MEDICINALMUSHROOMS NYU OFFICE OF UNIVERSITY ISSUE #20 / SPRING 2013 NONPROFIT ORG NIGHT WATCH DEVELOPMENT AND ALUMNI RELATIONS NYU ALUMNI MAGAZINE / ISSUE #20 / SPRING 2013 25 WEST FOURTH STREET, FOURTH FLOOR US POSTAGE PAID NEW YORK, NY 10012-1119 PERMIT 295 SIT-DOWN WITH SEXTON BURL, VT 05401 www.nyu.edu/alumni.magazine EXPAND YOUR MIND on page 30 WARNING: THESE SHOWS MAKE YOU THINK OCTOBER MARK YOUR 19 CALENDAR 2013 NYU ALUMNI DAY Join your fellow alumni LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING YOU and experience the best of NYU and NYC at ON SATURDAY, NYU Alumni Day OCTOBER 19, 2013! Visit alumni.nyu.edu for more information. NYUAlumni NYUS_NYUalumni_Inside_Front_Cover_P4C_.indd “Too often inaudible above the thunder of ceremonial applause for Dr. King’s ennobling dream is his remonstration that black Americans were dealt a check after the Civil War that came back marked ‘insufficient funds.’ ” —NYU HISTORIAN DAVID LEVERING LEWIS AT A DISCUSSION ON THE LEGACY OF MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. HOSTED BY THE JOHN BRADEMAS CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF CONGRESS HEARD ON CAMPUS “I don’t think a president who takes over the “On TV shows that command of the armed forces in war can they have today, come out of that untouched. It’s one thing they make it look like to have a great worldview and talk about you’re gonna become American leadership, it’s another thing to be famous overnight—and at the airbase when they bring the coffins it doesn’t work that back or go to Walter Reed and see kids who way. It just doesn’t. are permanently maimed because of your decisions. And I think George W. Bush felt And the kids, they’re that enormously, and that President Obama not singing now, feels it very, very heavily.” they’re screaming.” —RET. GEN. WESLEY CLARK SPEAKING ON THE 2012 ELECTION —A SPECIAL CONVERSATION WITH CROONER IN A GLOBAL CONTEXT AT THE SCHOOL OF CONTINUING AND TONY BENNETT HOSTED BY THE HUDSON UNION PROFESSIONAL STUDIES’ CENTER FOR GLOBAL AFFAIRS SOCIETY AT THE NYU SKIRBALL CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS NYU / SPRING 2013 / 1 ISSUE #20 / SPRING 2013 DEPARTMENTS CLASS NOTES CONT TS FEATURES THE SQUARE CULTURE ALUMNI PROFILES 50 / TIMOTHY “SPEED” LEVITCH / 8 / NEW MEDIA 22 / PHOTOGRAPHY TSOA ’92 FUDGING NEWS IN THE SIDEWALK STORIES TOUR DE FARCE 30 DIGITAL AGE 24 / GALLERY 52 / VINCENT SCHIRALDI / TRIP TO THE DOCTOR 10 / CONVERSATION FILLING THE ART WORLD’S SSSW ’83 SEXTON TALKS CHANGE GENERATION GAP SHAKING UP THE SYSTEM ONCE TABOO, PSYCHEDELICS ARE MAKING AN ENLIGHTENING MEDICAL COMEBACK 12 / HISTORY 25 / CREDITS / BY JENNIFER BLEYER 55 / VALERIA NAPOLEONE / THE DOWNTON ABBEY OF ALUMNI STRIKE GOLD WSUC ’90 SHELTER ISLAND AT THE OSCARS PICTURING A RECIPE 13 / MUSIC PLUS ALUMNI NEWS, GLENN FREY TEACHES IN PRINT BENEFITS, AND UPDATES STUDENTS TO “TAKE IT TO THE LIMIT” 26 / MEMOIR FORMER NEW YORKER 14 / IN BRIEF RECEPTIONIST JANET NEW CAMPUS OPENINGS, GROTH TELLS ALL AN MD/MBA DUAL DEGREE, 48 36 AND MORE 28 / COLLECTION CLASSICAL ARABIC THE ART OF TELEVISION 16 / CUTTING-EDGE RESEARCH LITERATURE, PAINSTAKINGLY EARLY HUMAN FOSSILS TRANSLATED THE MINDS BEHIND BOARDWALK EMPIRE, THE WALKING DEAD, AND EVERY ISSUE VISIT US ONLINE! UNEARTH ANSWERS, YOGA BREAKING BAD DISCUSS HOW THEY MAKE SERIOUS DRAMA SOOTHES AUTISTIC STUDENTS, PLUS MORE BOOKS 1 / HEARD ON CAMPUS nyu.edu/alumni.magazine / BY RENÉE ALFUSO / CAS ’06 AND JASON HOLLANDER / GAL ’07 INFANT OBSERVATIONS, BY NYU ALUMNI AND 4 / BEHIND THE SCENES AND A NEW BIOSENSOR FOR PROFESSORS 4 / CONTRIBUTORS DIAGNOSING DISEASE 5 / STAR POWER 6 / MAILBAG “LIKE” US ON FACEBOOK! EN 64 / CAMPUS LENS facebook.com/NYUAlumniMagazine IN NYC 18 / CITY LIVING PIGEONHOLED PESTS 19 / PARKS 42 GOTHAM GETS A LORAX 20 / THE INSIDER ALL-NIGHTER DISCOVER THE CITY’S TAKE A LOOK AT WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE SUN SETS ON NYU BEST—FROM BOTANICAL / PHOTOGRAPHS BY NOAH DEVEREAUX BLOSSOMS TO A SUPER COMIC BOOK SHOP COVER: PHOTO ILLUSTRATION © RICK SCHWAB; © MACALL B. POLAY/HBO (BOARDWALK EMPIRE); © GENE PAGE/AMC (THE WALKING DEAD); © LEWIS JACOB/AMC (BREAKING BAD, GUNN); © FRANK OCKENFELS/AMC (MAD MEN); © KEITH BERNSTEIN/HBO (GAME OF THRONES, CLARKE); © HELEN SLOAN/HBO (GAME OF THRONES, DINKLAGE); © KENT SMITH/ SHOWTIME (HOMELAND); © SONJA FLEMMING/SHOWTIME (DEXTER) BACK COVER: PHOTO © MATTHEW SEPTIMUS MIXED SOURCES: PRODUCT GROUP FROM WELL-MANAGED FOREST,CONTROLLED SOURCES, AND RECYCLED WOOD OR FIBER. NYU ALUMNI MAGAZINE (ISSN: 1938-4823) IS PUBLISHED TWICE YEARLYIN FALL AND SPRING BY NYU OFFICE OF CERT.NO. SW-COC-002556. WWW.FSC.ORG. © 1996 FOREST STEWARDSHIP COUNCIL. UNIVERSITY DEVELOPMENT AND ALUMNI RELATIONS, 25 WEST FOURTH STREET, FOURTH FLOOR, NEW YORK, NY 10012; 212-998-6912. CONTENTS COPYRIGHT © 2013. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PLEASE ADDRESS ALL CORRESPONDENCE TO: IN KEEPING WITH NYU’S COMMITMENT TO SUSTAINABILITY,THIS PUBLICATION IS PRINTED ON FSC-CERTIFIED PAPER EDITORS/NYU ALUMNI MAGAZINE AT 25 WEST FOURTH STREET, ROOM 619, NEW YORK, NY 10012, OR E-MAIL TO: THAT INCLUDES A MINIMUM OF 10 PERCENT POST-CONSUMER FIBER. (THE FSC TRADEMARK IDENTIFIES PRODUCTS THAT [email protected]. NO RESPONSIBILITY WILL BE ACCEPTED FOR UNSOLICITED MANUSCRIPTS AND CONTAIN FIBER FROM WELL-MANAGED FORESTS CERTIFIED BY SMARTWOOD IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE RULES OF ARTWORK. BYLINED ARTICLES REFLECT THE VIEWPOINTS OF INDIVIDUAL WRITERS AND ARE NOT TO BE CONSTRUED THE FOREST STEWARDSHIP COUNCIL.) FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT NYU’S GREEN ACTION PLAN, GO TO AS EXPRESSION OF OFFICIAL UNIVERSITY POLICY. MAILED THIRD-CLASS NONPROFIT AT BURLINGTON, VT. WWW.NYU.EDU/SUSTAINABILITY. PHOTOS CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: © JASON HOLLANDER; © DELANEY KEMPNER; © NYU PHOTO BUREAU: OLIVO; ASSELIN behind the scenes LATE NIGHT WITH JIMMY FALLON BANDLEADER AHMIR “QUESTLOVE” THOMPSON (FAR LEFT) OF THE ROOTS CNBC’S SUZE ORMAN SPEAKS AT A WAGNER EVENT ON CO-TEACHES A CLASS WITH GRAMMY-WINNING MUSIC EXECUTIVE HARRY WEINGER (SECOND FROM LEFT) IN “THE COST OF MARRIAGE INEQUALITY.” THE CLIVE DAVIS INSTITUTE OF RECORDED MUSIC. ach semester, we edi- City campus. The resulting visual Doctor,” p. 30). Early results from tors start with a tidy essay (“All-Nighter,” p. 42) is a paean the study show great promise. Issue #20 / Spring 2013 outline of story ideas to the work/play rituals that contin- “The Art of Television” (p. 36) and briefly fantasize that ue around Washington Square should have been the most difficult, JASON HOLLANDER (GAL ’07) E Editor-in-Chief all will run smoothly. throughout the witching hours. but up really was down on this issue. Reality hits quickly and often. A key Another feature sounds trippy, Three of the most renowned TV NICOLE PEZOLD (GSAS ’04) source may be on sab- showrunners in the Deputy Editor REN´EE ALFUSO (CAS ’06) batical in Papua, New business—the brains Staff Writer Guinea, or so en- behind Boardwalk Em- JOHN KLOTNIA / OPTO DESIGN thralled in a book tour pire, The Walking Dead, Creative Director that she can only offer and Breaking Bad— a five-minute inter- quickly and happily Articles view. Sometimes the paused from their hec- JOSEPH MANGHISE stories themselves just tic lives to grant us in- Copy Chief DAVID COHEN aren’t ripe for telling. depth interviews. We Research Chief Inevitably, we’re sent hope you enjoy our NAOMI HOWELL (GAL ’14) scrambling to rescue conversations with Editorial Intern or replace articles, big them as much as we and small. did. Art / Opto Design Such proved to be Every issue holds RON LOUIE Art Director common on the Spring 2013 issue. but we assure you that it’s cutting- surprises. This round, our editorial KIRA CSAKANY But serendipity came calling in the edge research. Scientists at NYU are juggling reminded us of a line from Designer form of new pitches and ideas— examining how psilocybin, a psy- Kurt Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle: “Pe- JANE YEOMANS even better than those with which chedelic chemical found in more culiar travel suggestions are dancing Photo Research Director we started. than 200 varieties of mushrooms, lessons from God.” Bon voyage. In one feature, we set loose a may be used to decrease anxiety Alumni Relations TARACTOR/ACTIVISTS WILMER VALDERRAMA (LEFT) AND S ROSARIO DAWSON AT A VOTO LATINO EVENT SPON- photographer on our New York among cancer patients (“Trip to the —The NYU Alumni Magazine team BRIAN PERILLO TOP-DRAW PERSONALITIES SPOTTED ON CAMPUS SORED BY THE NYU MULTICULTURAL ALUMNI GROUP. Associate Vice President POWER ALY WOLFF-MILLS (TSOA ’11) Associate Director SARAH SHANAHAN Communications Specialist CONTRIBUTORS New York University MARTIN LIPTON (LAW ’55) JENNIFER BLEYER is a freelance Poets & Writers, and The Believer. SALLY LAUKNER’s (GSAS ’10) Board of Trustees, Chairman journalist whose work has appeared She splits her time between New work has appeared in The New York JOHN SEXTON in The New York Times, Slate, Salon, York and Minneapolis, where she Times’ Local East Village blog, Marie President Cosmopolitan, Monocle, Tablet, and co-owns Your Yoga studio. Claire, Cosmopolitan, and Teen- LYNNE P. BROWN Senior Vice President for University elsewhere. She has taught at NYU’s Vogue.com. Relations and Public Affairs MATTHEW HUTSON Arthur L. Carter Journalism Insti- is the author DEBRA A. LAMORTE tute since 2010. of The 7 Laws of Magical Thinking EILEEN REYNOLDS (GSAS ’11) Senior Vice President for University (Hudson Street Press). He’s also has written for The Believer, the Los Development and Alumni Relations ADAM CONNER-SIMONS is a written for Discover, Scientific Ameri- Angeles Review of Books, The Jewish REGINA SYQUIA DREW (WAG ’01) Boston-based journalist whose writ- can Mind, and The New York Times. Daily Forward, and the website of Deputy Director, Strategic Initiatives ing has appeared in Slate, The Boston The New Yorker. Her work has also New York University MICHAEL KLEIN Globe, and The Huffington Post.