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Hungry Minds Alumni who cook, cater and create restaurants
fliP LETTERS
ester's lanet Wallace Fine Arts Center Cindy MacCharles, with Garrison and the Red Clay Ram- blers. The New Prairie Ramblers (Peter 1966-2000 Ostroushko, Tim Hennessy, Barb Editors' note: The obituary Montoro and myself) played the first for Cindy MacCharles '89 and national broadcast of the show from her husband is on page 48. Kansas City the following year. We were on the show until 1983, about the time THE CLASS OF '89 mourns the tragic Garrison decided to move to more of loss of Cindy MacCharles and her husband, a jazz format and the bright lights of Laurence Medina. The couple died m a New York City beckoned. terrible automobile accident on Dec. 28, Besides playing on the weekly show7 2000, in Palm Springs, Calif. Cindy and for almost eight years, I produced the Laurence had been married just 15 months. Biscuit Band album, was musical direc- Cindy's sense of adventure, love ot inter- Prairie comes to New York tor of the show for a couple of years, was national travel, and friendly, open and Garrison Keillor jokes with Marge, left, and included on the 5-, 10- and 25-year anni- caring personality uplifted all of us. She Mike McPherson after a Nov. 25 broadcast versary recordings, and enjoyed numerous met our partners, children and parents, of "A Prairie Home Companion" in New York musical highlights such as playing with took an interest in our lives and became a City attended by 30 Macalester alumni and the Biscuit Band and the St. Paul Cham- part of our families. She wove a web of friends. Macalester is sponsoring seven ber Orchestra in an original composition friendship that connected all of us through special broadcasts of the popular program, by Libby Larsen at the Northrup Audito- her surprise visits, her kind support and her including two this month in Europe — rium. But now I'm really tooting my incredible thoughtfulness. She attended March 3 in Berlin and March 10 in Dublin. own horn. our weddings, helping out in countless A number of other Macttes from the ways. She was the type of friend who '70s have played on the show. Phil Platt always seemed to be there to handle any We welcome alumni comments about '71 and John Berquist '71 come to mind kind of crisis with a good-natured smile Macalester's sponsorship of "A Prairie Home right now, although I know there were and encouraging words. Companion" shows in NewYork, Berlin and others. So Garrison and PHC have Cindy lived a short life but she lived Didilin. Please e-mail us your comments enjoyed quite a hit of Macalester influence each moment to the fullest. We hope that
MACALESTER TODAY ABOUT THIS ISSUE
Macalester Today 2 At Macalester Director 0/ College Relations Campus Center opens; new associate alumni directors; Doug Stone fall spores review; other campus news Executive Editor Nancy A. Peterson Managing Editor Jon Halvorsen 6 Faculty Notes Art Director Update on the Economics Department Elizabeth Edwards Class Notes Editor Robert Kerr '92 9 Alumni & Faculty Books
Macalester College page 2 Cluiir, Board oj Trustees 11 America the Beautiful and Strange Mark A. Vander Ploeg 74 President WPI journalists describe the United States Michael S. McPherson Vice President for College Advancement Richard Allen Ammons 12 World-Class Education Alumni Director Gabrielle Lawrence 73 The leaders of NAFSA share a perspective honed at Macalester Associate Alumni Directors Carol Polk and Kim Gregg '93 15 Alumni Board Macalester Today (Volume 89, Number 2) is published by Macalester College. The 35 classmates and friends who make up It is mailed free of charge to alumni and the Alumni Associations Board of Directors. friends of the college four times a year. With an essay by Nancy Schatz Alton '92 Circulation is 25,000. on coming back to Mac. For change of address, please write: Alumni Office, Macalester College, 1600 Grand Ave., St. Paul, MN 55105-1899. Or call (651) 696-6295. 18 Toll-free; 1-888-242-9351. 18 And Now This Message... ?*& John Forde '83 and friends uncover the hidden agendas in all those TV commercials To submit comments or ideas, write: Macalester Today, College Relations, at the above address. Phone: (651) 696-6452. Fax: (651) 696-6192. E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.macalester.edu/~alumni 20 Probable Cause A mock trial helps students become better advocates for the environment On the cover John Schneider '91, left, Jim Dunn '88, center, and Sam Ernst 24 Hungry Minds '88 were photographed by Steve Woit at their Some alumni have a consuming passion for food new Red Fish Blue restaurant on Grand Avenue, adjacent to the Macalester campus. Turn 34 Class Notes to page 24.
SPRING 2OOI I AT MACALESTER
Above: students watch the Super Bowl on the second floor of the Ruth Strieker Dayton Campus Center. Left: skylights (seen here at night) bring light into the building throughout the day. Below: the stairwell between the first and second floors. See back cover for another view. Ruth Strieker Dayton Campus Center Eagerly awaited facility opens months ahead of schedule as new focus of campus community
ACALESTER's new Ruth The Campus Center, located at the Citizen Citation for achievement and Strieker Dayton Campus Center corner of Grand and Snelhng avenues, service. M opened its doors in late January— replaces the Student Union. It features: She is owner and executive director o\ one semester earlier than scheduled — The Marsh, A Center for Balance and although workmen were still putting the • the central dining facility, serving Fitness, in Minnetonka, and is widely finishing touches on the building and up to 1,000 people at a time with food known for promoting mind/body health some of the furniture was not yet from around the world; and well-being. available. • essential services such as the campus For more information on the Campus A few dozen students enjoyed a post office, as well as seminar and meeting Center, see the Macalester Web site: Super Bowl party in the Campus Center rooms;
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Alumni Office 1990s grads Kim Gregg '93 and Carol Polk ABOUT 60 PERCENT of Macalester appointed associate directors graduates in recent years have earned MACALESTER HAS two new associate advanced degrees within six years of grad- directors of alumni relations. uation, according to Dan Balik, associate Kim Gregg '93 joined Macalester in provost and director of institutional January. Her primary focus is working with research. alumni of color and recent graduates. Balik said that percentage is very similar Gregg, who majored in geography and to that reported at other selective liberal environmental studies at Macalester, arts colleges. returned to the Twin Cities last September Balik reported several other major after three years away to work on an M.S. Kim Gregg '93 Carol Polk conclusions from surveys of 1993-99 degree in geography at the University of graduates: Delaware. Before that, she was an environ- responsible tor planning Reunion • Of those graduates who have earned mental regulator at the Minnesota Pollution Weekend and coordinating the Great advanced degrees, about two-thirds have Control Agency. Her personal interests in- Scots Program. She received her degree earned a master's level degree. The clude the transracial adoption experience, in psychology from Metropolitan State remaining one-third is fairly evenly split multiculturalism in America, Quaternary University. She volunteers regularly for between doctorates and professional landforms and paleoclimatology, film, fish Chrysalis, A Center for Women. Outside degrees. keeping, cooking and her very spoiled dogs. of work, she loves to ski and golf. Her goal Carol Polk, who has worked in the for the coming year is to go skydiving. • Macalester graduates are admitted to Alumni Office since 1989, was promoted Both report to Alumni Director medical schools at a rate that is 10 percent to associate director last fall. Polk is Gabrielle Lawrence 73. higher than graduates nationally, • Six years after leaving Macalester, almost one- fourth of Mac graduates are employed in business. Another 30 percent are employed in professional, scientific or tech- nical occupations. More than 10 percent are working in cre- ative arts or design positions. Scholarships MAI YOUA XIONG '04 (Minneapolis) is the recipient of a $5,000 Coca-Cola First Generation Scholarship. The scholarship, which can be renewed annually, is awarded to one eligible student from each of Minnesota's 15 private colleges and univer- sities who has demonstrated high academic achievement, community involvement and is the first in their immediate family to go to college. The scholarship is funded by the Artist in progress Coca-Cola Foundation and the Minnesota Private College Fund. Performance artist Coco Fusco gave the keynote address at the seventh annual Macalester Other recent scholarship winners at International Roundtable in October. She read from her work-in-progress, "The Incredible Disappearing Woman," a play about the disappearance Macalester: of women assembly line workers at the U.S.-Mexican • Seth Lind '01 (Spring Green, Wis.) border. She also talked with students. Focusing on won a Beinecke Brothers Memorial "International Feminisms: Divergent Perspectives," Scholarship for two years of graduate the three-day Roundtable featured presentations and discussions by distinguished visiting scholars as well as Macalester faculty and students.
SPRING 2OOI AT MACALESTER study. He is a history major with an inter- est in 20th century American social and Mondale returns § cultural history. } Walter Mondale '50, former vice • Joseph Bergan 00 (Arden Hills, president and ambassador to Japan, Minn.) won a National Science Founda- spoke about his role in negotiating the tion Graduate Fellowship, which funds future of U.S. military bases in Okinawa three years or graduate study. Bergan, a at a conference at Macalester in biology major, plans to earn a Ph.D. in November. His lecture, and presentations neuroscience at the University of Chicago. by senior U.S. and Japanese foreign policy experts, reviewed the recent history of the U.S.-Japan strategic alliance and explored the current challenges for the Class of 2004 partnership. The event was the third in a series entitled "Fifty Years: The Number: 454 {66% female) Mondale Lectures on Public Service," Applications: 3,410 — the most ever, co-sponsored by Macalester, the Hubert exceeding the 1999 record by 8 percent H. Humphrey Institute at the University of Minnesota, the Minnesota Historical Regional distribution by high school: Society and Minnesota Public Radio. - 23% Minnesota 1 - 15% outside U.S. - 12% Upper Midwest -13% Other Midwest -17% Northeast 1 -14% West - 6% South
Percentage receiving financial aid: 73.6% • • .j_ ^^^BE_l States represented: 41 and District of Columbia Nations represented (by citizenship): 40 Fall sports review U.S. students of color: 54 Lilley led the conference in assists and was sixth in the nation in that category, while Most common female names: Sarah (11), Volleyball and women's Bomstad, the Central Regions Freshman Emily (9) and Elizabeth (8) soccer teams shine of the Year, was second in the MIAC in Most common male names: Daniel and hitting percentage and sixth in blocks. Michael (6 each) ACALESTER FALL SPORTS TEAMS M enjoyed considerable success, espe- Women's soccer "We're extremely pleased with the cially on the women's side, as the Scots Coach John Leaney's women's soccer strength of this class," said Dean of fielded outstanding teams in volleyball team graduated nearly every starter from Admissions Lome Robinson. "It's a great and soccer. Through the conclusion of the the year before, but responded brilliantly bunch of bright, talented and motivated fall season, Macalester was on top of with a young team, winning the VIIAC students who will undoubtedly contribute the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic championship for the fourth straight significantly during the next four years Conference (MIAC) in the race for the year. The Scots were eliminated in the and beyond. Pat Wiesner Trophy—the award given to second round of the NCAA playoffs by "Nationwide, studies show that the league's all-sports champion. Wisconsin-Stevens Point in a 1-0 contest, young women are engaging more in both but lost only one other game all year. Mac academics and extracurricular areas than Volleyball finished at 16-2-1 and its 9-0-1 conference men. As such, they end up presenting The volleyball program has made mag- record extends the team's MIAC unbeaten stronger applications for admission to nificent strides over the past five years and streak to 42 consecutive games. Forward selective colleges like Macalester. We in 2000 had its best season in nearly Amanda Cue '01 (Ashland, Ore.) scored believe that it's important to maintain 20 years. Stephanie Schleuder gained her 10 goals and was named third-team All- gender balance in the student body, but it's 600th career collegiate coaching victory America as the team's top player. She was also important to admit and enroll the early in the season and the Scots went joined on the All-MIAC squad by goal- most deserving students. on to finish 22-8, placing second in the keeper Lisa Bauer '04 (Woodbury, Minn.), uWe know Mac is a great place for conference standings and third at the con- midfielder Kristine Lamm '01 (South both young men and women to get an ference tournament and falling just short Windsor, Conn.) and forward Katie outstanding education; our challenge is to of an NCAA playoff invitation. Setter Stephens V3 (Urbana, 111.). Bauer allowed make sure that the qualified men realize Erika Lilley '01 (Saugus, Calif.) and mid- just a single goal in league play and that, too." dle blocker Carley Bomstad '04 (Apple finished fourth in the nation in goals- Valley, Minn.) were named to the All- against average. Mi AC and All-Central Region teams.
MACALESTER TODAY AT MACALESTER
cross countiy midfielder Martin Oppenheimer '02 it was supposed to have (Stockholm, Sweden) and defender boon a rebuilding season Brendan Meyer '02 (Fairfax Station, Va.). for women's cross country after graduating tour of Football the top Eve runners from The football team showed improve- the '99 squad that placed ment over the last couple of seasons but eighth in the nation. lost its share of close games and finished New Coach Jordan 1-9. The Scots were a dangerous passing dishing '96 got the most team and boasted a pair of the leagues top out of her young team, receivers in David Schumacher '01 however, and the Scots (Minot, N.D.) and Ty O'Connelf '02 progressed nicely (Helena, Mont.), who combined to catch throughout the season. 122 passes for 1,583 yards and 12 touch- Macalester placed fifth downs. Schumacher was the MIAC's out of 12 teams at the leading receiver and O'Connell was fourth. conference champion- Quarterback Aaron Quitmeyer '01 ships, led by Li: Connors (Williston, N.D.) earned All-MIAC '01 (Albany, Ore.), who honors after passing for a school-record earned her third straight 2,180 yards. Quitmeyer set a school record top five MIAC finish. Liz Connors '01, right foreground, earned her third straight top five with 5,716 career passing yards and was Lesley Benton '03 MIAC finish in cross country. one of just 22 players selected nationally in (Cumberland Center, all divisions to the AFCA Good Works Maine) earned honorable mention overall at the MIAC tourney, missing All- Team, which recognizes players who go All-Conference honors. Conference honors by just one stroke. above and beyond in service to others Amanda Slaughter '03 (Cedar Rapids, while maintaining academic and athletic Women's golf Iowa) also had a good season for the Scots. excellence. Macalester featured one of the The women's golf team closed out the conference's best defensive players in fall season by taking fifth out of nine at Men's soccer end Andrew Porter '03 (Rogers, Minn.), the conference championships—up one Mac failed in its bid to take a fourth who led the team with 85 tackles and spot from the previous two years. Kristine straight league championship, but still had 13 quarterback sacks. Porter earned Schaaff'03 (Manden, N.D.) placed 11th a great season under Coach Leaney. Only All-West Region honors from the a double-overtime Football Gazette. loss to Gustavus in the season finale Men's cross country kept the Scots from Ben Knudson '01 (Hastings, Neb.) {1 a another trophy and earned honorable mention All-MIAC an NCAA playoff honors, placing 24th out of 190 runners w1• | berth. Macalester to lead the way for the men's cross country finished at 12-4-2 team at the conference championships. and took second in Macalester took eighth at the MIAC meet a the league. Shingai under new Coach Steve Pasche and con- M\ Mukurazita '01 cluded with its best performance of the (Harare, Zimbabwe) season, finishing 12th out of 23 teams at s received third-team the Central Regionals. All-Centraliiiir l Region All-Central Region Ail-American All-America honors setter Erika Lilley '01 middle blocker Carley soccer forward after scoring seven Men's golf Bomstad '04 Amanda Cue '01 goals and assisting Ali Amerson '02 (Port Townsend, on seven others. Wash.) enjoyed another good season as Kimani Williams the No. 1 player on new Coach Martha '02 (Kingston, Nause's men's golf team. Amerson was Jamaica) scored in eighth out of 43 golfers at the Carleton the teams last nine Invitational. Mark Flynn '02 (Madison, games and finished Wis.) was Mac's top scorer at the season- with 17 goals— ending MIAC tournament. the second-best —Andy Johnson, sports injoiniation director single-season figure in team history. Mukurazita and Williams were joined on the All- Ail-American All-Conference Top defensive end Conference team by soccer player quarterback Andrew Porter '03 Shingai Mukurazita '01 Aaron Quitmeyer '01 SPRING 2OOI FACULTY NOTES Update on the Economics Department Editors3 note: Mac Today regularly features brief updates about faculty members, focusing on a single department in each issue
Karl Egge spent his Last sabbatical visit- Pete Ferderer has teaching and ranging from Jane Austen to Irish history. ing and interviewing former economics research interests that span the fields of And from time to time she visits 4-year- majors about their jobs. They included macroeconomics, finance and inter- old grandson Alec (and his parents) in alumni from Germany to China, from the national economics. In recent years, he New York City. In short, life is good, she 70s through the '90s. He reports that in has become interested in studying these reports. She sends greetings and warm the last two years he has taught children of fields from a historical perspective. His wishes to all econ alums who might former students, so he knows he's been most recent article, co-authored with Kyle remember her, and welcomes e-mail mes- teaching a long time. He continues assist- Richey '00, examines the collapse of sages < [email protected] > ing senior majors with their job-searching liquidity in financial markets during the efforts, and he is thrilled that many former Great Depression. Ferderer attempts to Jane Kollasch has been the department students now recruit current students. He infuse this historical perspective into his coordinator since fall 1999. She has often brings former students into the class- courses by emphasizing how the "rules of been at Macalester for six years, having room for "show and tell." His research the game" governing economic activity previously worked in purchasing and efforts have been in entrepreneurship and have evolved over time. When not think- telecommunications. She enjoys working forensic economics. ing about economics, he enjoys spending with the econ students on a daily basis and time with his wife and two young children. the challenges of the academic side of the Jeff Evans has taught accounting part college. She is also very involved on cam- time in the Economics Department since Nancy Jones retired in June 1999 pus, serving on the board of the Staff 1978. He is currently working on a project after almost a decade as the department's Advisory Committee and the Macalester for the Wilderness Society on how road secretary/administrator. She's taking Staff Association. When not at Macal- costs are allocated to timber sales. He is advantage of this opportunity to travel, ester, Jane enjoys gardening, quilting and also a practicing CPA, specializing in with major trips in the past year and a half working part time at a coffeehouse. She forensic accounting and small business to Spain, Berlin, East Germany and and her husband, Chuck, recently cele- consulting. He says, "I know it sounds a bit China. At home she's an avid theater- and brated their 25th wedding anniversary; idealistic, but I firmly believe one can concert-goer and enjoys courses offered by they have two daughters, Joelle, who is in make the world a better place through the Elder Learning Institute, on subjects college, and Janna, a junior in high school. accounting."
Many of the economics faculty from the 1970s met for a reunion last October at the Alumni House. They were joined by several current members of the department. "All agreed it was terrific to be back at Macalester to see the school and talk with old friends," said Professors Karl Egge and Vasant Sukhatme. From left: Pete Ferderer; Jim Simler, retired; Vasant Sukhatme, current chair; Yutaka Horiba, now at Tulane; Todd Petzel, chief investment officer for the Common Fund; David Meiselman, retired in Virginia; Karl Egge; Bob Bunting, retired in Wilmington, N.C.; Paul Aslanian, CFO of Swarthmore College; Macalester President Mike McPherson, who teaches in the department; Tom Simpson, now with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve; Jeff Evans; and David Lindsay, also with the Board of Governors.
MACALESTER TODAY FACULTY NOTES
Quotable Quotes "His presence at Macalester [from 1959 to 1961] was a ERE ARE SOME of the noteworthy comments made recently sign that the world was shrinking—an economic, technological H on and around the campus: and even, in his eyes, moral event. It would be decades before kente-cloth fashions appeared at the Gap, but Annan's arrival in "Every year since ! have been at this college, upper-class the U.S. evoked a closer global community. He was instantly students look at the first-years and complain to me about how comfortable." conservative they are and that it is a college plot. And by about the Time magazine cover story last Sept. 4 on U.N. Secretary-General second month of the fall, the new students change into Macalester Kofi Annan '61. The article noted that he was pictured in the 1960 students and start complaining when the next class arrives." Mac yearbook with a kente cloth from his native Ghana draped David McCurdy, Macalester anthropology professor, who joined the around his shoulders. faculty in 1966 and is entering the retirement program at the end of the current academic year, quoted in the Dec. 15 Mac Weekly "We're a schizophrenic state, we're liberal and conservative. The great liberal leaders of the past were so charismatic, they "He changed students' lives; he didn't just teach the subject pulled a lot of people. The liberal people [in Minnesota] today are matter, he taught the love of wisdom." not charismatic. Even Jesse Ventura, for all his foibles, has Henry West, Macaiester philosophy professor, quoted in the Nov. 2 charisma." St. Paul Pioneer Press obituary of Professor David White, See David Lanegran '63, Macalester geography professor, quoted in a page 49 and Letters page on inside front cover. Nov. 9 New York Times article on the presidential election i
Gary Krueger joined Macalester in effects of government policies on informal jointly teach (with President Mike 1989. He attended the University of labor markets. McPherson) a new course (tentatively Illinois as an undergraduate and earned called "Economics for the Citizen11). Raymond Robertson studies and his Ph.D in econom- Sukhatme's professional activity lies in teaches international economics with a ics from the the areas of economic development and focus on Latin America. He joined the University of applied microeconomics. His current faculty in 1999. In 2000 he received a Wisconsin-Madison. scholarly work addresses the implications Research in Undergraduate Institutions He teaches of the World Trade Organization for the grant from the "Comparative Eco- agricultural trade of India. He also remains National Science nomic Systems," interested in the economics of baseball. Foundation to create "Economics of Along with a former Macalester colleague, a Web-based data- Transition11 and he is applying the theory of tournaments to base of labor market "Econometrics." study the salary structure in professional data from Mexico, His current research baseball. He will be on sabbatical leave this Chile, Argentina and is on the transition spring term at the University of Minnesota. Brazil for research of formerly state and teaching. In Gary Krueger ownej firms [n Sarah West is a 2000 he published in 1991 Macalester Russia to a market economy. He is actively The World Economy graduate who joined involved in Macalester s Russian Area and in The American the department as a Studies program and has served as program Economic Review. His Mellon Postdoctoral coordinator since 1994. research focuses on Raymond Robertson Fellow in 1999 and Karine Moe is an economic demogra- the effects of globalization on labor mar- began a tenure-track pher with special interests in women's kets. His current research projects include appointment in economic status. She examining the relationship between trade 2000. Her teaching joined the depart- liberalization and wage inequality in and research interests ment in 1995 and Mexico and technology use in Chile. are in the areas of teaches courses in environmental eco- N. J. (Jim) Simler retired from Macal- labor economics and nomics, public Sarah West -91 ester in August 1999. He had joined the the economics of finance and urban faculty as professor and chair in 1991 after gender. Her research economics. She teaches courses in those 32 years at the University of Minnesota. interests focus on areas as well as "Principles of Economics." 7 He writes that he now spends most of his how the use of Her current research, funded by the Public time reading (history, biography and occa- time — especially by Policy Institute of California, focuses on sional novels), listening to chamber music women and girls— the use of market-based incentives for the and jazz standards, viewing classical films contributes to eco- control of vehicle pollution. She looks for- and taking short trips around the country. nomic development. ward to continuing to teach, advise and Karine Moe Her recent work Vasant Sukhatme teaches micro- conduct research with students from eco- investigates deterrents to schooling for economic theory, economic development nomics and from environmental studies. • girls in Latin America, as well as the and a survey course on the work of Adam Smith and Karl Marx. Next fall he will
SPRING 2OOI LETTERS continued from inside front cover Last year I beard with great sadness that We did as we were told without checking Pr. White was a truly special person. Beverly White had passed away. The him for tears. There are those in life who touch us Macalester community has lost two of its Juanita Garciagodoy '74 deeply and to whom we look up as role most loyal and loved members. Dr. White Visiting Assistant Professor models. David was such a role model tor taught at Macalester for over 50 years. Macalester Spanish Department many of his students, including myself. Beverly taught my father in the early '60s. 1 learned a great deal about Asian philoso- My wife and 1 were David's students in As A STRUGGLING freshman in 1966, phies from him, hut most importantly, he the '80s. The college is about special peo- I was assigned a reading from Plato and taught me about lite. He taught me how to ple such as David and Beverly White, the meaning eluded me. As my panic he a better person. He taught me how who helped us find our way in lite. It is increased, my residence counselor sug- to think. people like them who made our tour years gested I call Dr. David White, even at David was a humble man. There is at Macalester memorable and worthwhile. 10:30 in the evening. Mustering whatever nothing worse than false humility, but We are better people having known courage I had, I called Dr. White, who was David was humble at heart. 1 recall a dis- the Whites. not the professor who had assigned the cussion where he was saying he didn't Mohsen Mazaheri 87 reading, and he took 45 minutes of his want to he a guru. Many a time I was Cranford, N.J. time to teach me. confused with life and went to David tor mohsen [email protected] I later learned of a story about advice. We spent hours talking. But Dr. White and his brother. It was during David was not the type to give advice. World War II and Dr. White's brother, a He let me figure out my way by telling me Looking for art by Alonzo Hauser naval officer, and Dr. White, a conscien- about his experiences. At times this frus- tious objector who was to be jailed the trated me greatly. I wanted the "answer." Sculptor Alonzo Hauser founded the next day, walked arm in arm from one end I now appreciate the wisdom of his way. Macalester College Art Department and of their town to the other to show their taught at Mac from 1945 to 1949. mutual respect and esteem. David smoked cigarettes. Once I asked The executors of his estate are him why he smoked when he knew the gathering information and stories about These experiences had a profound effect dangers of smoking and knew that it was on me and still do to this day. When I 11 his life and work for the publication a form ot "attachment to the material, of a catalog. teach about morals and ethics, I remember contrary to his beliefs. In response, be the courage and commitment of honestly admitted that be was being If you knew Alonzo Hauser or own Dr. White. When I teach a difficult con- foolish. any works of art by him, please call cept to someone who is struggling, I try to Every time I spoke to him, I felt special Jean Ehling, Art Marketing, at be patient and professional, as Dr. White and important. He bad great respect for (612) 571-4674 or write her at was with me. people. I had done a paper for him on 2200 W. County Road C, Roseville, When I think of David White, I picture Sufism. Whenever Sufism came up, be MN 55113 c the epitome of all that is moral and all asked tor my input. At the time I thought that embodies the educator. We are all the it was because 1 was so knowledgeable. poorer for his departure. I came to realize it was not me but he that Duncan A. Rose '70 was special. His grace, his comfort with his I AM ONE OF THE MANY Macalester Associate Professor, Social Sciences ego, bis humility and his desire to hear the alumnae and alumni whose philosophy Newman University views oi others are some of the many was deepened and altered by David White Wichita, Kan. things I admire about him. and his wife, Beverly. [email protected] His experiences and insights were A couple of details about him as a always educational. He told us about bow teacher stand out in my memory. One during World War II he had been thrown was his simple and touching desire to be in prison for being a pacifist and refusing addressed as "David," and another was Ordinary people to fight. In jail a muscular man had how he asked his students to write him IT WAS WITH GREAT JOY that I re- attacked him as he was sweeping the floor. questions in a particular format. We were ceived the latest issue ot Macalester Today. David pointed to his throat, indicating to fold a sheet of paper in half length-wise, I would, however, like to suggest a topic that the man's arm was choking him. open it again, and beginning with "Dear of focus for future issues. The man relented. Conveying his posi- David," write him our question on the left In addition to the profiles of alumni tion peacefully; aware of his faults and side in heavy black ink. He would answer who are highly successful and/or inter- shortcomings; at peace with himself and on the right side. nationally known, I would enjoy seeing the world; dedicating his energy to He was the first man I saw weep in profiles of alumni who lead more ordinary improving himself and others — that was public, and without embarrassment. In lives, people who choose to focus on rais- David White. "Philosophies of India," he asked me to ing a family or those still struggling to read a story by Raja Rao to the class, but make it. With Macalester Today focusing before I began, he said goodnight and on the upper echelon of alumni, I feel goodbye and requested that we leave at neglected as an alumnus still struggling to the end of the reading without speaking to find a iob. him because he expected to be crying. Christopher Nordvall '98 St. Paul
MACALESTER TODAY ALUMNI & FACULTY BOOKS
Ecofeminism; social sciences; modern world poetry Ecofeminist Philosophy: geography, history and indigenous studies consultants in Washington, D.C. He has a A Western Perspective on What It Is to politics, psychology and sociology. The Ph.D. in applied history and social sciences and Why It Matters effects of restructuring processes in Canada from Carnegie Mellon University. by Karen ). and New Zealand are particularly well Warren (Rowman & documented, and the importance of words It Happened in North Carolina Lmlefield, 2000. and their manipulation is emphasized. by Scotti Kent (TwoDot Books, an imprint 254 pages) Feature essays, one by former Ontario of Falcon Publishing/Globe Pequot Press, This book was Premier Bob Rae on conservative and radi- 2000. 144 pages, $9.95 paperback) "written for a reflec- cal resistance to abuses of power and two h Happened in tive lay audience, not on aboriginal/First Nations issues, chal- North Carolina for professional lenge important public policy trends. chronicles 27 events philosophers or envi- Readers in the United States may find from the states rich ronmental ethicists, the book useful as a policy and impact history in an easy-to- although, as reflec- guide to what may happen under President read style suitable for tive persons, I hope Bush's new administration. all ages. Readers jour- they will find mater- Karen J. Warren David B. Knight is a professor of geogra- ney back to 1200 ial of interest in the book," writes Karen phy at the University of Guelph. A.D. and forward to Warren, a Macalester philosophy professor. the present day, visit- "As one of the two philosophers inter- Ties That Bind: ing all three regions nationally who started the field 'ecofeminist Economic and Political Dilemmas of of the state during philosophy,' it is a reflection of 15 years of Urban Utility Networks, 1800-1990 various time periods. thinking about the nature, importance, by Charles David Jacobson '80 The author, the Scotti Kent and place of ecofeminist philosophy within (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2001. former Scotti Kelley, is a 1971 alumna of the fields of feminism, philosophy, and 202 pages, $35 cloth) Macalester who published this book under environmentalist!!. So, for me, it is a major In the early days of utility development, the name Scotti Kent. Now Scotti McAuliff piece of work which reflects mature think- municipalities sought to shape the new Cohn, she lived in the mountains of western ing about those three fields.'1 systems in a variety of ways even as private North Carolina for more than 20 years. Warren's primary areas of scholarly firms struggled to retain control and fend She recently moved to Bloomington, 111., interest are feminist and environmental phi- off competition. Some of the battles where she is currently working on a book losophy. She has spoken on ecofeminist dwarfed the contemporary one between about children of the Civil War. philosophy—the assertion that the unjusti- local jurisdictions and cable companies fied domination of women and other over broadband access to the Internet. Who's Who humans is connected to the unjustified dom- In this comparative historical study, in 20th Century World Poetry ination of animals and non-human nature— Charles Jacobson draws upon economic edited by Mark Willhardt 'S7, with in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, theory to shed light on relationships Alan Michael Parker (Routledge, 2000. Finland, Norway, Russia and Sweden, as among technology, market forces and prob- 360 pages, $29.95 cloth) well as throughout the United States. lems of governance that have Mark Willhardt, assistant professor Warren is also co-editor of Environmental arisen in connection with of English at Monmouth College in Philosophy: From Animal Rights to Radical different utility networks Monmouth, 111., edited this biograph- Ecology, the third edition of which was just over the past 200 years. He ical guide to modern international published by Prentice Hall. focuses on water, electric poetry. It features more than 900 and cable television utility entries, from such canonical figures Restructuring Societies: networks and on experiences as T.S. Eliot and W.B. Yeats to con- Insights from the Social Sciences in four major cities — Boston, j temporary poets like Iraq's Nazik edited by David B. Knight '64 and Akin E. Seattle, San Francisco and al-Mala'ika and South Africa's Joseph (McGill-Qiteens University Press, Pittsburgh — arguing that Njabulo Simakahle Ndebele, by over 1999. 16S pages, $55 (Canadian) cloth and information and transaction 80 international contributors. It $22.95 paperback) costs have played decisive offers a global perspective of modern As national societies seek to come to roles in determining how verse, detailing the lives and works terms with shifts in the global economy, different ownership and regu- Mark Willhardt of an array of poets alongside expert many are being fundamentally changed latory arrangements have functioned in critical comment. due to economic and social "restructuring." different situations. Willhardt, who has a Ph.D. from Rutgers, This collection of essays is a multi- Ties That Bind addresses practical ques- and poet-scholar Alan Michael Parker also disciplinary approach to contemporary tions of how to make ownership, regulatory collaborated on the Routledge Anthology oj debates about the nature of restructuring and contracting arrangements work better. Cross-Gendered Verse. O processes and their interconnection with It also explores hroader concerns about pri- public policy. vate monopoly and the role of government The book offers a wide range of social in society. scientific perspectives, from anthropology, Jacobson is a senior associate with Morgan Angel & Associates, public policy
SPRING 2OOI Photos: Moments from the 1996 Reunion
Reunion Weekend and Commencement Friday-Sunday, May 18-20, 2001
• A few highlights of the biggest weekend of the year at Macalester: • Alumni Art Show in the new Ruth Strieker Dayton Campus Center
.:•'_ , f*.®5.1981— i ^ i • Panel discussions with psychology, economics and biology alumni and faculty
• Athletic Director Irv Cross speaking on the future of athletics at Mac 1 / c ^ • Lectures hy faculty entering the retirement program: Chuck Green, Dave McCurdy, Mike Obsatz', Cal Roetzel, Wayne Roberts and others
• Reunion Class Dinners and Lawn Dance
• Commencement at 1:30 p.m. Sunday
Questions? Alumni whose classes end in "1" or "6" have already received information through their classes, and the registration brochure is being mailed in March. If you want more information, please call the Alumni Office: (651) 696-6295, or toll-free: 1-888-242-9351
10 MACALESTER TODAY wk I THE BEAUTIFUL AND ! A I You can learn a lot about your own country from foreigners
After traveling throughout the U.S. from July [happens] every day and everywhere. to November, the nine World Press Institute Fellows That's why when I came, my of 2000 offered their observations of America relatives and my family worried at a public jorum at Macalester a week after the about me. My mother even gave me presidential election. A few excerpts: a Buddha necklace, saying Buddha will protect you. Religion in the U.S. Now I realize that the social prob- Gabriella Coslovich, deputy lems you have are as much as we arts editor, The Age, Melbourne, have in our country. The only differ- Australia ence is that your media always report One of the interesting things to crime and other social problems while our media me, particularly during the election, tend to report more good things of the society than is how religion still plays a very bad ones. I should say now our media has changed important part in Americans1 lives, a little bit and reported more social problems, but it for better or worse. It is a very pub- is far from playing a watchdog role in the society lic thing, whereas in Australia it's a compared to your media. Coslovich private thing. Here, politicians will use their religion, will invoke God—sometimes I Killing journalists think self-righteously.... I was surprised when the Hafiz Imam Inam, stafj correspondent, nomination of a Jewish man to he the vice presiden- The Bangladesh Observer, Dhaka. tial nominee caused a stir. I couldn't understand He was once threatened with death by why that would be an issue in the year 2000. two armed men for an article he wrote. I feel very happy to see how the A country of immigrants U.S. journalists are practicing their Katrin Sachse, editor, Focus journalism, in contrast to my country. Hafiz Imam Inam news magazine, Munich, Gennany Personal security for journalists is absent in my 1 learned a lot about what we country. Five journalists have been killed [in Bang- Germans have to learn. One oi the ladesh] over the last four months. [The United States] topics I was interested in was how can is really an ocean of freedom for the journalists. a country full of immigrants be one nation? This is what I think I under- Globalization stood during the last month. It's really ' Kwesi Biney, editor, The Guide, an independent great to see how so many people from so many differ- biweekly, Accra, Ghana ent countries keep and maintain their own cultures Now there's talk about globalization and the and [still] just adopt the American way of life. world becoming one small village. Because of the For instance, I was impressed when we visited a period oi the Cold War and colonialism, many bilingual school for children whose first language is nations in the Third World have not had the oppor- Spanish. They have their lessons in Spanish and tunity to develop their nations according to their their second language is English. Unfortunately, own design. We became a pendulum swinging from this would never happen in Germany because we the socialist bloc to the capitalist expect foreigners to learn our language and to adopt bloc, and by the end oi the Cold our culture. But as I saw here, it can work the other War we had nothing to show for it way around. even by way of infrastructure. Now we are being called upon to Guns and violence be part of the global world. In what Liu Rong, reporter, Domestic News for Overseas capacity? As hewers of wood and Service, Xinhua News Agency, Beijing drawers of water? Or are we going [My] impression of the United States, after these to be part of the global world on an four months, is totally changed. Before I came here, equal footing? i I had a fixed image of the United States influenced by our media coverage of your society. The bad image is that many people have guns and violence
SPRING 20 0 1 I I by Jon Halvorsen ing in Iran tor three years — during the Iranian rev- olution— and teaching linguistics at Macalester. HEN NAFSA: Association of Inter- "NAFSA has always taken a leadership role in men- national Educators went looking for toring international education professionals," someone with a strong public policy Brown says. "My own commitment to international background who could lead a major education that began when I was a student at organization in the international arena, it hired Macalester has been infinitely enriched by Marlene Johnson '68 as CEO. NAFSA s investment in me." The group's president — elected by her peers As Brown and others note, NAFSA has evolved across the U.S. and abroad—is Kay Thomas '63, an and grown in strength. "There's no doubt that we're educator at the University of Minnesota. now seen as a key player in international educa- When Thomas concludes her term this summer, tion," says Thomas, a 30-year NAFSA member. she will be succeeded by NAFSA s first president "There's a lot more attention paid to international from a small college—June Noronha '70, an associ- education now than in the past. That's not due just ate dean at The College of Saint Catherine. to NAFSA certainly; it's also due to the times and In an organization with more than 8,600 mem- the need that corporations and citizens are feeling bers from 50 states and 60 countries, it seems more for greater international competency." than a coincidence that Macalester graduates hold Last year, following NAFSA's lead, President three of the top leadership positions. As Johnson, Clinton issued the first presidential directive on WORLD-CLASS EDUCATION The leaders of NAFSA: Association of International Educators share a perspective that was honed at Macalester Thomas and Noronha were having dinner with col- international education policy, establishing goals for leagues in Washington not long ago, someone at increasing the number of U.S. students studying the table observed that all three were from the abroad and the number of international students same college. studying in the U.S. The Clinton administration "Which college is that?" another person asked. also declared Nov. 13-17, 2000, the first "U.S. "Kofi Annan's college," Noronha replied with a smile. (See the previous Mac Today S> for a story on her extended family.) § The leading organization in the field of S international educational exchange, NAFSA 5 was founded in 1948 as the National Associa- tion of Foreign Student Advisers. It assumed its current name in 1990. Most oi its members work at colleges and universities as inter- national student and study abroad advisers, directors of international programs, teachers of English as a second language and related jobs. Kimberley Brown 74, vice-provost for international affairs at Portland State Uni- versity, has also been a national leader in NAFSA. Fler own background includes teach-
"There's a lot more attention paid to international education now," says Kay Thomas '63, president of NAFSA. She heads an office at the University of Minnesota that provides services to more than 3,350 international students as well as 1,200 visiting scholars.
I 2 MACALESTER TODAY Macalester abroad • Last year, 251 Mac students studied in 49 countries, from Argentina to Zimbabwe • This year, 13% of Mac students come from 72 countries (17% from 86 countries if dual citizens and permanent residents are included)
summer of her junior year at Mac. As Marlene Johnson would a few years later, she met World Press Institute journalists on campus. After Mac, she studied German at the University of Heidelberg. Now director of international student and scholar services at the University of Minnesota, she heads an office that provides services to more than 3,350 international students as well as 1,200 scholars who come there for anywhere from a month to several years to teach or do research. "If you want to provide a world-class education, you need outside perspectives in the classroom," Thomas says. "You need faculty who have had expe- riences overseas, and you need to send students overseas so they can experience it themselves Marlene Johnson '68, former lieutenant governor [People now realize] that there's an economic bene- of Minnesota, is now chief executive officer of NAFSA fit to the state, to the institution, that this is in Washington, D.C. not just a do-gooder kind of thing." For more on this story, International Education Week." NAFSA also Indeed, in his directive in April 2000, see Macalester Today on the Web: helped pass a bill in Congress creating a scholarship President Clinton noted that the nearly www.macalester.edu/ program tor needy students to study abroad and suc- 500,000 international students studying in -alumni ceeded in getting the Senate to hold a public the U.S. "not only contribute some hearing on international education last fall. $9 billion annually to our economy, but also Hiring Marlene Johnson three years ago gave a enrich our communities with their cultures, new impetus to NAFSA, which is headquartered in while developing a lifelong appreciation for ours. Washington, D.C. "She's just a pistol. She knows The goodwill these students bear for our country how to ,yet things done,11 Thomas says. will in the future constitute one of our greatest Johnson, former lieutenant governor of Minne- foreign policy assets," Clinton said. sota, carried the Perpich administration's portfolio As Johnson says, "The average American has on international trade and tourism. A former menv been exposed to many more cultures in the past 10 ber of the World Press Institute board, she also has or 15 years than I ever was growing up. You can't an international marriage: she and her Swedish walk to the store in very many places any more husband have gone back and forth between the without seeing people who don't look like you, and U.S. and Sweden, where he has a business, for the that's a huge shift in this country." past 16 years. That shift will help make the case for inter- Johnson says NAFSA is striving to "create a national education, she believes. "We have a long larger intellectual or policy concept of why study way to go and we have a new administration now," abroad is important, why it's important to have Johnson says. "But we're very excited at NAFSA international students on our campuses and in our that we're working at a level that keeps the conver- society Ultimately, we need a more strategic sation focused on the value and benefits of approach to recruiting international students for international education." • this country, and we need a more actively led study- abroad strategy that will increase the numbers oi students at all colleges and universities." Kay Thomas studied in Greece through SPAN (Student Project for Amity among Nations) in the
Jon Halvorscn is the managing editor of Macalester Today.
SPRING 2OOI GIVING BACK Peter Ahn '87, Minneapolis Investment banker with Jefferies & Company, Inc.; consistent donor to Macalester's Annual Fund and member of the Grand Society
Family: wife Susan, children Alison, 5, and Kevin, 3 5r^ Last book read: Sayings of the Sufi Sages
Hobbies: skiing and golfing \
Volunteer activities: Lake Country School, my children's Montessori school V Major at Mac: economics \
What I took away from Macalester: In addition to the basic financial and economic theory I learned at Mac, I believe that I expanded my ability to solve problems and think under pressure tremendously.
Why I give back to Mac: Two principal reasons: one, I know the annual cost of educating students is more than the tuition and fees charged, and two, I don't think that should change.
2 \ ^ THE ALUMNI BOARD CLASSMATES andFRIENDS The 35 members of the Alumni Associations Board of Directors:
• come from all over the country; • represent every generation, from the Class of 1944 to the Class of 2003; • spend three weekends on campus each academic year; • serve three-year terms, and may be asked to serve a second three-year term; terms are staggered so that one-third of the board members are new each year; • serve as ambassadors for Macalester and offer their own ideas about how to improve and strengthen the college as well as its ties to alumni; • are selected by nominations of other alumni; • carry out the Alumni Boards mission "to engage alumni in a lifelong relationship with Macalester College, its students and all alumni."
President Vice President Secretary-Treasurer Grant Killoran '86 Margaret J. Westin '74 Edward Swanson '64 Partner/Attorney Assistant District Principal Michael, Best & General Counsel Cataloguer/Retired Friedrich LLP Minneapolis Public Minnesota Milwaukee, Wis. Schools Special School Historical Society District No. 1 St. Paul
57 Active Alumni by State 584 66 in the 50 States and D.C., January 2001 76 525 125 Total count: 19,886 for 50 states and D.C. 340 8,284 266 38 114 820 (does not include U.S. territories or 41 foreign countries) 230 272 80 829 115 11 countries with most alumni 64 64 44 195 outside U.S. 434 82 1,601 81 84 Japan 36 81 Canada 47 28 66 United Kingdom 103 168 409 15 26 53 Malaysia 65 57 45 Germany 429 28 France 446 20 Australia 20 Sweden HI = 77 20 Turkey 19 Greece 19 Switzerland
Total number of active alumni outside U.S: 872
SPRING 2001 ALUMNI Nancy Schatz Alton '92 Jason V. Lejonvarn '88 Kenneth Schwartz '80 Senior Editor Consultant/Equity Sales & Program Director BOARD Adventure Media Relations United Hebrew Congregation Seattle BARRA International St. Louis MEMBERS London Joelle K. Blomquist '02 Paul E. Smyke '85 (see Alumni Board Macalester Student Jennifer P. Lundblad '88 Senior Adviser Officers Anoka, Minn. Director, Project Operations & World Economic Forum Communications on page 15) Cambridge, Mass. Prudence Lanegran Cameron '56 Stratis Health Administrative Assistant Bloomington, Minn. Christine M. Swanson '01 Women's Health Center Macalester Student Diya Malarker '01 Duluth, Minn. West St. Paul Macalester Student Louisa E. Chapman '75 Pune, India Minh T. Ta '97 Medical Epidemiologist Policy Director Thomas Moberg '86 Centers for Disease Control & Children's Defense Fund-Minnesota Systems Analyst Prevention St. Paul Atlanta Minnesota Institute of Public Health Anoka, Minn. Gregory A. Thompson '84 Melvin Collins '75 Associate Managing Director Carla A. Morris '85 Spencer Stuart Senior Associate Inroads New York St. Paul Organizational Development & Communications Practice Linda Karrer Trout '69 Jennifer C. Doyle '03 Booz, Allen & Hamilton Director of Career Services Macalester Student McLean, Va. University of Missouri-Kansas City Lexington, Mass. School of Law Carrie L. Norbin '94 Kansas City, Mo. Alan J. Green '74 Attorney Judge, State of Louisiana Michael, Best & Friedrich, LLP Dale W. Turnham '58 Gretna, La. Milwaukee, Wis. Commercial Account Executive/Retired Charles A. Harris '75 Harmony S. O'Rourke '01 Eagan, Minn. Chief of Surgery Department Macalester Student Clarinda Regional Health Center Fergus Falls, Minn. Kathleen Osborne Vellenga '59 Clarinda, Iowa Director Grayson R. Osteraas '59 The Children's Initiative Michael Hecht '93 Doctor St. Paul Associate Development Officer North Central Pathology Carlson School of Management Rice, Minn. Per von Zelowitz '94 Minneapolis Northstream AB Georga Larsen Parchem '67 Solna, Sweden Phyllis Bambusch Jones '44 Teacher District Court Judge/Retired Oak Park and River Forest Helga L Ying '87 St. Paul Park, Minn. High School Senior Manager/Government Affairs Oak Park, III. Levi Strauss & Co. Harriet M. Lansing '67 San Francisco Judge Kathleen Angelos Pinkett '75 Minnesota Court of Appeals Second Vice President St. Paul Minnesota Mutual Life Insurance Co. St. Paul
Robert C. Ringold '52 Retired Account Executive Business Forms and Systems, Inc. Minnetonka, Minn.
16 MACALESTER TODAY The Alumni Board: Front row (from left): Joelle Blomquist Georga Larsen Parchem '67, Charles Harris '75, Jason V. '02, Helga Ying '87, Harmony O'Rourke '01, Jennifer Doyle Lejonvarn '88, Linda Karrer Trout '69, Harriet Lansing '67, '03, Prudence Lanegran Cameron '56, Carrie Norbin '94, Per von Zelowitz '94, Jennifer Lundblad '88, Edward Nancy Schatz Alton '92, Kathleen Angelos Pinkett '75, Swanson '64, Thomas Moberg f86, Grant Killoran '86 and Margaret Westin '74 and Phyllis Bambusch Jones '44. Robert Ringold '52. Back: Carla Morris '85, Kathleen Osborne Vellenga '59, Not pictured: Louisa Chapman '75, Diya Malarker '01, Dale Turnham '58, Alan Green '74, Minn Ta '97, Melvin Kenneth Schwartz '80, Paul Smyke '85, Christine Collins '75, Michael Hecht '93, Grayson R. Osteraas '59, Swanson '01 and Gregory Thompson '84.
Another Taste of College Returning to Mac three weekends each year, an Alumni Board member finds, once again, that she really does belong by Nancy Schatz Alton 92 it might be nice to meet up with familiar ghosts, HEN I MOVED TO SEATTLE in 1995, especially when Jen I was glad to leave the "5-mile club'1 asked me to choose the W behind. That's the geographic area that restaurant. This was encircles Snelling and Grand avenues, where you somehow reminiscent of run into Mac alumni on a daily basis, which causes my Macalester days, you to yearn for old pals, who now happen to be when I'd stop by various spread across the globe. I hoped my college ghosts, food-rich happenings, both good and bad, would haunt me no more. my backpack at the But, a few years later, Jen Patti '91, then the ready for spare cookies Alumni Office's associate director, invited me to an and half-sandwiches. Nancy Schatz Alton '92 event-planning meeting for the Seattle-area alumni It turned out I signed chapter. A free meal was part of the deal. I decided up for more than some complimentary Pad Thai. Angela Johnson '91 and I began hosting events: a day at the zoo with biology Professor Jan Serie, a Seattleite Nancy Schatz Alton '92 is an editor for "Day of the Dead" lecture with Spanish Professor Frontier and Meridian airlines' in-flight publications. continued on page 33 She looks forward to comparing the new dining hall to Kagin during her next visit to Macalester.
SPRING 2OOI Macalester Professor Leola Johnson, second from left, John Forde, second from right, on the set of "Mental Engineering." Bill Moyers called it "the most interesting weekly half-hour of social commentary and criticism on television."
*
TIM FRANCISCO
THIS MESSAGE... John Forde }83 and friends uncover the hidden agendas in all those television commercials
by Kate Havelin '83 structs ads with four panelists, including frequent guest Leola Johnson, a communication stud- 1 OHN FORDE MAY BE the only veteran bus ies professor at Macalester. "Mental Engineering's' driver turned TV talk show host who's title describes how ads attempt to manipulate been likened to both Jim Carrey and Noam viewers. "It's as if Wall Street and Madison Ave- Chomsky. Those comparisons fly from nue have declared war on our psyches," critics who rave about Forde's edgy show, Forde says. "Mental Engineering," which airs on PBS He's passionate about the messages that in more than 75 cities. Americans get from ads: to be consumers rather The program's premise is simple: critique commercials as if they were movies. Forde decon- Kate Havelin '83 is a free-lance writer and editor who lives in St. Paid.
MACALESTER TODAY than citizens. "People sec one hour of ads per day, "1 spent all of it. 1 knew this was very, very that's 100 ads. It's consumption training. Cumula- dangerous," tively, commercial liie is eclipsing civic and even Forde and his wife, artist Catherine Reid Day, spiritual lite." were willing to take the risk. Each has changed Taped in St. Paul at kTCA-Channel 2, the local careers to follow a dream. The two met at an PBS station, Forde s addition to the TV schedule alumni party that Day hosted when she was Mac's has sparked a buz: of its vice president of development. They married in own. Last spring, the 'Cumulatively, 1994 and live in the Macalester-Groveland New York Times published neighborhood with their 5-year-old daughter, an effusive review of Forde commercial life Kara. "Mental Engineering" has become a family and his creation. So have affair; Day is president of Porcupine Production the Christian Science is eclipsing civic Limited, which produces the show (Web: Monitor, ABC s "World www.mentalengineering.com). News Tonight" and USA and even So tar, though, only the show's producer has got' Today. The St. Paul Pioneer ten a true paycheck. Others, like head writer Press described the manic spiritual life/ Jennifer Sheridan '84, a children's book buyer in host as "an odd mix of Bill New York, receive nominal pay. Sheridan spends Maher, Alex Trebek, Noam five to ten hours a week on the phone with Forde Chomsky and an unrepentant yippie," while the refining scripts. (Stephen Queen '86 has also served Associated Press compared him to "Jim Carrey with as a writer on the show.) "He's a brilliant guy," a N4aster's degree." The accolades ring sweet for the lanky 42-year- old, who admits that until the age of 39 he didn't know what he wanted to do with his life. The Ply- Feats of 'Engineering' mouth, Minn., native had bounced around a few colleges before a high school friend, Ken Boschwitz A DUPONT COMMERCIAL trumpets the company's success at turning '82, persuaded him to try Macalester. At 21, Forde ocean water into drinking water and developing medicines that fight HIV. visited Mac, and quickly decided "This was the It implies that DuPont is working on growing food where food can't grow and place for me." He majored in philosophy but wasn't saving historic treasures from disintegrating. known for his studies. "People said I majored in To John Forde, it's a "classic corporate ad that praises technology and recreation — that was pretty accurate," he says with exaggerates multiculturalism." a laugh. Forde also found time to drive a school bus while For examples of "Mental Engineering" at work, see at Macalester. He continued behind the wheel Macalester Today on the Web: www.macalester.edu/-alumni on the while earning a graduate degree in psychology. WEB Eventually, he landed his dream job: morning drive-time sidekick on KSTP radio. After just six months, though, KSTP told Forde he was "too Sheridan says of Forde, a member of Mensa, "but he weird" for radio. "I was just crushed," he recalls. tends to speak in Fordespeak. I quickly understood my role was to decipher what he was saying." o FORDE TURNED TO CABLE TV and Fordespeak or not, many viewers are getting launched his 30-minute show in 1998, inspired "Mental Engineerings" message. PBS stations in by a Mac classmate. "My friend Peter Berg went out New York, Washington, D.C., Denver, Boston and and became a movie star, and I realized that what Chicago signed on for this season. "I love making I thought was impossible, was in fact possible — the show for its educational purpose and as long as I could break into the media." Of course, with an I can keep doing it and putting bread on the table, initial budget of $200 per show, "Mental Engineer- I will," Forde vows. ing" was no "Chicago Hope." The money paid for There's no shortage of bread on the table lately, good food for the volunteer crew and high-quality thanks to Lutheran Brotherhood, a Twin Cities videotapes. The set was, well, lean. But the financial services company that hired Forde to help concept — and the conversation—clicked. "The teach teen-agers around the country how to view show really is a word blizzard," Forde says. "It's media messages critically. He doesn't advocate just 80 percent mania, 15 percent righteousness and turning off the tube. "If you don't watch TV," he 5 percent reverence.11 says, "you don't know what America is As one might expect, finding sponsors is a prob- all about." lem. The first two seasons Forde's family was the prime underwriter. He had $50,000 for his retire- ment; Forde poured the money into his show.
SPRING 2OOI A mock trial helps students become better advocates for the environment CAU by Jan Shaw-Flamm '76 taught in college. The idea was to use real cases, so the students learn the specific problems in environ- O YOU SWEAR TO TELL the truth, mental issues, but at the same time to have them the whole truth and nothing but perform different roles while doing those cases." the truth?1' This simulation began when a campus security The first witness is sworn in. officer in uniform walked into the classroom and Attorneys tor the plaintiffs line delivered subpoenas to startled students. "That one table, those for the defen- continued on page 23 dants—-the United States government — another. The black-robed judge prepares to hear the case: Was it an abuse of discretion by the Secre- ROUGH WATERS tary of Commerce to issue findings that there is insufficient evidence that purse seine fishing has an Despite death threats adverse impact on the dolphin population? in his native Venezuela, "Objection!" "Overruled!" "Leading the witness!" Professor Al Romero still The scene rings of authenticity, but the court- champions the environment room is in the Olin-Rice Science Center, the lawyers are students and this is a mock trial. The orking as an environmentalist can be a risky only real attorney present is "judge" Martin business. Just ask Aldemaro Romero, asso- Gunderson, chair of Macalester's Philosophy ¥ ciate professor and director of Macalester's Department, and he's not really a judge. Environmental Studies Program. This is an artful simulation designed to bridge the classroom and the real world. While heading an environmental organization in his homeland of Venezuela, he and a colleague made a The mock trial is one of several simulations in discovery that could have cost him his life. the case study course "Environmental Analysis and Problem Solving," team-taught by Professors The two observed dolphins being used as bait for Aldemaro Romero and Brett Smith. Now in its sec- sharks by fishermen who then "harvested" the shark ond year, the course draws on people from across fins for sale in the lucrative U.S. and Japanese mar- campus and beyond to play roles in simulations that kets. "I took a videotape in which you could see prepare students for careers as environmental pro- fishermen killing and butchering the dolphins," says fessionals. In designing the course, Romero, Romero. When informed of this practice, Venezuelan director of the college's Environmental Studies authorities declined to act. Program, drew on his experience with nonprofit organizations and as a consultant to private "The videotape was shown a month later on CNN corporations. worldwide," says Romero. "The Venezuelan govern- ment received a huge amount of criticism from "When I was hired for this position at Macal- environmentalist citizens everywhere. Then I started ester," says Romero, "I asked myself what kind of to receive death threats in my country against my fam- skills 1 needed to do all those jobs that 1 was never ily and myself, so I had to come [to the U.S.] as a political refugee. Later, I learned that I was indicted for treason to the motherland. Free-lance writer Jan Shaw-Flamm '76 writes primarily about higher education and is a regular "I also received death threats from Venezuelan contributor to Macalester Today. government officials which were published on the front page of the Wall Street Journal. It was later learned that our discovery of the killing of dolphins off the coasts of Venezuela happened at the same time that the Venezuelan government was trying to lift the U.S. embargo against importation of tuna caught by
2 o MACALESTER TODAY "The most valuable part of this whole class is learning how to work with people in many different ways," said junior Catherine Neuschler (Bowie, Md.), near left, a lawyer for the plaintiffs.
Venezuelan fishing boats, some of which had been tank for the purpose of studying fish behavior. linked with drug smuggling, a fact I was previously Students are often full co-participants in his research, unaware of. Suddenly I felt like a character in a traveling to such locations as Trinidad, Grenada and Hitchcock movie: The Man Who Knew Too Much, i.e., the Bahamas and ultimately co-authoring the pub- they thought I knew more than 1 actually did, which lished articles. explains why the death threats and the threats of kid- napping in the U.S., threats that the FBI took seriously As editor of the paperless Environ, Romero connects enough to investigate but encountered the wall of diplo- a wider audience to an interdisciplinary approach to matic immunity since these later threats came from a environmental issues. Environ is an electronic, peer- Venezuelan consular official in Miami." reviewed journal that supports commentary between authors and readers. He also orga- Romero's story is told in a TV series called "The nizes EnviroThursdays, a series of Ultimate 10 — Stings," which premiered March 2 on weekly meetings presenting videos The Learning Channel. and speakers on environmental top- ics. For a faculty audience, Romero omero, a father of two, didn't set out to lead a organized the PEW conference life worthy of Hollywood. He received his under- "Breadth vs. Depth: How to Develop a graduate degree from Universidad de Barcelona and Solid Environmental Studies earned his Ph.D. from the University of Miami. He Program," held at Macalester in worked for The Nature Conservancy in D.C. before April 2000. returning to Venezuela. After fleeing that country in 1994, Romero taught at both the University of Miami Romero also attends to the implicit and Florida responsibilities of his position through Atlantic Uni- his work as co-chair of the Campus versity before Environmental Issues Committee, joining the threats in my country against which raises awareness of environ- Macalester mental issues on campus. faculty my family and myself, so in 1998. "Like it or not, especially in a place like this where you have such close I had to come [to the U.S.] Al Romero Romero contact with the students, you cherishes as a political refugee/ become a role model," he says. "So I try to live up to teaching and that expectation by not only trying to be a good considers teacher and a good researcher in environmentalism, research to be an integral part of teaching. A broadly but also a good citizen. I've tried to make the college trained biologist, he is highly regarded for his work in a a really green campus. I don't think it will be healthy number of areas, including the investigation of unusual for the program to have a highly regarded academic cave-dwelling fishes. In his departmental laboratory, program on a campus that doesn't practice what Romero has constructed a three-camera video system it's preaching." fo to record and digitize the movement of the fish in his —Jan Shaw-Fiamm 76
SPRING 2OOI 2 I WARMING TO THE TASK Nathaniel Bills '02 lobbies with passion and skill at an international conference on global warming
hen European television cameras focused on Nathaniel Bills, he was ready. He knew just how to maximize those seconds with the right sound bite.
After all, he had already experienced a dry- run press conference during his Macalester class's October simulation of the same global warming meetings he was attending in The Hague a month later.
Last summer, Bills did door knocking and 1 was there environmental education in Minneapolis on behalf of the Sierra Club. A colleague sug- [in The Hague] gested he apply to be one of 225 U.S. activists that Greenpeace would send to with 225 extremely the Sixth Conference of the Parties (COP 6), the international gathering dedi- dedicated, cated to arresting global warming. intelligent, motivated There in The Hague, Bills spent 10 days lobbying U.S. delegates, stopping them in students.... hallways, grabbing any spare moment to talk facts and highlight the importance of We all inspired achieving an effective treaty. Junior Nathaniel Bills (Townshend, Vt.), an environmental studies and philosophy major, attended the COP 6 conference It might seem like a bit of a reach for a on global warming. each other.' college junior to be lobbying delegates at an international conference, but the experience ous to see if the actual negotiations at The Hague shows that the world is hungry for young activists come out as well," he said in early November. with the necessary will, skills and intellectual com- ,y7\las, it was not to be. A stalemate between U.S. prehension of the issues. y---\ and European delegates left the nations with Bills, an environmental studies and philosophy major significant work to do at the next COf? which could
from Townshend, Vt.f already possessed the will. take place sometime in 2001. Nevertheless, Bills The skills, and the knowledge, he further developed saw progress. in the ENVI 55 simulation led by Brett Smith, visiting "When you get 180 countries from around the world assistant professor of environmental studies. to sit down and try to hammer out a treaty like this, In 1997, the initial 170 countries met in Japan to which is binding, which is going to affect everyone, create the Kyoto Protocol agreement. Subsequent that's an immense task. This is COP 6, and each meetings have been devoted to designing a plan to time, I think, they get a little farther." achieve the emissions reduction goals. In the COP 6 Students raised money for their own airfare, and simulation, students studied the issues, then negoti- Bills is still working to cover that $580 bill. But he ated as representatives of countries who would be doesn't question the value of the effort. "I was there meeting some weeks later. with 225 extremely dedicated, intelligent, motivated Smith was pleased with their performance. "The students who felt very strongly about this issue, who students came to a consensus on all disputed felt very deeply, and we all inspired each other. issues with some clever negotiating. I am very curi- People felt a lot of hope." — Jan Shaw-Flamm '76
2 2 MACALESTER TODAY continued from page 20 valuable part of this whole class is learning how to really happens," Romero explained to students, work with people in many different ways. Whether "and then you must know that every document you it's to work with them or work against them, you're have is now a matter of public record." still working with them, just in opposition." The class of 19 was divided into lawyers, "All the students' presentations of cases are witnesses, investigators and a clerk of court. All videotaped," says Romero. "I later sit with the stu- immediately immersed themselves in the facts of dents and go over their performance in terms of dolphins, purse seine fishing and the federal Marine Mammals Protection Act. The trial itself took place in two 114-hour sessions, building on the depositions and the pretrial hearing of the pre- vious week. Two students, Michael Gelardi and Catherine Neuschler, frequent classmates since their first semester, suddenly became adversaries as opposing lawyers. Gelardi relished the experience. A junior Junior Michael Gelardi from outside Eugene, Ore., majoring in both (Eugene, Ore.), who plans to work environmental studies and political science, he in environmental policy, found plans to go to law school, then work in environ- himself in the role of a U.S. mental policy. As an environmentalist, it was government lawyer against unsettling for Gelardi to find himself defending the environmental plaintiffs. U.S. government against plaintiffs that included the Earth Island Institute, the Humane Society and the International Wildlife Coalition. That was part of the learning experience. "When you start playing this role, you get very wrapped up in it, and you start to believe that you
'It's easy as an environmentalist to have this knee-jerk reaction, but the more that you study issues, the more complicated you find out they really are.' — Michael Gelardi '02
really are right,'1 says Gelardi. "But by the same token, it helps you to see the other side of the issue. It's easy as an environmentalist to have this knee- jerk reaction, but the more that you study issues, words per minute, body language, presence, For more on this story, the more complicated you find out they really are. organization, tables, everything. In the environ- see Macalester Today It's easy to demonize someone, to say, 'These people mental arena, communication is so important on the Web: are right, these people are wrong,' but that's hardly because you're talking to the public, to the federal www.macalester.edu/ ever the case." or state agencies, to corporations. You need to -alumni Neuschler, a junior from Bowie, Md., is also an get the point across, and you need to learn the environmental studies and political science major. techniques of doing that." on the ••• She served as a lawyer tor the plaintiffs. At the pre- "Professor Romero is a lot of fun, but he's WEB trial hearing, the plaintiffs — to Neuschlers also demanding," says Neuschler. "He has high mind — were "under-prepared, and Mike and the expectations for all of us, and he does everything other defense lawyers exploited that very, very well. he can to make you live up to those expectations." So we were faced with the challenge of having to The verdict? "Judge" Gunderson found for the come back from that and make our case. It was plaintiffs, as did the judge in a similar actual trial in exhilarating in a way." April. The mock trial decision rested not on the At times the courtroom atmosphere was con- continued on page 33 tentious. "Professor Romero said that last year in the middle of the simulations the groups weren't talking to each other, and that's somewhat what happened this year," says Neuschler. "The most
SPRING 2001 HUNGRY
Whether baking cakes and pies in Philadelphia,
running a Thai restaurant or serving seafood in St. Paul,
some alumni have a consuming passion for food
EDITORS' NOTE: As many alumni will notice, we stole our headline from the beloved Hungry Mind Bookstore adjacent to the Mac campus. The 31-year-old independent bookstore is still thriving GREY HECK '90 'Best meal under a new name adopted last year: Ruminator Books,
24 MACALESTER TODAY SPRING 2OOI KIRK BRATRUD '84 OWNER-CHEF, SUPERIOR WINDJAMMERS, INC., DULUTH, MINNESOTA
Kirk Bratrud in 1996 at his Bayport (Minn.) American Cookery, where he was known for using ultra-fresh and often quite unusual produce to create memorable meals. Star Tribune critic Jeremy Iggers called the restaurant "a paradise for sophisticated palates."
Aside from 3 a.m. visits to The Wiener Circle or JIM SILBERSTEIN '8$ Demon Dogs, one experience stands out. I believe the place was called Bossa Nova. The food was OWNER, TINA'S CUISINE AND ENCORE CAFE, great, as was the atmosphere, but what made it BLOOMINGTON, INDIANA memorable was the service. My then-girlfriend, and now wife, Beth, and I still talk about it. There were 'Best meal ulinary credentials: Tina's, a gourmet deli, bakery perhaps four or five people waiting on us. Each I've ever eaten . C and specialty grocery, was a project he worked on served a different purpose. They took care of our with his family after graduating from Macalester. every need, but somehow seemed to leave us alone. For alumni comments, The wait staff watched from afar, timed their visits see Macalester Today "[Economics Professor] Karl Egge's 'Entrepreneurship' class proved to be an inspirational tool for this pur- perfectly, were friendly and attentive. In this day on the Web: and age, where good service is a rarity, we still www.macalester.edu/ pose." After pursuing an M.B.A. at Northwestern, he planned "never to return to Bloomington, but after a remember that particular dining experience." -alumni mere 10 months in the 'regular' corporate world, I / on the realized that my true passion WEB was entrepreneurship. In 1991,1 returned to Bloom- ington and opened the Encore Cafe, a 220-seat, art- deco cafe and restaurant." Favorite restaurants: "I lived in Chicago for three years and visit frequently.
"I realized that my true passion was entrepreneurship," says Jim Silberstein '85, pictured with Rachael, Mac Class of '21, at Tina's In Bloomington, Ind.
26 MACALESTER TODAY ulinary credentials: A history major at Mac, he is with room for 47 passengers and a dining room Cthe former owner-chei of Mrs. B's Historic aboard that seats 20. Lanesboro Inn and Bayport American Cookery; the Favorite restaurant: "I like Goodfellow's in Min- latter received the Zagat restaurant survey's second- neapolis for special occasions. The staff is genuinely highest score in the Twin Cities market and was perceptive and dedicated to making the best use of included in Gourmet magazines list of "America's the restaurant's resources on your behalf. When Top Tables." He is currently owner-chef of Superior everything goes right, the many details of service, Windjammers, Inc., in Duluth, a new venture that food and restaurant enfold you in a reassuring provides tours of Lake Superior on a 60-toot ketch warmth that inspires openness and celebration."
LESLIE ARP REVSIN y66 CHEF AND FOOD WRITER, BRONXVILLE, NEW YORK
\ ulinary credentials: The first woman chef at New York's Waldorf-Astoria, she ran such New York restaurant kitchens as 1/5 Avenue and her own Restaurant Leslie in Greenwich Village. She was one of 13 chefs featured on the PBS series "Master Chefs of New York." "Now 1 write about food and create recipes for us folks at home!" Her first cookbook, Great Fish, Quick: Delicious Dinners from Fillets and Shellfish (Doubleday), was a Julia Child Award finalist. Her second, Easy Elegance in an Hour: Simple, Delicious Dishes to Dazzle Your Family and Frierids, will be pub- lished by Time-Life in the fall of 2001.
Leslie Revsin, who now writes about food, broke the gender barrier in the kitchens of the Waldorf-Astoria in 1972 and was one of the "great women chefs in New York," according to a 1999 New York Times article. Favorite restaurants: "I have no favorite restaurants (I used to). While I find that restaurant cooking these days can be mightily impressive, 1 often find the experience of it less than satisfying. And at the end of the day, impressive doesn't do it for me. Unless its accompanied by a big dose of real heart. When my husband and I go out, which isn't very often, we gravitate to ethnic food for its vibrant, earthy flavors and down-to- earth approach."
SPRING 2001 CORY HILL '85 MANAGING PARTNER, GRACE RESTAURANT, NEW YORK CITY'S TRIBECA NEIGHBORHOOD
ulinary credentials: He has 15 years -" of experience in the food service industry; he got his start at the original Sawatdee Thai Restaurant (run by Mac parent Supenn Harrison and family) in the Twin Cities and also worked at Muffuletta in St. Paul before moving to New York. Former general manager of Peter's Waterfront Alehouse in Brooklyn Heights, he is often consulted on beer selections for restaurants and catering and has a vast knowledge of beer styles, regions and producers. Favorite restaurants: "My favorite restaurants are definitely ethnic. I love discovering new types of food and flavor combinations. 1 am into Pakistani food now, which I get at a local cabbie hang- out. 1 love Vietnamese food, and I have always loved dim sum. In New York, I believe you have the widest variety of ethnicities and therefore the closest approximation of globe-trotting. "I find it fascinating that cultures all over the world have some sort of dumpling. I loosely define a dumpling as a starch wrapped around a meat or veg- etable. We have raviolis, dumplings, pirogis, sandwiches, burritos, meat pies, and on and on. One day I am going to open a restaurant as a tribute to this com- monality. My brother thinks it should be called Tastes like Chicken.1" o
Supenn Harrison, right foreground, who originally came to Minnesota to train as a teacher, became an acclaimed restaurateur with seven Sawatdee Thai restaurants. She runs Sawatdee with her family— daughters Cyndy '02, far right, and Jenny '99 and husband Bruce.
MACALESTER TODAY ELEANOR OSTMAN AUNE y6i FOOD WRITER, ST. PAUL
ulinary credentials: For more than three decades, she wrote about food in all its aspects for the St. Paul Pioneer Press, Her Sunday column, "Tested Recipes," ran for 30 years and provided tedder for a recent best-selling book, Always on Sunday. She served as a judge in all the national food contests and founded the Newspaper Food Editors and Writers Association. She still writes about food, does regular radio shows, teaches cooking classes and organizes worldwide travel for food writer col- leagues—38 trips to date. "I continue to eat my way around the world." Favorite restaurants: "In Minnesota, The Blue Horse in St. Paul was my all-time favorite—alas, long gone. Current chosen destination: The Napa Valley Grille in the Mall of America for an upscale experience, or a Vietnamese or Thai hole-in-the wall for something spicy. I love Famous Dave's ribs—he credits me for being the first to write about them, giving him encouragement to go into the bar- becue biz. The best steak we've had recently was the New York strip at Kincaid's in downtown St. Paul. The Double Dutch Fudge Pie at the Anderson House in Wabasha is worth the drive. Elsewhere, I love every morsel I've ever put a fork—or chop- sticks—to in New Orleans, Tuscany or Hong Kong." Eleanor Ostman Aune '62 is the author of Always on Sunday, a recent book drawing on her 30 years as a food 'Best meal writer for the St. Paul Pioneer Press. 1 ve ever eaten ': For alumni comments, ^ca/e^ see
vvww.macalester.edu/ SUPENN HARRISON and family, / on the\ -alumni WEB including daughters JENNY 9 9 and CYNDY'02 HARRISON, PROPRIETORS, SAWATDEE THAI RESTAURANTS, MINNESOTA
ulinary credentials: Supenn Harrison opened her Their calamari and gyros are the best in the first restaurant, the Siam Cafe, in 1979—the Twin Cities. For a business luncheon, there's first Thai restaurant in Minnesota. There are now Goodiellow's in Minneapolis, but try to stick to the seven Sawatdees, in St. Paul, Minneapolis, light entrees. For a special occasion, the Oceanaire Bloomington and St. Cloud. Each offers the same Seafood Room in Minneapolis has excellent food authentic Thai cuisine. Supenn, who originally and the fish is unquestionably fresh." came to Minnesota to train as a teacher, teaches Web: www.sawatdee.com cooking classes while running her many restaurants that also offer catering. Favorite restaurants: Supenn and her family enjoy eating out often. "Our favorite restaurant is It's Greek to Me in Minneapolis for the casual dinner.
SPRING 2001 29 BROCK OBEE '93 CHEF-OWNER WITH WIFE NATALIE, 128 CAFE, ST. PAUL
ulinary credentials: Located across the street from and they do an awesome appetizer of polenta, aspara- the University of St. Thomas, the four-year-old gus and scrambled farm eggs. Goodfellow's sets the restaurant has become a neighborhood favorite, as (expensive) standard for local dining. We haven't well as being popular with Mac students and alumni. been there as much as we would like. It won City Pages' "Best Caesar" award two years in a "My mom is still one ot the best cooks I know. row and rated as high as second in the "New Ameri- Because my parents were in the Foreign Service and can" category of the Twin Cities' Zagat restaurant posted in India, Pakistan and East Africa, 1 was often survey. "While we can be described as having 'new treated to the various dishes of each respective post. American cuisine,' my wife and I strive to create We were more likely to have chicken curry than dishes that reflect our desire to create 'comfort food' spaghetti and meatballs when I was a kid!" that isn't boring. We've been described as having Web: www.128cafe.net everything from 'truckstop to Charlie Trotter'; hence our 1 'Best meal killer barbecued ribs are as popu- £ I've ever eaten . lar as our grilled vegetables with * For alumni comments, saffron cous cons with honey- <* see Macalester Today lime vinaigrette." on the Web: Favorite restaurants: "When we www.macalester.edu/ dine out, which is infrequently, -alumni we particularly like Auriga and Goodfellow's, both in Minneapo- on the lis. Auriga is a restaurant not WEB unlike ours, in that it is owned by young and creative chefs. The menu is always adventuresome
Owner-chef Brock Obee '93, right, a political science major at Mac, and below, with Mac friends at his 128 Cafe,
located at 128 N. Cleveland Ave., St. Paul, •' across from the University of St. Thomas. Clockwise from top left: Wendy Moylan '92, Brock, Liz Wefel '91, Roberta Yamada '91, Feryan Ahmed '92 and Sameer Rabbani '92.
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•I* ••••• < _ John Schneider '91, left, Sam Ernst '88 and Jim Dunn '88 at their new restaurant, Red Fish Blue: An Ocean Diner, on Grand Avenue, adjacent to the Mac campus. They also own Table of Contents in Minneapolis.
JIM DUNN '88, SAM ERNST588 and JOHN SCHNEIDER '91 OWNERS, RED FISH BLUE, ST. PAUL, AND TABLE OF CONTENTS, MINNEAPOLIS
ulinary credentials: Jim Dunn explains how he, liberal arts education teaches you how to learn. And Sam Ernst and John Schneider got into the it does. While we've learned to hire people for their restaurant business: "The day before graduation in skills, we still insist on understanding how every 19S8, David Unowsky of the Hungry Mind Book- aspect of the restaurant works, from corporate struc- store hired me to work at the Hungry Mind Review. ture to the dish machine. That drive to understand is About a year later, David announced he was looking a constant challenge. It keeps the business exciting." for people to open a cafe to go with the bookstore. Jim Dunn's favorite restaurants: "Rainbow on Well, Sam and I both held a number of other jobs Nicollet in Minneapolis: simply outstanding Asian over the next year or so, including working at Dunn food—we all love it. And you don't need a co-signer Bros. Coffee, and Sam had been thinking about to pay the bill. The French Laundry, Napa, Calif.: opening a restaurant with a chef from D'amico arguably the best restaurant in the country—and Cucina, so the idea seemed possible. if you don't want to argue, it's still going to be on "By the time Table of Contents opened, we'd any foodie's top 10 list. Arado, in Los Angeles' transformed from a cafe to a full-service restaurant: Koreatown: four big reasons to go: 1) you may be the soup & sandwiches had become Ahi tuna and only English-speaker at any given time; 2) despite carpaccio. Having worked with John at Dunn Bros., linguistic challenges, the service is unfailingly gra- we recruited him to be our manager shortly after cious; 3) the sushi is awesome; and 4) four people opening, and when we started our second restaurant can stuff themselves on sushi and beer for $ 100." in 1995, he became a partner. "None of us brought much experience to the table—we really put to the test the old adage that a
SPRING 2OOI Elizabeth Brown '92 develops recipes and menus for more than 30 stores in Target's Department Store Division in Minneapolis, Chicago and Detroit.
ELIZABETH FITZGERALD BROWN 92 CHICAGO, CORPORATE CHEF OF MARKETPLACES FOR DEPARTMENT STORE DIVISION OF TARGET CORP.
ulinary credentials: After graduating from Macal- in Minneapolis, Chicago and Detroit, and also C ester, she attended the Culinary Institute of trains the culinary staff. America in Hyde Park, N.Y. She worked in Favorite restaurants: "Although I live in Chicago, Philadelphia at the White Dog Cafe from 1994 to I travel to Minneapolis several times a month. I am 1998, in positions from line cook to executive amazed at how much the restaurant scene has devel- sous chef, and co-authored The White Dog Cafe oped in Minneapolis since I graduated. There are all Cookbook (Running Press). In her current job, she sorts of fabulous places to eat! Some of my favorites develops recipes and menus for more than 30 stores downtown are: Aquavit, Zelo, Brasserie Zinc, and of course Dayton's Marketplace!" o
They also serve... These alumni are also involved in the restaurant-catering-food business:
• Jessica Bankes Beattie '89 and Jay Beattie '88 own a gourmet Italian deli, Cucina Fresca, in Seattle's Pike Place Market.
• Brena Penn Phelps '74 runs a specialty cake shop, Couture Cakes by Brena, in Houston, Texas, which creates exquisitely designed wedding cakes.
• Tonija Hope '97 manages Cafe Atlantico restaurant in Washington, D.C., which she calls "a fun Caribbean/Latin American spot."
• Mae Eng Chen '48 and her late husband opened Mae Eng Chen '48 at Chen's Chinese Restaurant in Chen's Chinese Restaurant in Long Beach, Calif., in Long Beach, Calif. Director Oliver Stone filmed several 1986, and she ran it until selling Chen's in 1999. scenes at the restaurant for his 1993 movie The restaurant continues to have an adjacent Heaven & Earth. "temple" for New Age enlightenment sessions and Mae Chen continues to lead classes there.
MACALESTER TODAY ANOTHER TASTE OF COLLEGE on me while I attended college: I had more than continued from page 17 enough brains to contribute to any discussion. The Juanita Garciagodoy 78. Then fen called again: day Dean of Admissions Bill Shain called and told Would I like to join the Macalester Alumni Board? me I was accepted at Macalester, 1 didn't believe It sounded like a grand excuse to see my Twin him. Surely they had made a mistake. I wanted my Cities-based family more often — three weekends parents to call back and double-check. My brothers each school year. Heck, I'd rack up a decent num- had both been accepted to Mac. They're brilliant. ber of frequent flyer miles. And Jen assured me that I just worked hard. I wouldn't last a semester. two, sometimes three square meals a day would be But I did last. And I count the times that my pro- served. But even thoughts or steaming Itza pizza fessors praised my writing skills as tools; tools 1 sticks weren't enough to get me revved up for one- called upon years later as I finally picked up a pen and-a-half-day board meetings. again and began to work towards my goal of writing My head swirled with disbelief and confusion full time. after the first weekend meeting. I'd met countless And that is why I'm on the Alumni Board. successful alums, including an epidemiologist for Because I know there are more Nancy Schatz's at the Centers for Disease Control and a former state Macalester. And I can contribute to their representative (1 remembered her campaign signs educations by asking ques- from my days in St. Paul). While waiting for our tions and voicing my These weekends remind me of my return flight, David Hodge '70, a dean at the Uni- opinions at board meet- versity of Washington, handled my questions ings. I can second best moments as a Macalester student. with wisdom. Harmony O'Rourke's ('01) "What am I doing with all of these over-achievers? idea of starting an endowed fund for paid intern- Why did they ask me to be on the board?" ships for students who can't afford to complete David gracefully remained silent. unpaid internships. I can keep asking about need- blind admission, to make sure people from •O\V, THREE YEARS LATER, I'm much closer backgrounds similar to mine — students without I to answering my own self-absorbed question. trust funds — can continue to attend Macalester. I As a magazine editor, sometimes I do feel out of can help plan an alumni day of service, maybe just place while sitting at a table full of lawyers at a so I'll get out there myself, roll up my sleeves and do Sunday breakfast. But that moment is fleeting. what I can to change my small piece of globe. Later, I find myself laughing at a joke someone has My time at Macalester made me believe (no mat- made to lighten the mood of a committee discus- ter how cynical I am most mornings) in a statement sion. These weekends remind me of my best by Margaret Mead: "Never doubt that a small group moments as a Macalester student. Like the way my of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the adviser, history Professor Jim Stewart, would invite world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.1' me into his office, often when I was stressed to the My time on the board reinforces that idea, and u very core. "Take a seat," he'd say. Have an Altoid, it's most likely why I signed on for three more years it'll make you feel better." A well-placed comment, on the Alumni Board, after I told myself my first be it a joke, a compliment or a valuable insight three years were enough. Besides, I've eaten more about a tough topic, can change the course of a than my share of free cookies. I want to make sure discussion, a bad day or a life path. there are some left for Macalester students of It's similar to the slow realization that dawned the future. O
PROBABLE CAUSE continued from page 23 of evidence. This is a difficult job for an attorney, film of dolphins being slaughtered nor on the much less someone who has not attended expert testimony of scientists, but on the fact that law school. the Secretary of Commerce failed to carry out all As for residual animosity? As the lawyers shuffled required studies before allowing a looser definition their papers and the witnesses breathed a sigh of u of dolphin-safe tuna." relief, the talk was of Saturday night's "reconcilia- "I was impressed with the performance of the tion party." Maybe the real world should study students," Gunderson says. "They needed to present the classroom. O complex factual and legal material within the con- fines of a tense adversarial trial with restrictive rules
SPRING 2OOI 33 CLASS NOTES
After a 10-minute wait while he finished another meeting, we were Two Sons of Africa taken into his suite. The Kofi who greeted us — hand outstretched and a warm, natural smile—was the same Kofi I knew decades Macalester teammates meet again after 40 years back. There was no sign of the toll of what must be an overwhelming J responsibility. I saw, in his manner, not the slightest affectation of by James Toliver 6o importance. We shook hands before embracing and exchanging the OTONOU, BENIN — It had been 40 years since I'd seen affectionate "Bise" (touching of cheeks) that is now a part of African C Kofi Annan. We knew each other as Macalester students and tradition as a result of extensive French cultural contact. As we I recruited him for the track team, where he set a record in the 60- embraced, I felt the definition of his shoulder muscles and I knew he yard dash, though he later told me he would have to discontinue his was still in good shape. I wondered whether, even now, he might not athletic activities in order to concentrate more on his studies. be able to reclaim the 60-yard dash track record he had established He was always a perfect gentleman and his quiet, considerate at Mac in 1961. manner generated considerable respect among his teammates. It was to be a private meeting that would last 20 minutes. I intro- Our Dec. 5 meeting coincided with the U.N. secretary-general's duced Nouria and we sat down to chat. visit to the Democracy in Africa Conference in Benin, a small, beauti- We briefly discussed the U.S. presidential election before talking ful West African country, where I'm currently working for the Ministry about the passage of time and how "young" both of us still looked. of Education. We exchanged remarks about our gray hair (his gray- Benin seemed an ideal reunion site for ing, mine mostly white) and I reflected upon what Macalester's "Favorite Son," as Macalester Today Ill pray for you/ I said. friends, who haven't seen each other for a long called him when he returned to campus in 1998, and Ill need it/ he replied. time, usually talk about. We spoke of mutual Mac his "Roots"-seeking African American brother. Kofi friends and acquaintances. was my first African acquaintance. My ancestors may I spoke of my no longer running, due to a martial have been among the thousands of captives shipped to America, arts injury, and the adoption of an elliptical cross trainer as a fitness Europe and the West Indies from the very place where we were to alternative. Kofi laughed gently and I wondered if this is what getting meet. There are sites in Benin that commemorate these atrocities. old is all about. It isn't as though these thoughts hadn't occurred to Benin has managed, for the past several years, to keep its peace me previously. But his aura and down-to-earth manner added on a continent whose people are trying to survive poverty, disease another dimension. and fratricide. Ghana, Benin's neighbor and Kofi's home country, was When the conversation turned to Nouria, I was surprised at how beginning peaceful elections on the day we were to meet, while Ivory relaxed she was. There was a communality between them. She is Coast, Ghana's neighbor, was wasting lives in a bloody pre-election from Togo, a country bordering Ghana. struggle to determine who was Ivorian enough to run for office. We didn't speak much about political matters, although I did I'd followed press accounts of U.N. involvement in these and other remark to Kofi that as secretary-general he must be shouldering a struggles throughout the world, and had personally witnessed, over very heavy load. He looked away and said, with a sadness I felt but a 15-year period of Africa postings, my Motherland's pain in Guinea, cannot express, "I was in Sierra Leone and Liberia yesterday." Mauritania, Sudan, Niger, Mali, Chad and Senegal. As we parted, the two of us shared the revolutionary handshake. My wife, Nouria, accompanied me to the Cotonou Hotel where "Kofi, the people love you," I said. He smiled and said, "Sometimes Kofi was staying. they can love you to death." "I'll pray for you," I said. "I'll need it," he replied. Nouria shook his hand to say goodbye and he told her, "Take care of him." Two days after our meeting, the BBC and Voice of America reported that "a smiling Kofi Annan" was in Ethiopia and had announced a peace agreement between Ethiopia and Eritrea. Some 15,000 cheering people turned out to greet him in Eritrea. In his speech to them Kofi said, simply, that it was a war that did not have to happen.
James Toliver '60 has worked extensively in several African countries, including a presidential appointment as director of the Peace Corps in Mauritania. He is currently The Academy for Educational Development education planner for primary schools at the Benin Ministry of Education. His daughter, Maimouna, is a junior at Macaiester.
Macalester track teammates Kofi Annan '61 and Jim Toliver '60 meet Dec. 5, 2000, in Cotonou, the largest port and city in the West African country of Benin.
SPRING 2001 45 Center of attention Macalester's new Ruth Strieker Dayton Campus Center opened in late January — months ahead of schedule. This view shows students studying on the second floor, with the dining area below on the first floor. The center is certain to become the central gathering place on campus. See story on page 2.
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