VANDERBILT MAGAZINE Vsummer 2006 Full Throttle Fonda Huizenga has landed two women’s world records for blue marlin fishing. And she’s just getting her feet wet. aalsolso: ROTC in Wartime A PPeaceworker’seaceworker’s Sacrifice FrFrankank & the Commodore V ITAL Every gift counts. Every year. In fact, every gift is vital…and truly makes a difference every day in the life of Vanderbilt. With your participation in the Vanderbilt Fund, you decide what particular area of Vanderbilt you’d like to support. You can choose to give to a specific college or school. Or, you may want to participate in your class Reunion gift or give to a donor society. Whatever matters most to you. Just know that your support to any area, eative Services in any amount, will count greatly toward Vanderbilt’s continued success, every year. anderbilt Cr www.vanderbilt.edu/thevanderbiltfund 1-866-882-FUND Photos by Peyton Hoge and V Contributors e r 2006 issu Interim Editor e John Bloom GayNelle Doll Writer, comedian and actor John Bloom, BA’74—better known umm Art Director and Designer as his alter ego, Joe Bob Briggs—got his start reviewing movies in a newspa- Donna DeVore Pritchett per column that was later picked up by the New York Times Syndicate. He or the S has written for National Lampoon, Rolling Stone, Playboy and the Village Editorial F Arts & Culture Editor Voice. His latest book is Profoundly Erotic: Sexy Movies That Changed History. Bonnie Arant Ertelt, BS’81 He has hosted two shows on cable television, has appeared on some 50 talk shows, and has appeared as a commentator on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Class Notes and Sports Editor Nelson Bryan, BA’73 Michael McGerr Science Editor Michael McGerr, the first Paul V. Mc Nutt Professor of History David F. Salisbury at Indiana University-Bloomington, specializes in the social, cultural and polit- V ical history of the modern United States. He is currently writing a history of the Production and Design Production and Advertising Manager Vanderbilts, once the richest family in the world, for Farrar, Straus & Giroux. Phillip B. Tucker His books include The Decline of Popular Politics: The American North, 1865– 1928 (Oxford University Press, 1986) and A Fierce Discontent: The Rise and Fall of the Chief Photographers Neil Brake, Daniel Dubois Progressive Movement in America, 1870–1920 (The Free Press/Simon & Schuster, 2003). Assistant Designers Kara Beth Mann Amy Blackman, Chris Collins, Kara Beth Mann graduated from Vanderbilt’s School of Michael Smeltzer, Suzanna Spring Engineering in May with a major in chemical engineering and a minor in Color Correction and Retouching environmental engineering. She was president of the Society of Women Julie Turner Engineers during the 2004–05 academic year. In 2004 she was the North American Strongman Society’s women’s champion. In May, ESPN2 aired a Vanderbilt Magazine Advisory Board Roy Blount Jr., BA’63 documentary series, Timeless, that covered her strongwoman experience. She now works Caneel Cotton, BA’88 in the Edison Engineering Development Program at General Electric in Cleveland. Terry Eastland, BA’71 Robert Early, BA’71, MDiv’76 Paul Kingsbury Sam Feist, BA’91 Nashville freelance writer Paul Kingsbury, BA’80, is co-editor Frye Gaillard Jr., BA’68 of Will the Circle Be Unbroken, a multi-author pictorial history of country Janice Miller Greenberg, BS’80 music to be published by Dorling Kindersley (DK) in September. In 2005 his G. Marc Hamburger, BA’64 Wendell Rawls Jr., BA’70 profile about country singer Brad Paisley was anthologized in The Music City Edward Schumacher Matos, BA’68 Reader 2005: Great Writing on Country and Bluegrass Music. His work has Michael Schoenfeld appeared in Dwell, Delta Airlines Sky, American Songwriter and Entertainment Weekly. Advertisers interested in purchasing ad space in Vander- J. David Woodard bilt Magazine should contact Phillip Tucker, advertis- ing manager, at [email protected] or 615/322-3989. J. David Woodard, PhD’78, holds the Thurmond Chair of Vanderbilt Magazine is published quarterly by Van- Government in the Department of Political Science at Clemson University derbilt University from editorial and business offices at in South Carolina. He teaches courses in American politics and political 110 21st Ave. S., Suite 1000, Nashville, TN 37203. Phone: 615/322-2601. Fax: 615/343-8547. E-mail: vanderbilt- theory and serves as a political consultant for aspiring GOP candidates. [email protected]. Please send address corrections to Gift Records Office,Vanderbilt University,VU Station B During the 2003–04 academic year, he was a visiting professor at Vanderbilt 357727, 2301 Vanderbilt Place, Nashville, TN 37235-7703. where he completed research for a book, The New Southern Politics. Opinions expressed in Vanderbilt Magazine are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Magazine or the University administration. Additional Contributors: Doug Campbell, Lisa DuBois, Terryl Hallquist, Jeff Vanderbilt University is committed to the principles of Havens, John Howser, Nancy Humphrey, Bridgette Kohnhorst, Elizabeth P.Latt, Princine equal opportunity and affirmative action. Copyright 2006 Vanderbilt University Lewis, Leigh MacMillan, Melissa Marino, Jonathan Marx, Joseph Mella, Melanie Moran, Ann Marie Deer Owens, Jim Patterson, Kathy Rivers, Cindy Steine, Marsha Tardy, Todd Vessel, Ray Waddle, Whitney Weeks 4 Summer 2006 DoreWays s a e d g i From the Editor in From the Reader g n Brawn, Brains and Beauty a Evolution and Creationism Based on the remarks printed in y and large, we avoid anything that could be called a “Science Friction” [Spring 2006 issue, p. 60], “theme” issue in Vanderbilt Magazine, on the theory that we’ll draw it appears Vanderbilt’s panel discussion was um for exch in more readers with a smorgasbord of subjects than a steady diet of sto- very one-sided. I read with interest the piece ries on a single topic. But as I look over the contents of this issue, I A for noting the holes in intelligent-design theo- Bthink I see a theme emerging: strong women. ry, but looked in vain for something com- You’ll notice the first of our strong women on the cover, in the sun- parable pointing out the major flaws and tanned person of Fonda Huizenga, who wrangles with needle-nosed fish four times her contradictions in the theory of evolution. weight. And in the S.P.O.V. you’ll learn about Kara Mann, BE’06, the North American How can you have a “discussion” when one Strongman Society’s 2004 women’s national champion, whose idea of a good time is viewpoint is completely missing? pulling a jet or hoisting a couple of Mini-Coopers. Many of America’s elite universities are It was a woman’s strength of conviction that played so “sophisticated” that they see nothing wrong a crucial role in the founding of Vanderbilt Univer- with ignoring opposing views on the major sity, as you’ll learn in Michael McGerr’s entertaining issues of our day. I have always hoped that story about Cornelius Vanderbilt. Frank Crawford, Vanderbilt, somehow, might be different. I the Commodore’s second wife, was so influential in trust this one-sided panel was an aberration, moving her husband to think finally about philan- rather than a trend. thropy during his last years on earth that the univer- I did find it amusing that Professor Le- sity recently named one of its new residence halls Stourgeon thinks it preposterous that all for her. humans could be descended from Noah, but This issue also offers a surfeit of females who apparently has no difficulty believing we are are less virtuous than Frank Crawford Vanderbilt all descendents of the first two fish to crawl but are strong women nonetheless. As McGerr tells out of the ocean. What faith! it, Cornelius Vanderbilt’s fraternization with two JIM HSIEH Jay A. Yoder, MBA’83 buxom con artists—one of them the first woman in U.S. history to run for president— Westfield, Mass. also played important roles in influencing the Commodore to redeem his name. Then there is Bettie Page, Peabody College’s 1944 graduate, who continues to gen- I enjoyed the Spring 2006 Vanderbilt erate intense interest decades after retiring as the nation’s first famous pinup model. Magazine, particularly the article “When She was the subject of a major motion picture released earlier this year, The Notorious John T. Scopes Came to Peabody” [p. 40] by Bettie Page. A Nashville girl raised in poverty and molested by her small-time crimi- Frye Gaillard. I was a graduate student at nal father, Bettie set her sights on the full Vanderbilt scholarship that went each year Peabody in April 1970 and was among the to Hume-Fogg High School’s valedictorian. Instead, she graduated second in her class standing-room-only crowd for the afternoon and went to Peabody, working as a secretary to Professor Alfred Leland Crabb. But for presentation by Mr. Scopes. most of her subsequent career, Bettie eschewed the traditional job opportunities avail- In addition to the information provid- able to women of the day and instead turned to modeling and films. Famous though ed by Mr. Gaillard, I have a recollection of she is, she’s not the type to win the Distinguished Alumna Award. Mr. Scopes’ presentation that put the whole Finally, in Lisa DuBois’ article about the ROTC, you’ll read the story of Heather Monkey Trial in a different perspective. Grayson, who joined the Reserve Officer Training Corps to help pay her Vanderbilt Mr. Scopes did talk extensively about teach- tuition and wound up in Kuwait. When three men under her command were killed by ing evolution in a high-school classroom explosives during a hot ordnance cleanup, Grayson faced court-martial.