UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA ALUMNI ASSOCIATION WINTER 2018 Dessa Rising Designer Jack Barkla makes Dr. Seuss cry Xavier Tavera photographs Mexican-American vets Puppeteer Michael Sommers pulls some strings Artist Nooshin Hakim Javadi connects cultures Actor James Hong gets funny Maria Schneider rescues fellow musicians Michel Kouakou dances like an ocean wave Sonja Peterson carves intricate sagas (including the one you see here) Winter 2017 U of M.pdf 1 10/17/17 8:28 PM HELPING FAMILIES FOR 25 YEARS. Accra provides support to children, adolescents, adults and families that need help in their homes for a loved one with a disability. We'll help you navigate the different services available to you. PCA Choice services allows you to choose a family member or friend to be your paid caregiver. More Choice. More Flexibility. We accept major insurance plans; Medicaid and private pay. Call and ask about the possibilities! 866-935-3515 • Metro 952-935-3515 SERVING PEOPLE STATEWIDE www.accracare.org Made possible by members of the University of Minnesota Alumni Association since 1901 | Volume 117, Number 2 Winter 2018 11 4 Editor's Note 5 From the Desk of Eric Kaler 6 About Campus English hopes for a new home in Pillsbury Hall, a class imparts outdoor surival skills, and we reveal how to spot fake news 11 Discoveries Access to maternal care dwindles in rural areas By Lynette Lamb The Artists 34 16 Dessa, Sonja Peterson, Michel Kouakou, Jack Barkla, Nooshin Hakim Javadi, Xavier Tavera, Michael Sommers, James Hong, and Maria Schneider Winning Strokes 34 Terry Ganley helped usher women’s swimming into the modern era By Tim Brady 38 A New Culture The U unveils a plan to prevent sexual misconduct 41 Off the Shelf Tom Krattenmaker wonders, can red and blue talk? 43 Alumni Stories Super Bowl planners Maureen Hooley Bausch and Wendy Williams Blackshaw, architect Richard Gilyard, and a nurses’ round-robin 47 Stay Connected Alumni travel to Iceland, a teacher inspires students with Goldy plates, plus other UMAA goings on 52 Heart of the Matter A dad gambles with his family By Ben Doty 43 Cover photo by Nate Ryan; “Coming Together,” cut wood sculpture by Sonja Peterson This page from top: Easton Green, University Athletics, Mark Luinenburg IA® McNamara Alumni Center ALUMNI University of Minnesota ASSOCIATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS Chair Sandra Ulsaker Wiese, ‘81 200 Oak Street S.E., Suite 100 • Minneapolis, MN 55455 Chair-elect Douglas Huebsch, ‘85 Past Chair Dan McDonald, ’82, ‘85 Secretary Scott Wallace, ’80 Treasurer Laura Moret, ’76, ‘81 President and CEO Lisa Lewis “Having our wedding at Jim Abrahamson, ’81 Eric Brotten, ’03 Rachel Cardwell McNamara was such a dream!” Patrick Duncanson, ’83 Natasha Freimark, ‘95 Catherine French, ’79 Alumni Association Chad Haldeman, ‘08 Life Members receive Mark Jessen, ’85 Matt Kramer, ’84 $100-$300 off their Maureen Kostial, ‘71 Quincy Lewis, ’04, ‘12 wedding package. Peter Martin, ‘00 Akira Nakamura, ’92 Call today for a tour Trish Palermo or visit our website to Roshini Rajkumar, ‘97 Clinton Schaff, ‘00 check available dates, Kathy Schmidlkofer, ‘97 Ann Sheldon, ’88, ’04 view photos, and Tony Wagner, ’96, ’06 Myah Walker, ’10 sample floorplans. UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA GOVERNANCE e: President Eric Kaler, ’82 abl ail f 2018 Board of Regents v 19 o A nd David McMillan, ’83, ’87, chair ow 5 a 18 N ay 6, 20 Kendall Powell, vice chair M 1 Thomas Anderson, ’80 ay, une turd y, J Richard Beeson, ’76 Sa da atur Linda Cohen, ’85, ’86 S Michael Hsu, ’88 Dean Johnson Peggy Lucas, ’64, ’78 Abdul Omari, ’08, ’10 Darrin Rosha, ’90, ’91, ’93, ’96 Patricia Simmons Steven Sviggum To join or renew, change your address, or get information about membership, go to UMNAlumni.org or contact us at: McNamara Alumni Center “The University of Minnesota has been such an integral 200 Oak St. SE, Suite 200 part of our lives and our relationship that it felt like such Photos by Grace V. Photography Minneapolis, MN 55455-2040 a natural fit to get married at McNamara. We couldn’t t 800-862-5867 have been happier with how the day turned out.” 612-624-2323 [email protected] — RACHEL & ALEX SCHWEGMAN, U OF M ALUMNI The University of Minnesota Alumni Association is committed to the policy that all persons shall have equal access to its programs, facilities, and employ ment ~ ents.org without regard to race, religion, color, sex, national origin, 612-624-9831 handicap, age, veteran status, or sexual orientation. (a] Park Dental With U every smile of the way. YOUR DENTIST FOR A LIFETIME. 44 convenient Twin Cities, greater Minnesota and western Wisconsin locations. Early morning and evening appointments. Preferred provider for most insurance companies. Locally owned by dentists who care.* *112 of our 128 dentists are University of Minnesota alums. Visit us online to find your dentist and schedule an appointment today. parkdental.com Trusted dentist for the ~ EDITOR'S NOTE Outsiders and Art FOR ABOUT SIX YEARS, I lived in an artist warehouse on the EDITORIAL & ADVERTISING Mississippi River in Northeast Minneapolis. It was referred to as President and CEO an artist warehouse—rather than a scrappy complex where some Lisa Lewis of the units didn’t have windows and people lived illegally— Editor because of the gallery on the ground floor. Jennifer Vogel This building was home to an angry carpenter and Law and Senior Editor Order fan, several entrepreneurs selling marginal products, Elizabeth Foy Larsen an out-of-work bartender, two writers, a Jamaican who cooked Copy Editor Susan Maas outside on a propane stove, and at various times a flower shop, an exercise studio, and a pirate bar started by a man who’d lost a leg in a motorcycle Contributing Writers Allison Babka accident. All of these people interacted in various ways. We shared a garden and a back Tim Brady porch, where my husband took on all comers in chess. Ben Doty But, what gave the building a certain dignity was the gallery. Art has a way of Suzy Frisch legitimizing even the most off-the-radar people and ideas. It encompasses open doors Dan Heilman and open-endedness, heady themes, a diversity of viewpoints, and an imperative to Rob Hubbard Lynette Lamb experiment. There is a built-in expectation that someone will do something daring. Kristal Leebrick Once, years ago, I thought I would be a painter. I got out my canvas and acrylics Camille LeFevre and brushes. I planned to paint a man in a chair, which seemed like a good, standard Jeannine Ouellette place to start. He’d be sitting, not squirming around creating hard-to-capture angles. Britt Robson He’d be brooding. Jon Spayde I set out, all bravado and no training—nor, it turned out, any natural skill. I painted the Art Director head, the body, the chair, but the result was as one-dimensional as a roadkill squirrel. Kristi Anderson The painting was such a failure, in fact, that I tried to save it by turning it into an abstract. Two Spruce Design I swirled over the distinctive shapes. But, that didn’t look like much either. Ah, I thought. Senior Director of Marketing I’ll turn it into a sunset, the safe haven for amateurs the world over. But, mine was an Lisa Huber ugly sunset. A brooding sunset. Advertising I shoved the painting down the garbage chute at the apartment complex where I lived. Send inquiries to So, I am not a painter. Nor am I a dancer, an actor, a singer, or a puppeteer. What I am [email protected] good at is appreciating art and its tenets. And I did so many times at the gallery in our or call 612-626-1417 building on the Mississippi. Every month or so, there would be an opening that doubled Minnesota Alumni ISSN 2473-5086 as a party. There was always wine and live music. (print ) is published four times yearly And there was always a wild mix of high and low art: from moody paintings of by the University of Minnesota Alumni Association, 200 Oak St. SE workers in their cubicles to a coffin made of old doors to lamps constructed of musical Suite 200, Minneapolis MN 55455- instruments and parts of the demolished Lowry Avenue bridge. The gallery owner let 2040 in SEPT., DEC., MAR., and JUN. Business, editorial, accounting, just about anybody, including building-dwellers, have a shot at the white wall. and circulation offices: 200 Oak The openings were attended by a wide swath of people, from smarty-pants aficiona- St. SE Suite 200, Minneapolis MN 55455-2040. Call (612) 624-2323 to dos to dabblers straight off the neighborhood pedal pub, and also lots of dogs. Once, subscribe. Copyright ©2017 University the ubiquitous Scott Seekins, who had some paintings on display, stopped by the back of Minnesota Alumni Association porch for a bratwurst. It was odd to watch the prim, white-clad artist eat a brat. But at Periodicals postage paid at St. Paul, Minnesota, and additional mailing the gallery, people had a common language even if they didn’t. offices. POSTMASTER: Send address Did I occasionally storm out of our apartment at 2 a.m. in pajamas to disperse a crowd corrections to: Minnesota Alumni, McNamara Alumni Center, 200 Oak of art fans discussing life’s little problems on the back porch? Yes. But, there was never a St. SE, Suite 200, Minneapolis, MN time when I wasn’t glad the gallery was there, giving us all cover for our weirdness. 55455-2040. Jennifer Vogel (B.A.