of the great dangers with Winston Churchill devotes a few The University of Chicago Press should respect to free expression is people chapters to it, and that could hardly think about a full volume publication to feeling very morally sure of themselves be considered an obscure book by an honor Charles Custer’s work. and very dismissive of other people’s unknown author. The conflict is little Arthur J. Krim, AM’67 views” (“Defining Figure,” Spring/21). known but hardly the secret Carr tries CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS On the same page, Zimmer, reflecting to picture it. on the U of C’s values, is quoted Greg Darak, AB’76 warning that “you don’t get new ideas TRUMBULL, CONNECTICUT A life of good cheer … from operating in an echo chamber.” “A Surprise Package from 1950” (the Brandon Windham, MBA’92 Core, Winter/21) was wonderful MCDONALD, TENNESSEE reading about Maurice S. Mandel’s (AB’56, AB’57) contributions to the U of C on many fronts. His recollections Short on sources of organizing the cheering for the I found “The Spy You Never Heard Of” basketball game against Navy Pier was (UChicago Journal, Spring/21), about fun. Morie would not have had much Barnes Carr’s book The Lenin Plot: access to the future of cheering for the The Unknown Story of America’s War basketball team, which was greatly Against Russia (Pegasus Books, 2020), augmented for the same fun in the a little odd. The author has been re- early 1960s. searching the subject for 45 years, and In 1960 Kathrine Clark Miller Reed, yet even in this article almost all the AB’64, joined the U of C as a second-year claims made seem not to be based on transfer student from the University of anything but Carr’s feelings. Oregon, a fine finishing and party school Sam Harper, AB 1902, EX’09, was More kicks on Route 66 at the time. For Kathy, a life of the mind “almost certainly a recruiter for I thoroughly enjoyed “Out of the Past” was all well and good, if that was all you American intelligence,” although (Winter/20), about two freelancers wanted to do at the U of C, but there Carr says there’s nothing in his letters who set out to capture America on and papers that shows that. Of a let- film and try to make a living in the ter to Harper that offers support for process. The article resonated with Americans coming to Russia to learn me, as my father, Chester Garstki, the language, it’s said, “Is there some- did the same thing in the 1930s and thing more to read between the lines? ’40s. He captured celebrities arriving Carr thinks so.” An American force in Chicago’s Union Station and the was sent to the seaport Archangel, yachts setting out on the Mackinac “allegedly to defend munitions there— race. I was struck by the similarities though Carr suspects that wasn’t the in their appearances too. Dad’s real goal.” A Russian American “was freelance career was cut short when already a casual agent, Carr suspects.” he was drafted and became a war Even odder is his talking as though photographer for the Army. He is best the American and British fighting in known for his photo of General George Russia after World War I was some se- Patton riding a Lipizzaner stallion in cret operation that the US government Austria (see above). has kept hushed up all these years. I hope you enjoy my little memories, The public is generally less interested as I enjoyed Charley Custer’s (EX’75). in small wars than large ones—com- Carol A. (Garstki) Westbrook, pared to World Wars I and II, rela- AB’72, PhD’77, MD’78 tively few people are aware of, say, the BEVERLY SHORES, INDIANA war between Russia and Poland after WW I, or the Soviet invasion of Fin- My applause for your portfolio of the land in 1940. But even 45 years ago, Route 66 store photos by Charles, AB’48, books had been published about the JD’58, and Irene, AB’48, Custer. As the American intervention in the Rus- author of Route 66: Iconography of the sian Civil War (The Ignorant Armies American Highway (Center for Ameri- [Harper, 1960] by E. M. Halliday, can Places, 2006), I consider the photos for example), and so had memoirs of a treasured time capsule of the postwar

Photocourtesy Carol A. (Garstki) Westbrook, AB’72, PhD’77, MD’78 people involved. period—both for the retail detail and

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2021 5

UCH_Letters_v4-in PDF locked.indd 5 7/27/21 1:10 PM LETTERS grad school at the University of Illinois Morry,” Alumni News, Spring/21). at Urbana-Champaign. Earlier I The first time I gave what would be became, like Morie, president of the my standard order, roast beef on an Chicago chapter of Delta Upsilon. So onion roll with mayo and mustard, the had to be more types of fun to be had. a frat president was able to marry a owner rolled his eyes and said, “Good She quickly joined the staff of the South college cheerleader in the wonderful Jewish boy.” I knew there was no dairy Asian library collection to keep busy. environment of the U of C. In late in mayonnaise and wondered what INVEST WITH YOUR Women could drink at age 18 in Illinois 1961 the proposal was, Marry me and prompted his comment. As a kid from at that time, and Jimmy’s Woodlawn we’ll go to Calcutta thanks to the U rural Wisconsin raised as a Method- Tap was happy to oblige one and all. of C geography department. Calcutta ist, it took me a long time to learn there Kathy came from a moderate-sized high was the beginning of 59 wonderful was a cultural rule, not a Kosher one, school in Salem, Oregon, where she was years in which Kathy rose to be against mayo on deli meat sandwiches. never part of the in-group of jocks and associate provost for management at It never stopped me from placing the cheerleaders. In early Winter Quarter the University of Virginia for 20 years same order at Morry’s or anyplace else. of 1961, returning from Jimmy’s, she before our retirement. Kathy sadly A couple years after my first Morry’s dropped into Bartlett Gym, observed passed away of three cancers in July purchase, and just days after I got my CLASSMATES. the basketball game, and wondered, 2020. She cheered to the end. degree, I told the owner that I was how can you have a competitive game Wallace E. Reed, AB’59, PhD’67 moving away and having my last sand- without cheerleaders? SALEM, OREGON wich at his place. He wished me luck Within days she realized she could and said this one was on the house. become a college-level cheerleader, To read Katherine Clark Miller Reed’s They had all been delicious, but the which would have been totally out of obituary, see Deaths, page 79.—Ed. last one tasted particularly good. reach at any other large school. She David R. Cross, JD’80 recruited six other U of C women; MILWAUKEE WE DO. taught them chants and tactics, which The queen’s ambit they promptly embellished; and I remember Queen Elizabeth and I enjoyed Morry’s while an undergrad secured pom-pom and poof materials Prince Philip’s visit well—not their when it was at its original location. and a sort of uniform made up of visit to the campus but their visit the My classmates said I had to go there. I everyone’s wardrobe. same day to the Museum of Science showed up with them and the line was, At the next games, cheers were and Industry (“A Royal Visit,” College as usual, out the door. heard, dances were choreographed, Review, May 2021). An undergraduate Morry oversaw a highly efficient fans swelled, and games were won fairly student working there part time, I team, mainly of Thai immigrants. was assigned to demonstrate for these The assembly line worked great until distinguished visitors three IBM a miscommunication on an order was Much fun was machines on display in the museum. made. Then the banter between the always had; after all, I was given a stopwatch-timed one staff in their native tongue picked up in minute and 45 seconds to speak. The volume and cadence until the mistake the squad had been Queen stood there stoically, showing was corrected. We looked forward to well lubricated no interest, but the Prince at least those moments even though we had appeared to be engaged and interested. no clue what they were saying, and the We are a private venture capital fund for UChicago alumni and friends. We’ll by Jimmy’s down By the way, to illustrate how long mistakes were handled expeditiously. build you a robust portfolio of ~20-30 venture-backed companies, diversified ago 1959 was, consider what those Morry was always as cool as a cucumber the street. by stage, sector, and geography, co-invested alongside firms like Sequoia, three IBM machines were: a card and did not say much. punch, a card sorter, and an “account- My two favorite sandwiches were Khosla, and Kleiner Perkins. If you are an accredited investor and looking for a often. Much fun was always had; after ing” machine that was “programmed” pastrami on an onion roll and the smart, simple way to invest in venture capital, join us. all, the squad had been well lubricated by plugging in a bunch of wires like special, a mix of yesterday’s corned beef, This year’s fund is now open to new investors. by Jimmy’s down the street. I believe on an old telephone operator’s board. pastrami, and BBQ sauce. Ordering fried that nothing was ever official; they just (Does any reader today remember clams was auditorily entertaining. showed up for the fun of it. Morie should what an IBM punch card looked like?) When I returned to the U of C for be very proud of the vigorous continua- Martin Israel, SB’62 my residency training years later, I LEARN MORE tion of his efforts even at this late date. ST. LOUIS went to Morry’s in the bookstore and www.lakeshoreventures.com/alumni | [email protected] My role in encouraging all of this occasionally in the C-Shop and at the was meeting Kathy and enjoying new 55th and Cornell location. Morry Let knowledge grow Important Disclosure: The Manager of Lakeshore Ventures 1 is Alumni Ventures Group (AVG), a venture capital firm. AVG and the fund are not sponsored by, affiliated with, or otherwise endorsed by the University of her company for 48 hours the first of was gone but the memories linger. Was Chicago. AVG’s funds are very long-term investments that involve substantial risk of loss, including loss of all capital invested. For informational purposes only; offers of securities are made only to January 1961 on the Great Northern from more to Morry’s that his son who took over? accredited investors pursuant to a fund’s offering documents, which describe the risks, fees and other information that should be considered before investing. Contact Investor.Relations@Lake- shoreVentures.com for additional information. AVG offers smart, simple venture investing to accredited investors. Specifically, AVG provides a path for individuals to own an actively managed Railways Empire Builder from I bought a sandwich at least once a Morry’s was one of my favorite delis diversified venture portfolio with a single investment co-investing alongside experienced VC firms. Traditionally, with limited investment capital and contacts, individual investors have had lim- Portland, Oregon, to Chicago, then week at the original Morry’s location in the USA. A few years ago, I stopped ited access to desirable deals alongside experienced VC firms, and even if they could access one or more such deals, it would take an inordinate amount of time, money and negotiation to build a diversified portfolio. With AVG Funds, investors can choose from a number of funds to make a single investment to gain exposure to a diversified portfolio of investments selected by an dating her while in urban planning on 55th Street (“I’ll Take an Egg Mc- in and, regrettably, it did not have the experienced manager. AVG Funds’ simple fee mechanism permits investors to avoid constant capital calls throughout the life of the fund as found in other private investment vehicles. All pri- vate placements of securities and other broker dealer activities are currently offered through a partnership with Independent Brokerage Solutions LLC MEMBER: FINRA / SIPC (“Indie- Brokers”), which is located at 485 Madison Avenue 15th Floor New York, NY 10022. (212) 751-4424. AVG and its affiliates are independent and unaffiliated with IndieBrokers. Any securities transactions or related activities offered by AVG associated persons are conducted in their capacities as registered representatives of IndieBrokers. To check the background of In- 6 THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2021 dieBrokers and its representatives, visit FINRA’s BrokerCheck (https://brokercheck.finra.org) where you can also find our Form CRS (https://files.brokercheck.finra.org/crs_153563.pdf). Scan to Learn More

UCH_Letters_v4.indd 6 7/23/21 12:54 PM 210511_AVG_Chicago.indd 1 3/17/21 2:53 PM INVEST WITH YOUR CLASSMATES. WE DO.

We are a private venture capital fund for UChicago alumni and friends. We’ll build you a robust portfolio of ~20-30 venture-backed companies, diversified by stage, sector, and geography, co-invested alongside firms like Sequoia, Khosla, and Kleiner Perkins. If you are an accredited investor and looking for a smart, simple way to invest in venture capital, join us.

This year’s fund is now open to new investors.

LEARN MORE www.lakeshoreventures.com/alumni | [email protected]

Important Disclosure: The Manager of Lakeshore Ventures 1 is Alumni Ventures Group (AVG), a venture capital firm. AVG and the fund are not sponsored by, affiliated with, or otherwise endorsed by the University of Chicago. AVG’s funds are very long-term investments that involve substantial risk of loss, including loss of all capital invested. For informational purposes only; offers of securities are made only to accredited investors pursuant to a fund’s offering documents, which describe the risks, fees and other information that should be considered before investing. Contact Investor.Relations@Lake- shoreVentures.com for additional information. AVG offers smart, simple venture investing to accredited investors. Specifically, AVG provides a path for individuals to own an actively managed diversified venture portfolio with a single investment co-investing alongside experienced VC firms. Traditionally, with limited investment capital and contacts, individual investors have had lim- ited access to desirable deals alongside experienced VC firms, and even if they could access one or more such deals, it would take an inordinate amount of time, money and negotiation to build a diversified portfolio. With AVG Funds, investors can choose from a number of funds to make a single investment to gain exposure to a diversified portfolio of investments selected by an experienced manager. AVG Funds’ simple fee mechanism permits investors to avoid constant capital calls throughout the life of the fund as found in other private investment vehicles. All pri- vate placements of securities and other broker dealer activities are currently offered through a partnership with Independent Brokerage Solutions LLC MEMBER: FINRA / SIPC (“Indie- Brokers”), which is located at 485 Madison Avenue 15th Floor New York, NY 10022. (212) 751-4424. AVG and its affiliates are independent and unaffiliated with IndieBrokers. Any securities transactions or related activities offered by AVG associated persons are conducted in their capacities as registered representatives of IndieBrokers. To check the background of In- dieBrokers and its representatives, visit FINRA’s BrokerCheck (https://brokercheck.finra.org) where you can also find our FormTHE CRS UNIVERSITY(https://files.brokercheck.finra.org/crs_153563.pdf). OF CHICAGO MAGAZINE | SUMMERScan to 2021 Learn 7 More

UCH_Letters_v4.indd 7 7/23/21 12:54 PM 210511_AVG_Chicago.indd 1 3/17/21 2:53 PM LETTERS long, the people there recognized me It was fun to see the photo of Sa- as a regular. lonica. I remember eating there as I continued to live in Hyde Park after a master’s student in English, 1987– graduating, and Salonica has continued 89. I grew up in a smallish city in same panache. The pastrami sandwich to be a favorite refuge. My boyfriend the West and had never eaten Greek was not bad though. and I go about every other week, and food before. I fell in love with the Sometime I’ll tell you about Harold’s they know our order rather well. I bring spanakopita and used to get it fre- and Ribs ’n’ Bibs. my family there when they visit. I go quently. I remember eating there for John V. Prunskis, AB’77 alone when I’m sad, or have had a dif- the first time with a fellow English BARRINGTON, ILLINOIS ficult dentist appointment, or whatever MA student. We were sitting across it may be. I’ve cried at Salonica, laughed from each other in our booth, and It was indeed Morry’s son Gary Orman at Salonica, and sheltered there from the he asked me, “So, what do you think who took over after Morry retired in the rain. I’ve gone after watching the US about deconstruction?” And I actu- mid-1970s.—Ed. women’s national soccer team win the ally had something to say about it! World Cup; hungover and in desperate It was a very U of C moment that I need of pancakes; to stock up on calories have recalled often with amusement. They didn’t hold the pickles at the beginning of a long day; to get one Thank you for the memory, Salonica! Morry’s Deli was a favorite for many more taste of home before going on a long Alison Harvey, AM’89 of us living at Laughlin Hall, the MBA trip away. RENO, NEVADA dorm. My friend Gary Pullar, MBA’76, During the pandemic, I’ve ordered and I planned to drive back to our from Salonica, but it’s not the same. Seeing the picture of the Salonica sign homes in Massachusetts right after One of the things I’m most looking in the latest issue put a huge smile the last of my fall 1974 exams. While I forward to is finding regular refuge in on my face. I have spent many, many studied in my room, Gary interrupted Salonica again. Sunday mornings rehydrating at to ask what we’d eat along the way. Leah Rachel von Essen, AB’16, CER’19 Salonica with its endless cups of coffee. Anxious to resume studying, I told CHICAGO My favorite/go-to meal at Salonica: him, “Morry’s roast beef, no pickles, two eggs sunny-side up, white toast with and I will eat one more than you.” Salonica’s bacon and green pepper lots of butter, and, of course, the coffee. When I returned after the exam, Gary omelet with hash browns and toast Thank you for making me laugh and entered with a large bag containing 13 was unforgettable. One particular day relive the wonder that is Salonica. Morry’s roast beef sandwiches—six for in 1994 the food was outshone by my Sajal Sahay, AB’90 him and seven for me. We opened the dean inviting me there for a pep talk. PLEASANTON, CALIFORNIA bag shortly after departure and found I had just passed my PhD exams 25 that all the sandwiches had pickles, months into the program, though not It’s not an exaggeration to say that and pickle juice thoroughly permeated with distinction. After I explained how Salonica helped me survive graduate them. I didn’t eat mine, but Gary left disheartened I was, the dean held up school. My Harris Public Policy fel- them in my car. The day after I arrived, his hands in the shape of a triangle and lowship came with a modest stipend my dad was eating one for lunch at the asked me where I thought I was at that that barely covered my room at In- factory where he worked in Palmer, moment. I responded about halfway ternational House and my meals. Sa- Massachusetts. His buddy remarked down the small hand-sized triangle. lonica’s all-day breakfast special (two that it looked like a great sandwich and OK, he said, “but now look below my eggs, hash browns, toast, unlimited asked where he got it. “Chicago” was arms,” as he gestured toward the coffee) made for a dependable, budget- the answer. imaginary triangle lines that extended friendly dinner probably five nights Chuck McQuaid, MBA’76 all the way to the floor. “You are lacking out of any given week. And the friendly DOWNERS GROVE, ILLINOIS perspective right now. You are at the wait staff was much better company very top of this huge triangle and yet than eating at the Subway down the you feel like you’re halfway down this street, or alone in my room. Department of classics small hand-sized one. So what if there Kyle Gracey, SM’10 Early on, the presence of Salonica are others at the very tip. Just write PITTSBURGH was a good sign for my fi ting into the your dissertation knowing where you neighborhood (“A Taste of Greece,” are actually placed, way up here.” The avgolemono soup at Salonica was Alumni News, Spring/21). My family That made all the difference, and the best I’ve ever had. I still dream are Sephardic Jews who came to the what a meal. Since then I’ve used about that soup. United States from Salonika, Greece, the dean’s triangle metaphor with Lucy Wang, MBA’86 and so it felt a little like destiny. countless disheartened students, often GLENDALE, CALIFORNIA Starting in my third year, I would go over a meal. almost every Tuesday after crew prac- Robert Wilson-Black, AM’92, PhD’02 FOR MORE LETTERS VISIT US ONLINE tice and get the number five. Before RESTON, VIRGINIA AT MAG.UCHICAGO.EDU/SUM21MAIL.

8 THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2021

UCH_Letters_v4-in PDF locked.indd 8 7/27/21 9:29 AM ON THE AGENDA

MEETING THE MOMENT

BY THOMAS J. MILES, AM’96, PHD’00 DEAN OF THE LAW SCHOOL AND CLIFTON R. MUSSER PROFESSOR OF LAW AND ECONOMICS

n moments of change, society degree in business and law. Gradu- often looks to the legal system to ates pursuing public interest and provide solutions. This has been public service careers are eligible for true in the past 18 months. The postgraduate fellowships and loan law shaped much of our response forgiveness. In all of these ways, the to the recent crises in public Law School prepares sharp, analytical health and the economy. These minds and creative, effective leaders convulsions were accompanied for a range of professional endeavors. by other developments that were Immediately upon graduation, our deeply entwined with the law—rancor- students begin exciting careers with Ious political divisions, protests over top employers in private practice, policing and racial inequities, a tense public interest, business, and govern- election and contested transition, the ment. One measure of our graduates’ events of January 6, the rollout of ac- successes is the rate at which they re- cess to vaccines, and now a transition With this faculty and the impor- ceive judicial clerkships. The past two to a new postpandemic way of life. tance of law at this moment, it is no sur- years the rates reached all-time highs. These challenges impart new rele- prise that growing numbers of students The October Term 2020 saw seven of vance to the study of law and the edu- aspire to learn here. This year applica- our graduates clerking on the Supreme cation of law students. The Law School tions for the JD class rose by a stag- Court, and another nine will clerk has long led in advancing innovative gering 33 percent over the prior year. there in the October Term 2021. ideas and in providing unmatched le- Once enrolled, these students receive Our community continues to flour- gal training. The excellence of our fac- an education emphasizing participa- ish because of the extraordinary sup- ulty and the influence of their ideas are tory learning, a signature feature of port of our alumni. For example, the the bedrock of that intellectual leader- the Law School, and while the modal- Law School recently launched the ship. We have added seven new faculty ity of learning changed to remote and Elements Fund for Student Scholar- members in the past three years, with then hybrid during the pandemic, our ship, an endowed scholarship fund specialties ranging from energy law to thinking has remained as rigorous and which, in the proud tradition of trans- criminal law. They continue the Law our exploration of ideas as bold as ever. formative gifts like those that fund the School’s founding tradition of interdis- Our clinical program, which now Rubenstein Scholars Program and the ciplinary scholarship, bringing exper- encompasses more than a dozen of- Cafaro Scholarships, will help us con- tise in fields as varied as quantitative ferings, is flourishing and imparts tinue to attract the best and brightest economics and legal history. key skills to prepare students for with scholarship support for outstand- These exceptional colleagues joined professional practice. Two profes- ing students at the Law School. a faculty that publishes prolifically and sors from practice now augment the These inspiring accomplishments, shapes entire fields of legal scholar- experiential learning opportunities despite the trying times, reflect the ship, and their expertise and ideas for students. Our Doctoroff Business strength of the Law School community have tremendous impact beyond the Leadership Program directly prepares and its commitment to transforma- academy. Just in the past year, Law students for leadership and teamwork tive legal education and scholarship. School faculty members published wherever their professional careers As we begin returning to campus, we more than 200 op-eds and significant take them. A newly accelerated three- look forward to welcoming new faculty public writings, and were quoted in year JD/MBA Program with Chicago members and new classes to the vibrant

UniversityofChicago Law School many hundreds of media interviews. Booth offers the best-in-class joint intellectual life at the Law School. ◆

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SUMMER 2021 SUMMER | Read the Stigler Center’s Read the Stigler Center’s Stigler Center podcast at podcast Center Stigler capitalisn’t.com publication at promarket.org Listen and subscribe to the and subscribe Listen THEUNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MAGAZINE 10 10 UCJ Summer 21 V13.indd 10UCJ Summer 21 V13.indd 10 11 7/23/21 11:05 AM7/23/21 11:05 AM SUMMER 2021 SUMMER | 23 Grocery Grocery groundbreaker THEUNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MAGAZINE 20 history Hidden Chicago

JD’96 14 Liz Cheney, RESEARCH AND NEWS IN BRIEF

, artist Ann artist aeon, 12

token art Non-fungible Non-fungible

LOOKING GLASS LOOKING project her For images translucent created Hamilton be to artifacts Institute Oriental of Joethe of dome glass the atop placed Library. Mansueto Rika and UCHICAGO JOURNAL UCHICAGO Photography by Tom Rossiter Tom by Photography UCJ Summer 21 V13.indd 11UCJ Summer 21 V13.indd 11

Credit

Read the Stigler Center’s Read the Stigler Center’s publication at promarket.org Listen and subscribe to the and subscribe Listen at podcast Center Stigler capitalisn’t.com In March Beijing’s UCCA Lab hosted one of the first major exhibitions of cryptoart.

ART figures in the NFT art world—creators, are prints of the Mona Lisa all over buyers, and sellers. the world but only one original in the The speakers also represented a Louvre. But when the bragging rights A JPEG’s worth range of perspectives: evangelists and of ownership aren’t enough, there are skeptics, optimists and pessimists, other ways to make NFTs feel exclusive utopists and realists. Still, they were and valuable. For example, the band a thousand united in the belief that NFT art rep- Kings of Leon released an NFT edition resents a genuine breakthrough, even of its latest album—available to buyers Ether as they disagreed about what exactly for a two-week window, after which no that breakthrough means. new tokens of the album would be sold. Understanding the cryptoart Firmly in the optimist, evangelist, Though Twobadour usually prefers phenomenon. and utopist camps is Indian journal- to go by his digital name and avatar, at ist turned investor Twobadour, who the panel discussion he turns on his BY SUSIE ALLEN, AB’09 spoke at the first event and whose Zoom camera to reveal his real face. business partner Metakovan pur- Bespectacled and genial looking, he On March 11 a piece of non-fungible to- chased Everydays: The First 5000 Days, sits in front of a cabinet full of stuffed ken (NFT) artwork by the digital artist the $69 million work by Beeple. animals as he explains that the pur- Beeple sold at auction for 42,329.453 in But what, exactly, did he buy? An chase of Everydays was neither a prank the cryptocurrency Ether—at the time, NFT is not the work itself—rather, it nor a PR stunt, as some suggested. around $69 million. The sale prompted offers unalterable proof of authentic- Twobadour believes the work, a col- a range of reactions, but perhaps the ity and sale, using the same blockchain lage of digital drawings made each day loudest was: Huh? technology that underlies cryptocur- for 5,000 days (no skips, not even the

This spring a trio of virtual events rency. The code contains a link point- day the artist’s first child was born), Sipa Asia/Sipa USA/Newscom hosted by the University’s center in ing to the location of the digital file. represents a genuine achievement. He Hong Kong aimed to move beyond the Just about anything that lives online saw it as “a metaphor for this new digi- stupefaction and into a deeper conver- can be turned into an NFT, including tal native generation.” sation about what NFTs mean for the tweets, memes, videos, and music. To Jason Salavon, who spoke at the future of art. Panelists at the series, Of course, anyone can Google third /p p/Asia event and whose view called /p p/Asia, included UChicago “Beeple Everydays” and download an is more ambivalent than Twobadour’s, faculty members as well as leading image file of the work—just as there the inevitable technical discussions

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that surround NFTs only serve to ob- Dada allows users to create work scure what really matters: the art it- collaboratively, almost like a visual WEARABLE TECH self. He’s not opposed to digital art, he conversation: one artist uploads a tells attendees. An associate professor drawing, another chimes in with a of visual arts and a practicing digital piece building on or inspired by it, Sensing artist himself, he’s spent the past 30 another chimes in with their own in- years trying to convince the art world terpretation. The platform sells some that computer-made work can matter. of the resulting pieces in the form of danger But NFT art, which lives on phones NFTs—though usually at prices in the and screens, strikes him as naturally tens and hundreds, rather than mil- Your sense of smell can delight, disgust, or alert limited. Salavon recently completed lions, of dollars. you to dangers, like the an artifi ial intelligence–based instal- The goal, Mam explains, is to avoid presence of smoke or lation piece for a museum in Houston; the pitfalls of the existing art market, a gas leak. Those who some encouraged him to turn the where collectors and top artists cash have lost their ability to digital file on which the installation in while everyone else is left behind. smell, from afflictions was based into an NFT, but Salavon She fears that the NFT art market is including COVID-19 and balked. The digital file “is just not as beginning to replicate the same prob- nerve damage, are at good as the piece in Houston. It’s not lems, and wants to offer an alternative. a safety disadvantage, of the same quality,” he argues. Two Today Dada distributes the pro- so researchers in dimensions can’t beat three. (NFT ceeds of its sales—60 percent to the Pedro Lopes’s Human art enthusiasts would argue that vir- artist, 30 percent to all Dada users, Computer Integration tual reality–based galleries, some of and 10 percent to everyone who par- Lab engineered a device, described in which exist already, offer an answer ticipated in the conversation from an Association for to this concern.) which the work emerged. It’s a struc- Computing Machinery Salavon isn’t the only one with ques- ture that allows Dada to “capture and CHI 2021 conference tions. At the first event, Matthew Jesse distribute the value without destroy- preprint, that creates Jackson, chair of visual arts, argued “the ing the magic,” Mam says, and one that a “stereo-smell biggest problem with NFT art would incentivizes collaboration. experience.” Worn seem to be the art”—it’s derivative, he Tan, who was the first Chinese- like a clip-on septum says. Then again, he reflects, “95 per- language musician to sell his work ring, the device cent of the ‘art’ out there is bad anyway.” as an NFT, shares Mam’s vision. He communicates with Across all three /p p/Asia events, has long been concerned about what external odor sensors the issue of quality and overexposure he describes as an income gap in the via Bluetooth and then was on everyone’s minds. Even con- Chinese music community. With CD electrically stimulates the trigeminal nerve, temporary art specialist Noah Davis sales a thing of the past and minuscule which senses changes of Christie’s, which auctioned Beeple’s residuals from streaming services, in pressure, vibration, Everydays, admitted the market was emerging artists have no reliable way and temperature, worryingly oversaturated. “The great- to support themselves. working in tandem with est threat to NFTs as a durable asset He believes NFTs offer an answer. the brain’s olfactory is an abundance of supply,” he says. How many people, Tan points out, bulb to produce a fused “There are way too many terrible have loved a band early in its life cycle, sensation we perceive NFTs on the marketplace right now.” and would have happily paid for exclu- as smell. A tingling His and Christie’s responsibility, he sive content? NFTs allow passionate feeling, which serves believes, is “to be a good steward”—to fans to form patron-like relationships as a proxy for smell, is bring to the marketplace pieces that with musicians, not unlike the model synchronized with the will hold their value over time. enjoyed by classical composers. wearer’s breathing, and diffe ent types But what if the future of NFT art In addition to his thoughts on NFTs, of electrical pulses Sipa Asia/Sipa USA/Newscom lies beyond headline-grabbing mul- Tan has a little surprise for attendees: are used to indicate timillion dollar sales? At the third the event organizers, he explains, the intensity and the event, “NFT: The Creator’s Point of asked him to perform something, so direction from which View,” Hong Kong–based musician he picks up his guitar and plays a few the odor is originating, Hanjin Tan and Judy Mam, cofounder bars of a jazzy version of “When You allowing the wearer to of the art-based social networking site Wish Upon a Star.” It’s a lovely and un- track its source. Dada, imagined a different and more expected moment. You couldn’t put a —M. S. ◆ equitable way forward. price on it. ◆

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UCJ Summer 21 V13.indd 13 7/27/21 9:22 AM Rep. Liz Cheney, JD’96, addresses the media after being removed from her role as House Republican conference chair.

POLITICS United States,” Cheney said, “sum- year’s Alumni Weekend @ Home, moned this mob, assembled the mob, along with appearances by incoming and lit the flame of this attack.” She UChicago president Paul Alivisatos, Loyalty test was one of 10 House members in her AB’81, and Impossible Foods founder party to vote to impeach, while 197 Pat Brown, AB’76, PhD’80, MD’82. Still speaking out against voted against it. Four months later, During Trump’s time in office, “the big lie,” Liz Cheney, her criticisms of Trump still loud and Cheney, JD’96, overwhelmingly lined clear, Cheney’s fellow Republicans re- up with the former president on the JD’96, makes an Alumni moved her as conference chair. issues—voting in support of his posi- Weekend appearance. “Your rise in the House was very, tions almost 93 percent of the time. At very swift, to the number three posi- the Alumni Weekend event, Cheney Tasos Katopodis/UPI/Newscom BY LAURA DEMANSKI, AM’94 tion in the House,” Institute of Poli- drew a bright line between policy mat- tics director and former Democratic ters and Trump’s actions following the On January 12, US representative Liz strategist David Axelrod, AB’76, said to 2020 presidential election. Cheney (R-WY) released a statement Cheney in front of a virtual audience “From a policy perspective you can announcing she would vote to im- of UChicago alumni this past June. go back and say, here’s where we agreed peach President Donald J. Trump for “Your release from that position was and here’s where we disagreed,” she provoking the incursion on the Capitol just as swift.” said. “Once you get into the fundamen- six days earlier. “The President of the Their conversation headlined this tal attacks on the electoral process,

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UCJ Summer 21 V13.indd 14 7/23/21 11:06 AM W. R. HARPER’S INDEX and then what happened on January 6, event, “that to stay in leadership I that’s nothing to do with policy.” would have to be willing to perpetuate Cheney, whose father is former vice the lie. And I wasn’t willing to do that.” president Dick Cheney, came to the After the party rescinded her leader- WHERE THE University of Chicago Law School in ship position in May, she reaffirmed BUFFALO 1993, after twice deferring to stay on her view of Trump’s actions and told at her job with the US Agency for In- reporters she would “do everything I ROAM ternational Development (USAID). It can to ensure that the former presi- was the immediate aftermath of the dent never again gets anywhere near Year the bison herd was Berlin Wall’s fall, and her bureau’s the Oval Office.” established at Fermilab focus on supporting democracy and market economies in countries for- merly behind the Iron Curtain or in It will be a choice for 1969 the Soviet Union felt especially criti- cal. Cheney practiced international the voters of Wyoming Size of the original herd law and worked on Middle East policy ... between a candidate at the State Department during George who’s pledged loyalty to W. Bush’s administration in the two Donald Trump—loyalty decades between her graduation and 5 her first election to the House in 2016. to one man—and me, The state that elected her, Wyoming, who has demonstrated Adult bison in the herd today is “a very conservative state. I’m a con- loyalty to the people of servative Republican,” Cheney noted Wyoming, loyalty to the at the Alumni Weekend event. That 32 aligned her with Trump on issues like Constitution above all. business deregulation, tax cuts, and Birthdate of this year’s first resources for national defense. “But baby bison we are also a state that reveres the Now she faces a reelection cam- Constitution,” she stressed, “and un- paign in heavily pro-Trump Wyoming derstands and reveres the important in 2022. Cheney and Axelrod agreed 4/26/21 role of the oath that we all take, those that it will be a tough race, with of us who are serving in elected office.” Trump certain to use his bully pulpit Calves born this spring For Cheney, Trump’s behavior af- against her. But, “inspired and heart- ter November 3 was “the most egre- ened” by recent conversations with gious violation of an oath of office of constituents, she thinks she’ll prevail. 19 any president in our history”—and She thinks, too, that her race will pretending otherwise would violate determine far more than her own Percentage of the herd’s her own oath. “He exercised his le- future. “Assuming Donald Trump genome that is pure bison, gitimate rights through the court endorses somebody, which I assume unmixed with cattle system,” she told Axelrod. “That was he will,” she said, “it will be a choice legitimate and he had the right to do for the voters of Wyoming.” They’ll that.” In her view, his subsequent at- choose “between a candidate who’s 100 tempts to pressure state and local pledged loyalty to Donald Trump— officials amounted to trying to steal loyalty to one man—and me, who has an election, as did the call for his fol- demonstrated loyalty to the people Years current herdsman Cleo Garcia has overseen the bison lowers to come to Washington, DC, of Wyoming, loyalty to the Constitu- on January 6 and the suggestion they tion above all.” That will amount to “a Tasos Katopodis/UPI/Newscom could change the election outcome. very clear message to the rest of the When House minority leader Kevin country about where the Republican 11 McCarthy (R-CA) and other elected Party is.” ◆ Republicans shifted from denouncing Bison featured in Fermilab’s Trump’s role in the events of that day official seal to minimizing or denying it, Cheney LISTEN TO THE WHOLE CONVERSATION ON DAVID AXELROD’S PODCAST, THE AXE continued to speak out. “It became FILES, PRODUCED BY THE IOP AND CNN, clear,” she said at the Alumni Weekend AT MAG.UCHICAGO.EDU/CHENEY. 1

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UCJ Summer 21 V13.indd 15 7/23/21 11:06 AM JOURNALISM Out Loud A Chicago Maroon veteran finds her voice.

BY JEANIE CHUNG Growing up in Pittsburgh as the daughter of immigrants from China, Marina Fang had always liked writing but hadn’t considered a journalism career, because “I didn’t know anyone who looked like me who was doing it.” Today, as a national reporter cov- ering the intersection of politics and culture for HuffPost, Fang, AB’15, has a platform to shape the ways Asian American people see themselves—and the ways others see them. Never was that opportunity bigger than when it came time to plan the publication’s features highlighting Asian Pacific American Heritage Month in May. Fang, who took the lead, knew what she wanted. She has written about anti-Asian racism and is well aware of the strug- gles of Asian Americans now and in the past, but as she thought about it, “the ideas I kept coming back to were just things like joy and celebration and empowerment and resilience,” Fang says. “I really did not want to do a series that was directly about the fear and the trauma of these times.” Like any underrepresented group, Asian Americans have experienced violence throughout US history, which increased with the onset of the Marina Fang, AB’15, oversaw HuffPost’s series Asian Americans Out Loud. COVID-19 pandemic. The issue drew heightened national attention when six women of Asian descent were among Photography by Damon Dahlen/ eight people killed in a mass shooting in play Endlings, which depicts Korean The stories don’t shy away from Atlanta this March. In response, Fang women who make a living diving for challenges facing the Asian Ameri- and her fellow HuffPost writers leaned seafood. Another features the creators can and Pacific Islander communi- further into the idea of celebration. of Jiangshi: Blood in the Banquet Hall, ties, especially since the onset of the What emerged was Asian Ameri- a Dungeons and Dragons–like board pandemic. But Fang also describes the cans Out Loud, a collection of nine game where players battle racism, eco- stories and the work of the artists and stories and an introductory essay nomic hardship, and vampires. There activists they feature as “evergreen.”

about individuals “leading the way are also stories on Asian American “We should be allowed to be our ff Post Hu forward in art and activism.” There’s intersectional activists working for whole selves and express our whole a story about Celine Song and her Black reparations and disability rights. selves,” Fang says, “whether it’s the

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subjects in these stories or the writer.” feelings about watching police shows In some ways the series, for which in today’s world—even as she really ENGINEERING Fang wrote one story plus the intro- wanted to find out how Mare would ductory essay, is a milestone she’s solve the crime. been working toward since her days “I’m figuring out a way to assert Bonded at the Chicago Maroon. Starting out as myself as an Asian American journal- a reporter and eventually becoming ist and use that as an asset in my re- Mechanical stress like news editor, Fang estimates she spent porting,” Fang says, “but also not be vibration weakens 40 hours a week in the newsroom in defined by that.” most materials, natural the basement of Ida Noyes: “Basically, A watershed moment in that pro- and synthetic. Bone all I did was go to class”—she majored cess was a story she wrote in 2019 is an exception: it’s in public policy and international about the movie The Farewell. She an adaptable tissue able to self-strengthen studies—“and go to the Maroon.” She interviewed director Lulu Wang, but to support its load. called the experience “a fantastic way since the movie was about a US-raised Bone’s strengthening to learn how to be a journalist.” daughter of Chinese immigrants, Fang capability arises from An Institute of Politics–sponsored also talked about the film’s resonances the piezoelectric internship at HuffPost the summer be- with her own life. After praising the effect, which gives fore her fourth year resulted in a job story, her editor offered some advice: some materials the there after graduation. Fang started “You don’t have to just write about ability to generate out covering breaking political news— movies by Asian American filmmak- an electric charge a wild ride in the lead-up to and after- ers or TV by Asian American filmmak- under mechanical math of the 2016 presidential election. ers. You should be able to write about stress. The charge “Every hour there’s a new thing anything.” kicks off a chemical to cover,” she says. “And every hour, As a result, Fang felt emboldened to reaction that forms new bonds between it was like the thing you covered the pursue any story that interested her, molecular chains, previous hour was no longer relevant but also to keep her own perspective building a second or had completely changed.” and voice. internal network and Fang longed for a role that would al- “I don’t really believe in the idea of increasing strength. low her to contextualize events rather objectivity and being unbiased,” she Inspired by how bone than just react to them. She continued says. “I think more about: Are you be- behaves, Pritzker to cover breaking news but worked on ing fair? Are you being accurate? Are School of Molecular some stories that took a longer view, you being authentic? Are you telling Engineering associate combining her interests in politics and somebody’s story with care?” professor Aaron Esser- culture to look at each through the lens Sam Levine, AB’14, a former editor of Kahn developed a of the other. When one of Hollywood Fang’s at the Maroon, then a colleague synthetic gel, described in a February Nature producer Harvey Weinstein’s accusers at HuffPost before moving on to the Materials paper, that attended the 2020 State of the Union Guardian, notes Fang’s curiosity, com- takes advantage of the address as a guest of a Massachusetts posure on deadline, and command of same effect, capable congresswoman sponsoring a bill Twitter, among other skills. He was of becoming 66 times limiting the use of employee nondis- surprised when Fang once told him that stronger in targeted closure agreements, Fang was the ob- a journalism career never occurred to areas through vibration. vious choice to write the story. her until well into college. “She was so The researchers— She has written about Hollywood’s natural, I had just assumed she had lots including Esser- perpetuation of Asian stereotypes, and lots of experience,” he says. Kahn, postdoctoral and, for the Asian Americans Out Loud Fang wants to help younger writers researchers Jun Wang Photography by Damon Dahlen/ series, about Welcome to Chinatown, see themselves as professionals, which and Saikat Manna, and graduate student a nonprofit founded in March 2020 to is why she tries to help Maroon staff- Jorge Ayarza—hope that support small businesses in the New ers following in her footsteps and vol- such adaptive synthetic York City neighborhood. And while unteers with Girls Write Now, where materials could lead she writes frequently for HuffPost’s she currently mentors an Asian Amer- to next-generation Asian Voices section, there is no ex- ican high school student interested in dynamic adhesives pectation that everything she writes writing. She wants her mentee “to un- and better integration ff Post Hu fits there. For example, in a rumina- derstand that people who look like us, of artificial implants in tion on the limited HBO series Mare we can be journalists or writers or do human bodies.—M. S. ◆ of Easttown she grappled with her creative things.” ◆

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UCJ Summer 21 V13.indd 17 7/23/21 11:06 AM COMEDY Lawyer jokes Attorney turned comedian Liz Glazer, JD’04, finds laughter in life’s highs and lows.

BY JASON KELLY

Stand-up comedian Liz Glazer, JD’04, doesn’t trust a funny person with a regular job. When the doctor perform- ing her breast biopsy last year joked that she had trouble telling her left from right, Glazer laughed; she could relate. “And then,” Glazer says, “I’m thinking the person who was going to tell me if I have cancer in one of two breasts maybe shouldn’t lead with that relatable fact.” She did not have cancer and went home with some new material. Glazer, who used to be a funny per- son with a regular job, had no profes- sional comedy aspirations when she completed a philosophy master’s de- gree at the University of Pennsylvania and enrolled at the Law School. After graduating in 2004, she practiced real estate law for almost two years at a New York firm but did not share the love for the work that she noticed in Onetime law professor Liz Glazer, JD’04, uses life’s trials as material for her stand-up comedy. her colleagues. An inquiry from the Hofstra Uni- versity law school led her to academia. As a student Glazer had published a class—a one-off, just for fun. Three December and the Ladies of Laughter University of Chicago Law Review ar- years passed and then her former competition in May, both performed ticle on appropriations law, an accom- improv instructor invited her to try on Zoom, as was her marriage to Rabbi plishment that earned an invitation to stand-up. On stage Glazer found the Karen Perolman. interview for a faculty position and, in love she had never felt for her work in Sometimes Glazer thinks it’s no co- time, to the tenure that she would give the law. An opportune buyout offer for incidence that her best year in com- up in search of open mics. tenured faculty compelled her to be- edy happened during a pandemic. She Teaching, like practicing law, was “a come an ex–law professor, a designa- was already on an upward trajectory,

good gig”—just not as good for Glazer as tion that still distinguishes her on the “arguably”—a word that surfaces of- Photography by Mindy Tucker it seemed to be for those around her. But comedy circuit today. ten, a vestigial tic of her former trade— she wasn’t looking for an escape hatch “A Law Professor Switches to Stand- bound for big things regardless. But into show business. She spent nine Up Comedy” read the headline on a adapting to COVID-19 limitations may years at Hofstra, where laughter was Wall Street Journal profile in March. have accelerated her ascent. Glazer known to emanate from her classroom. That publicity was just one piece of stuck to her penchant for saying yes In 2009, right in the middle of her evidence of a thriving career. Glazer to unusual opportunities. It’s how she professorial career, she took an improv won the Boston Comedy Festival in started doing stand-up in the first place.

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UCJ Summer 21 V13.indd 18 7/23/21 11:06 AM Often with just minutes to inspire heavy Latvian accent, and so she does. distant, unseen audiences to type An almost instantaneous mining of “LOL” and crying-laughing emojis in comedy from personal heartbreak or the chat, she went all in on her idiosyn- hardship characterizes Glazer’s act. crasies. “Probably the things about me She started writing jokes about her that are the most different or grabbing breast biopsy on the way home from are: I’m gay, I’m married to a rabbi, I the hospital. used to be a law professor, goodbye,” Another time she was robbed at Glazer says, riffing on material she gunpoint and, within days, riffing uses in her virtual sets. on the experience onstage. “Getting Her sense of humor, on stage and off, mugged sucks,” she says, “but talking always has revolved around the per- about it and creating comedy from it is sonal experiences preoccupying her great and empowering.” at any given time. These days that in- cludes “my wife’s and my efforts to get pregnant, and how my dad just died Probably the things and my mom’s trying to find a good about me that are deal on a tombstone.” the most different The tombstone bargain hunting is or grabbing are: I’m no joke, but a real incident that pro- vided fodder for many. After Glazer’s gay, I’m married to a father died of heart disease in 2020, rabbi, I used to be a law her mother thought she was being professor, goodbye. overcharged for a purportedly “jum- bo” size tombstone, so she and her daughter went to the cemetery with a Likewise, being gay was not always tape measure. an easy aspect of her life, but now it’s “I asked her, ‘Can we videotape a bit for her to come out to audiences. this?’ She’s like, ‘Listen, that’s tacky,’” “We’re aware,” she imagines people Glazer says. “And I’m like, ‘You’re the responding, comfortable with the one who’s measuring every tombstone presumption. to get the best deal, and I’m the tacky Glazer’s success on stage proves— one?’” arguably—that she doesn’t need to Her father would welcome his post- identify herself with her former pro- humous place in her act. “Use me in fession anymore either. She’s a come- Onetime law professor Liz Glazer, JD’04, uses life’s trials as material for her stand-up comedy. your materials,” he urged her in his dian. People are aware. ◆

PLANETARY SCIENCE Mars wasn’t always a desert world. There’s photographic evidence that ancient rivers once flowed there, which is exciting because there could have been life on Mars. But it doesn’t make sense; back then, Mars received too little sunlight—surface water should have been frozen. High-altitude icy Red clouds could produce enough greenhouse-eff ct warmth to liquefy water, but the model works only if clouds linger in the atmosphere far longer than they Planet normally would. In the April Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, planetary scientist Edwin Kite pinpoints the problem: previous Martian cloud Photography by Mindy Tucker modeling was built on Earth-based assumptions. Our abundant water moves water quickly between the ocean, atmosphere, and land, but Mars had far less

QUICK STUDY water. In Kite’s model, adjusted for Mars’s environment, once water reached works the atmosphere, clouds lingered for almost a year, creating the necessary conditions for rivers. Understanding how Mars gained and lost its water and atmosphere could help us identify other habitable worlds.—M. S. ◆

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2021 19

UCJ Summer 21 V13.indd 19 7/27/21 1:12 PM HISTORY “Chicago is the known city,” novelist Richard Wright Know thy famously wrote.

But the midland metropolis still holds a lot of city secrets, according to a new book by historian John R. Schmidt, PhD’83. “It’s the history you Four takeaways from didn’t learn,” he declares in the introduction Unknown Chicago Tales. to Unknown Chicago Tales (The History Press, 2021), a collection of more than 50 lesser-known stories and figures from the city’s past. A retired Chicago Public Schools teacher and college history instructor, Schmidt is also a fifth-generation Chicagoan. Here is a glimpse of the Chicago he wants us to know.—A. P. 4

Football legend Amos Alonzo Stagg might have also helped basketball 1 become the sport it is today. America’s first After graduating from Yale From left: LOC, LC-USZ62-16250; Album/Newscom; Photography by Fred Schnell, UChicago Photographic Archive, apf1- Archive, Photographic UChicago Schnell, by Fred Photography Album/Newscom; LC-USZ62-16250; LOC, left: From

auto race started University, where he played 02867, University of Chicago Library; UChicago Photographic Archive,University apf4-03825-064, of Chicago Library and ended in 2 on the first College Football Jackson Park. All-America Team in 1889, Before he became Stagg coached football for two On Thanksgiving Day, 1895, years at the International YMCA the Chicago Times-Herald a silent cinema Training School (now Springfield sponsored a widely publicized star, Milton Sills 3 College) in Massachusetts. contest of “motocycles” (the studied and taught He was there when physical paper’s preferred term for education instructor James at the University of The precursor to horseless carriages) that Mister Rogers was Naismith invented basketball sent drivers on a route from Chicago. as an indoor game to occupy Chicago’s Jackson Park to a University of students in the winter off- Sills, AB 1903, EX’04, grew Evanston, Illinois, and back. season. According to some up in a well-to-do family on Chicago alumna. Inclement weather kept the sources, as Schmidt writes, Chicago’s South Side, attending Frances Rappaport Horwich, race to just six vehicles, but Stagg was more than just a fly what was then Hyde Park PhB’29, was chair of the 2,000 spectators were there on the wall when it came to the High School. At the University education department at what at 8:55 a.m. as the drivers took new sport’s development. The he studied philosophy and is now Roosevelt University off estward from the Midway Naismith Memorial Basketball psychology and acted in the when Chicago station WMAQ- at Stony Island Avenue. Once Hall of Fame, calling Stagg Dramatic Club. His screen TV hired her to host its new the grueling race had cleared “instrumental” to the game’s debut came in 1914 with The half-hour children’s show in the turnabout at Evanston, only development, notes that he Pit, an adaptation of the Frank 1952. An immediate success, three cars remained. Frank brought basketball with him Norris novel. Perhaps best Ding Dong School was picked Duryea’s motor wagon made when he joined the University of known for the hit swashbuckler up for national broadcast by it back to Jackson Park at 7:18 Chicago in 1892 and popularized The Sea Hawk (1924), he helped NBC later that year and ran p.m. and took the $2,000 the five-player form of the sport found the Academy of Motion until 1956. “The show began grand prize. as coach of the Maroons. Picture Arts and Sciences and with Miss Frances ringing a wrote Values: A Philosophy of school bell while singing her Human Needs (University of theme song,” Schmidt writes. Chicago Press, 1932). “She talked to the children at their level. But she didn’t talk

down to them.” Postel Ryan by Photography

20 THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2021

UCJ Summer 21 V13.indd 20 7/23/21 11:07 AM NATURAL SCIENCES QUICK STUDY

SEEN AND HERD MARINE BIOLOGY Shellfish motives The Stanford marshmallow test gave children the option of one treat now or two later, and those who were able to wait were (controversially) deemed more likely to thrive, academically and behaviorally. In a March Proceedings of the Royal Society B study, Marine Biological Laboratory fellow Alexandra Schnell reveals that young cuttlefish, when subjected to a similar experiment, can also From left: LOC, LC-USZ62-16250; Album/Newscom; Photography by Fred Schnell, UChicago Photographic Archive, apf1- Archive, Photographic UChicago Schnell, by Fred Photography Album/Newscom; LC-USZ62-16250; LOC, left: From delay gratifi ation— 02867, University of Chicago Library; UChicago Photographic Archive,University apf4-03825-064, of Chicago Library waiting for their preferred live shrimp over immediate access to raw prawn meat. Those that waited the longest did better on a learning test, indicating a correlation between self-control and intelligence— previously seen only in humans and chimpanzees. Delayed gratifi ation in humans is thought to be related to social bonds, but most cuttlefish are cientists around the world know Fermilab as a home for particle physics solitary; Schnell and her coauthors suggest research. For a small herd of bison, however, it’s just home. How did the the skill may relate to unlikely combination of bosons and bison come to be? The herd was the S camouflage. Cuttlefish brainchild of Fermilab’s first director, Wyoming native Robert Wilson, who wanted break cover while to symbolize the lab’s position at the frontiers of physics and celebrate the prairie foraging, becoming landscape of the Midwest. Millions of American bison once roamed from the vulnerable to their Appalachians to the Rockies before the species faced extinction in the late 19th predators, so the century. Fermilab’s first five bison arrived in 1969; since then, they’ve been a beloved species may have presence at the Batavia, Illinois, facility—especially during the springtime calving learned to wait until season, when fuzzy new arrivals can be spotted exploring their grazing area on the reward is worth the spindly legs. This year the herd welcomed 19 bison bundles of joy. (For more, see risk.—M. S. ◆

Photography by Ryan Postel Ryan by Photography “Where the Buffalo Roam,” page 15.)—S. A. ◆

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2021 21

UCJ Summer 21 V13.indd 21 7/23/21 11:07 AM UCJ Summer 21 V13.indd 22 campaign in its history. its in campaign Impact, the largest and most comprehensive and Inquiry Campaign: Chicago of University his leadership, the University concluded the Under 2015. since chair as and 1992 since board the on served has Neubauer 1. September on president 14th University’s the as role Paul Alivisatos as tenure his continue to agreed Neubauer 2022. May until year, additional an for chair as extend to voted Trustees of Board University’s The TERM CHAIR’S For the record 22 22 associate professor of astronomy studies; media and cinema and English of professor biology; cell and genetics Badovinac, associate professor of molecular Undergraduate Teaching are and Harriet Manchester Quantrell Awards for John Llewellyn the of winners year’s This TEACHING HONORS TIRRELL REAPPOINTED history; associate professor of art the the Engineering in 2019, he helped establish Molecular of School Pritzker the became Institute for Molecular Engineering, which the of Director Pritzker founding the As 2011. molecular engineering since its inception in in program University’s the led has and School; Divinity the in professor Arnold to went Mentoring and Excellence in Graduate Teaching Computer Science. Faculty Awards for Ur and history; of professors associate both University and launch the the launch and University nation dedicated to molecular engineering. , Neubauer Family Assistant Professor of of Professor Assistant Family , Neubauer fi THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MAGAZINE MAGAZINE CHICAGO OF UNIVERSITY THE rst formal engineering program at the the at program engineering formal rst , PhD’02, associate Joseph Joseph Neubauer Persis Berlekamp Daniel Fabrycky J onathan Lyon Matthew Tirrell engineering and nanotechnology , AB’81, transitions into his second term as dean of of dean as term second the pioneering researcher in the Pritzker School of of School Pritzker the Service Professor, is a a is Professor, Service Molecular Engineering on fi A. A. Millikan Distinguished Robert the Tirrell, 1. July EXTENDED elds of biomolecular Daniel Daniel and and , fi Patrick Jagoda ’s (MBA’65) term term ’s (MBA’65) , rst school in the the in school rst Ada Palmer Sally Horne- began his his began Blase Blase , , | SUMMER 2021 studies; and and studies; media and cinema of chair and professor Maurer School of Law at Indiana University. Indiana at Law of School Maurer the from JD her and University, DePauw from sociology in degree bachelor’s her received She Indianapolis. University University-Purdue Indiana and Word Incarnate the of University within the athletic departments at the sports law. Torain previously held positions engagement and an adjunct professor of athletics director of culture, diversity, and associate senior was she where Dame, Notre of University the from UChicago to comes She program. FitChicago the and sports, sports, nearly 40 sports clubs, intramural varsity 20 overseeing 1, July on recreation and Angie Torain LIFE SPORTING THE new youth center. a successful fundraising campaign to build a and programs of expansion a fourfold oversaw organization Youth & Opportunity United, he Chicagoland-based youth development the of director executive As opportunity. on addressing poverty and increasing focused ventures social multiple led has Loyola’s management department. Green in taught previously he Chicago, University Social Enterprise and Responsibility at Loyola Baumhart Center for the of director 1. The founding Studies on July Professional and Liberal of Continuing Graham School the of dean as term his began Green Seth NEW DEAN GRAHAM’S professor of political science. astrophysics; and POLITICAL LEADER POLITICAL Zeenat Rahman pluralism. Rahman previously the of director executive as tenure Monika Nalepa program that promotes religious Politics of Institute University’s became director of athletics athletics of director became Project at the Aspen Institute, a a Institute, Aspen the at Project directed the Inclusive America Rahman recently, Most 1. July on Daniel Morgan , AM’06, began her her began , AM’06, , associate , PhD’07, PhD’07, , degree in Middle Eastern studies in 2006. in studies Eastern Middle in degree a master’s earned Rahman Chicago, Illinois of University the of graduate and area Chicago the of A native Core. Youth Interfaith at policy International Development; and as director of for Agency US the at Initiatives Community and acting director at the Center for Faith-Based as Kerry; John and Clinton Hillary secretaries to issues youth global on adviser special a as State of Department US the at served minor in English and creative writing. a alongside astrophysics, in Masegian and civilizations; and languages Eastern Near and is majoring in mathematics; Tabin in biology sciences, mathematics, and engineering. Yao top honor for undergraduates in the natural a Scholarships, Goldwater Barry receive to undergraduates US 409 the among are 2023, and 2022, of Julius Tabin Hansen Hansen said. person,” a special such recognize to do we could thing small a is very “This defense. 2 dissertation a at March behalf his on it presented and research student’s late their Professor in Economics and Statistics, studied the David Rockefeller Distinguished Service and Finance, of Professor PhD. a posthumous awarded and January in killed was who PhD’21, SM’15, Fan, Yiran Booth’s June 9–13. Among the honorees was Chicago held celebrations in-person and virtual of at the 534th Convocation, a combination degrees received students 3,743 year This OF CLASS Social New Venture Challenge. the in triumphed Advocacy, Education for Families), which nonpro tech Khosa $660,000 the received which term rental property management company, a short- STR, Andes include winners year’s This history. 25-year program’s the in sum MBA’71, New Venture Challenge—the largest 2021 the of winners the in million $1.6 of investment an made Innovation The Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and TOOFF A START-UPGOOD GOLD(WATER) STARS Zhiguo He Zhiguo , MBA’79, First Place Prize, and justice- and Prize, Place First , MBA’79, fi Alexandra Masegian and and t SAEF Legal Aid (Support, (Support, Aid Legal t SAEF , the Fuji Bank and Heller Heller and Bank Fuji , the 2021 J Claudia Yao Claudia ohn Edwardson Edward L. Kaplan, Lars Peter Hansen , both Class Class , both Rattan L. Rattan L. , Class of of , Class , MBA’72, MBA’72, , 7/23/21 11:07 AM

, From left: Photography by Lloyd Degrane; UChicago Institute of Politics; UChicago News News UChicago Politics; of Institute UChicago Degrane; Lloyd by Photography left: From

Illustration by John Jay Cabuay a great deal in terms of how to serve the needs of the community. There was never a discussion about grocery stores closing. They were open all the way through and did all the things they were asked to do by the Centers for Disease Control.

Did you always plan to open another store after selling Roundy’s? I took it easy for a while, and then I started to get itchin’. What really INTERVIEW stimulated it was when the deal came up with Amazon and Whole Foods. I started to research what it would Shop talk take to buy Whole Foods and in doing that did a lot of analysis of the market. Grocery industry insights from Bob Mariano, MBA’87. We even did focus groups of custom- ers and employees to learn what was BY SUSIE ALLEN, AB’09 and wasn’t working. That helped me get what was going on. But it also sug- gested an opportunity. And out of that In 2015 Bob Mariano, MBA’87, then CEO What did you learn from the late opportunity came Dom’s. of Milwaukee-based Roundy’s Super- Dominick DiMatteo? markets, sold his company—including What is the best experience his chain of eponymous stores in the To listen to the employees. You’d find you’ve had at a grocery store Chicago area—to the grocery giant him sitting on a box in the back room other than one of your own? Kroger for $800 million. Then, “I took talking to a stocker or having a conver- a rest for a little bit,” Mariano says. “We sation with a truck driver. He always Peck in Milan. The attention to de- had a heck of a run with Mariano’s.” had time for people. tail, the professionalism, the quality But the industry veteran couldn’t He taught you the business. I mean, of the product, how much they made

From left: Photography by Lloyd Degrane; UChicago Institute of Politics; UChicago News News UChicago Politics; of Institute UChicago Degrane; by Lloyd Photography left: From stay away for long. In June Mariano we’d be shucking oysters for the fish themselves from scratch. I mean, these opened a new store in Chicago, Dom’s department and seeing how they tast- were artisans. My wife said, “Come on, Kitchen & Market. The restaurant- ed. It was all about the food and what we’re gonna get out of here, because market combo is named for his men- it tasted like. That’s where the passion you’re with your mistress.” tor, Dominick DiMatteo, founder of came from—he loved food. the former Chicago chain Dominick’s. He also was instrumental in me People have such strong feelings Mariano’s comments below have been going to Booth. I was the first Booth about grocery stores. Why are edited and condensed. graduate from Dominick’s, and he sub- customers so passionate? sequently committed that each year You started your career at the there would be a Booth Dominick’s Because that’s their store. If they shop at Dominick’s deli counter. What student, so potential executives would a particular store day in, day out—that’s was it like? go through XP, the two-year execu- their store. And I can’t tell you how tive program. He believed in it. That’s many times customers would come up I was going to the University of Illi- pretty special. to me and ask, what are you doing to my nois at Chicago for my undergrad, so store? They take ownership. I worked Saturdays and Sundays. It What are the big lessons of If you think about it, other than re- was a good experience working in the the pandemic for the grocery ligious services, the only other time delicatessen, because it’s very service business? we really get together is in the grocery oriented. I had people that would wait store or in a restaurant. That’s where for me to slice their lunch meat instead Across the entire system, our sup- people come together, around food. of others, because they liked the way I ply chain was not what it ought to And so it’s pretty natural for them to

IllustrationJohnby Jay Cabuay did it. That was kind of rewarding. be. I also think the industry learned want to be involved. ◆

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2021 23

UCJ Summer 21 V13.indd 23 7/27/21 9:25 AM PSYCHOLOGY

A MEASURE OF PLEASURE For nearly two decades psychologist Andrea King

has followed a group of social drinkers to find out why Caracol by Pablo Illustration only some develop alcohol use disorder.

BY MAUREEN SEARCY PhotographyJohnby Zich

2424 THE THE UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF OF CHICAGO CHICAGO MAGAZINE MAGAZINE | |SUMMER SUMMER 2021 2021

UCH_Alcohol_v7.indd 24 7/26/21 12:12 PM The Clinical Addictions Research Laboratory was established in 1997 under the direction of psychologist Andrea King.

ou probably know people who can “hold their liquor,” who can drink a “lightweight” under the table and seem completely fine. Sometimes tolerance comes from individual body size and chemistry, but sometimes tol- erance is from practice. Just as weightlifters can lift increas- ingly heavier weights, people who drink a lot can often drink progressively more before feeling or appearing intoxicated. This increased tolerance has long been linked to how alcoholism (clinically called alcohol use disorder, or AUD) develops. The prevailing theory has been that heavy drinkers must drink vent AUD, scientists need to better understand more to feel good, leading to a cycle of progres- what exactly is happening when social drinkers sively higher tolerance and ever-increasing con- become alcoholic drinkers, and who is vulnerable sumption. But that theory has a blind spot: only to that shift. That means unbraiding the physical, tolerance to objective adverse effects, like drows- psychological, and social strands of alcohol use iness, nausea, and lack of coordination, had been and following one thread to the end—and back to observed. Tolerance to the subjective pleasant the beginning. feelings of being drunk—giddiness, euphoria, re- Launched by King 17 years ago, the Chicago laxation—had never actually been studied on its Social Drinking Project was the first and thus- own, just assumed. far longest running study to isolate and investi- What if the assumption is wrong? What if, gate the pleasurable effects of alcohol by seeing wondered UChicago psychologist Andrea C. King, how people’s happiness while drinking changes those happy feelings never dampen? Over nearly over time. The project, persevering even through three decades of treating patients with substance a global pandemic, has revealed valuable and sur- use disorders, she’s noticed that how much her prising insights into how a person’s response to patients like drinking doesn’t diminish over alcohol relates to current and future alcohol use time. In fact, talking one-on-one with them, she disorder. learned that many chronic drinkers start feeling euphoric quite soon after their first glass. King began to question the adage of addiction. ’m not unlike many people out there,” says If the intention of drinking alcohol is to feel good, King, who is professor of psychiatry and be- and chronic drinkers do not need to drink more I havioral neuroscience and directs the Clini- and more to feel good, then how can tolerance be cal Addictions Research Laboratory. “I know driving alcohol addiction? Yet she had only anec- people, have family members, with these dis- dotes. King would need data to find out if exces- orders; the toll they take on themselves and the sive drinkers truly were not building tolerance to people around them, the lost productivity, wages, alcohol’s pleasing eff cts. years of life. It’s devastating.” Illustration by Pablo Caracol by Pablo Illustration The possibility that those with AUD continue In 2019 a quarter of Americans 18 and older re- to enjoy drinking, while they and those around ported binge drinking (about 4–5 drinks in under them bear the burdens of the disorder, is the el- two hours) in the past month. And a new trend ephant in the room, says King. Talking about the called “high-intensity drinking” emerged, where euphoria of substance use, even in the context people drank at least double what’s considered of therapy, remains taboo, so research into the binging. In 2010 alcohol misuse cost the United

PhotographyJohnby Zich topic is scarce. But to effectively treat and pre- States $249 billion, and each year an estimated

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2021 25

UCH_Alcohol_v7.indd 25 7/26/21 12:13 PM 95,000 people die from alcohol-related causes. ow good a person feels while drinking In 2019 alcohol was a factor in 28 percent of all could be one trait that foretells AUD, driving fatalities. H and how those feelings evolve could King’s early experiences with this devasta- shed light on the disorder itself. The Chicago tion have had a major influence on her current Social Drinking Project follows a cohort of work. During her senior year of high school, a drinkers as they age to study physical and psy- classmate was killed by a drunk driver. In col- chological responses to alcohol in real time and lege, she watched her fellow students binge to search for patterns. drink, “wanting to be executive alcoholics.” And In 2004 King’s team recruited 190 light, moder- in graduate school, King worked in a treatment ate, and heavy drinkers in their 20s to follow for program at a Veterans Affairs hospital in Okla- as many years as possible. Participants initially at- homa City, where she saw the extreme end of tended two double-blind laboratory-based binge- substance use disorders. She knew that to better drinking sessions (see “The Challenge,” page 28), treat patients, she needed where they drank alcohol to better understand the or a placebo and answered trajectory of addiction. questions about how stimu- Today King treats pa- HOW GOOD lated or sedated they felt, tients about half a day per A PERSON and also whether they liked week in UChicago’s psy- FEELS WHILE or wanted more of the drink. chiatry outpatient clin- This process was repeated ic—mostly people looking DRINKING after five and 10 years for for help with alcohol, to- COULD BE ONE those still eligible (who had bacco, marijuana, or other not, for example, developed substance use. (She used TRAIT THAT medical or psychiatric con- to have a more even split FORETELLS ditions that would make between practice and re- AUD, AND drinking dangerous, were search, but the latter has not pregnant or nursing, increasingly occupied her HOW THOSE and had not stopped drink- time.) “I think treating pa- FEELINGS ing completely). King’s team tients myself helps ground also interviewed the partic- me,” she says, and the com- EVOLVE COULD ipants via phone, internet, plexity of their disorders SHED LIGHT or mail nearly every year humbles her. to track whether and when From those struggling ON THE AUD symptoms emerged. with alcohol, she often DISORDER The data revealed a cor- hears: Why did this hap- ITSELF. relation: the young adults pen to me? Why not to my with heightened sensitiv- drinking buddies? King ity to alcohol’s pleasurable doesn’t have a definitive answer. Some people effects (stimulation, liking, and wanting) were are more likely than others to develop AUD— more likely to develop AUD as they progressed the “playing field isn’t even,” she says. But no to middle age. For those who did develop alcohol- one knows precisely why some people are more ism, how much they liked alcohol started high and susceptible to alcohol addiction. Genetic pre- remained stable over time. They did not become disposition, drinking at an early age, a history desensitized to how much they enjoyed drinking. of trauma—there’s a constellation of possible And their levels of stimulation and wanting grew causes. Scientists can’t yet fully explain what higher—for those responses they became even leads to alcohol use disorder, but they can iden- more sensitive to alcohol. tify characteristics that might help drinkers fig- These results square with anecdotal observa-

ure out how vulnerable they are. tions from her practice, contesting the long-held PhotographyJohnby Zich (top);photo courtesy Harriet de Wit

26 THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2021

UCH_Alcohol_v7.indd 26 7/26/21 12:13 PM As the codirector of UChicago’s transplant psychiatry program, Daniel Fridberg conducts evaluations for many liver transplant candidates. Harriet de Wit (below) studies the subjective, behavioral, and physiological effects of drugs of abuse.

resonance imaging, which measures small changes in blood flow that show brain activity. When people reported stimulation, those feel- ings correlated with activity in the striatum, “a region of the brain that’s associated with motor function and also with reward,” says de Wit. But when people reported feeling sedation, there was no correlated brain signal in the same area of the brain. These results indicate that feelings of stimulation and sedation aren’t simply an issue of personal interpretation; “there’s a neurobio- logical basis for some people feeling stimulated by alcohol and other people feeling sedated,” says de Wit, “it actually affects their brain differently.” Another aspect of addiction research describes notion that tolerance is the key to AUD, a theory a tipping point where drinking for fun gives way that has “guided the thinking among clinical re- to drinking for relief, to stave off withdrawal, lead- search for decades.” Rather, the pattern “fits a ing to a downward spiral. The premise is that the picture of persistent pleasure seeking,” King has brain’s reward system gets altered by substance said. If a person’s response to alcohol is quick and use. But King always wondered whether the posi- pleasant, it fuels their desire for more, and that tive reinforcement actually disappears. What if leads to excessive drinking. both motivations exist at the same time? The Chicago Social Drinking Project’s analysis Until the Chicago Social Drinking Project, of sedation also offered surprising insight. Prior experimental alcohol studies didn’t focus on the studies have shown that heavy drinkers can devel- rewarding effects of alcohol. The clinical lore op tolerance to fatigue. (King’s collaborator Daniel that those with AUD don’t like or want alcohol Fridberg, assistant professor of psychiatry and be- anymore is based on ad hoc reports from patients havioral neuroscience, describes meeting a lucid entering treatment—that’s why they’re seeking and coordinated patient whose blood alcohol con- treatment, after all. But King suspects those feel- tent at the time was almost triple the legal limit.) ings are manifestations of regret over what alcohol Those studies seem to support the prevailing the- has done to their lives rather than a negative re- ory of tolerance-linked addiction, says King, as fa- sponse to alcohol itself. Her experiment assesses tigue is protective against excessive consumption; if a person’s acute response to intoxication isolated you fall asleep, you stop drinking. “Stimulation and from emotional response to consequences. reward are an accelerator pedal. Sedation is your brake pedal.” People who progress to AUD have faulty brakes. Yet in King’s study, those who devel- oped AUD felt less sedation from the beginning. Their levels of fatigue remained low and stable over time and did not predict future alcohol use disorder. Their brake pedals didn’t wear out from use—they were defective from the start. There have been neurological studies designed to see whether alcohol has different effects on people who feel stimulated versus sedated. In one such study, published in 2018, Harriet de Wit, professor of psychiatry and behavioral neuroscience, adminis- tered alcohol and a placebo intravenously to healthy

PhotographyJohnby Zich (top);photo courtesy Harriet de Wit volunteers as they underwent functional magnetic

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2021 27

UCH_Alcohol_v7.indd 27 7/26/21 12:13 PM King’s study makes the possible more plausible: intervention works: King’s team ran a separate that the tipping point of addiction is actually a pilot study six years ago where two groups of splitting point, where a person with AUD drinks to people were brought in for binge-drinking alco- excess both for pleasure and for relief from nega- hol challenges, as described below, but only one tive feelings or withdrawal. The correlations iden- group received personalized feedback. tified by King’s lab could lead to a paradigm shift “We showed them graphs of their alcohol re- in how researchers think about alcohol addiction. sponses and told them, ‘We’re studying a cohort long term, and people who had this response in their 20s were at much higher risk to become al- here is no cure for substance use disor- coholic by their 30s,’” says King. “You get 23-year- ders—treatment, therapy, remission, but no olds looking aghast at you.” Her team also offered T cure. So an ounce of prevention is infinitely that group techniques to cut back on drinking. The more valuable. The Chicago Social Drinking Proj- control group was given only the techniques. Six ect hopes to improve preventive interventions—to months later, the personalized intervention group inform people of their personal alcohol sensitivity had a 50 percent reduction in binge drinking over to help them address their drinking appropriate- the standard intervention group. ly, says King. Armed with this information, they King and Fridberg also collaborated with a re- can judge whether to pay attention to drinking searcher who tested German 18- and 19-year-olds patterns, cut back, or quit altogether. Customized (prohibited in America because of legal restric-

THE CHALLENGE

Chicago Social Drinking Project the same person was given a the drink (motivational salience), participants attended two lab- drink with just enough alcohol to rating themselves from 1 to 100. based binge drinking sessions disguise its placebo identity but separated by at least 24 hours. not enough to produce noticeable Liking and wanting are difficult o The lab was set up like a living effects. Neither the subject nor quantify, and it’s tricky to isolate room, with magazines and the research assistant knew what the pure alcohol effects. Maybe a television, and a research the drink contained. (If they knew one person prefers the taste of assistant for company. The setting which one was alcoholic, their certain spirits over others. King mimicked a natural drinking response might be influen ed controlled for personal preferences scenario, like an evening relaxing by how they expect to feel while by serving drinks that tasted at a friend’s house, but was also drinking alcohol.) “terrible,” she says. “I can’t even controlled so that the researchers tell you how bad it is. It’s Everclear could focus on the alcohol effect. The drinkers answered questions with Kool-Aid.” (Some have about how stimulated or sedated likened the sucralose-sweetened

Participants were asked to drink they felt throughout the session, drink to cough syrup.) “It’s not Photo courtesy Andrea King a beverage during the fi st 15 scoring themselves based on anything most people would want minutes of the four-to-fi e-hour adjectives like elated, sluggish, to drink, so when they say they like visit. In one session, the drink had and energized. They were also it and want more, they really like enough alcohol for the person’s asked whether they liked how and want the effects.” blood alcohol level to reach they felt (in the researchers’ around 0.1 percent—over the language, hedonic reward) and Participants were sent home via a legal drinking limit. In the other, whether they wanted more of car service.—M. S.

28 THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2021

UCH_Alcohol_v7.indd 28 7/26/21 12:14 PM tions on alcohol for minors). to alcohol’s pleasing eff cts, After a small IV alcohol THERE IS NO you may need to pay more at- infusion, the teens could tention to your drinking pat- press a bar for as much al- CURE FOR terns. But it’s not practical to cohol as they wanted—up SUBSTANCE USE run lab sessions as a preven- to a safety limit. Their re- tive measure; concerned sponses mirrored those of DISORDERS— drinkers need a feasible their older American coun- TREATMENT, way to gauge their risk in terparts. Sensitivity to al- THERAPY, the real world. So King and cohol’s pleasurable effects Fridberg created a smart- may be present very early in REMISSION, BUT phone-based approach to life, when many people first NO CURE. assess people’s drinking in start drinking, suggesting their natural settings. those younger than the le- The Mobile Alcohol Re- gal drinking age may benefit from interventions. sponse Study asked drinkers questions via a King compares alcohol response assessment to smartphone app during the first three hours of a cholesterol test. Knowing your cholesterol lev- a drinking episode and more the following day. els informs behavior: you may need to adjust your Participants repeated the process with nonal- diet and exercise. If you have a high sensitivity coholic drinks as a control; that’s one of the few factors King and Fridberg can regulate with the smartphone model. Other rigorous experimental controls used in lab-based sessions are impos- sible. But it’s an interesting extension of their work; “people in their own environments drink at different paces, different levels.” The study can track how low- and high-risk drinkers respond to alcohol in different contexts, says King. “So we’re getting into messy territory.” That messiness is “part of the appeal,” says Frid- berg. It reflects the real world’s untidiness. In a con- trolled lab setting, everyone sits in the same chair, has the same drink, talks to the same research as- sistant, he says. “You’re eliminating the fact that this person who was out drinking got in a fight with their friend; this person was on a first date and was excited; this person vomited.” You can minimize those factors and isolate the alcohol effects. Yet people do go on first dates and they do get physically ill. They “don’t drink the equivalent of four to five standard drinks, stop, and then ride out the curve,” says Fridberg. “They may drink very intensely—up to seven or eight or even 12 Photo courtesy Andrea King drinks over three hours,” says King. “We see re- ally high levels of intoxication.” In a controlled Most research on real-world drinking patterns laboratory setting, is based on memory, but the very nature of what’s researchers can being studied—intoxication—makes such report- isolate pure ing unreliable. The smartphone-based assess- alcohol effects. ment lets researchers collect data on behavior

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2021 29

UCH_Alcohol_v7_locked for PDF.indd 29 7/27/21 9:27 AM and reactions in real time. “It’s a great technol- blocking endorphins; another prevents the body ogy to harness for this purpose,” says Fridberg. from metabolizing alcohol, causing the drinker “Everyone has a phone, they know how to use it, to feel ill. They have drawbacks, including low and they look at it multiple times an hour.” rates of compliance, and no new medications After a 2019 pilot study showed that heavy have been approved for decades. drinkers were willing and able to use the app, Several medications in early phases of devel- Fridberg and King are now analyzing the data opment are aimed at easing physical withdrawal, collected. The ability to directly compare how but King would like to see more designed to block people respond in their natural environments to or weaken alcohol’s feel-good effects. their responses in the laboratory is new terrain, Some patients need a combination of approach- says Fridberg. They’re also testing people with es. Another of King’s patients—a man in his early AUD using the smartphone model to compare 40s with a 22-year history of excessive drink- with the pilot group of heavy social drinkers, ing—had some success with therapy and medi- says King. And they’re enrolling excessive drink- cation but, like many in treatment, had setbacks. ers with clinical depression or anxiety to further One relapse began in a hotel lobby bar. “When test the notion that they drink to relieve negative seeing all the liquor bottles, he noted, ‘that would emotions but may still experience heightened en- be awesome!’ and proceeded to have a three-day joyable effects of alcohol. drinking bender.” They discussed how he may re- In her practice, King uses a self-monitoring act more strongly to cues than others, and when method to raise a patient’s awareness of alcohol he drinks, “his brain reward pathways are quick- response. A woman in her mid-30s who had dealt ly activated.” That understanding has helped him with depression since childhood found herself avoid and manage triggers. drinking too much on the weekends, consuming Fridberg is particularly invested in AUD treat- a three-liter box of wine by herself. King asked ments; as the codirector of UChicago’s transplant her to document her responses after each alco- psychiatry program, he conducts psychological holic drink and to consider her reasons for want- evaluations for candidates, working with people ing more. The patient “noted a relief in negative facing one of the worst outcomes. Many patients mood but also a positive and energetic feeling af- he sees are waiting for a liver transplant, and al- ter a few drinks, which led to more drinking.” She most all of them, he notes, were heavy drinkers. didn’t want to abstain completely from alcohol, He cites a retired man who had evidence of cir- but working with King to understand how her rhosis. He understood the physical harm of heavy alcohol sensitivity might eventually lead to ad- drinking, “but there was a lot that he liked about diction and worsening depression, she was able drinking as well.” So they addressed what made to set boundaries. After two years of therapy, she him happy: he enjoyed socializing with friends and was having a couple of drinks a week but in low- neighbors, and alcohol was usually present. Then risk situations, with friends or away from home. they talked about how the man wanted to live the rest of his life. He had grandchildren and wanted to stay healthy enough to watch them grow up. That esults from the Chicago Social Drinking mindset helped convince him to stop drinking. Project could also influence treatment for Early in his work with the transplant team, R people currently living with alcohol use Fridberg lost one of his best friends to alcohol- disorder, which is a spectrum with mild, moder- related liver disease at 33 years old. “We were so ate, and severe levels. Many people with AUD are young at that time and that event really opened recommended a 12-step program like Alcoholics my eyes to the importance of working with these Anonymous, says King, but treatment specialists patients, no matter where they are in terms of are becoming more open to medications and cog- their desire to change their drinking,” he says. “I nitive behavioral therapy. think about my friend every time I do a pre–liver Currently there are four medications approved transplant evaluation or work with a patient with for AUD. One such drug is thought to work by an alcohol use disorder.”

30 THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2021

UCH_Alcohol_v7_locked for PDF.indd 30 7/27/21 9:27 AM o say that AUD is complex is an under- to put in another 20 years. The project has had statement. Diagnosis, treatment, and an extraordinary level of retention: 99 percent of T prevention won’t be easily revised, King still-eligible participants returned for the 10-year acknowledges. “Implementation science is a big follow-up. King’s team went beyond basic logistics field; just because something’s published in a pa- to keep people coming back. “Some couldn’t leave per in 2021 doesn’t mean everyone’s going to start their dog at home, so we covered pet care,” she says. doing it in 2022.” To incorporate the team’s find- They formed relationships; King sent birthday and ings into standard interventions, “You’d probably holiday cards and quarterly newsletters. “We re- need to show more robust effects across indepen- ally wanted them to know this is a partnership.” dent labs using the same measures,” says Fridberg. The team is three-quarters of the way through Fridberg and King hope to add new dimen- the follow-up interviews between years 11 and 15, sions to their work by incorporating more objec- so they will complete that wave, but King has de- tive measures. For the smartphone study, they cided not to bring the original group back to the considered asking drinkers to use a breathalyzer, lab. “They have kids and lives, and they’re all over but the devices are intrusive, conspicuous, and, the globe now.” She’s asked enough of them. most importantly, inaccurate if used incorrectly. And, through participation in the project, some “Most people don’t realize that to get an accurate have stopped drinking. One man in his late 30s, reading, you have to wait 15 minutes after your who had been in the study nearly half his life, con- last drink,” says Fridberg, “and rinse your mouth ducted his 15-year follow-up interview in 2020: “I

IMPLEMENTATION SCIENCE IS A BIG FIELD; JUST BECAUSE SOMETHING’S PUBLISHED IN A PAPER IN 2021 DOESN’T MEAN EVERYONE’S GOING TO START DOING IT IN 2022.

out thoroughly with water so there’s no residual have been sober for two years now,” he reported, mouth alcohol contaminating the data.” “and I am pursuing training in counseling so that About 1 percent of the alcohol you drink passes I can help others with drinking issues.” through the skin and can be measured with a King may be giving her original cohort a break, transdermal sensor, like law enforcement ankle but she’s in it for the long haul. Her lab plans to monitors, but biosensors aren’t perfect either. start a new study with a different, older group— There’s up to a 45-minute delay between drinking people who have already lived with AUD for 20 alcohol and sweating it out, and transdermal alco- years or more—and compare their responses hol concentration isn’t easily translated to blood to light and moderate drinkers of the same age. alcohol concentration. But “the field has gotten She also has a second replication cohort of heavy really excited about these devices,” says Fridberg; drinkers, about five years behind the first group they open the door to new types of alcohol studies. from 2004, who will complete eight- and 10-year Meanwhile the Chicago Social Drinking Proj- follow-ups. “It’s not for the faint of heart,” she says, ect continues to answer questions—and raise new to keep doing the same thing for that many years. ones. The assumption that positive effects dimin- But to confront a condition as complicated, com- ish and addiction becomes the burden of chasing prehensive, and prevalent as alcohol use disorder, relief isn’t supported by King’s work, but maybe “you have to be ready for the long fight.” ◆ she hasn’t tested this cohort long enough. Maybe in another five, 10, 20 years, she says, these same TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE WORK OF THE CLINI- individuals’ pleasure response will “flatten out.” CAL ADDICTIONS RESEARCH LABORATORY, VISIT The original cohort would probably be willing ADDICTIONS.UCHICAGO.EDU.

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2021 31

UCH_Alcohol_v7.indd 31 7/26/21 12:14 PM GLIMPSES

A QUESTIONING MIND Leon Kass, LAB’54, SB’58, MD’62, continues the conversation.

BY LAURA DEMANSKI, AM’94

ince retiring from teaching at the University in a very old soul. She somehow sensed that this offer might be 2010, Leon Kass has led a life that is anything but just what would bring this old guy back to life—in fact, both of retiring. This past January, the Addie Harding us, as she was very close to Amy too. And it sure did. Clark Professor Emeritus of Social Thought and in the College was named dean of faculty at Is- Why the Book of Ruth? rael’s Shalem College. The same month, Yale Uni- versity Press released his book Founding God’s First, it’s an exquisitely beautiful book, one that Amy and I Nation: Reading Exodus. In April came Reading had both loved. About 20 years before, she and I had made Ruth: Birth, Redemption, and the Way of Israel (Paul Dry a discovery in the text that we thought could unlock what SBooks), an interpretation of the Book of Ruth cowritten it’s all about. We said, we’ll get to work on this someday, with Kass’s granddaughter Hannah Mandelbaum. and the someday never came. And I forgot what this in- Kass, LAB’54, SB’58, MD’62, was chairman of President sight was. George W. Bush’s Council on Bioethics, a position he held The book is short, it’s beautiful, and Hannah knew it. from 2001 to 2005. Now dividing his time between Wash- The hope was that we could recover the insight that Amy ington, DC, and Israel, he has Chicago and the University of- and I had had. And I was delighted that in the second ses- ten on his mind. It’s where the native South Sider spent the sion, Hannah found it. She led us both to see that the book heart of his life and career—where he met his late wife, Amy is about nothing so much as the redemptive power of new Apfel Kass, AB’62; where they raised a family; where they birth and how it affirms the intergenerational continuity cofounded the Human Being and Citizen course and taught and the remembrance of the dead, which turned out to be together in the Fundamentals program for decades. the very activity in which we were engaged. This interview has been edited and condensed. What is the value of this kind of close reading? On the first page of Reading Ruth, you write that Is it an endangered art? when your granddaughter asked you to read something with her after Amy Kass’s death in Close reading was very, very close to the heart of what Amy 2015, the offer was “a log brought to a drowning and I did at the University of Chicago. At other schools, stu- man.” What is it about reading together that is dents read a play from Shakespeare each week. Amy would such a salve? teach King Lear for a quarter, and every line was read aloud and discussed. I don’t know that this is translatable for other people, but If you want to learn from the text, and not only learn for me, it was a restoration to my favorite activity, and one about it, you can’t read just for argument or ammunition. that I had shared over a lifetime with Amy, which is to say, You have to learn what it says and what it means, and why seeking wisdom and understanding through companionate the author might have put things this way rather than some reading and conversation. other way. It’s also to learn, by going slowly, how a book On top of that, it was really an act of grace showered on me wants to be read, if one can put it provocatively.

and on Amy’s memory by then-16-year-old Hannah, who has To read a great text, one wants to live with it, and have Photocourtesy Leon Kass, LAB’54, SB’58, MD’62

32 THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2021

UCH_Glimpses_v3.indd 32 7/27/21 9:49 AM A physician who devoted most of his career to humanistic ques- tions, Leon Kass, LAB’54, SB’58, MD’62, began his chairmanship of the President’s Council on Bioethcs in 2001 by assign- ing members to read Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “The Birth-Mark” and trying “to intro- duce into the council’s work a concern for the rich questions of our humanity.”

What do you miss most about teaching? Are there things you don’t miss? I miss the freshness and the openness of young students. If you live in the class- room, you don’t get old, because you’re teaching young people who are on the cusp of self-reflection. They’re filled with aspiration and apprehensions, hopes for it dwell with you. You do this in the belief that it just might what life has to offer them. teach you something you really want to know but might not It’s not just a canard that one learns from one’s students, otherwise learn. To do that, you have to slow down, ponder but you have to ask a real question rather than, “guess the words. It’s only in this way that a book will really open what’s in my pocket.” People say honest things, they’ll say up to you, as opposed to fi ting into your preconceived no- things you’ve never thought before and see things in the tions of what the world is like. And it is very much in danger books you didn’t see. today. What we do at Chicago is really precious. The only thing I really, really don’t miss is putting grades on papers. Commenting on them is an important part of the I remember Amy Kass talking about teaching job, and I spent a lot of time on it. But reducing the whole books she hadn’t previously read. effort of learning and trying to convey your own thoughts to your teacher to some sterile and superficial mark of ac- Her favorite book was the Odyssey, but she stopped teach- complishment—it was antithetical to the entire enterprise. I ing it when she felt that she couldn’t give it a fresh reading. know it’s a necessary evil of the system, but everything was She would be too eager to tell the students and show them fine until that moment, and I’m glad to be rid of it forever. things. I had the same experience too. You need new books, and the classes are best if the What do you see as Amy Kass’s legacy? teacher regards herself or himself as simply the most expe- rienced student in the room. If we’re not in there with the Legacies are hard things. As a teacher, you have no idea, usu- expectation that we might still be learning something from ally, what’s going on on the other side of the table, and you reading this again, it’s over. What you really want to do for won’t know for 20 years, 30 years, 50 years—you probably students is to display yourself as a more mature version of will never know what the lasting effects are, so I wouldn’t themselves, still eager and learning new things. claim much. But I’ll say that Amy was an absolutely master- Chicago was wonderful in that way, because the boundar- ful teacher. I was pretty good, but she was fabulous. And she ies were fluid. If I wanted to teach a new book and read it for was fabulous because if a student asked her a question, she the first time, with others, it was thrilling. The best classes turned it back on them. She didn’t feel obliged to give an-

Photocourtesy Leon Kass, LAB’54, SB’58, MD’62 were often the ones I was teaching for the first time. swers. She was there to make them think and think harder.

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2021 33

UCH_Glimpses_v3.indd 33 7/27/21 9:49 AM A student would say something, and if it was halfway good, ing to larger cultural issues that were coming to the fore. she would say, “Another sentence …,” and it was flattering It seemed to me that the moral fabric of the country was to the student to think they had another sentence in them, frayed. And it seemed maybe the teachings of the Hebrew besides the best that they’d give you. They searched for it, Bible might have something to say, culturally speaking, for and they found it. our time. The more I worked on these The other thing to say about her is that things, the more these texts seemed a the women students, especially, saw and Legacies are powerful mirror in which we could ex- treasured in Amy the fact that she inte- amine our own situation, and discover grated naturally and easily a beloved life hard things. As a certain roots of our own tradition that 2021 Copyright left: From of teaching and learning, and a beloved teacher, you have might be repaired to in time of need. The 2021 Copyright AB’80, Newman, Dan life of marriage and family. She wasn’t One of the big discoveries to be made proving a point. She just did it. The stu- no idea, usually, in the Book of Exodus, which is the dents were invited into our home. They what’s going on founding book of the people of Israel, saw all aspects of her, and a lot of the stu- is that the national founding rests on

dents gravitated to her for this reason. on the other side three pillars: a shared national story The Chicago Maroon of the table, and of slavery and deliverance; an accepted What drew you away from your you won’t know law and morals, the giving of the Ten other interests to write the Commandments and the ordinances at Hebrew Bible commentaries on for 20 years, 30 Sinai; and the building of the taberna- . All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission; photography by photography permission; with Reprinted reserved. rights . All Genesis, Exodus, and Ruth? years, 50 years— cle, which speaks to the human aspira- Chicago Maroon tion to something higher than our own I was not raised on the Bible. In fact, you probably comfort and safety. It raises a question I started reading the Bible seriously will never know about whether any society can survive because we put it on the reading list vigorously and durably in the absence permission. with Reprinted reserved. rights . All in Human Being and Citizen. Over the what the lasting of these three pillars. years I began to see that it could more effects are. To bring it home to the present day, than hold its own in competition with what I think we can boast of is tech- the great philosophical and literary nological progress and economic pros- works that Amy and I had been teaching. Eventually I pro- perity of the sort the world has never known, and private duced the commentary on Genesis [The Beginning of Wis- pursuits of happiness without oppressive naysaying church- dom: Reading Genesis (University of Chicago Press, 2003)] es and other regulators. But the question is, can these par- that grew out of teaching it, I think, 10 times for four hours ticular features of modern American life sustain us when a week over 20 weeks. our national narrative is contested or even despised, when Increasingly I came to see that my Plato and Aris- our morals are weakened, and where the national dedica-

totle, much beloved though they are, are not quickly speak- tion, to put it mildly, has been abandoned?

34 THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2021

UCH_Glimpses_v3.indd 34 7/27/21 2:46 PM Leon met his wife of more than 50 years, Amy Apfel Kass, AB’62, on her fi st day in the College. They returned to Chicago together in 1976 and were photographed early in their teaching careers at the University.

I think it’s a very dicey time. People don’t know who they he was doing and had a midlife crisis every five years. From are as members of the community. If those particular pillars the inside, it’s one life. are shattered, you will have individuals seeking what’s their I like to say everybody has one question. If you’ve got any own, but what we have in common and what we can teach questions, you’ve got one. And my question is how to live a the next generation to carry on—I humanly rich life for yourself and help think that’s very difficult. create a community that’s conducive Reading Exodus in the present age to most people having a crack at liv- enables you to make a diagnosis—to Of all the things ing a humanly rich life for themselves, say, we have a problem here, and let’s I love in life, separately and together. see if we have the resources and the This fi s with the fact that, of all the will to do something about it. it’s serious things I love in life, it’s serious con- conversation versation that I love the most: serious Tell me about your work at that I love conversation about the questions that Shalem College, which is matter, in the service of trying to make Israel’s only four-year liberal the most: people thoughtful about how they’re arts college. living, and how to make the most of serious this very precious gift of life on Earth, Shalem was founded on the assump- conversation which we have not by merit or by right. tion that Israel is very technically com- about the We live in a world in which the petent, but what that competence is dangers and the threats to living a for, and what kind of a society you want questions that humanly rich life are legion, from the to build with all of your technological matter, in the distraction of the cell phone and social From left: Copyright 2021 2021 Copyright left: From prowess, and how to deal with ques- media to the threats of degradation, of Dan Newman, AB’80, Copyright 2021 The The 2021 Copyright AB’80, Newman, Dan tions of justice, national purpose, fam- service of trying hatred and prejudice and inequality, to ily life, and immigration—all of these to make people the dehumanization of new technolo- things depend on a different kind of gies. How do we keep the world safe study. Those are human, ethical, politi- thoughtful for the highest human possibilities of cal questions. about how heart and mind and soul?

The Chicago Maroon I watched this college come into be- It’s of a piece. It’s taken different ing. I was on the board of the foundation they’re living. forms in different places. But from the that saw its birth [in 2013] and taught inside, it seems seamless. I was 15 when there part time after Amy passed away. I started college. I was too young. I was The faculty have been educated in Germanic style, where the majoring in the sciences and did fine. That doesn’t require . All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission; photography by photography permission; with Reprinted reserved. rights . All Chicago Maroon professor lectures and the students copy down. I tried to show maturity. I didn’t take to the humanistic side very well until them that you can conduct a class by asking questions and do- Joseph Schwab, PhB’30, SM’36, PhD’38, woke me up in my ing close reading. last year and showed me that there were questions to which When Russ Roberts, AM’78, PhD’81, became president, I the answers I thoughtlessly held were inadequate. . All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission. with Reprinted reserved. rights . All offered to go with him and work on faculty development. As That was the beginning of my education, but I owe the of January 2021, that’s what I’ve committed to doing. I love University of Chicago everything. I owe it for having shown the people, I love the mission of the place, but it’s an uphill me that learning for its own sake rather than for something battle against the tradition of pedagogy there. useful was a supreme part of a rich life. I owe it for showing me that asking questions that go to the root of things is the How do you think about the many sides of your best possible way to think about things. work and what holds them together? I learned this there. I acquired lifelong friends. I acquired the love of my life. We were invited back to Chicago to prac- When someone introduces me for a lecture, and they recite tice that for 34 years, an inestimable blessing. ◆ my path through life—medicine, biochemistry, St. John’s Great Books, Chicago, bioethics, the Hebrew Bible—from TO READ MORE VISIT MAG.UCHICAGO.EDU/KASS-GLIMPSES.

the outside, it sounds like this is a guy who didn’t know what

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2021 35

UCH_Glimpses_v3.indd 35 7/27/21 2:46 PM SOCIETY

ABIDING CONVICTIONS Punishment doesn’t end after incarceration, writes Crown Family School associate professor Reuben Jonathan Miller, AM’07.

BY SUSIE ALLEN, AB’09

here’s a figure Reuben Jonathan unimaginable complexity, one in which a single

Miller often cites when talking error may come at the cost of freedom. Illustration by Brian St auff about life after incarceration: Miller, AM’07, an associate professor at the 45,000. That’s the approximate Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and number of federal, state, and lo- Practice, has spent the past 15 years studying cal laws, policies, and sanctions mass incarceration and its reverberations, but he regulating where Americans re- has lived with the problem for much longer, as he turning from jail and prison can discusses in his book Halfway Home: Race, Punish- er/theispot live and work, who they can live ment, and the Afterlife of Mass Incarceration (Lit- with, and how they can spend their time. Home- tle, Brown, 2021): “I simply could not write this Tcoming is a gift and an obstacle course of almost as some detached observer because I am close to

36 THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2021

UCH_Miller_v6_locked for PDF.indd 36 7/27/21 12:35 PM this book, and I am close to the people in it.” His in these cases as “family separation,” language that father and two of his brothers have all served time. he says intentionally evokes the outcry surround- Halfway Home reflects Miller’s constellation of ing immigration policies separating parents from experiences with the prison industrial complex, children at the US border. He was glad to see the melding ethnographic research outrage “in relation to these pre- with narrative and autobiog- cious children,” and wanted to raphy. This approach allowed PUNISHMENT show that family separation has him to show not just the fact deep roots elsewhere in Ameri- of social exclusion for the for- LOOKS LIKE can life—for children of enslaved merly incarcerated but also the THE CULTURES people, for indigenous children, feeling of it—and that, he says, and today for children of incar- “allows the reader to assess IN WHICH IT’S cerated parents. “What does it whether or not I’m right.” EMBEDDED. mean to have done this so much The book deepens and ex- that it’s routine?” Miller asks. tends an argument Miller And routine it is—along with has made throughout his academic career: that nearly everything about incarceration and super- mass incarceration and mass supervision (that vision. Another statistic that Miller cites often is is, probation and parole) have created a separate the number of Americans with a family member class of citizens who are, as he has described it, who has been incarcerated: one in two. “So this “amputate[d] … from the social body.” The dis- story is an American story,” he says. connection deprives them of the things they most Rewriting it will not be simple. “Punishment urgently need after release—income, shelter, looks like the cultures in which it’s embedded,” community, and safety. Miller argues. “The reason why we have the scale The idea that people leaving jail and prison of incarceration that we do is because we think need safety too is one that our society resists, about the Other in the way that we do.” Miller says. In the months since Halfway Home He’s studied incarceration abroad, including was published to wide acclaim, he’s been invited in Serbia where prisons (while plagued by their to talk with policy makers around the country own serious problems) are less socially isolated about how to address people’s postincarceration than in the United States. Privileges such as inti- needs. “I’m happy to and grateful for the op- mate visits or family visits outside the prison are portunity to,” he says. “But the thing that I keep more common, reflecting cultural beliefs around seeing that’s absent is a view of these people as the importance of sexuality and togetherness. A vulnerable and in need of protection.” Individu- different justice system emerges from a different als who commit crimes, he points out, are also set of assumptions about humanity and who’s al- victimized at very high rates. lowed to claim it. Many of the formerly incarcerated people Mill- That doesn’t mean there shouldn’t be account- er follows in Halfway Home held the dual iden- ability. It’s essential for people who caused harm tity of perpetrator and victim, though they were “to look harm right in the face,” Miller argues. reluctant to acknowledge it—they could discuss That’s part of why he is drawn to restorative jus-

Illustration by Brian St auff their own crimes more easily than those com- tice, an approach that emphasizes repairing the mitted against them. But as Miller got to know harm caused by crime, sometimes through meet- them better, they divulged life stories forged in ings between victims, perpetrators, and other af- violence, including, commonly, childhood physi- fected community members. cal or sexual abuse. “There are a number of organizations that do A central theme of Halfway Home is the violence this beautifully,” he says, citing one that brings incarceration itself does to families. Half of the together mothers whose children are incarcer- er/theispot people in prison have minor children, and many ated for crimes, including gun violence, and incarcerated women are their children’s primary mothers whose children died from gun violence. caregivers. Miller describes the toll of imprisonment “That’s a blueprint we can borrow from.” ◆

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2021 37

UCH_Miller_v6_locked for PDF.indd 37 7/26/21 10:16 AM EXCERPT

In these passages from Halfway Home, Miller explores the toll of incar- ceration on family rela- tionships, including his own. He tells the story of one of his research participants, Jimmy (a pseudonym), who is out of prison after a three- year sentence for grand larceny. Jimmy has been living inter- mittently with his on- and-off girlfriend, Cynthia, but feels IN A conflicted: he knows SUPERVISED he doesn’t love her, but he has no place SOCIETY, else to go. THE PRISON AND THE JAIL AND THE LAW

hen was the last time you FRAYS OUR saw your mother?” I asked CLOSEST TIES. Jimmy as I sat across the IT PULLS OUR table from him at the Co- ney Island diner. FAMILIES “I don’t really come APART. around like that,” he re- plied. Jimmy certainly needed his mother. He was homeless. He was in drug treatment, doing his best to stay clean and sober. And Jimmy was Ruth’s baby, the youngest of her five children. She would have taken him in. But he and Ruth both knew that she would be evicted if she did. He’d decided to avoid her because she wanted to help. “I understand,” I said. I asked about Cynthia Mario Anzuoni/Reuters/Newscom again. “Too much drama,” he told me. We finished the meal as he talked about his job hunt and his relationship with his parole officer and how his treatment was going and how it felt to be “free.” I paid the bill and handed Jimmy the bus card and the forty dollars I gave him at the comple- tion of each interview. I dropped Jimmy off at the construction site and made my way home.

38 THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2021

UCH_Miller_v6_locked for PDF.indd 38 7/27/21 2:56 PM A father and daughter reunite during a rare opportunity for family visita- tion at the California Men’s Colony in San Luis Obispo. Family separation during and after incarceration is a major theme of Reuben Jonathan Miller’s (AM’07) book Halfway Home.

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2021 39

UCH_Miller_v6_locked for PDF.indd 39 7/27/21 2:56 PM The next time we connected, Jimmy had of favors looked like and, more important, what it changed his tune about Cynthia. He was sleep- felt like. How it showed up in Jimmy’s life. How ing at her house more often, away from the it changed his perception of himself. How the drafty, sometimes damp, almost always too hot power that others had over him changed the na- or too cold buildings he gutted. And he told me ture of his relationships. that her sister had stopped insulting him. They An attorney, flanked by two colleagues who got along better. I wondered why. It turned out were also public defenders, came up to speak Cynthia had had a stroke, her fifth, and was in with me at the end of my talk. Sheila, who did what Jimmy called a convalescent home. This most of the talking, had worked for years in hous- made him sad. He was no more attracted to her ing law, representing clients in central Illinois, al- than he had been a few months before, but now most all of whom were facing eviction. Many had they were making plans to get married. Mar- criminal records. Many more had children who riage, he said, was the only way he could secure had done time. “In the private sector,” she said, an apartment. He also said he wanted to help “if a landlord has decent housing to provide, they Cynthia make decisions about her medical care. probably won’t even rent to someone with a crim- But Jimmy wasn’t happy. He described the up- inal record. . . . But there are plenty of landlords coming marriage as a debt. “She stuck with me who do, [and they] rent to people with extensive in prison. I’ll stick with her now.” records or people [they know who are involved In a moment of reflection about his life and his in] criminal activities. ... But often times,” she relationships, Jimmy said, said, “those places aren’t fi “I feel needy.” I asked if he for people to really live in.” thought his relationships HE DESCRIBED I had heard as much would have been the same from dozens of previously had he not gone to prison. THE UPCOMING incarcerated people, that it Jimmy sipped the last of MARRIAGE AS was nearly impossible for his weak diner coffee and them to find a place to live finished chewing his toast. A DEBT. “SHE regardless of their credit or “No,” he said, signaling the STUCK WITH ME income. And they told me end of our conversation. IN PRISON. the conditions in the apart- ments they found were I’LL STICK WITH unbearable. Vermin. Rusty n a lecture I gave at a legal HER NOW.” water. Broken appliances. aid convention, I talked Lights and electric sock- I about citizenship in the ets that didn’t work. Some supervised society, where thousands of laws places were dangerous in other ways. They were dictated where and with whom a previously in- next to crack houses, or they were in neighbor- carcerated person could work or live and what it hoods where the police rode through to make ar- meant for the law to come between a person who rests but didn’t have a real presence otherwise. has been incarcerated and the people he cared The schools were the worst in their districts. for most. I discussed how law and policy granted Nothing ever worked. The landlords abused their many kinds of people immense power over the rights, and the tenants had little or no recourse. lives of people with criminal records. I told Jim- Sheila said, “I had this client a few years back. my’s story about Cynthia, whom he slept with but This was my first day in a new office. We have didn’t love, the woman he was going to marry out things known as emergency cases. You drop of a sense of obligation, or need, or desperation— everything,” she explained. She represented a the one to whom he owed a debt. And I talked tenant who had withheld his rent, citing the con- about the way his sister treated him and how he ditions of the unit. had to rely on people he barely knew just to meet “The landlord turned off water, utilities, all

his basic needs. I talked about what an economy that madness,” she said. “To me and everyone School Family Crown

40 THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2021

UCH_Miller_v6_locked for PDF.indd 40 7/26/21 10:17 AM Reuben Jonathan Miller, AM’07, has both scholarly and familial experience with the costs of mass incarceration.

else [who works in tenants’ rights,] that’s what We spoke again a few months later, this time we call a lockout emergency. [You] run to the over the phone. “I had this epiphany,” she said. “I courthouse, get a restraining order,” she said. care about my clients. I want them to have hous- “It’s illegal for a landlord to shut off the utilities, ing and be content. But sometimes we’ll prepare even for nonpayment.” It was called a breach of an agreement that says, ‘So-and-so’—meaning a the warranty of habitability, she told me. loved one with a record—‘is not allowed to live Landlords have a legal obligation to ensure a here. So-and-so is barred from the premises.’ unit is habitable. No one could reasonably be ex- But quite frankly, where is So-and-so supposed pected to live in a place with no running water. to go?” “The only defense,” Sheila said, “was that my Sheila asked if she was part of the problem. client had an extensive record. Professor Miller!” With so much at risk, sometimes telling a mother she said, raising her voice. “I mean the record was to evict her child was the best legal advice she ex-ten-sive.” She assured me his convictions were could give. “awful” without saying what they were. “But he’s still a person,” she said. “He still has rights.” The case went on for over a year. Eventually, was twenty-eight when I met my father. I’d there was a ruling. Tenants have rights, and Il- heard his voice maybe once before, but we linois, according to many landlords I’ve spoken I hadn’t had a conversation. I learned who with, is a tenant-friendly state. The landlord was he was only through an acquaintance’s chance in the wrong and the client had a history of pay- encounter with someone else. I got a phone call ing his rent on time. But her client had a record. from a woman who went to my church and who “You can always use those records to impute was about my age. The woman, who was a hair- credibility,” Sheila told me. “The judge found he dresser, said she’d met a man who looked just like wasn’t credible,” she said, meaning that after a me. He was working at a barbershop not far from year in court and a clear violation of her tenant’s her home. She’d gotten his number. He must have rights, the client didn’t have the grounds to bring thought she was flirting. I called the number. The a lawsuit because he had a record. The conditions man turned out to be my brother Stephen, the el- of the apartment and the actions of the landlord dest of my father’s five sons. didn’t matter in this case. In fact, Sheila said, “he I didn’t know how I felt when I heard Stephen’s wants me sanctioned for representing someone voice on the other end of the line. He asked about

Crown Family School Family Crown not worthy of legal aid assistance!” my side of the family and gave me my father’s

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2021 41

UCH_Miller_v6_locked for PDF.indd 41 7/26/21 10:17 AM phone number. I’m not quite sure why I called. not fat and not particularly tall—maybe five elev‑ I wasn’t particularly curious about my father. It en. He was bald and was about my complexion. didn’t matter much to me what he looked like. I I don’t remember whether or not he had facial never thought about the life he might have made hair. I was lanky then, six two, maybe a hundred for himself or why he wasn’t around. This is also and ninety pounds, and still growing into a man’s what separation does. My grandmother raised body. But it was clear to me, as it was to Janice, me. I hadn’t experienced my father’s absence as a that this man was my father. loss. But I mustered up enough curiosity to make We did not shake hands at first or hug. I can’t the call. By the next week, I was in a car riding remember what pleasantries were exchanged. I shotgun with Janice on our way to his home. mostly watched him watch me for what felt like The drive felt long. I didn’t understand the west quite a while. Then, as I do with my youngest son side of my own city. I’d lived with my brother for now, who at fourteen is already six one, he moved a few months in the very same neighborhood, but toward me quickly, put his hands on my shoul‑ that was years before. Nothing felt familiar. I don’t ders, and spun me around. He seemed to smile, remember much of what I was thinking, but I do watching me twirl in front of him. Was this pride? remember I was nervous and felt somehow guilty I had been to college but had not yet finished. I for feeling that way. Perhaps I had some distant had a job, was about to be married, and had chil‑ sense of obligation. I had a family of my own, and dren of my own. He directed me outside, where there was something that told me I should meet we walked and talked in what I remember to be this man whose voice I couldn’t remember. an open field. And I remember it was sunny, maybe We pulled up to a large, white frame house spring. And while I still can’t remember what his not far from the Austin neighborhood where, voice sounded like, I remember what he said. years later, I would do some of the research for “Man, I’m sorry for all that shit,” he told me, re‑ this book. Two of his boys, my brothers whom I ferring to the group homes and the poverty and

had not met, sat out front. Inside, I met my sis‑ the experiences he might never understand. Some Zbigniew Bzdak/Chicago Tribune/TNS ter, whom I vaguely remembered. And my step‑ things are best left unspoken. I didn’t say much mother had a kind face. She was warm. at all. I don’t typically talk much around people I Janice and I had been together for three years. don’t know. But I learned a lot that day. He had just I was so glad she’d come with me. We took a seat gotten out of prison, again. By then he had done on the couch, making small talk with my step‑ twenty years off and on, earning the title “Big mother as I waited for a man I had never seen. I Soul,” a retired member of the Black Souls street wasn’t sure what to expect. gang. He said that he’d had no idea that we were in He wore overalls, or maybe jeans. (This mem‑ foster care or that my grandmother died and that ory seems so long ago.) And he seemed big, but I had been on my own for over a decade. He did

42 THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2021

UCH_Miller_v6_locked for PDF.indd 42 7/26/21 10:17 AM The COVID-19 quarantine tier of Cook County Jail, where Miller once worked as a chaplain.

know that two of my brothers had done time be‑ my grandmother raised us alone. This is the af‑ cause he thought at one point he’d done time with terlife of mass incarceration. It is the separation Jeremiah. He apologized for mistreating him, say‑ from the people you care for or have been told you ing he was ashamed. Something about Jeremiah should. And this is family separation, even if oth‑ acting soft and my father pretending not to know ers can’t or refuse to see it. Even if you’ve moved him. “I didn’t stick up for him,” he said. on with your life, and even if you didn’t experi‑ I was angry now, which I wasn’t before. Jan‑ ence it as a loss, and even if, or perhaps especially ice says I looked like I was standing over him, if, it takes many years to notice the effects. my chest out. I wanted to ask him, What did my The people I met lost children, and they lost brother need sticking up for? Did they beat him? them for so many reasons: A missed appointment. Did they rape him? or say something like, The A social worker came by the house, and the land‑ one time you could have done something! But I lord hadn’t exterminated in months. Someone couldn’t form words. A moment passed. I looked had an addiction. Someone had a gun. Someone down and moved on, mumbling something like, had one too many convictions. Someone was in “It’s cool,” and after my father made some prom‑ jail too long. Some of this was justified; some of it ises I didn’t expect him to keep, Janice and I left. was harder to explain. In the end, their children We lost touch shortly thereafter. I wasn’t emo‑ were taken, and there was nothing they could do. tionally invested enough to The grandmothers lost pursue him. I’m not sure he children, too, in some of the wanted to be pursued. But same ways they lost their I did call my brother back. I DON’T KNOW lovers. Some were buried, His phone was discon‑ WHAT HIS and some were buried but nected. I tried to call the bar‑ PRESENCE MIGHT still alive, incarcerated for bershop where he worked. A so many years. The fathers man answered; the owner, HAVE MEANT FOR and mothers lost friends, I suppose. When I asked HIS BOYS, BUT I even friends they’d known for him, he said he no lon‑ forever, because their loved ger worked there. “Your KNOW THAT MY ones did something wrong brother is in jail,” he said. GRANDMOTHER or because they were sent Sixteen years passed be‑ RAISED US away. The children lost fore I heard from Stephen their parents. Some of the again. It was April 5, 2020. ALONE. THIS IS parents were made to leave. My state, like many others, THE AFTERLIFE Some were taken away. In was under a shelter-in-place the end their families were order due to the COVID-19 OF MASS separated, and their lives pandemic. My stepmother, INCARCERATION. would never be the same. the one with the kind face, In a supervised society, had sent a request to Jer‑ the prison and the jail and emiah through his Facebook account. My father the law frays our closest ties. It pulls our families

Zbigniew Bzdak/Chicago Tribune/TNS had died in August, and she was hoping to reach apart. It did this to Jimmy, and it did it to me, and his sons. it does this to millions of families. And while this happens in so many different ways and to so many different kinds of people, once the law gets be‑ did not know my father, but his incarceration tween families, they are never quite the same. ◆ had a profound effect on my life. I don’t be‑ I lieve that we would have been close had he Excerpted from Reuben Jonathan Miller’s Halfway never gone to prison, but I know my brothers fol‑ Home: Race, Punishment, and the Afterlife of Mass In- lowed him there. I don’t know what his presence carceration, published by Little, Brown and Company, might have meant for his boys, but I know that a division of the Hachette Book Group.

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2021 43

UCH_Miller_v6_locked for PDF.indd 43 7/26/21 10:17 AM ART

EXECUTIVE DREAMING In Sleeping Presidents, artist and writer John Ransom Phillips, AB’60, PhD’66, takes viewers inside the minds of (almost) every one from George Washington to Joe Biden.

BY CARRIE GOLUS, AB’91, AM’93

he bed, for artist John ings—mostly oil on canvas or water- bed paintings, Doniger writes, center Ransom Phillips, is a color, a few oil collage—have titles like on “the most intimate moments of los- fascinating place. In My Conception, My Mother’s Bed, and ing the self and finding the self again.” All images courtesy John Ransom Phillips, AB’60, PhD’66 AB’60, Phillips, Ransom John courtesy images All “this demarcated, Mourners at My Funeral. The body in his paintings is elongated, somewhat isolated The book opens with the essay “In often with arms and legs outstretched, space,” as he describes Bed with John Ransom Phillips” by and “always it has the face of a child it, extraordinary and Wendy Doniger, the Mircea Eliade Dis- … open, innocent, naïve, vulnerable.” ordinary things oc- tinguished Service Professor Emerita The faces remain childlike and in- cur: “We’re born, we in the Divinity School and Phillips’s nocent in Phillips’s most recent body die, we make love. We dream. We eat. longtime friend and collaborator. Her of work—even though its subject is TWe’re sick. We give birth.” 2000 book The Bedtrick: Tales of Sex American presidents. Sleeping Presi- Phillips, AB’60, PhD’66, depicts all and Masquerade (University of Chi- dents (BlackBook Publishing, 2021) was these activities and more in his 2004 cago Press) is “very important to me,” inspired by the Walt Whitman poem book Bed as Autobiography: A Visual Phillips says. She also contributed an “The Sleepers,” in particular the lines, “I Exploration of John Ransom Phillips essay to his 2009 book, A Contempo- dream in my dream all the dreams of the (Clarissa Editions), a collection of rary Book of the Dead: Paintings on other dreamers / And I become the oth-

paintings and writings. The paint- Papyrus (Clarissa Editions). Phillips’s er dreamers.” Each president, beginning .

44 THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2021

UCH_Phillips_v4.indd 44 7/27/21 3:17 PM Opposite page: John Ransom Phillips’s (AB’60, PhD’66) painting about the first US president, Washington I Dream in My Dream All the Dreams of the Other American Presidents, 2011. Above: Trump Twittering President, 2017.

with Donald Trump and ending with points out.) As inspiration, Phillips George Washington, has his own chap- I LIKE TO cites William Blake, who claimed to ter, with paintings and a dream narra- have encountered Moses, Adam and All images courtesy John Ransom Phillips, AB’60, PhD’66 AB’60, Phillips, Ransom John courtesy images All THINK THAT tive. Trump’s chapter is subtitled “Small Eve, and other biblical characters Is Big, Especially in Dreams.” Washing- I BECAME in visions; he then wrote poetry and ton’s is “Dreaming the Afterlife.” THESE made drawings about them. “I like to think that I became these PRESIDENTS. Phillips is well aware that, as he puts presidents. I inhabited their dreams,” it, “this is not something that people says Phillips. “Presidents notoriously are I INHABITED readily accept.” The very idea of dream people who hide, veil.” But when some- THEIR DREAMS. invasion is uncomfortable. “The worst one is asleep and dreaming, “the mask thing you could say about me, I guess, is comes off, the real person manifests.” … PRESIDENTS that this is just highlyHere’s imaginative looking athis - Phillips does not mean this meta- NOTORIOUSLY torical fiction,” he says.you, “I hope kid: Boy that’s meets not phorically. He insists he is dreaming ARE PEOPLE true. I hope there is a girltruth meets that pizza is given the dreams of long dead—or still liv- to certain people whoin are Claire intuitive.” Scanlon’s ing—presidents. (“And maybe he is. WHO HIDE, Phillips grew up in(AB’93) San Franciscoromantic

. How do you know he isn’t?” Doniger VEIL. during the San Franciscocomedy Renaissance, Set It Up.

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2021 45

UCH_Phillips_v4.indd 45 7/27/21 3:18 PM .

46 THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2021

UCH_Phillips_v3.indd 46 7/27/21 10:02 AM Opposite page: Abraham Lincoln on Fire in Smoke, 2010. This page, from left: Reagan a Composite of Interconnected Roles, 2012; Clinton Dividing Life into Small Compartments, 2011.

when poets Robert Duncan and Jack Phillips admired, and later imitated, His art history training is evident Spicer—also inspired by Blake—were Diebenkorn’s single-minded focus, in the layers of meaning in his pieces, creating otherworldly work. Phillips “that ability to be his own person.” Doniger says: “They’re quoting poems, was not part of that group, but “I’m Phillips then returned to Chicago, they’re quoting scriptures, they are enough of a Jungian to believe that earning a PhD in the Committee on the making little jokes about famous maybe in some sense, the archetypes History of Culture. His thesis centered paintings. … The more you know, the invaded my presence,” he says. In on the political destruction of works more you appreciate his paintings.” contrast, when he came to UChicago of art, “something that you would find His work is in both museum and as an undergraduate in the late 1950s, beyond reason. Why would anybody corporate collections; one painting, he found the arts on campus were destroy something beautiful?” formerly exhibited at the Smart “undernourished.” He taught art history at UChicago, Museum of Art, hangs in Levi Hall. After graduation he studied Reed College, and the University of Cal- To create Sleeping Presidents, Phil- painting at the San Francisco Art ifornia, Berkeley, until he realized he lips focused on one president at a time, Institute; among his teachers was the was turning into “a Sunday painter”— perusing his writings, reading biogra- painter Richard Diebenkorn, whom a hobbyist. He moved to New York in phies, and in some cases, visiting his he remembers as both a visionary 1979 to focus on his creative work; he house. While researching Theodore

. artist and a terrible teacher. But also makes films and writes plays. Roosevelt, for example, he toured Sag-

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2021 47

UCH_Phillips_v3.indd 47 7/27/21 10:02 AM CAN I CREATE A SERIES OF AMERICAN PRESIDENTS WHERE I BECOME THEM THROUGH THEIR DREAMS?

Joe Biden’s Victory Challenged by the Moon, 2020. Biden’s election came too late for the printed book, but Phillips was able to include him in the online exhibition.

amore Hill, nicknamed the “summer Florence Harding took complete con- “somebody coming in with a horse. A White House,” on Long Island. After trol of her husband Warren’s dreams man with a very tall black hat. A man his visit, “I started to dream about it,” while waiting to have her own.” The with orange hair.” But with the shift Phillips says. “I never sleepwalk. And most evasive president was a relatively to an online exhibition, Phillips was yet, for several weeks, I was sleep- recent one: “Only Gerald Ford never able to include Joe Biden. The paint- walking.” Roosevelt liked to portray let me in,” Phillips writes. “I suspect ings, all oil on linen and made in 2020, himself as athletic and vigorous, Phil- he did not dream.” In the book, Ford’s include Joe Biden Talking to Himselves lips notes; perhaps Roosevelt’s very dreamlessness is represented by a and Joe Biden’s Victory Challenged by physicality propelled him out of bed. blank page. the Moon. Not every president wanted to share Like many people, Phillips had Phillips’s fascination with dreams, his dreams. “Zachary Taylor preferred grand plans for 2020. Publication of especially from an overtly Freudian that his horse, Whitey, talk with me,” Sleeping Presidents was originally perspective, is perhaps a little out of Phillips writes in the book’s introduc- scheduled for October, anticipating fashion—something he embraces. “Can tion. First ladies occasionally wrested the election. There would be a book I create a series of American presi- control: “Abigail Adams intruded opening and exhibition at a space in dents where I become them through frequently (as she did in life) when I SoHo, where five actors would por- their dreams?” Phillips says. “That’s dreamt her husband John’s dreams. tray five of the presidents, among them not a question people ask today.” ◆

48 THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2021

UCH_Phillips_v4.indd 48 7/27/21 3:18 PM PIER REVIEW WHAT ALUMNI ARE THINKING AND DOING

MARX AND ANGLES Anglers of all stripes leave behind workaday toils—scholarly or otherwise—to cast about at a 1950s fishing perch near the University of Chicago. The pursuit of panfish and heftier game like largemouth bass is a time-honored pastime that continues to draw South Siders from different walks of life.

50 52 54 74 78 Notes and Alumni Essay Alumni News Advanced Deaths Releases Degrees Photography Mildred LaDue Mead, UChicago Photographic Archive, apf2-09842, University of Chicago Library Chicago of University apf2-09842, Archive, Photographic UChicago Mead, LaDue Mildred Photography

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2021 49

Summer 2021 Peer Review Opener V6.indd 49 7/27/21 10:58 AM NOTES A SELECTION OF ALUMNI WHOSE NAMES ARE IN THE NEWS

HEALTH CARE INFLUENCER Stephen Shortell, MBA’71, PhD’72, was inducted into Modern Healthcare’s Health Care Hall of Fame this past spring. A professor of health policy and manage- ment and dean emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley’s School of Public Health, Shortell is a leading scholar of health care systems. Bestowed by the publication in partnership with the Ameri- can College of Healthcare Executives, the award recognizes Shortell “for his contributions to advancing new ways of thinking in the industry.” The publication cites his work on integrated care as an influence on the accountable care concept in the Affordable Care Act. MOVEMENT OF THE SPIRIT STUDENTS’ CHOICE In July Kirstin C. Boswell, MDiv’06, became the university chaplain and dean of Maureen Healy, AM’94, PhD’00, received multifaith engagement at Elon University. An ordained clergy member with the the 2021 Teacher of the Year Award American Baptist Churches USA, Boswell previously was an associate dean at from the Pamplin Society of Fellows, the Brown University and chaplain and director of religious, spiritual, and ethical life undergraduate honor society at Lewis at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. At Elon she oversees the council of & Clark College. The award recognizes chaplains, supervises the religious and spiritual life staff, and provides strategic Lewis & Clark faculty members who “go leadership as the North Carolina school aims to strengthen its multifaith initiatives. above and beyond the duties of their position to enrich student learning.” In a process driven entirely by undergraduates, 1997 Kamionkowski published a paper nine US cities combined, including New each year’s fi alists are determined by a in Physical Review Letters, alongside a York and Chicago, and that most of the student selection committee based on similar article coauthored by Seljak and people bitten were unarmed and many nomination letters written by their peers. Zaldarriaga, showing how polarization were involved only in petty crimes or One nominator commended Healy, an in the CMB could help researchers make traffic violations. The Pulitzer jury cited associate professor of history and chair mathematically based inferences about the team’s reporting for “prompting numer- of her department, for knowing “how to the universe in its first fraction of a second. ous statewide reforms.” make the research process an approach- “The significance of this work for cosmol- able thing for students, no matter how ogy cannot be overstated,” said one ONE-STOP VACCINATION DESTINATION much experience they have.” Gruber Prize nominator. Find My Vax LA, a website created by Andrew Friedman, AB’19, to help Los COSMIC ADVANCES FOLLOWING THE DATA TRAIL Angeles County residents book COVID-19 Marc Kamionkowski, PhD’91, has been Damini Sharma, AB’15, SM’20, and Andrew vaccination appointments, made the awarded a Gruber Cosmology Prize Fan, AB’13, were part of a team that won news in Southern California this past Photo courtesy Massachusetts Institute of Technology for his contributions to the study of the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for National Report- spring for aiding in the region’s public the early universe. The Johns Hopkins ing. Sharma, a data reporting fellow at health efforts. Designed to facilitate effici t University theoretical physicist shares the Marshall Project, and Fan, a data and equitable vaccine distribution, the the $500,000 prize with the University reporter and the chief operating officer website allows users to search by zip of California, Berkeley’s Uroš Seljak and at the Invisible Institute (founded by code for available appointments, read the Institute for Advanced Study’s Matias Jamie Kalven, LAB’65), contributed to a instructions from their chosen vaccina- Zaldarriaga. Kamionkowski and his two yearlong investigation of police K-9 units tion provider, and access the provider’s fellow prize winners independently and the damage they infli t on people. scheduling page. Friedman appeared on but simultaneously proposed novel The Pulitzer-winning series of reports—a local affil tes of CBS, Telemundo, and ways of deriving information about the collaboration between Sharma’s and ABC in March explaining how Find My Vax early universe from observations of the Fan’s organizations, along with the news LA aggregates information and simplifie cosmic microwave background (CMB), outlets AL.com and IndyStar—revealed the sign-up process. leftover radiation from the big bang. In that Indianapolis had more bites than —Andrew Peart, AM’16, PhD’18

50 THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2021

Notes and Releases_Layout_Summer 21_v8.indd 50 7/26/21 12:49 PM

------51 7/23/21 2:55 PM7/23/21 2:55 PM . , JD’76; JD’76; , er, who er, er ff ts of of ts ff fi . Using. case SUMMER 2021 SUMMER | SteveFi , includes, 90 recipes ering and embracing and ering , Vivian describes learn describes Vivian , uff Publishers Weekly Publishers er ff —AndrewPeart, AM’16, PhD’18 Tienlon Ho Tienlon SteveFi Inger Burnett-Zeigler Inger ectivelypulls back thecurtain onthe ff for a neighborhoodfora some fear losingis its identity.This cookbook from therestau and author by cowritten kitchen, rant’s attorney forsuch noveltakes ontradition asmush roommushu and liberty roast duck. IT’SINTHE ACTION: MEMORIES OFA WARRIOR NONVIOLENT Vivian, ByC. T. with 2021 Books, NewSouth Baptistminister and civilrights organizer ever preacher greatest Vivian—“the T. C. accordinglive,” to Martin to Luther King Jr.—galvanizedand led activists keyin campaigns rights voting and integration the1950sof and ’60s. Inhismemoir, cowrittenauthor by and community ac tivist ing nonviolence in an Illinois schoolyard, schoolyard, Illinois an in nonviolence ing duringpractice into principle that putting Nashville, desegregated that sit-ins the andpushing themovement forward with Kingdirectorasa theSouthernof Chris tian Leadership Conference. Fi Conference. Leadership tian vulnerability. “This thorough analysis analysis thorough “This vulnerability. e completedthebook after Vivian’s 2020 with narrative the supplements death, the for eulogies include that appendices PresidentialMedal Freedomof recipient. NOBODYKNOWS THE TROUBLE I’VE SEEN:THE EMOTIONAL LIVES OF BLACK WOMEN LAB’98; Burnett-Zeigler, Inger By 2021 Amistad, Theimage thestrongof Black woman canbeanobstacle addressing to the and mental associated and traumas women Black many problems physical psycholo clinical observes experience, gist studiesand personal anecdotes, Burnett- guidebookforself-described Zeigler’s bene the emphasizes healing s acknowledging emotional and health barriers Black women Black barriers health and emotional suggestface to practical strategies for writes change,”

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Ellen

THEUNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MAGAZINE shomer is alsois one who, ’s Goodreads bookshelf at mag.uchicago.edu/alumni-books. at bookshelf Goodreads ’s shomer Magazine , theJewish, funerary tradition , the, RELEASES roots. Hisrestaurant Mister Jiu’s(a shemira THE SHOMER THE Line Finishing AB’73; Sazzman, Ellen By 2021 Press, In watchesthebody over and safeguards thespirit thedeceasedof theininterme of guardingof thedead, the diatestate before burial. Forpoet Sazzman more generally, attends to those needing needing those to attends generally, more protectionand bears witness transi to tionalstates. Divided threeinto sections, includes collection debut Sazzman’s poemsthatkeep this kind watchful of nary moreaccurate transliteration thechef’sof Francisco’s San in opened surname) Chinatown2016,in restoring thebuilding hall banquet Seas Four legendary the of andaiming help to writeanother chapter ness over the passage of family members, family of passage the over ness MISTERJIU’S INCHINATOWN: RECIPES ANDSTORIES FROM THE BIRTHPLACE OFCHINESE AMERICAN FOOD ByBrandon Jew and Tienlon Ho, JD’05;Speed Ten Press, 2021 SanFrancisco chef Brandon Jewtrained after But cuisine. haute Mediterranean in thedeathhis grandmother,of the“head cook”hisinfamily, he returned hisculi to communaltraditions, and theindividual bodyfrom one phase thenext. to As Sazzmansuggests herin preface, these poemsenact kinddevotion:a of “May ourmemories blessing,”bea shewrites, “totheliving theanddead, to just a apart.” breath a word,

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ALUMNI BOOKS, FILMS, AND RECORDINGS

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and edactual freedom fi cers,and much of ffi EdwardCotham T. Jr. Thomas W. Merrill W. Thomas War and well beyond Texas to and War wellbeyond Texas enjoythetodayis product of how andhowJuneteenth why became ans ering the fi the ering account comprehensive st rstsentence thatslaves“all arefree.” ff Foradditional alumni book releases, use the link theto trace theimportant tradition today, isthatit o it is less about emancipation than civil civil than emancipation about less is it Historian order. of start the before back readers takes theCivil JUNETEENTH:THE STORY BEHIND THE CELEBRATION ByEdward Cotham T. Jr., AM’76; State HousePress atSchreiner University, 2021 IssuedGalveston,in TX, onJune 19, 1865,General Orders No.states 3 itsin fi TheJuneteenth cameasitorder, be to known,manyriselocal gave to celebra tionstheinsouthern United States now and emancipation commemorating standsnationalthecenterata of holiday. Itsprominence thisinregard seems far fromforeordaineda outcome: theorder wasnottheonly oneits of kind issued Union by Armyo of thethateventsigniof forthelast large group enslavedof peopletheinConfederacy. AND TRUST PUBLIC LAKEFRONT: RIGHTS PRIVATE INCHICAGO ByJoseph Kearney D. and Thomas landowners, wealthy legislators, Illinois the ultimately and corporations, private USSupreme Court, whose ruling ain major1892 case placed thepublic trust doctrinethecenteratdisputes of about thelakefront’s future. The accidents of history,rather than grandany design, theauthors shaped have show, Chicago’s lakefrontanassetinto forresidents rela tivelyfree commercialof development. W. Merrill, W. JD’77; Cornell University 2021 Press, TheLake Michigan shoreline thatChi hiscoauthor. In1852 theCity Chicagoof Illinois the granting ordinance an enacted CentralRailroad alongright way of the lakefront.The ensuing battles drew cago morethancentury a andhalflegal a of University Columbia argue controversies, professorlaw Notes and Releases_Layout_Summer 21_v7.indd 51Notes and Releases_Layout_Summer 21_v7.indd 51

Photo courtesy Massachusetts Institute of Technology ALUMNI ESSAY

GO FIGURE

Finding a new passion at age 59, or my journey to become a competitive adult figure skater.

BY STAN C. KIMER, MBA’79

t is never too late to discover a much joy flying across the ice and per- It took almost a full year to master the new passion. forming,” I thought. “I need to get off basic skills of turning from forward to Just shy of my 59th birthday, my couch and do this myself.” When backward, spiraling, spinning, and do- in 2014, I posted on Facebook I discovered Dorothy Hamill’s Figure ing a simple half-revolution waltz jump. that I had decided—with no Skating Fantasy Camp for adults, I In a new venture, having a good prior experience on the ice— knew it was time to start. coach or mentor is so important. Paula to pursue the crazy dream of I found a local rink with a pro shop has that perfect combination of push- becoming a competitive adult run by two former competitive pairs ing me to do better and correcting figure skater. Unintentionally, skaters, who fitted me with skates my errors, yet praising and affirming I made this pronouncement on and blades. They also recommended me when I work hard to learn a new April 1, so most people chuckled a coach who would not mind teaching skill and perform well. She taught me and posted comments like “yeah right, an “old man” from scratch. They con- enough of the basics to be able to attend IApril fools” or “that’s too funny.” nected me with Paula McKinley, who Dorothy Hamill’s camp that fall, where So how did I get to this decision? is still my head coach. I met several other adult skaters. I had always enjoyed watching My first time on the ice was a rude I also made two major discoveries. sports. I spent most of my final MBA awakening. I thought I could just jump First, I found a tight community of quarter in the $2 Wrigley Field bleach- on and start gracefully gliding around. supportive peers. The adult skating er seats, becoming a lifelong Cubs fan. Instead, I discovered that this was 100 community is a strong one that Another one of my favorite sports times more difficult than it looked, and welcomes newcomers and supports to watch is figure skating. I love its I was going to have to build basic skills each other along the journey. We are unique combination of artistic beauty slowly and patiently. I started with an eclectic group doing something and pure athleticism. After retiring simple two-foot gliding—slowly. many people think only children and from a 31-year career at IBM, I decided By the third lesson I could glide on young adults do. (Check out US Figure to start attending live competitions in- one foot. It took about six weeks to Skating’s “Adults Skate Too” program.) stead of watching on television. start skating backward. I still remem- Second, I found that this is indeed In January 2010 I traveled to my ber pushing myself off the rink barrier, what I was destined to do. The camp first string of 10 consecutive US Fig- willing myself to go backward, and ended with our group putting on a ure Skating National Championships. after a few more weeks I could do it. little show for the local community, In 2013 and 2014, I won the US Fig- and I found great joy in performing ure Skating’s Champs Camp charity and hamming it up in front of a crowd. auction and got to attend the organi- When I discovered I had not really acted since high school zation’s late summer training camp, Dorothy Hamill’s drama club but found I still have that where I started building friendships performer personality. with some of the nation’s best skating Figure Skating That Christmas I played the role of athletes and coaches. Fantasy Camp for Clara’s father in my hometown rink’s Watching the 2014 Winter Olympics annual performance of Nutcracker on proved to be a tipping point. “These adults, I knew it was Ice, with my coach skating as Clara’s

skaters look like they are getting so time to start. mother. My parents, who were then in Photocourtesy Stan C. Kimer, MBA’79

52 THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2021

UCH_Kimer AE_v1.indd 52 7/26/21 4:02 PM Another setback came when I took a series of tests to advance to a new level. Two of the three judges gave me barely passing scores with a bal- anced analysis of what I did well and what I needed to improve. The third judge was totally harsh, implying I was a terrible skater who should just quit. It made me both angry and sad, but I needed to lay it aside and appreciate the affi ations. I remember when a different judge remarked after a competition that I was a joy to watch and that people like me keep her continuing to judge adult competitions. In 2017, when I did my “Mele Kalikimaka” holiday number prior to Nutcracker on Ice, one woman told me that my program alone was worth the price of admission. I continue to attend skating camps and competitions, and now compete at the East Coast Adult Sectional Championships. At my fourth, in 2020, before the pandemic shut things down, I won my first sectionals gold medal. It indeed takes a village. I have a team of coaches, in addition to Paula, with complementary skills who help me grow and improve each day. Her son is helping me learn ice dance and a third coach works with me on jump and spin technique. This does take hard work and dedi- cation. At skating camps, many call me the hardest worker, since doing this in my 60s is more challenging than if I were 30 or 40. But it is also so reward- ing. I am in the best physical shape of my life. And winning a gold medal at a their mid-80s, attended, sitting aside Journeys like this are not without major competition recently by beating all the other parents in their 20s and perils and setbacks. In my third year, a more athletic man half my age was 30s watching their kids perform. My I had a very bad fall and fractured the cherry on top. father found it so funny seeing me hob- my hip. Many thought that would be Just this May I passed the final ble onto the ice on skates, he couldn’t the end of skating for me, but I was qualifying test to compete at the US stop laughing. not going to let the accident derail Adult National Championships in 2022 I entered my first competition the my newfound love. After eight weeks at the age of 66. I can’t wait. ◆ next summer, and as the only adult on crutches, I was back on the ice in male competitor, I was in a group of November. My coach predicted that Stan C. Kimer, MBA’79, founded Total one and won the gold medal. Still, I it might be three months before I was Engagement Consulting by Kimer, a di- was pleased that I performed all of my up to form and that I would be un- versity and career development consul- elements correctly in front of specta- able to skate in that year’s Christmas tancy, after a 31-year career at IBM. You tors and a panel of judges. I was the fan program. I was determined to prove can watch him skate at the Stan Kimer favorite, with several children bring- her wrong, and after two weeks I was YouTube channel, and you can learn more ing me flowers and cheering wildly strong enough to start rehearsing for about his skating and his company at

Photocourtesy Stan C. Kimer, MBA’79 during the medals ceremony. Nutcracker on Ice. totalengagementconsulting.com.

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2021 53

UCH_Kimer AE_v1.indd 53 7/27/21 2:51 PM ALUMNI NEWS FROM THE CLASSES, SCHOOLS, AND DIVISIONS

To protect the privacy of our alumni, we have removed the class notes from this section. The remaining advertisements and photos have been consolidated to reduce the number of pages. If you are an alumnus of the University and would like class notes from our archives, please email [email protected].

Luminous details: Light and shadow catch 58th Street as the afternoon sun hits Rockefeller Memorial Chapel. If you spent summers in Hyde Park during your student years, what activities kept you near campus and what sights and sounds do you remember? This year, as pandemic restrictions ease and horizons brighten, what are you doing to make good on the promise of summer? Write in with an update to your class correspondent or send a note to the Magazine, c/o Alumni News Editor, at [email protected]. PhotographyAlanby M. Fern, AB’50, AM’54, PhD’60, UChicago Photographic Archive, apf2-04004, University ofChicago Library

What’s new? We are always eager to receive your news, care of the Alumni News Editor, The University of Chicago Maga­zine, 5235 South Harper Court, Chicago, IL 60615, or by email: uchicago​-magazine@uchicago​.edu. No engagements, please. Items may be edited for space. As news is published in the order in which it arrives, it may not appear immediately. We list news from all former undergraduates (including those with UChicago graduate degrees) by the year of their undergraduate affiliation. All former students

who received only graduate degrees are listed in the advanced degrees section. PhotographyAlanby M. Fern, AB’50, AM’54, PhD’60, UChicago Photographic Archive, apf2-04004, University ofChicago Library

54 THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2021

AlumniNews Summer 2021 V11.indd 54 7/27/21 11:21 AM Computer time: Dennis O’Leary, SB’62, remembers working on the MANIAC III as part of his coursework in applied mathematics (see Class of 1962, page 56). Beginning in 1961, the Mathematical Analyzer Numerical Integrator and Computer Model III (left) was housed at UChicago’s then-new Computation Center (right), situated just west of Ellis Avenue between 56th and 57th Streets (near the site of what’s now the William Eckhardt Research Center and an expanded Accelerator Building). Designed by Nicholas Metropolis, SB’36, PhD’41, who had developed MANIAC I and II at Los Alamos National Laboratory before returning to UChicago as the first director of its Institute for Computer Research, MANIAC III launched the University into the age of large-scale digital computation. Today the namesake MANIAC Lab carries on the work of computing and analytics at the Enrico Fermi Institute. Did you work at the Computation

Photocourtesy Los Alamos National Laboratory (left); UChicago Photographic Archive, apf2-01927, University ofChicago Library Center or rent computer time elsewhere on campus? Send your stories to [email protected].

Ace advice: During summer break, coach Christopher Scott leads a tennis class for University of Chicago staff members. A Harlem Globetrotter in the late 1940s, Scott switched from basketball to tennis after a knee injury and was ranked seventh nationally as a player by the American Tennis Association when he became head coach of the UChicago men’s varsity tennis team in 1970. Coming to that role after a stint in the College admissions office, he was among the first Black tennis coaches at the university level. Scott, who died in 1989, also gave tennis lessons for the Chicago Park District and worked with local athletic

Photography by Lloyd Eldon Saunders, UChicago Photographic Archive, apf1-11772, University of Chicago Library Chicago of University apf1-11772, Archive, Photographic UChicago Saunders, Eldon Lloyd by Photography clubs. If you remember Coach Scott from your Hyde Park days, send us a note at [email protected].

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2021 55

AlumniNews Summer 2021 V10.indd 55 7/26/21 11:29 AM . All. rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.

East by Midwest: Jane Lee Moy and her husband opened Far East Kitchen at 53rd Street and Hyde Park Boulevard in 1969. Known for a menu featuring Cantonese, Szechwan, and Mandarin dishes and a bar serving tiki-style cocktails, Far East earned The Chicago Maroon Chicago The the Maroon’s praise (“the best Chinese food in Hyde Park,” said the paper in 1982) and the devotion of some notable clientele: a special table was reserved for Chicago mayor Harold Washington. In the mid-1980s Far East moved west on 53rd to the spot now occupied by Chant. Do you have memories of visiting Far East Kitchen before it closed

Copyright2021 in 2007? Write to us at [email protected].

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Athenainstitute.com Photocourtesy Los Alamos National Laboratory (left); UChicago Photographic Archive, apf2-01927, University ofChicago Library Athena Inst. Braefield Rd Chester Spgs, PA 19425 UCM

56 THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2021

AlumniNews Summer 2021 V11.indd 56 7/27/21 11:22 AM Front and center: Generations of scholars and bibliophiles have found the latest and greatest publications in their fields of interest by browsing the Seminary Co-op Bookstore’s iconic front-of-store display. “I can trust that if it’s not on the front table at the Co-op, it’s probably not worth reading,” UChicago philosophy scholar Robert Pippin once remarked. Founded in 1961 by

. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission. with Reprinted reserved. rights All M aroon . C hicago The 17 students (and possibly professors) who wanted to secure course books at wholesale prices, the Co-op spent its first 50 years in the basement of the Chicago Theological Seminary (now Saieh Hall), where this patron has come to explore the labyrinthine shelves. Located since 2012 in the former seminary residence hall next door to Robie House, the Co-op moved to online sales during the COVID-19 pandemic but reopened for in-person browsing on June 12. In honor of the bookstore’s 60th anniversary

Copyright 2021 Copyright on October 17, tell us about your favorite Co-op finds at [email protected].

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2021 57

AlumniNews Summer 2021 V10.indd 57 7/26/21 11:30 AM Cycling through history: Students and faculty stop to explore Coliseum Park at Wabash Avenue and 14th Place on the fourth annual South Side History Bike Tour in 2011. Led by dean of the College John Boyer, AM’69, PhD’75 (third from right), political science professor John Mark Hansen (with megaphone), and sociology professor Terry Nichols Clark (not pictured), the tour that year started from Bartlett Quadrangle and continued through Washington Park, Douglas, Bronzeville, the Near South Side, the Near West Side, Bridgeport, and Back of the Yards before returning to Hyde Park—a trip of approximately 20 miles. At this Near South Side stop, Hansen explained the political importance of the third Chicago Coliseum, which stood opposite the park named in its honor: the Republican Party held its nominating conventions at the Coliseum from 1904 to 1920, as did the breakaway Progressive Party in 1912. The annual bike tour has been a signature event of the Chicago Studies Program since 2008. A companion event, the Southeast Chicago History Bike Tour, took cyclists as far south as Calumet Park in May this year. Photo courtesy the College—Chicago Studies College—Chicago the courtesy Photo Photography by Lloyd Eldon Saunders, UChicago Photographic Archive, apf1-11772, University of Chicago Library Chicago of University apf1-11772, Archive, Photographic UChicago Saunders, Eldon Lloyd by Photography

58 THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2021

AlumniNews Summer 2021 V11.indd 58 7/27/21 11:23 AM HONOR Phoenix Society members lead the way in supporting the University’s students, faculty, ROLL programs, and facilities. The names below represent new members welcomed into the society from July 1, 2020, through June 30, 2021.

All names are listed per member request and also located in the online Leaders in Philanthropy honor rolls at give.uchicago.edu/leadersinphilanthropy.

Anonymous Gabriel Edmund Gedvila, AB’58, JD’61, MBA’71 Constance Allen Nathanson, David Adler, AB’86, MBA’89 H. Jack Geiger, AB’90 LAB’48, AM’58, PhD’67 Barry S. Alberts, JD’71 David Gluck, SM’74, PhD’78 Lawrence Newhart Jr., MBA’70, and Gladys Bennett Arlene Alpert-Mehlman, AM’74, Susan Goldin-Meadow Gerard J. O’Brien Jr., MBA’87 and David J. Mehlman Craig Green, MBA’73 Stephen A. Osborn, MBA’77 Prakhar Bansal, MBA’04, and Nidhi Bansal Freddi Greenberg, MAT’71, Henry Fred Otto, AB’81, MBA’82, Julie Barbour, MBA’81, and Daniel Pinkert, LAB’63, JD’73 and Jim Barbour, MBA’81 and Judy Whalley Cynthia Greenleaf and Jonathan F. Fanton William B. Parker, MBA’78 Rachel Calabro Barner, AB’92, Michael Haas, MBA’91, and Deanna Haas You can become a lifetime member by funding and Bela Barner, IMB’99 Anthony Philipps, AB’66, MD’70, Thank you to all new Lee Hackett, MBA’74 and Patricia Philipps a life-income gift or simply notifying us that William H. Baumgartner Jr., AB’76, members, whose and Andrea C. Baumgartner Susan Elaine Hill, AM’86, PhD’93 Roberta Potsic and William Potsic you’ve planned a gift to support any area of James Becker, LAB’60, and Aber Lynch Linda E. Hodgman-Miller Constance B. Powell, MST’73, and Roger A. Powell, PhD’77 foresight in planning the University in one of the following ways: Robert Becker, MBA’72, and Betty Becker William F. Hopkins, MD’57, and Florence Hopkins T. Michael Ray, MBA’84 David Beecken, MBA’70 Richard J. Hoskins, PhD’16 • Included the University in your will or trust George Rhyneer, MD’64, and Marilyn McKay current and future Dan Bergey Maga E. Jackson-Triche, AB’71, MD’75 J. Robert Robertson, JD’90, • Named the University as a beneficiary of Akash Bijlani, AB’97 Aminah Jatoi, AB’83 gifts to the University and Anne W. Robertson J. Hayden Boyd, AB’62, and Margot Leydic-Boyd Lindsey Lee Johnson, AB’81 a retirement plan, life insurance policy, or Janice Rossi, PhD’87, and Scott Atlas, MD’81 will create meaningful Rebecca A. Boylan, MAT’72, Virginia L. Josephian, AM’69 financial account Peter Grenville Schiff, MBA’76, and Lisa Schiff and Thomas W. Sidlik, MBA’73 Dimitri Karcazes, LAB’92, AB’96, JD’99, Richard Seidenstricker, MBA’83 differences for L. Dick Buell, MBA’78 and Jena Karcazes John Serkland, AM’70, and Lola Serkland Susan Burns, PhD’94 Rose Kattlove, AB’60, generations to come. and Herman Kattlove, SB’58, MD’62 Barbara Dickson Stewart, AM’66 As a Phoenix Society member, you will Allisyn Cashdan, AB’86, receive several benefits, including but not and Daniel M. Cashdan Jr., MBA’86 Susan Kay, AM’79, Christopher M. Straus, LAB’84, AB’88, MD’92 and David Baron, AB’72, PhD’79 Charlene Cho, PhD’04 Bart Stroupe, AM’79, and Naomi Stroupe limited to Michael Klein, AB’65 Michael Chojnacki, MD’70 Jeanne-Mey Sun, AM’96, PhD’99, Ann G. Krone and Ronald J. Krone, MD’66 and Tom J.M. Janssens, MBA’02 The Phoenix Society honors • a special memento; Thomas S. Christopher, MBA’68 Lorraine F. Kubicek, AM’90, PhD’92 Jeanne L. Tackitt and Ken Tackitt individuals who make David Ashton Clairmont, AM’00, PhD’05, • access to exclusive University events, and Michelle Clairmont Linda Levin and Robert Levin Robert G. Tardiff, PhD’68 estate commitments or programs, and publications; and Mitchell Cobey William Levine, AM’67, PhD’72, Jonathan Robert Tomshine and Maryl Levine Lyn Corder Barton G. Tretheway • personalized assistance from gift planning Lily Li, AB’84, MBA’87 life-income arrangements Stephen Ellicott Cornell, AM’74, PhD’80 Jennifer Kamp Tretheway, MBA’77 professionals. Richard Lipton, JD’77, and Jane Lipton Rachel Cunningham, AB’89 Reed Tupper, MBA’71, and Rosemary Tupper to support the University Lili Liu and Jinbo Xu Sander Davidson, AB’79, John Vail, AB’76, and Alison Fields and Suzanne Davidson Peggy Livingston, JD’78 Marcy Valley, AB’69, PhD’77, of Chicago. Such gifts Become a member today. Ariana KWW DiMeo, AM’03 John W. Locke, AM’68, and George Valley, PhD’71 and Judith Rehnquist Locke provide important ways to Visit phoenixsociety.uchicago.edu/join Dr. Kunio Doi and Akiko Doi Deborah Morrow Vaughan, AM’73, Janet S. Mackey, AB’80, and Ronald G. Ketter and James M. Vaughan John Dudlak, MBA’78 strengthen and sustain the Email [email protected] Anita Marcott Cesar Santillan Velazquez Mary Ellen Eads, AM’81 and Maria Vazquez Luna Jerome McQuie, MBA’93, and Beth McQuie University’s future. Call 773.702.3130 Mika Eguchi and Yasuhisa Eguchi Elissa Weaver Marion Ehrich, SM’70 Jenny Menna, AB’93, AM’94, and Frank Menna, AB’94 Eric West, MBA’10, and Elizabeth West David E. Fischer, AB’87, and Deborah Fischer Roman Merkulov, MBA’14, Charles E. Wharton, MBA’70 Mona Lisa Flicker and Scott Flicker and Nadezhda Merkulova David Whitney, MBA’78, MD’80, Deborah Franczek, JD’72, and James Franczek, JD’71 Tawakalitu Mitchell, AM’01, and Mark Mitchell and Juliana Chyu Marla Franzese, AB’84 Martha Nachman, JD’74, Robert H. Wier, JD’59 Samuel H. Friedman and Franklin Nachman, JD’74 Eric Yopes, JD’79, and Amelia Kaymen

Layout_Deaths_Summer 21 V5-locked for PDF.indd 76 7/23/21 11:45 AM HONOR Phoenix Society members lead the way in supporting the University’s students, faculty, ROLL programs, and facilities. The names below represent new members welcomed into the society from July 1, 2020, through June 30, 2021.

All names are listed per member request and also located in the online Leaders in Philanthropy honor rolls at give.uchicago.edu/leadersinphilanthropy.

Anonymous Gabriel Edmund Gedvila, AB’58, JD’61, MBA’71 Constance Allen Nathanson, David Adler, AB’86, MBA’89 H. Jack Geiger, AB’90 LAB’48, AM’58, PhD’67 Barry S. Alberts, JD’71 David Gluck, SM’74, PhD’78 Lawrence Newhart Jr., MBA’70, and Gladys Bennett Arlene Alpert-Mehlman, AM’74, Susan Goldin-Meadow Gerard J. O’Brien Jr., MBA’87 and David J. Mehlman Craig Green, MBA’73 Stephen A. Osborn, MBA’77 Prakhar Bansal, MBA’04, and Nidhi Bansal Freddi Greenberg, MAT’71, Henry Fred Otto, AB’81, MBA’82, Julie Barbour, MBA’81, and Daniel Pinkert, LAB’63, JD’73 and Jim Barbour, MBA’81 and Judy Whalley Cynthia Greenleaf and Jonathan F. Fanton William B. Parker, MBA’78 Rachel Calabro Barner, AB’92, Michael Haas, MBA’91, and Deanna Haas You can become a lifetime member by funding and Bela Barner, IMB’99 Anthony Philipps, AB’66, MD’70, Thank you to all new Lee Hackett, MBA’74 and Patricia Philipps a life-income gift or simply notifying us that William H. Baumgartner Jr., AB’76, members, whose and Andrea C. Baumgartner Susan Elaine Hill, AM’86, PhD’93 Roberta Potsic and William Potsic you’ve planned a gift to support any area of James Becker, LAB’60, and Aber Lynch Linda E. Hodgman-Miller Constance B. Powell, MST’73, and Roger A. Powell, PhD’77 foresight in planning the University in one of the following ways: Robert Becker, MBA’72, and Betty Becker William F. Hopkins, MD’57, and Florence Hopkins T. Michael Ray, MBA’84 David Beecken, MBA’70 Richard J. Hoskins, PhD’16 • Included the University in your will or trust George Rhyneer, MD’64, and Marilyn McKay current and future Dan Bergey Maga E. Jackson-Triche, AB’71, MD’75 J. Robert Robertson, JD’90, • Named the University as a beneficiary of Akash Bijlani, AB’97 Aminah Jatoi, AB’83 gifts to the University and Anne W. Robertson J. Hayden Boyd, AB’62, and Margot Leydic-Boyd Lindsey Lee Johnson, AB’81 a retirement plan, life insurance policy, or Janice Rossi, PhD’87, and Scott Atlas, MD’81 will create meaningful Rebecca A. Boylan, MAT’72, Virginia L. Josephian, AM’69 financial account Peter Grenville Schiff, MBA’76, and Lisa Schiff and Thomas W. Sidlik, MBA’73 Dimitri Karcazes, LAB’92, AB’96, JD’99, Richard Seidenstricker, MBA’83 differences for L. Dick Buell, MBA’78 and Jena Karcazes John Serkland, AM’70, and Lola Serkland Susan Burns, PhD’94 Rose Kattlove, AB’60, generations to come. and Herman Kattlove, SB’58, MD’62 Barbara Dickson Stewart, AM’66 As a Phoenix Society member, you will Allisyn Cashdan, AB’86, receive several benefits, including but not and Daniel M. Cashdan Jr., MBA’86 Susan Kay, AM’79, Christopher M. Straus, LAB’84, AB’88, MD’92 and David Baron, AB’72, PhD’79 Charlene Cho, PhD’04 Bart Stroupe, AM’79, and Naomi Stroupe limited to Michael Klein, AB’65 Michael Chojnacki, MD’70 Jeanne-Mey Sun, AM’96, PhD’99, Ann G. Krone and Ronald J. Krone, MD’66 and Tom J.M. Janssens, MBA’02 The Phoenix Society honors • a special memento; Thomas S. Christopher, MBA’68 Lorraine F. Kubicek, AM’90, PhD’92 Jeanne L. Tackitt and Ken Tackitt individuals who make David Ashton Clairmont, AM’00, PhD’05, • access to exclusive University events, and Michelle Clairmont Linda Levin and Robert Levin Robert G. Tardiff, PhD’68 estate commitments or programs, and publications; and Mitchell Cobey William Levine, AM’67, PhD’72, Jonathan Robert Tomshine and Maryl Levine Lyn Corder Barton G. Tretheway • personalized assistance from gift planning Lily Li, AB’84, MBA’87 life-income arrangements Stephen Ellicott Cornell, AM’74, PhD’80 Jennifer Kamp Tretheway, MBA’77 professionals. Richard Lipton, JD’77, and Jane Lipton Rachel Cunningham, AB’89 Reed Tupper, MBA’71, and Rosemary Tupper to support the University Lili Liu and Jinbo Xu Sander Davidson, AB’79, John Vail, AB’76, and Alison Fields and Suzanne Davidson Peggy Livingston, JD’78 Marcy Valley, AB’69, PhD’77, of Chicago. Such gifts Become a member today. Ariana KWW DiMeo, AM’03 John W. Locke, AM’68, and George Valley, PhD’71 and Judith Rehnquist Locke provide important ways to Visit phoenixsociety.uchicago.edu/join Dr. Kunio Doi and Akiko Doi Deborah Morrow Vaughan, AM’73, Janet S. Mackey, AB’80, and Ronald G. Ketter and James M. Vaughan John Dudlak, MBA’78 strengthen and sustain the Email [email protected] Anita Marcott Cesar Santillan Velazquez Mary Ellen Eads, AM’81 and Maria Vazquez Luna Jerome McQuie, MBA’93, and Beth McQuie University’s future. Call 773.702.3130 Mika Eguchi and Yasuhisa Eguchi Elissa Weaver Marion Ehrich, SM’70 Jenny Menna, AB’93, AM’94, and Frank Menna, AB’94 Eric West, MBA’10, and Elizabeth West David E. Fischer, AB’87, and Deborah Fischer Roman Merkulov, MBA’14, Charles E. Wharton, MBA’70 Mona Lisa Flicker and Scott Flicker and Nadezhda Merkulova David Whitney, MBA’78, MD’80, Deborah Franczek, JD’72, and James Franczek, JD’71 Tawakalitu Mitchell, AM’01, and Mark Mitchell and Juliana Chyu Marla Franzese, AB’84 Martha Nachman, JD’74, Robert H. Wier, JD’59 Samuel H. Friedman and Franklin Nachman, JD’74 Eric Yopes, JD’79, and Amelia Kaymen

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FACULTY AND STAFF affluent society, and Islands of History (1985), Everyday Life (1991); The Queen of America which reworked the theory of structuralism Goes to Washington City: Essays on Sex and Frank W. Fitch, MD’53, SM’57, PhD’60, the to account for history and human agency. Citizenship (1997); and The Female Complaint: Albert D. Lasker Professor Emeritus in the Among many honors, Sahlins received the The Unfinished Business of Sentimentality in Department of Pathology and the Ben May French Ministry of Culture’s Chevalier de American Culture (2008)—analyzed a range Department for Cancer Research, died April l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. He is sur- of media to understand the relationship be- 2 in Chicago. He was 91. A leader in the field vived by his wife, Barbara; two daughters, tween public life and people’s own attach- of cellular immunology, Fitch joined the Julie S. Sahlins, LAB’74, and Elaine Sahlins, ments. A later work, Cruel Optimism (2011), UChicago faculty soon after completing his LAB’78; a son, Peter Sahlins, LAB’75; and influenced readers inside and outside the graduate training and taught for more than three grandchildren. academy by focusing on how those attach- four decades. During his time at UChicago Victor Barcilon, professor emeritus in the ments can undermine happiness. A found- Medicine, he served as an associate dean of Department of Geophysical Sciences, of ing figure in the field of affect theory, Berlant the medical school, cofounded the Commit- Louisville, CO, died April 15, 2020. He was received numerous honors, including the tee on Immunology, and directed what was 81. An applied mathematician who made Quantrell Award for Excellence in Under- then the Ben May Institute. Among other contributions to meteorology and oceanog- graduate Teaching, and is survived by part- accomplishments, he pioneered the clon- raphy, Barcilon joined the UChicago faculty ner Ian Horswill, a brother, and a sister. ing of T cells and the differentiation of T cell after posts at the Massachusetts Institute of types, both fundamental tools in immunol- Technology and the University of California, 1940s ogy research, and helped develop the first Los Angeles. Noted for his use of asymptotic monoclonal antibodies for breast cancer di- analysis, he worked extensively on topics in Violet Knecht Schmidt, SM’47, of New York agnosis. Soon after reaching emeritus status, fluid mechanics, such as how lava forms new City, died December 6. She was 98. With her he became editor in chief of the Journal of seafloor crusts following underwater volca- master’s in biology, Schmidt taught high Immunology, serving from 1997 to 2002. His nic eruptions. He also coauthored research school science in the Chicago Public Schools honors include the American Association that informed the present understanding of for nearly four decades. She met her husband, of Immunologists’ Excellence in Mentoring how Antarctic ice streams factor into pos- a chemistry teacher, at a school faculty picnic. Award and UChicago’s Norman Maclean sible sea level rise. Barcilon later turned his She is survived by extended family, including Faculty Award. He is survived by daughter mathematical modeling toward the study of Judith Franzetti Knecht, SB’61, PhD’66, and Peggy Fitch Rubenstein, LAB’73; a son; a the electrical movements inside cells. Survi- Mary Knecht Shepard, AB’89. brother; and three grandchildren. vors include his wife, Danielle, and a daugh- Max S. Bell, AM’58, MAT’59, professor emeri- ter, Audrey Barcilon Seybold, LAB’80. 1950s tus in the Social Sciences Division, of Pacific Adam Zagajewski, the Ferdinand Schevill Grove, CA, died March 6. He was 90. A cur- Distinguished Service Professor in the John Thomas F. Broden Jr., JD’50, died November riculum developer who believed that math- U. Nef Committee on Social Thought, died 20 in South Bend, IN. He was 96. Broden, who ematics education could help form active March 21 in Kraków, Poland. He was 75. Born held a bachelor of laws degree from Notre citizens, Bell took dual appointments at the in what was then Lwów, Poland, Zagajewski Dame Law School, joined its faculty after Laboratory Schools and the former Graduate became a leading dissident writer in the Pol- earning his JD. Spending his career there, School of Education in 1960, remaining on the ish New Wave movement, publishing poetry he established a legal aid program, which be- UChicago faculty for the rest of his career. In the communist authorities banned in 1975. came a model of clinical education for many 1985 he and his wife, Jean F. Bell, MST’78, Immigrating to Paris seven years later, he US law schools, and served for two decades began developing the K–6 curriculum even- won international recognition as a poet and as director of the university’s urban stud- tually published as Everyday Mathematics, essayist through widely translated Polish- ies program. Dedicated to public service, he since used by tens of millions of students. He language works combining history, spiritu- worked as counsel to the US House Judiciary and his wife also supported the creation of ality, and personal experience. A translation Committee, acting as staff attorney in charge the center now known as UChicago STEM of his poem “Try to Praise the Mutilated of the Civil Rights Act of 1957. He later di- Education, devoted to research and develop- World,” published in the New Yorker in the rected training and technical assistance for ment in precollege science, technology, engi- wake of 9/11, brought him renown among the US Office of Economic Opportunity. He neering, and mathematics instruction. He is US readers. He first came to UChicago as a is survived by two daughters, three sons, nine survived by his wife; four children, including visiting professor in 2007, receiving his dis- grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. Erin Bell, LAB’76; and seven grandchildren, tinguished service appointment four years Nancy Bogue Rose, AB’54, of Chicago, died including Philip B. Adams, SB’21, SM’21. later. Zagajewski received the Neustadt In- September 11, 2020. She was 85. Rose received Marshall D. Sahlins, the Charles F. Grey Dis- ternational Prize for Literature, among many a full scholarship at age 16 to attend UChicago, tinguished Service Professor Emeritus in other honors. Survivors include his wife, and stayed on after graduation to study math- Anthropology, died April 5 in Chicago. He Maja Wodecka, and his sister. ematics. Instead of taking a second degree, was 90. One of the world’s leading anthro- Lauren Berlant, the George M. Pullman she married and remained in Hyde Park– pologists, Sahlins taught at the University Distinguished Service Professor in English, Kenwood to raise her family. A lifelong fiber of Michigan before coming to UChicago in died of cancer June 28 at age 63 in Chicago. artist, Rose traveled the country attending 1973. Studying Pacific Island communities A preeminent cultural theorist and literary workshops and conferences on weaving, dye- in Hawaii and Fiji, he argued for the unique- scholar, Berlant came to UChicago in 1984 ing, and spinning. She is survived by a daugh- ness of non-Western modes of thought and and remained on the faculty for more than ter, a son, and two grandchildren. maintained that Western scholars could three decades. The expert on 19th- and 20th- Peter P. Remec, PhD’56, died November 2 in understand them. A prominent activist, in century American writers expanded an early New York City. He was 95. Born in Ljubljana, the 1960s he devised the teach-in as a form focus on historical fiction into a broader ex- Slovenia, Remec fled with his family to Graz, of nonviolent antiwar protest and helped it amination of literature and culture’s role in Austria, after World War II. He earned doc- become a national phenomenon. His many forging bonds between individuals and such torates in law and political science from the books include Stone Age Economics (1972), collective forms as the nation. Berlant’s na- University of Graz and then left for the United which advanced the influential idea that tional sentimentality trilogy—The Anatomy States on a US Navy transport ship authorized hunter-gatherers represent the original of National Fantasy: Hawthorne, Utopia, and to carry immigrants. After meeting UChicago

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Layout_Deaths_Summer 21 V5-locked for PDF.indd 78 7/27/21 9:18 AM political scientist Hans Morgenthau, Remec Kathrine Clark Miller Reed, AB’64, of Salem, Richard L. Fenton, AB’75, JD’78, of Highland embarked on his PhD in international rela- OR, died July 9, 2020. She was 79. Reed com- Park, IL, died April 24. He was 67. Fenton was tions at the University. He went on to teach pleted the final year of her bachelor’s in soci- a partner at the law firm Dentons, spending political science for 50 years at Fordham ology and then started a master’s in library more than four decades on the Chicago liti- University, where he served as department science at UChicago following a year in Cal- gation team specializing in commercial, in- chair. An expert in international law, Remec cutta, India, with her husband, Wallace E. surance, real estate, and business disputes. was named an observer to the United Na- Reed, AB’59, PhD’67, for his geography doc- He also chaired the firm’s national appel- tions mission of the Holy See, for which he toral research. After starting a family and late practice. In addition to his legal work, was honored as a papal knight in the Order spending another year in India, she and her Fenton was the first board president of North of St. Gregory the Great. He is survived by husband established careers at the Univer- Shore School District 112 and a national board a daughter, three sons, two brothers, and sity of Virginia, where she rose to become member of the Anti-Defamation League. seven grandchildren. a senior administrator. Serving for two He is survived by his wife, Judith Alsofrom Raymond L. Schwinn, MD’59, died February decades as associate provost for manage- Fenton, AB’73; two daughters, including Les- 3 in Marble Falls, TX. He was 91. Completing ment, she helped oversee budgets for every lie M. Fenton, AB’02; a son; and a brother. his medical internship and residency as a US unit but the medical school. In retirement Navy lieutenant at Oak Knoll Naval Hospital she ran a Salem neighborhood association, 1980s in Oakland, CA, Schwinn did tours of duty working on land use planning and park im- with the Military Sea Transportation Ser- provements. She is survived by her husband; Anne E. Powers, AM’88, of Cincinnati, died vice in the Pacific and at Balboa Naval Hos- a daughter, Lynn Reed-Povlsen, AB’88; a son; February 21 of a grade 4 glioblastoma. She pital in San Diego. Trained in radiological and two grandchildren. was 55. Powers received her master’s de- and nuclear medicine at what is now Walter Daniel J. Hurst, MD’67, died December 7 in gree in English at UChicago. Her essay on Reed National Military Medical Center, he Winston-Salem, NC. He was 78. After com- Milton’s Paradise Lost earned the Jonathan then treated marines and sailors at Marine pleting his fellowship in pulmonary internal D. Steiner Prize for outstanding work in the Corps Base Camp Pendleton until his hon- medicine at Duke University School of Medi- study of drama or criticism. She went on to orable discharge from the Navy in 1967. For cine, Hurst was a physician for a decade at the pursue a career in the information technol- many years thereafter Schwinn practiced University of Missouri’s medical school and ogy field, working as a technical writer and as a radiologist in Los Gatos, CA. He is sur- hospital system. He then practiced internal business analyst. Powers served ultimately vived by three daughters, a sister, nine grand- medicine at Novant Health Winston-Salem as lead business analyst at Fifth Third Bank, children, five great-grandchildren, and one Health Care until his retirement. He is sur- where she oversaw multimillion-dollar stra- great-great-grandchild. vived by his wife, Carolyn; a daughter; a son; tegic projects and cochaired an employee en- a sister; a brother; and two grandchildren. gagement committee. She is survived by two 1960s daughters, her parents, and two brothers. 1970s Richard Paul Baepler, PhD’64, died November 2020s 19 in Valparaiso, IN. He was 90. An ordained Sandra Klubeck, AM’70, died June 7, 2020, in minister in the Lutheran Church–Missouri Wildomar, CA. She was 73. With a bachelor’s Ilan M. Naibryf, Class of 2022, died June 24 in Synod, Baepler served a church in Valparaiso degree in psychology and a master’s from the the collapse of the Champlain Towers South before continuing his theological education, Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, condominium building in Surfside, FL. He first in Germany and then earning a doctor- and Practice (formerly the School of Social was 21. A physics major with a minor in ate from the UChicago Divinity School. After Service Administration), Klubeck special- molecular engineering, Naibryf cofounded chairing the theology department at Valpa‑ ized in social work and mental health ser- the start-up STIX Financial, a finalist in the raiso University, he became founding dean of vices for young people and families. Starting Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and In- Christ College, Valparaiso’s honors college, as a staff therapist at the Institute for Juvenile novation’s 2021 College New Venture Chal- and later served as the university’s vice presi- Research, she became the institute’s director lenge for its pitch of a stock-linked debit card. dent for academic affairs. Baepler also taught of social work training, and ultimately over- He worked on campus as a software special- legal history at Valparaiso’s law school and in saw most of its clinical services as director of ist for the Computer Science Instructional retirement published several books, includ- the community children’s services program. Laboratory and as a design engineer for ing a history of the university. He is survived One of the first staff members hired to the UChicago Medicine, where he collaborated by a daughter, a son, three grandchildren, Illinois Guardianship and Advocacy Com- with a radiologist on a head-and-neck medi- and three great-grandchildren. mission, she went on to direct the agency. cal imaging technology. Naibryf also served James B. Cloonan, MBA’64, died November She later consulted on public policy related as president of the Chabad House student 28 in Paradise Valley, AZ. He was 89. A mar- to mental health. She is survived by her hus- board and played recreational soccer. He is ket research expert and an early advocate band, James Everett Jr.; two daughters; five survived by his parents and two sisters, in- for individuals as managers of their own stepdaughters; 16 grandchildren; and four cluding Tali M. Naibryf, AB’19, AM’19. investment portfolios, Cloonan taught mar- great-grandchildren. Max Solomon Lewis, Class of 2023, died July keting and quantitative methods at DePaul Leanne H. Star, EX’70, AM’71, of Wilmette, 4 in Chicago after being shot during his University before serving as chief executive IL, died January 23. She was 72. Star attend- commute on a Chicago Transit Authority of Heinold Securities, a brokerage firm he ed the College, finished her bachelor’s at the train. Double majoring in economics and helped establish. He went on to found the University of California, Berkeley, and then computer science, Lewis was a summer in- Chicago-based American Association of returned to UChicago to earn her master’s in tern at the investment firm Segall Bryant & Individual Investors, an investor education comparative literature. She taught literature Hamill in the Loop. On campus he was trea- nonprofit. As president and later board chair, and writing at Beloit College, Colby College, surer of Promontory Investment Research, he wrote regularly for the association’s AAII and universities in Taiwan and China, later a student organization that develops and Journal and served on such industry and working as a freelance writer for Northwest- publishes equity reports by undergraduate regulatory panels as the US Securities and ern University and other organizations. A do- research analysts, and served as president Exchange Commission’s Consumer Affairs cent for the Chicago Architecture Center, she of the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity. Remem- Advisory Committee, retiring in 2018. He is led groups on the popular river cruise tour bered as a devoted friend who supported his survived by his wife, Edythe; three daugh- and trained new volunteers. She is survived fraternity brothers through the COVID-19 ters, including Michele V. Cloonan, AM’79; by her fiancé, John D’Asto; three daughters, pandemic, Lewis was an avid runner and a a son; seven grandchildren; and three including Maia Feigon, AB’98; three sisters; a car enthusiast. He is survived by his parents great-grandchildren. brother; and six grandchildren. and a brother.

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Layout_Deaths_Summer 21 V5-locked for PDF.indd 79 7/23/21 11:46 AM THE UCHICAGOAN Christina Kahrl AB’90

Questions for the San Francisco Chronicle sports editor, Baseball Hall of Fame voter, and transgender activist.

What surprising job have you had in the past? Hmmm, so many choices—shoveling horse food and mucking stalls for cash as a kid, the summer I spent in a Taco Bell, a couple of years in Local 743 as a team- ster with a history degree, writing the homes beat for the Washington Blade. Ultimately it all adds up to my willing- ness to get paid so that I could do what I wanted to do.

What do you hate that everyone else loves? Canada geese. They’re a waste of protein, feath- ers, and atoms. OK, nobody loves Canada geese, interviewed Earl Weaver for the new, updated so how about chardonnay? edition, which wound up being one of my single favorite interviews. I haggled for 90 minutes What do you love that everyone else hates? with his agent, but we wound up spending all day Liver. The restaurant Erwin in Wrigleyville, long together trading baseball stories. since closed, used to make a divine liver dish that involved steeping it overnight in calvados. Just Tell us the best piece of advice you’ve one reason among many I mourn the closure of received—or the worst. my favorite spot near Wrigley Field to take base- “But wouldn’t you rather go to Yale?” ball foodie friends. What advice would you give to a brand- What book changed your life? new Maroon? Illustration by Peter James Field James by Peter Illustration Baseball Prospectus, which I wrote for, would be Yes, you’re there to learn, but the most important the cheap/easy answer, because it set me on my opportunity you have is to learn about yourself, career course in sports journalism. But the book on your terms, in what you do now that you’re that really started shaping how I thought about here, and how you choose to go about it. There’s baseball? Earl Weaver’s Weaver on Strategy: The no right answer, save the one that is right for you. Classic Work on the Art of Managing a Baseball

Team, which I loved so much that two decades TO READ THE FULL Q&A, VISIT MAG.UCHICAGO later I acquired the rights to republish it—and .EDU/UCHICAGOAN.

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RETHINKING ALCOHOL ADDICTION … LEON KASS … LIFE AFTER INCARCERATION … SLEEPING PRESIDENTS SUMMER 2021 UCH_summer2021 cover and spine_v4.indd 1UCH_summer2021 cover and spine_v4.indd 1