Autumn Scene 2014 by Colgate University

scene Autumn 2014

News and views for the Colgate community

Upwardly Mobile You Are Here Urban Legends

scene

Autumn 2014

26 Upwardly Mobile

Alumni app-ly themselves in the download domain

32 You Are Here

New fiction by alumni, imbued with the power of place

38 Urban Legends

Professor William Meyer counters “commonsense environmental antiurbanism”

Message from President Jeffrey Herbst

13346 — Inbox

Work & Play

Tableau: “My God. My Enemy. My Eating Disorder.”

Ads of the times

Life of the Mind

Arts & Culture

Go ’gate

New, Noted & Quoted

The Big Picture

Stay Connected

Class News 74 Marriages & Unions 75 Births & Adoptions 75 In Memoriam

Salmagundi: “Strokes of Genius” puzzle, 13 Words or Fewer contest winners, Slices contest

DEPARTMENTS

On the cover: Frequencies are fascinating fun. Professor Beth Parks helps Peter Juviler ’15 and Jodi Forward ’15 tee up an oscilloscope to measure the frequencies of musical notes rung on tuning forks for Physics 112 lab. Left: Young pine cones and branches frame the windows of Hascall Hall. Both photos by Andrew Daddio News and views for the Colgate community

scene team

Contributors

Volume XLIV Number 1 The Scene is published by Colgate University four times a year — in autumn, winter, spring, and summer. The Scene is circulated without charge to alumni, parents, friends, and students.

One of our summer interns, Lauren Casella ’16 (“Upwardly mobile,” pg. 26), is the MaroonNews business manager, a COVE intern, Link Staff member, and Colgate Women in Business’s social media manager. The political science and religion double major from Wallingford, Pa., enjoys using her favorite form of social media, Instagram, to document scenic fall walks around campus with a cider doughnut and coffee in hand.

Freelance illustrator Doug Salati (“You are here,” pg. 32) lives in New York City. He recently graduated from the MFA Illustration as Visual Essay program at the School of Visual Arts. American Illustration, 3 x 3, and the Society of Illustrators have all recognized his work.

Geography professor William Meyer (“Urban Legends,” pg. 38) is author of Americans and Their Weather: A History and Human Impact on the Earth and a former research associate at the Belfer Center in Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and Clark University.

Illustrator/designer Dante Terzigni (“Urban Legends,” pg. 38), based in Cleveland, Ohio, has done work for 3M, IBM, Target, Gap, the Washington Post, the New York Times, Thomson Reuters, Harry Rosen, Wells Fargo, and Oprah and HOW magazines. Dante lives happily with his wife, Lauren, son, Luca, and daughter, Elyse.

Link in: Join the conversations taking place on Colgate’s professional network LinkedIn groups. Find out more at colgate.edu/networks. Coming home: Whether you couldn’t make it to Homecoming this year or you want to relive the weekend, check out our Flickr album of highlights. www.colgate.edu/homecoming2014 Green thumb: read about environmentally friendly practices on campus at http://blogs.colgate.edu/ sustainability Get connected: Download the Colgate University mobile alumni directory at the iTunes store or Google Play to connect professionally and socially with other alumni. You can update your profile at colgate.edu/profile. Go paperless: To stop receiving the printed Scene, e-mail scene@colgate.edu with your name, class year, address, and e-mail address, and put Online Mailing List in the subject. We’ll send you an e-mail when we post new online editions (colgate.edu/ scene).

scene: Autumn 2014

Contributors: Barbara Brooks, Director of Public Relations and Marketing; Daniel DeVries, Admission Marketing Manager; Matt Hames, Manager of Media Communications; David Herringshaw, Online Community Manager; Jason Kammerdiener ’10, Web Content Specialist; Karen Luciani, Art Director; Katherine Mutz, Graphic Designer; Brian Ness, Video Journalism Coordinator; Timothy O’Keeffe, Director of Web Content; John Painter, Director of Athletic Communications; Mark Walden, Senior Advancement Writer Contact: scene@colgate.edu 315-228-7415 colgate.edu/scene

What’s online Colgate updates: receive the latest university news in your e-mail inbox — sign up at news.colgate.edu.

Vice President for Communications Rachel Reuben Managing Editor Rebecca Costello Associate Editor Aleta Mayne Director of Creative Services Gerald Gall Coordinator of Photographic Services Andrew Daddio Production Assistant Kathy Bridge

Nap happy: Where’s the best place to doze on campus? After posing that question on Colgate’s Facebook page, we made a video sharing the wide-ranging and pretty unconventional answers. www.colgate.edu/catnap

Colgate University 315-228-1000 Printed and mailed from Lane Press in South Burlington, Vt. If you’re moving... Please clip the address label and send with your new address to: Alumni Records Clerk, Colgate University, 13 Oak Drive, Hamilton, NY 13346-1398 or call 315-228-7453. Opinions expressed are not necessarily shared by the university, the publishers, or the editors. Notice of Non-Discrimination: Colgate University does not discriminate in its programs and activities because of race, color, sex, pregnancy, religion, creed, national origin (including ancestry), citizenship status, physical or mental disability, age, marital status, sexual orientation, veteran or military status (including special disabled veteran, Vietnam-era veteran, or recently separated veteran), predisposing genetic characteristics, domestic violence victim status, or any other protected category under applicable local, state, or federal law. The following person has been designated to handle inquiries regarding the university’s non-discrimination policies: Marilyn Rugg, Associate Provost for Equity and Diversity, 13 Oak Drive, Hamilton, NY 13346; 315-228-7288.

Message from President Jeffrey Herbst

News and views for the Colgate community

Inbox CSB According to Temp.v.3wintro_CSB TEMPLATE VERSION 10/23/13 2:59 PM Page 1

scene

On tweeting history

News and views for the Colgate community

THE 21ST CEnTurY COLGATE SOnG BOOk

I thought “Atomic Disruption” (summer 2014, pg. 32) and the related video were fascinating. As a retired history teacher, I am always interested in seeing history being examined through new means.

Summer 2014

Life lessons Boiling Point Atomic Disruption “Nerds in Heaven”

The Scene welcomes letters. We reserve the right to decide whether a letter is acceptable for publication and to edit for accuracy, clarity, and length. Letters deemed potentially libelous or that malign a person or group will not be published. Letters should not exceed 250 words. You can reach us by mail, or e-mail sceneletters @colgate.edu. Please include your full name, class year if applicable, address, phone number, and/or e-mail address. If we receive many letters on a given topic, we will print a representative sample of the opinions expressed.

I am writing to congratulate Matt Knowles ’15 on his outstanding article “Out of Darkness” (summer 2014, pg. 12). Not only was it interesting and well-written, but of course it also conveyed a very important real-life lesson, one that Mr. Knowles learned, but that all of us should also learn. Howard M. Liebman ’74, MA’75 Brussels, Belgium

Thank you, Jean I just read the story about Jean Brooks, Frank Dining Hall cashier (“Beloved cashier battles cancer; students respond,” summer 2014, pg. 8) and I had to write. Back in 1999–2000, I was a terrified, homesick first-year. That year was a struggle for me as I adjusted to the demanding schoolwork and new environment.

“Now there is one place that has always given me the creeps.”

The Ad(dams) Building? The summer 2014 Colgate Scene was impressive — very nice looking. I was particularly impressed by the article about what used to be the old university library (“Colgate’s Front Door,” pg. 24). I just had to send you a copy of a full-page cartoon I did of the old library (Banter, November 1954, pg. 15). Although it was our “Turkey Issue,” that was a sort of Halloween cartoon. Jimmy McFarland ’57 collaborated on it with me. I always did think that the old library belonged in a Charles Addams cartoon. And maybe he did use it in part as a model for his famous Addams Family house. Keep up the great work! Jim Berrall ’56 Fairfield, Pa.

Divine inspiration in Colgate songs Yet every morning, as I walked into Frank for breakfast to start my day, there was a ray of sunshine — Jean. I’m sure she had no idea how much her warm smile and kind words meant to me each morning. She truly made a difference in my life that difficult year. Lauren Fisher Thomas ’03 Alpharetta, Ga.

scene: Autumn 2014

Music that has celebrated the Colgate spirit for more than 100 Years

Foreword by Oscar Hammerstein III

Harry Schooley Williamsville, N.Y.

Colgate’s Front Door

in motion,” and, more important, e to “live true to the 21st Century COLGATE mem’ry “ (bring Song Book hope and love to all the world — Colgate’s founding and eternal purpose). The alma mater tells of twilight falling in “fair Chenango” (fair means friendships, which last for a lifetime), and “In their dreaming, ere thy name returns.” During my nights of sleep, I have dreamed many times of Colgate scenes, with the most frequent message being Colgate’s emphasis on love, mercy, tolerance, forgiveness, friendliness, civility, and old-fashioned manners. The most important dream of my life was of coming out of the woods to the right of the Reid Center and Huntington Gym feeling terrible and saying, “If I can just get there and work out, I will be healed.” (Wherever I am, that means a fitness club, a football field, or a beach for a workout.) In the Colgate Hymn, we are told to reverently raise our voices to “the guardian of our youth.” If we love others and stay fit, we will be forever young. A football song says, “Foes shall bend their knees before us.” As former football coach Fred Dunlap ’50 said, “Colgate teaches people to strive for the impossible” and “I see us as a little place out in the woods ready to take on the world.” All Colgate songs make me think of former football coach Hal Lahar, whose love, friendliness, and positive thinking inspires me every day. Everyone should get Tom Vincent’s book on Colgate songs.

One cannot explain the words in Colgate songs (The 21st Century Colgate Song Book, pg. 25, winter 2014) other than that they were divinely inspired. In “In 1819,” we are told, “Thirteen prayers were said with rapt devotion / Thirteen dollars set the thing

Edward T. O’Donnell Jr. ’70 Philadelphia, Pa. Editor’s note: The 21st Century Colgate Song Book is available at the Colgate Bookstore.)

Thank your mentors I graduated from Colgate in 1956. I am now 80 years old. Before I went to Colgate, I did not play football, but after I left there, I played many years of professional football. But, this is not about me. I wish to urge any young person connected with sports, or otherwise involved, to recognize that life is fleeting, and years go by while opportunities are missed. Therefore, I suggest to anyone who had their lives significantly altered in a positive way by another person like a coach to quietly and in private thank them for what they did for you. When we are young, we tend to see life as almost everlasting, with a notion of many more years to come. Don’t pass up an opportunity to express your feelings, with no motive other than to say “thank you.” You will always be happy you did. You shared common goals and challenges with them, with the everpresent will to succeed that is built into athletic competition. My thanks went, and still goes, to two coaches, Hal Lahar and Howie Hartman. I have always appreciated their life-changing roles in my early years.

What they’re saying online colgate.edu/news

Facebook.com/ colgateuniversity May 27, 2014 Colgate on Jeopardy!

“Video: A special guest joins the Class of 2018” August 29 Stephen W Solomon ’76, MAT ’78 said: A lot of fun! And who knew Raider had rhythm, could write, and steals chipwiches?

@colgateuniv Nadifa Mohamed @thesailorsgirl • Sep 11 @colgateuniv This will be my first ever twitter interview, starting at midnight for any British insomniacs. Muturi Njeri @Murituz • Sep 11 Loved the #LivingWriters conversation between @colgateuniv and @thesailorsgirl. Let me get back to reading #TheOrchardOfLostSouls.

Photo via Danielle Iwata ’15. Gail ’88 ’n Stewart Rauner Awesome! Funny to think Colgate would be the clue for the entire state of New York. Sara Halpern ’08 How many points was it worth? Hopefully 130 or 1300. Rick Sause ’11 All those years as a tour guide and I don’t think I remembered to say the “13 articles” part even once.

Milt Graham ’56 Yarmouth Port, Mass.

Picture this: stunning Colgate University photography, just a click away Visit our galleries at colgate.photoshelter.com to order customized photographic prints in a variety of sizes. Bring home images you’ve seen in the Colgate Scene and other university publications as well as scenic views from around one of America’s most beautiful campuses.

News and views for the Colgate community

work & play

Campus scrapbook A

Eye spy: an ice breaker at orientation for international students in the Class of 2018

In early September, with race relations a focus both nationally and on campus, students organized a solidarity gathering in response to the shooting death of Michael Brown (photo by Salote Tenisi ’15). Also, at a brown bag luncheon, Madison County Sheriff Allen Riley and sociology professor Alicia Simmons discussed the events in Ferguson, Mo.

First-years demonstrated physical strength at Konosioni Field Day before showing mental vigor at the start of classes.

The crowd danced to the Original Liberty Jazz Band of New Orleans featuring Dr. White at ALANApalooza 2014. Photo by Gerard Gaskin

Teams of summer research students and their professors went head to head in the chemistry department’s 9th Annual Tetrahedrathalon.

Case concentration

Raindrops come down as students and families go up the hill on move-in day.

En garde at ’Gate Times in Sanford Field House, where firstyear friendships were forged

Fall fun means scooping seeds in the sunshine.

Photos by Andrew Daddio unless otherwise noted

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News and views for the Colgate community

scene: Autumn 2014

What’s the most unique

Andrew Daddio

work & play 8

Views from the hill experience you’ve had at Colgate? Sit-in protesting bigotry concludes with roadmap for the future

“Can you hear us now?” gave way to “We love Colgate, go, ’Gate, no hate!” as about 400 students, professors, and staff members marched together from the Hurwitz Admission Center at J.B. Colgate Hall to Memorial Chapel. The euphoric and historic ceremony marked the end of a peaceful, 100-hour-long sit-in that was initiated by students on Monday, September 22, in order to create a culture of greater inclusivity on campus. The student group Colgate University Association of Critical Collegians (ACC) presented a petition calling for “decisive and deliberate action.” The document’s 21 points addressed building greater understanding of how “systemic structures shape power and privilege” and “assimilate, subordinate, and exclude,” and encouraging resistance to mindsets and behavior that perpetuate “microaggressions against minority groups on a daily basis.” As recently as that previous weekend, a community member had witnessed Colgate students yelling racial and homophobic slurs, but at the demonstration many students began sharing their stories of having endured incidents of racism, classism, homophobia, and sexism on campus. President Jeffrey Herbst — along with Suzy Nelson, dean of the college, and Douglas Hicks, provost and dean of the faculty — joined the sit-in for several hours that Monday to listen. “We are outraged that not all students feel fully included or welcomed on our campus,” they wrote in a message to the campus community later that day. “Acts of racism and

homophobia have no place at Colgate and will not be tolerated. Prejudice can devastate our community: it chills the campus climate, making members of our community feel unwelcome, shackles the mind with stereotypical thinking and bigotry, and keeps us from reaching our true potential as caring, intelligent people who are prepared to live in an increasingly global and diverse society… Together as a community, we can and must hold ourselves and each other to a higher standard.” The student movement offered important educational moments. For example, peace and conflict studies professor Susan Thompson’s International Human Rights and Advocacy class met on the patio of James B. Colgate Hall during the demonstration. Their discussion covered formal (governmental) and informal (societal) policies and practices of exclusion in Rwanda, as well as issues of racism and privilege on campus. She said the conversation opened many students’ eyes to the extent to which some members of the Colgate community are being shunned or excluded. “Now that they know,” said Thomson, “some said they will stand up and speak out when they see injustice on campus.” Throughout the week, Herbst, Nelson, and Hicks spent many hours with ACC representatives, working together to create a plan for change. By noontime Friday, the plan was revealed on Colgate For All, a new website outlining a 21-point road map that will be updated and followed closely for months and years to come. “We all have learned and grown over the past week,” Herbst told the crowd, “and we are committed to

“My pre-orientation program. I was in the Adirondacks for seven nights with a bunch of strangers. It was a great bonding experience to backpack and live with [other first-years], and I got to see a side of upstate New York that I didn’t know was there. You bond a lot when you’re with people for [a week] and you’re all stinky. I’m still in touch with them.” — Nihar Shah ’16, English major from Nairobi, Kenya “Gorilla trekking in Uganda with the Benton Scholars. We looked at 300 of the last 700 mountain gorillas that live in the wild in the rainforest.” — Viktor Mak ’15, a global studies major from Fort Myers, Fla. “On the London History Study Group, my professor organized a trip to Ypres in Belgium, where there a lot of cemeteries for World War I. Two other students and I got to participate in the wreath ceremony at the Menin Gate Memorial, where a lot of the soldiers said goodbye to their families before going off to war. We had gotten funding from the Stickles fund, which offers money to students doing research in military history.” — Danielle Iwata ’15, a history major from New Jersey and Paris, France

for tour groups to tackle the legendary hillside. So, she turned her question into a research project for her Geographic Information Systems (GIS) course with Professor Peter Scull. Williams married existing campus slope data with the campus map and the old tour route. She then mapped the routes with GIS software and analyzed the data. Unlike most GIS data crunching, Williams also had to factor in qualitative items, such as required tour stops, and making sure visitors have a chance to take in some of the best views of the Chenango Valley. She found that the existing tour hit two areas of steep incline that could be avoided — so she developed a new route that ignores a traditional turn at the chapel and marches directly toward Frank Dining Hall. Following the stop at Frank, her groups visit a first-year residence hall and then move onward to the Coop, followed by the Ho Science Center. Almost all of the climb is tackled gradually at the start, and then it’s a gentle downhill journey. “The new route is easier, it goes faster, and it’s not really as noticeable of an incline,” Williams said. “It’s a lot more fluid.” Michael Mansuy, who oversees the tour guides, said her method is being adopted by other tour guides. And, he added, “families are still seeing all that the campus has to offer in a way that does not leave them so out of breath.”

working on all of the issues and action items that have been raised, as well as others that were not formally articulated.” As the march up to the chapel began, ACC representative Kori Strother ’15 spoke on the steps of James B. Colgate Hall: “I am so proud of everyone. We walk up the hill with our heads held high. I will never forget this.” “Today is an important day,” said Nelson. “I’m grateful to our students for raising up their voices and challenging us in all the right ways.” Amidst the chanting came a fitting sound: the chapel bell tolled a traditional 13 times. “We ring the bells to mark a passage, a victory, or a celebratory moment,” said University Chaplain Mark Shiner, who invited Cyierra Roldan ’16 to do the honors. “Hopefully today is all three.” “Our students have been remarkable in their thoughtfulness and organization,” said Hicks. “It was clear they were putting into practice lessons learned from coursework. Colgate will be stronger for it.”

Check out colgate.edu/forall-video and colgate.edu/forall-photos.

(Re)route

Taking a tour is one of the best ways for prospective students to get a feel for the campus and the Colgate experience. It’s also a bit of a hike. As an admission tour guide and summer intern, Katie Williams ’15, a geography and history double major, decided there had to be a better way

The ’Gate Way

Andrew Daddio

Tour guide Katie Williams ’15 used Geographic Information Systems to determine the best route for campus tours.

Some students adjust to college easily, while others struggle and even falter. A new online non-credit “course” — 13 short videos made by Colgate professors — is designed to minimize the mystery about what it takes to succeed. The series also includes studentproduced video responses featuring current students and alumni. “We believe that the students who succeed academically and socially right away are the ones who take their college experience into their own hands,” said Spencer Kelly, a psychology professor, “so our goal is to teach students how to do that from the start.” Kelly appears in The ’Gate Way series with Douglas Johnson, who also teaches psychology, and Yukari Hirata, who teaches Japanese. All three study the science of knowledge acquisition, which is what drew them to this digital collaboration. The videos cover keys to student

Back on campus: TIA mentors From caffeinated juice to handmade greeting cards, alumni with proven entrepreneurial bright ideas shared their expertise with students at the Thought Into Action (TIA) Entrepreneurship Institute’s opening weekend in early September. An incubator for students’ ventures, from businesses and nonprofits to campus initiatives, TIA provides resources and support to help them “go live.” “We had a record student turnout,” said Wills Hapworth ’07, who cofounded TIA with Andy Greenfield ’74. “This is the most prepared and passionate group of student entrepreneurs we’ve seen to date.” On campus to mentor those students were Tim O’Neill ’78, managing partner of Golden Seeds Fund 2 LP; John Nozell ’81, the head of school of the Cheshire Academy; Per Sekse ’78, managing partner of alTreo LLC; Andres Echenique ’83, senior partner, Digital and Media Solutions at Eric Mower and Associates; Lynn Plant ’77, principal owner and CEO of BrandCentric LLC; Evan Berman ’10, founder and CEO of Frava; Oak Atkinson ’87, founder and owner of Tumbalina; Patricia Nozell ’81, the executive director for Susan G. Komen for the Cure Twin Tiers Region; Ram Parimi ’05, vice president of sales at Social Tables; Greg Dahlberg ’98, director of marketing at GT Nexus; Scott Annan ’05, president of AIMbitious; and Bruce Rutter ’73, strategist and writer for Foster Design Group. Entrepreneurship is the thirdhighest industry/occupation listed by alumni on Colgate’s Linkedin group. Further, as Thomas Friedman noted in a recent New York Times column,

success such as sleep and time-management strategies, keeping an open mind, getting to know professors, and knowing when to ask for help. “Colgate typically teaches many of these lessons to students throughout their first year and beyond, and this new course is meant to complement, not replace, that,” Kelly said. “Introducing these lessons on video, and over

graduates with “a mentor who encouraged their goals and dreams and/or had an internship where they applied what they were learning were twice as likely to be engaged with their work and thriving in their overall wellbeing.” Greenfield said TIA “offers students the opportunity to apply critical-thinking skills to real-world problems and opportunities as they launch and grow their ventures.” With 10 student teams returning, this year the participants were split into two levels. While the 100-level students brainstormed how to get their ventures off the ground, the 200-level group focused on what they accomplished over the summer and consulted about moving their ventures forward, from establishing goals to planning and development to determining marketing strategies.

Margaret Moskowitz ’16 returned this year with The Clothes Line, a consignment store for college campuses. “The one-hundred level is great in that it introduces you to entrepreneurship through lessons and the wide range of the mentors’ careers,” she said. “The two-hundred level allows people who already have business plans to go further in depth with mentors relating to their field. Overall, the TIA experience is helpful and eye-opening.” — Jessica Rice ’16

the summer before students even arrive, will help make their learning really stick forwhen they get here.” Alexandra Caudill ’13 worked on The ’Gate Way series for nearly a year as a Living the Liberal Arts Fellow. In addition to helping with scripting and scheduling, she organized dozens of students to record their responses to the various lessons, and produced a

News and views for the Colgate community

work & play

the Colgate fleet will also reduce operating costs, because the local cost of electricity is significantly lower than gasoline.

teaser video designed to attract firstyear viewers to the series. “One innovation of The ’Gate Way is how it facilitates student-to-student mentoring,” she said. “College is so different from high school, and every college is different than the next, so the perspectives of our own students and alumni can go a long way in preparing first-years to be successful at Colgate.”

Summer Institute

EV station charges up campus

In 2011, Chris Paine ’83 directed the film Revenge of the Electric Car, chronicling the resurgence of electric vehicles (EVs) following their failure to go mainstream early in the century. In recognition of the EV’s “revenge,” Colgate unveiled its first on-campus charging station, instantly making environmentally sustainable transportation a more viable option on campus. Located on Lally Lane near Donovan’s Pub, the station will allow EV owners to “refuel” at a reasonable rate of $1.50 per hour, with a full charge taking between three to six hours. A Level 2 ChargePoint station, it’s compatible with any EV make and model, although Teslas will require an adapter. The university’s vehicle

Electric vehicle drivers can now power up on Lally Lane.

fleet already includes two fully electric vehicles, and the charging station opens the possibility that more could be added. Given that greater than 10 percent of the university’s carbon footprint results from vehicle emissions, expanding options for electric vehicle usage is a significant step in Colgate’s quest for carbon neutrality by 2019. Incorporating more EVs into

Upstate New Yorkers flocked to Hamilton to celebrate the Fourth of July. As live music filled the air, people sipped cold lemonade and children donned as much red, white, and blue as they could manage for the parade along Route 12B. The festivities concluded with a skit called “Betsy Ross and the Flag” and a service honoring veterans. Also in July, children with stamped passbooks scoured the town in search of those red and white stripes made famous by a certain tuque-wearing character. Paper Waldos took up residence in 25 village establishments during a month-long quest to Find

scene: Autumn 2014

Staying at Colgate for one last summer after he graduated, Manuel Heredia-Santoyo ’14 wanted to bring to the Summer Institute what he learned through his own experience. For five weeks, he lived, ate, took classes, and shared stories with 13 incoming students. As a residential academic coach (RAC), he was a role model in every sense of the word. Run by the Office of Undergraduate Studies (OUS), the Summer Institute is designed to ease the transition into college and enhance academic preparedness for first-year students. Heredia-Santoyo was joined by five other RACs; each led a group of newcomers. The RACs “are superstar students who use different approaches to be leaders and be involved in the community,” said OUS director Frank Frey. “They show incoming students that there isn’t a singular type to do well in school.” Frey, who’s also a professor of biology and environmental studies,

Waldo in Hamilton. Children with full passbooks earned prizes donated by local businesses and the Colgate bookstore. The nationwide event was sponsored in part by 250 independent bookstores to encourage communities to patronize their local businesses in a fun way. The Barge Canal Coffee Company — a village fixture since 1996 — was renovated over the summer and reopened its doors as Saxby’s at the Barge. Village Green Saxby’s has a presence in eight college towns, but aimed to preserve the Barge’s atmosphere and culture, including creative programming. The newly revitalized café at 37 Lebanon Street features a few beverages specially relevant to Hamilton, such as the Kookie Monster and Snow Peak. Another change to the eatery scene is No. 10 Tavern at the main downtown intersection. The restaurant kicked off its first summer with a Sunday evening live-music series. Folks chowed down on the specialty double decker burgers to the sounds of a washboard, acoustic guitars, a mandolin, and other instruments played by local artists. — Hannah O’Malley

have the best experience they possibly can, and the resources that allow them to take advantage of everything Colgate has to offer,” said HerediaSantoyo. “Our RACs have been helpful in showing us the ropes and teaching us things — like how to deal with stress, to surround yourself with people who care about you, and to do things you enjoy,” said Anika Rutah ’18, “that as [first-years] we probably would have learned the hard way.” — Hannah O’Malley ’17

from the perspective of the people in Mississippi. It begins before the volunteers came to the state to register voters and ends with the 1964 Democratic National Convention. “We used Freedom Summer as a springboard into a yearlong discussion on civil rights,” said Doug Hicks, provost and dean of the faculty. Professors and students representing different academic areas teamed up to organize events, including a brown bag with two professors who themselves participated in Freedom Summer, Jay Mandle (economics) and Joan Mandle (sociology and anthropology, emerita). — Natalie Sportelli ’15

Civil rights a yearlong theme

facilitated the Summer Institute with Frank Kuan, senior associate director, and coordinator Fareeza Islam ’14. This year, the institute accepted 39 participants who had taken rigorous courses at their high schools, excelled academically, and demonstrated creativity and intellect. They’ve also

Go figure – Welcoming the Class of 2018 39 countries represented 120 student movers helped unload suitcases, boxes, and dorm supplies

shown determination in spite of personal, economic, and social challenges. “With the obstacles that they’ve had to face and the experiences they’ve already gone through, a lot of these students have already lived a lifetime,” said Heredia-Santoyo. His group took two demanding classes, Literatures of Oppression with Professor Jeffrey Spires and Biology and Human Development with Professor Jason Meyers. The five-week, 200-level classes demand more of the students than courses taken during the school year. The Summer Institute also introduces students early to campus resources including the libraries and career services. “The OUS program provides everything they need to be successful here,

Shirt Tales

Angel Maldonado ’16

As a residential academic coach, Manny Heredia-Santoyo ’14 (second from right) has been a role model for first-years in the Summer Institute.

Hundreds of first-year students gathered on the Academic Quad on a Friday night in mid-September to watch a screening of Freedom on My Mind, the 1994 Academy Award-nominated documentary. The film, introduced by its director, Connie Field, was presented as part of a campuswide initiative called “Civil Rights: Then and Now.” The initiative builds on the themes of civil rights, justice, and social activism that were prevalent in the first-year summer reading assignment, Freedom Summer by Bruce Watson. The 2010 historical nonfiction novel was chosen to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the summer in Mississippi when college students from across the United States helped Americans to recognize the civil rights offenses occurring in their own country. The film, which chronicles the student effort to register AfricanAmerican voters in Mississippi during the summer of 1964, tells the story

Links — student mentors taking first-years under their wings

778 Class of 2018 shirts handed out 10 hours of music and interviews on

WRCU’s arrival day broadcast

bagpipers conveyed the Class of 2018 to convocation

150+ water balloons tossed during Konosioni Field Day

Andrew Daddio

question balls tossed to new students and their families as an ice breaker

rainbow over the quad on the last night of orientation

Countless new friendships

Professor Patrick Riley was one of four professors leading an arts and humanities workshop titled "Atheism and Other Theisms" for local high school teachers in July. "The mission ... is to open up a broader intellectual community," said Riley, who is a French professor.

SRSly T-shirts, like the students who wear them, are world travelers. Now in its second year, the Sophomore Residential Seminars program offers students the opportunity to live together and take a seminar in their residence hall. The program includes a trip to a destination applicable to their course of study. Last year, this brown SRSly shirt traveled to Costa Rica for Professor Robert Nemes’s Coffee and Cigarettes course. Each of the five yearlong classes’ T-shirts is an appropriate color, such as black (Existentialism) and turquoise (Native Americans in the Southwest). Keeping course-specific colors constant from year to year, “we’re hoping to build a multi-year community,” explained Peter Tschirhart, program director. Tschirhart helped design the shirts based on faculty director David Dudrick’s idea for the SRSly tag line, inspired when Dudrick noticed that the acronym for the Sophomore Residential Seminars program (SRS) was nearly text shorthand for “seriously.” He started signing his e-mails with it, and “students thought that was funny, so we decided to put it on the shirts,” he said. “‘I guess I’m glad the acronym wasn’t SMH or LOL!”

News and views for the Colgate community

Tableau

My God. My Enemy. My Eating Disorder.

I was raised with the understanding that I must better the world in order to enter the pearly gates of heaven. And if the world could not accept me for the overweight child I was, there was no hope that I could change the world. Therefore, how could I be good in the eyes of this God? This sentiment was reinforced each and every time I attended Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in my size-16 sundress from Talbot’s Kids. Standing next to my perfect family, I could feel the disapproving gazes and, worse, the pity held by the congregation as a whole. Feeling rejected by my church and its many 105-pound housewives, I grew to resent both the institution and my faith as a whole. I grew to resent God. Naked before a judgmental spiritual power, I hoarded my secrets in the ticking time bomb that was my body. When I was 12, the bomb went off in the form of self-destruction.

By Kathryn Van Scoter ’16

As a religious studies major, I am frequently asked an innocent yet cumbersome question: Are you religious? People are expecting a definitive answer: “Why, yes. I am an Episcopalian,” or “Kind of, but I only go to church on Christmas,” or even “No, I don’t believe in God.” But my ability to give a straightforward answer is equal to my ability to inhale a 600-calorie slice of cheesecake. Nonexistent. I usually just offer the dry salad of responses — “Why else would I study religion?” — followed by a chuckle of vinegar for some added flavor. Religion is my sword. Humor is my shield. Food is my medicine. Together, they have conspired to create and destroy ED. My God. My Enemy. My Eating Disorder.

•••

It’s been nine years since I met ED (Eating Disorder). Our love affair began ever so slowly, until I fell face-first into his arms and the unknown. On a two-week exchange program to Mexico, ED took me by surprise. We had our first dance whilst twirling blissfully around a plate of untouched spaghetti and, soon after, we shared our first kiss on a scale offset by 10 pounds. When I returned home, my family was wary of my engagement, so I kept my suitor’s identity secret. ED and I shared simple pleasures. There was nothing that made us happier than watching my father and brother devour pizza while we shared dry salad with Mom. Like any good lover, ED rewarded my good behavior with the intoxicating flowers of femininity. As I dropped far below my mother’s “idealistic” weight range, ED decided to make me his bride. Although I had always seen myself getting married in a church, we did it ED’s way and got married in a hospital bed instead. ED reassured me that we did not need the priest’s sanction, for he could be my god, one who could provide me with all the components of a traditional religion — fasting, asceticism, sacrifice. Isolated from my family and friends, I had no choice but to comply. Over the years, ED and I experienced many breakups and reunions. My conflicted yearning for both control over my life and the relief that came from surrendering to a higher power kept me tethered to ED. He was the closest thing that I had to a god. But I grew weary of trading my body for peace of mind, and I attempted to divorce ED in the very same hospital bed in which we were ensnared. At first, he waved the white flag. However, the second I left Children’s Medical Center, I could feel his firm grasp holding me tighter than ever before. In the coming months, ED would strip me down to a meager 68 pounds.

•••

To any outsiders looking in, I had a very comfortable childhood and a flawless family. My father was a driven CEO with killer hair and my mother was everything that an ideal 105-pound housewife should be. My little brother’s greatest childhood struggle was putting on weight, which was the opposite of my own challenge: keeping it off. My ultimate goal was to be the feminine ideal of both my mother and the skeletal models traipsing across the pages of Vogue magazine. While media influences affirmed my parents’ living example of the idea that only thin, beautiful people matter, my Episcopalian congregation implied an even-more ominous message: only thin, beautiful people are acceptable in the eyes of their God.

•••

Andrew Daddio

I was not able to break free from ED’s iron trap until my graduation from a spiritually oriented residential treatment facility. Here, I was given the freedom to differentiate and separate myself from ED. At the same time, I was also challenged to redefine both myself and the God that I once knew. While ED and I still talk occasionally, he no longer sustains me. He has been replaced by a good and merciful presence that is much more complex and difficult to define. It is this very presence that cradles my body, mind, and spirit without suffocation and, on my worst days, encourages me to dress my salads. On my best days, I can even take a bite of cheesecake without fear or anxiety. To me, this presence is the very essence of God. Indeed, my ability to find comfort in the unknown is a testament to the power of God. Does this make me religious? Maybe. Maybe not. Honestly, I still don’t know. Why else would I study religion?

scene: Autumn 2014

Kathryn Van Scoter ’16 has interned at Harvard Law School and for OnFaith, a website devoted to covering religion and spirituality, for which she originally wrote this essay. A religion major from Pasadena, Calif., she hopes to attend law school after graduation.

Ads of the times Advertisements: love them (think Super Bowl anticipation) or hate them (nefarious pop-ups on your screen), we all know they are a sign of the times. We dug back 60 years and more into the old student newspapers (theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re online at colgate.edu/newspaperarchives) to see who was hawking what to Raider readers of yore. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Rebecca Costello

Colgate Maroon Nov. 14, 1914

Madisonensis Oct. 30, 1869 Colgate Maroon Nov. 3, 1954

Colgate Maroon Nov. 5, 1929 Colgate Maroon Nov. 3, 1954

Colgate Maroon Nov. 8, 1944

Colgate Maroon Nov. 14, 1939

Colgate Maroon April 15, 1953

13 Page 13 is the showplace

Madisonensis Oct. 5, 1889

Colgate Maroon May 11, 1949

for Colgate tradition, history, and school spirit.

Andrew Daddio

Exploring cancer genetics

Research into the regulatory process that maintains genomic stability — which is impaired in cancer cells — could one day lead to new treatments. This recently published research came out of Colgate, with a student — Changchang Liu ’15 — as the first author. Liu, biology professor Engda Hagos, and Stephen La Rosa ’13 received a grant from the Picker Interdisciplinary Science Institute at Colgate. Hagos noted Liu’s accomplishment of being the first author on the Molecular Carcinogenesis paper. “In this field, it takes at least two or three, sometimes four years to publish one paper — it’s not easy,” he said. For that work, Liu was also one of 10 students nationwide awarded a Meritorious Honor at the ninth annual Undergraduate Students Caucus and

Syllabus Philosophy 313: International Ethics Core area: Global Engagements David McCabe, professor of philosophy MW 1:20 p.m., Lathrop 308 Course goals: This course explores the moral principles that apply in the global realm. Some of these have been long discussed: What are the constraints on how warfare may be carried out? May nations intervene in the affairs of others, and if so, when? Others are more recent: What are the duties of rich nations to poor ones? What is the moral significance of nationality? Do all people have human rights, and if so, what are they? The class aims to increase understanding of the range of plausible views on such questions and to help identify the most compelling position.

On El Camino, every step has meaning

The journey came together in the way the best pilgrimages do. While collaborating on History 333: The Medieval Church, Professor Alan Cooper and University Chaplain Mark Shiner had the idea to enhance future iterations of the course with a hike on the Camino de Santiago, a pilgrimage route that first reached popularity during the Middle Ages. The 1,200-year-old route in Spain and France drew some 200,000 religious and secular visitors

Required texts: The Ethics of War and Peace: An Introduction, Helen Frowe The Global Justice Reader, Thom Brooks, ed Justice Without Borders, Simon Caney The professor says: “My hope is that after taking this class, students will be able to engage in more thoughtful and effective ways with complicated moral issues. I especially want them to see that the familiar notions we use in thinking about morality within our own political community (like rights, duties, obligations) also have implications for how we think about moral issues across communities and around the world. In my class, I explore questions of how to think about the huge disparity of wealth and living conditions around the world, along with the question of whether the notion of robust individual rights is simply a Western ideal that should have only limited scope. Over the past few years the course has been devoting more time to the morality of war, armed conflict, and terrorism.”

Professor Elizabeth Marlowe has been teaching her art and art history students about the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route for years, and now she can include her personal experience.

Mark Shiner

life of the mind

Changchang Liu ’15 is the first author on a published paper in the Molecular Carcinogenesis journal with Professor Engda Hagos and Stephen La Rosa ’13 (not pictured).

Poster Competition of the American Association for Cancer Research. Liu said making new discoveries is “kind of like uncovering a secret, a treasure, that only you know.” She just spent her third summer in a row working with Hagos on campus. Under his mentorship, she and two other students, Margaret Wolsey ’17 and Matt Szuchnicki ’15, studied autophagy, a process by which a cell eats itself so that it can recycle its nutrients. This process has been implicated in many human diseases, including cancer. This semester, Liu went straight from the lab at Colgate to the worldrenowned campus of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md. As part of Colgate’s NIH Study Group, she is taking classes and studying cancer cell multidrug resistance in an NIH laboratory. “She’s doing something important,” Hagos remarked. “She is one step ahead.” — Hannah O’Malley ’17

scene: Autumn 2014

last year. Cooper and Shiner shared their idea with Elizabeth Marlowe, a medievalist in art history for whom walking the iconic trail had been a longtime dream. With support from Colgate’s Kallgren Fund for faculty development, an interdisciplinary group including Doug Hicks (provost and dean of the faculty, religion), Antonio Barrera (history, Africana and Latin American studies), and Pilar Mejia (Spanish), signed on. For expertise on the physical aspects of the 11-day, 140-mile trek, they invited outdoor education director Abby Rowe, who had been seeking ways to bridge academic and nonacademic environmental travel for students. The trekkers shared their online photos, videos, and posts through Facebook and a GPS tracker. Back on campus, at a brown bag luncheon, they compared medieval and contemporary international pilgrimage experiences from spiritual, historical, architectural, social, and cultural perspectives. As for how Colgate students might experience the pilgrimage in the future, Shiner hopes to bring student pilgrims there within the next few years. His long-term dream is to create a summer program where students can “serve pilgrims in their spiritual and temporal needs (from, say, a house we’d rent along the Camino) while giving them an opportunity to hike the path as well.”

And Marlowe? Her feet are planted in the here and now. “I’ve been presenting the Camino in my classes for many years, but having now done it myself, I have a much better sense not only of its historical importance, but also of how transformative it can be from a social, emotional, and physical perspective,” she said. “Now my goal is to get a couple of students over there every summer, just by talking it up in my classes.”

An 8th-century Indian temple was the focus for Shan Wu ’15. She studied the architecture of Kail¯asan¯atha temple, located in Kanchipuram, assisting Padma Kaimal (art and art history) with her book manuscript Many Paths to the Divine. Wu focused on Kaimal’s chapter examining the narrative sculptures and inscriptions on the temple walls. Illustrations and plates that Wu designed will facilitate the reader’s understanding of how people experience the temple. In Colgate’s Foggy Bottom Observatory, astrogeophysics major Katie Karns ’17 collected data on the variability of brightness in quasars, which are supermassive black holes. “They are also some of the most distant and brightest objects we have seen in the universe, which makes them useful for helping scientists learn about the early universe,” she explained. Using a 16-inch telescope and specialized camera, Karns and her research partner from Williams College took images of the quasar BL Lacertae, extracting data on its brightness from the images. Karns was one of four Colgate students working with Tom Balonek (physics and astronomy).

Summer research roundup

From the depths of the ocean to the center of the galaxy, Colgate students’ explorations were far reaching this summer. Students blogged about their research with professors on campus and in the field (read them on Colgate. edu). Here are just a few: Brett Christensen ’16 dove into biomineralization in barnacles, which is the process by which the little organisms form their hard exterior. He grew and observed barnacles in the lab of Rebecca Metzler (physics and astronomy). During the process, the barnacles form an exoskeleton from minerals that typically make up rocks, like calcium. How the barnacles succeed in making their outer shell is not well understood, but Christensen’s research pinpointed the period of time when the organisms form their exteriors. Understanding how this process works in barnacles could shed light on bone formation in humans, which is also a product of biomineralization.

Cultivating budding activists

Matt Johnson ’15

L to R: Joshua Reding ’15, Zachary Weaver ’17, Luna Zagorac ’16, Anneliese Rilinger (Williams College ’17), and Katie Karns ’17 spent their summer conducting research in Colgate’s observatory.

Discussing social justice is not what most elementary school students do during summer vacation — but that’s just what eight children did thanks to the efforts of Emily Luba ’16. She created Social Justice Through Creative Writing, a weeklong workshop, as part of the Hamilton Center for the Arts camp. A creative writing tutor at Hamilton Central School, she organized the workshop with assistance from James Mitchell ’16 and Hamilton Central student Molly Stahl. Surrounded by walls full of art, the students watched videos like Kid President’s monologue How to Change the World, discussed a daily topic — such as human rights, war, poverty and food insecurity, and activism — listened to books read aloud by Luba, and did planned activities and games. The second half of each session was devoted to a creative writing prompt related to the topic. “It’s easy to feel bad about climate change or injustice, but taking action to educate oneself more and even make a difference is a whole other battle,” asserted Luba. “Creative writing makes difficult subjects easier to digest.”

Live and learn

This past summer, I interned as a journalist at the digital magazine French Morning. The magazine serves as a news outlet for the French community living in New York City, and it comes in other editions for communities in cities like Los Angeles and Miami. A French-language publication, it also includes an English translation for American Francophiles. I wrote stories in both French and English, based on my interviews with many people — museum curators, chefs, web designers — whose enthusiasm about their work was contagious. In my articles, I aspired to highlight people’s ability to innovate and their motivation to create a better world. For example, I wrote about a digital advertising consultant who created an app to expose children to more art. I also translated articles from French to English and vice versa, and launched and managed social media pages. I gained valuable journalism skills such as brainstorming story ideas for specific audiences, tailoring my writing style to match the subject of the article, and getting compelling material from interviews. Above all, I developed a nuanced understanding of the complexities of both translation and the French language. My coworkers were from France, so I had exposure to French culture and the opportunity to practice my spoken French. One coworker noted, “You’re seeing what it’s like to work in a French office without actually going to France.” My experience at French Morning helped me realize that I want to explore the possibility of a career that revolves around writing, perhaps journalism or publishing. From French to anthropology, my widespread academic interests span a number of different fields within the humanities. And from what I’ve learned this summer, that’s precisely what journalism is: writing about humanity. — Jessica Capwell ’16

News and views for the Colgate community

life of the mind 16

With a recent NSF grant, Professor Michael Loranty and his students will continue their research on permafrost in Siberia (pictured here) and Alaska.

scene: Autumn 2014

A peace and conflict studies and geography double major, Luba developed the idea during the school year. It was one of three summer projects she juggled; she also worked through the Upstate Institute Summer Field School at the nonprofits Waterville First and Horned Dorset Colony. The young students latched on to the difficult material. “It is a polluted world,” exclaimed Elijah Meyers, who said he now plans to stop polluting. Klara Burkhart-Skiages said she learned that “there is [still] more than half of the amount of slaves than there were in the 1800s. It’s really bad.” “If kids are educated about social justice when they are young,” explained Luba, “they will have a better understanding as they grow up.” — Hannah O’Malley ’17

NSF grants foster faculty research

Professors researching a wide array of subjects — from privacy software to fieldwork in the Galapagos — recently received National Science Foundation grant awards totaling $1,328,055. Roger Rowlett (chemistry), Rich April (geology), Randy Fuller (biology), and Catherine Cardelus (biology) will team up to use their grant for a Total Reflection X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometer, which will support faculty-student collaborative research in structural biology/enzymology, environmental biology, and environmental geology. “This instrument has two special capabilities,” explained Rowlett. “It is able to make measurements on extremely small sample volumes, which is important for working with trace quantities of valuable materials like proteins. In addition,

it can be used to conduct measurements on complex mixtures like soils and natural materials like leaf litter, without requiring complex mechanical and chemical preparation.” On to the Galapagos Islands, Karen Harpp (geology) will do fieldwork to better understand the way volcanic islands evolve. She and her students plan to document the history of the archipelago’s three oldest volcanoes, which together record almost three million years of the mantle plume’s history. The research is “relevant to ongoing conservation and preservation efforts at oceanic archipelagos worldwide,” explained Harpp. Heading north, Michael Loranty (geography) will study the influence of vegetation on temperatures in permanently frozen Arctic soils, called permafrost. “As these soils thaw, they release carbon to the atmosphere, which will enhance climate warming,” he explained. Over the next few summers, Loranty and his students will be conducting fieldwork throughout Alaska and Siberia along with colleagues from the Woods Hole Research Center and University of Alaska. “Our ultimate goal is to help inform climate models and policy,” he said. Michael Hay (computer science) and collaborators are exploring new technologies for privacy-preserving data analysis. “The goal is to build software that provides rigorous privacy protection but at the same time allows researchers to analyze the data and discover aggregate trends,” explained Hay, who is teaming up with researchers at Duke and the University of Massachusetts–Amherst. “Although recent news about hackers

illustrates the importance of keeping data secure, there are some scenarios, such as the U.S. Census and genetics research, in which there is a compelling need to share sensitive data. In these scenarios, one must balance the benefits of sharing data with the risks of disclosing sensitive information. This project is about designing software that can act as an intermediary between the sensitive data and the stakeholders who wish to analyze it.” Another hot topic being examined is whether we could one day transport solar energy as a liquid, like methanol or ethanol. Anthony Chianese (chemistry) and his student researchers are looking into the possibilities for converting the sun’s rays into a fuel alternative. They are attempting to develop catalysts for chemical reactions that use the sun’s energy to convert low-energy chemical compounds into high-energy compounds that can be used as fuels, regardless of the sun’s strength and presence on a given day. These catalysts may have potential use for storing the solar energy, making it more useful as a fuel alternative. The three-year grant will allow Chianese to collaborate with fellow chemistry professor Jason Keith and senior chemistry majors. In the search for renewable energy sources, Chianese said, the federal funding for this project will allow him to “push the boundaries of knowledge, and the goal is to develop something that’s useful to society.” — Hannah O’Malley ’17 and Lauren Casella ’16

Promotions and tenure

Congratulations to these faculty members for their new appointments, which became effective in July. Promotion to full professor: David Dudrick (philosophy) focuses on continental philosophy and the philosophy of religion. DeWitt Godfrey (art and art history) specializes in sculpture and public art. Barbara Hoopes (biology) studies the control of gene expression and complex traits in eukaryotes, specifically in the purebred dog Canis Familiaris. Timothy McCay (biology and environmental studies) researches the forest-floor ecosystem and conservation biology. Emilio Spadola (sociology and anthropology) was given continuous tenure and promotion to associate professor. He focuses on the anthropology of the Muslim world and

recently authored The Calls of Islam: Sufis, Islamists, and Mass Mediation in Urban Morocco. Debbie Krahmer, also a learning commons librarian, was promoted to associate professor in the University Libraries.

They’ve got the gist

It takes you about 27 milliseconds (or less) — approximately one-tenth of the time it takes to blink your eyes — to comprehend the meaning, or “gist,” of a scene. Recently published research findings about “scene gist categorization” by Bruce Hansen, associate professor of psychology and neuroscience, and psychologists at Kansas State University are significant for a number of human experiences. “Deriving an accurate understanding of rapid scene categorization has critical implications for driving safety and instrument panel design for aircraft piloting, as well as eyewitness perception and memory, and surveillance — to name a few,” Hansen said. The team examined whether such “scene gist categorization” is a general process shared across species, or may be influenced by differences specific to a species based on adaptation to its given environment — called “speciesspecific adaptive specializations.” They turned to pigeons, a popular nonhuman model of visual cognition. Although humans failed to gain the ability to fly, we do share an evolutionary structure with pigeons; the two species diverged during the early Permian period, explained Hansen. In two experiments, they assessed whether scene gist processing is an ability unique to humans, or whether it is more basic, deeply engrained

in our neural hardware. They also investigated the extent to which the ability is shared across a wide range of species. Using pigeons that had never experienced flight, the researchers showed them ground views, bird’s-eye views, and satellite views. The pigeons excelled at bird’s-eye views and satellite views. “Our study shows that pigeons appear to make use of the same low-level visual features of scenes as humans, but make more effective use of those features for bird’s-eye and satellite views compared to terrestrial views,” said Hansen. The study suggests that pigeons have the same ability as humans to recognize a scene in the blink of an eye — with one variance. Pigeons blink more slowly than humans do, so they actually take about 10 times longer to correctly identify a scene. We may not be able to fly, but at least we can assess a scene faster than pigeons. “The shared functional capacity to rapidly categorize real-world scenes may well be shared across a wide range of species,” Hansen explained. But, he said, the past evolution of a species affects how it can recognize the meaning of a scene. The findings point to further research possibilities, such as helping us to understand how much genetic predisposition versus personal experience contributes to a person’s (and a wider variety of animals’) ability to quickly recognize scene information. Hansen and his fellow researchers published “Scene Gist Categorization by Pigeons” in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition. — Hannah O’Malley ’17

Hannah O’Malley ’17 (first row, fourth from left) was among the Benton Scholars who traveled to Korea’s Demilitarized Zone over the summer.

Parallel awareness: journey to Korea

Standing in Korea’s Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), surrounded by fenced-in land mine fields juxtaposed with sundry tourist booths, I was shocked as I considered the countless human rights violations occurring only a few miles away in North Korea. I had the opportunity to step foot in North Korea this summer through the Benton Scholars Program. Along with 15 other students, I took Core: Korea with Professor John Palmer last spring, and at the end of May, we traveled to South and North Korea. We traversed Korea’s diverse landscape, from the city of Seoul to the rural expanses and seaside. On a day trip to the DMZ, we spent exactly five minutes in a United Nations building on the military demarcation line that serves as a negotiation spot for the two countries. The building was surrounded by tourists lining up to buy souvenirs like shot glasses, jewelry, and snacks from the shops. I was unnerved that the DMZ has been made into a spectacle that distracts more than it educates visitors about North Korea. My disbelief grew as we were taken to three movie theaters where we watched films about the biodiversity and history of the region and military strategies. With all of the distractions, very little attention was given to the human rights abuses happening nearby that we had learned about through readings and in class. We then met with Hwang Seunghee, of the South Korean Ministry of Unification, who supplemented conversations that we’d had in class about the realities facing North Korean refugees and the possibility and potential outcomes of a unification between the two Koreas. We had also learned about the drastically different lifestyles in the two countries, which have been divided for 64 years. Although the North Korean people are essentially shut off from international society, our class learned about their situation from information gathered by the United Nations, refugees, satellite images, and occasionally approved international visitors to the country. The majority of North Koreans are starving and are denied adequate health care, due process, freedom of expression, and the freedom to move within and outside of the country. Their government places people in work camps, where they are abused, tortured, and often worked to death, for arbitrary reasons. Many South Koreans in Seoul — who live only 40 miles from Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital — know little about the situation in North Korea. That lack of awareness made me re-examine my own awareness about social-justice issues in New York state and, more broadly, in the United States. I’ve also realized how my own background has placed me in a privileged position, enabling me to be a Benton Scholar, to have the resources to take Core: Korea, and to travel there. Those five minutes in the DMZ are a small but significant portion of my so-far unforgettable experience in the Benton Scholars program, which is designed to infuse leadership, community, and global themes into the Colgate experience. In just the first year, the program’s small community has helped to shape how I understand my surroundings — as well as how I want to explore methods of building awareness and action. iStock/clinch

Can pigeons process a scene in the blink of an eye? Psychology professor Bruce Hansen and colleagues compared the birds’ abilities to humans’.

— Hannah O’Malley ’17

News and views for the Colgate community

All for one

Mark Williams

arts & culture 18

Both Shaw and Chávez were excited about the exhibitions from such influential names in the art world. “They’re really incredible works,” said Shaw. — Natalie Sportelli ’15

Richard Serra, Venice Notebook 2001, #7, 2002. 1-color etching. Collection of Paul J. Schupf ’58 Living Trust, Gregory O. Koerner ’88, Trustee. © 2014 Richard Serra/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

scene: Autumn 2014

Serra and Arbus, Venice and New York

The Picker Art Gallery, which closed in 2012 for an inventory of Colgate’s art collection, reopened this fall with two exhibitions of artwork by prominent American artists Richard Serra and Diane Arbus. Serra’s pieces, lent to the Picker by trustee emeritus Paul J. Schupf ’58, are primarily from the artist’s collection of Venice Notebook etchings. The series, featuring more than 20 prints, was created when Serra made sketches of his own sculptural work at the 2001 Venice Biennale. The exhibition highlights Serra’s lesser-known work in sketching as well as his talent for printmaking. It is accompanied by a catalogue containing an interview with Schupf and master printmaker Xavier Fumat, who collaborated with Serra on the pieces in the exhibition. The collection of photographs by Arbus is the largest ever to be showcased in a university museum. Composed of 27 images, the exhibition depicts subjects of all walks of life she found in New York City during the 1950s and ’60s. Her work studies the range of human experiences and examines their many intricacies. The pieces were lent from the collection of John ’85 and Susan Manly Pelosi ’85. The day before the gallery opened, Jeff Rosenheim, curator in charge of photography at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, gave a lecture titled “Diane Arbus and American Photography.” The exhibition opening featured remarks from President Jeffrey Herbst and Anja Chávez, director of university museums, as well as Schupf and Jill Shaw, the Picker’s senior curator of collections.

LONEtheater “was a theatrical experience different than any other,” said Ben Mandell ’14, who served as an assistant director/producer, translator, and actor this past summer. The performances took place in real-life New York City settings: a Brooklyn apartment, Bethesda Fountain in Central Park, Grand Central Station, and the backstage and basement of a small theater. Each performance could be watched by only one person at a time, so audience members purchased their tickets for specific 30-minute time slots and locations. LONEtheater’s format “made for an intensely personal experience that was completely unique each time it was performed,” Mandell wrote in a post for Colgate’s summer internship blog series. “The audience member effectively became part of the scene — there were times when the performers engaged that person by posing questions, asking favors, and even having casual conversation.” Mandell found out about the project through April Sweeney, who teaches in the University Theater Program. He had taken three acting classes with her, including an Argentinean theater course. Because director/writer Matias Umpierrez originally wrote LONEtheater in Spanish, Mandell’s language skills made him a primary candidate. He translated parts of the script and served as a translator for Umpierrez during rehearsals. In addition, Mandell acted in “Pact,” which was performed in an

Ben Mandell ’14 performs in “Pact.”

Preview

James Esber 87 Ways to Kill Time Clifford Gallery October 29–December 12 M–F 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; weekends 1–5 p.m. In his multimedia works, James Esber addresses notions of distortion and perception by mining the pawed-over icons of popular culture. His paintings present an array of visual puzzles — cutting, fragmenting, and distorting found images before remaking them as graphic objects in a range of materials, including stretch fabric, vinyl, and plasticine. This exhibition includes samples of work from the last four decades, collapsing time by juxtaposing older and newer works based on themes and visual language. Esber’s style has been described by critic and curator Robert Storr as a kind of “chunky elegance … the product of an imagination keyed to contradiction, and of a talent capable of calibrating the artifice to produce both effects with apparently natural unnaturalness.” For example, with Alphabravo (above), Esber used a cartoon motif while making a statement about war. Reminiscent of the Schoolhouse Rock logo, Alphabravo spells out the letters of the NATO Phonetic Alphabet.

Coordinator Terica Adams ’12 teaches Danceball in the first workshop of Hamilton National Dance Day.

fish eye lens was shown. Golden Auditorium’s 16mm and 35mm projection capabilities entice the Flaherty organization to return annually to Colgate. Simonson was one of six Colgate professors to participate this year. Through the seminar, they get exposure to new materials that they often incorporate into their courses. They also develop close relationships with other professionals in the field, oftentimes asking them to come back during the academic year. For example, in November, the new Colgate/Flaherty Distinguished Global Filmmaker Residency brings acclaimed Russian filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa for an intensive weeklong exploration of film and filmmaking. — Hannah O’Malley ’17

Expanding art’s reach abandoned building and was about a couple of men who were hidden in an undercover office, trying to carry out a secret plan. “This was the perfect first project for me to tackle post-graduation,” Mandell said. “I got to use what I had learned in acting classes, apply techniques from directing classes, and then talk about all of those concepts in Spanish with an Argentinean director. It was a complete synthesis of my studies.”

Put on your dancing shoes

Dancers and nondancers alike came together for Hamilton National Dance Day last July, when people across the nation moved their feet in support of future local dance programs. As part of the two-day celebration, a mix of students and alumni as well as local instructors taught workshops including zumba, hip-hop, belly dancing, ballet, and modern dance. “No matter what the age, skill level, or talent is, dance is a way of selfexpression and a way to cross barriers, whether social or cultural, because everyone is participating in a shared experience,” said Terica Adams ’12, the event’s executive director. Adams works as the training program coordinator at the Association for Financial Professionals in Washington, D.C. National Dance Day, which was set in motion in 2010 by So You Think You Can Dance co-creator and Dizzy Feet Foundation co-president Nigel Lythgoe, takes place annually on the last Saturday in July. Adams wanted to bring the event to Hamilton after

witnessing the positive social impact at the occasion in Washington, D.C. “Hamilton National Dance Day is a space to learn and to interact with others and to be a part of something bigger; it’s about connecting with your fellow dancers to learn about dance and culture,” said Adams. — Hannah O’Malley ’17

Flaherty turns Colgate “Inside Out” In June, film professionals from around the world attended the Flaherty Film Seminar. The numbers: 160 documentary filmmakers, programmers, film theorists, and scholars from 21 countries came for the 60th anniversary of the seminar, which Colgate hosted for the seventh year. “It is one of the preeminent documentary events in the world,” said Mary Simonson, the newly appointed director of Colgate’s Film and Media Studies Program. “Films shown here frequently go on to be screened around the world, taught at colleges and universities, and celebrated at festivals.” Under the theme “Turning the Inside Out,” curators Caspar Stracke and Gabriela Monroy “examined the state of documentary as it travels between the art gallery, the cinema, and the interactive screen,” according to MoMA. org. “In an era of colliding genres and mediums, what holds documentary together from the inside out?” The curators made full use of Colgate’s facilities, including the Clifford Art Gallery; screening rooms in Little Hall; and the Ho Tung Visualization Lab, where a special film shot with a

they’re trying to leave behind, and to have the dialogues that everyone deserves.” Anthony’s first job as executive director was to facilitate an installation that opened in May at the youth center in Manhattan’s Stanley M. Isaacs Neighborhood Center. The exhibition, Animalis, featured prints of animals ranging from realistic to fantastical by 18 artists — six of whom are represented in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. While at Colgate, Anthony interned at the Picker Art Gallery and worked with architecture professor Eric Van Schaack on a book about the 19th century residential constructions in Hamilton, titled Seeing Hamilton: Your Guide to Village Architecture. Anthony is still able to name every one of his art professors — many of whom sparked his interest in art so much that he changed his major from chemistry to art and art history. Before graduating from Colgate, he spent his junior year studying at the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies in New York City. Post-graduation, Anthony worked extensively with nonprofits, galleries, museums, and development entities including his role as the director of Exit Art — which he did for 13 years. Anthony is now focused on expanding the reach of Arts Connect New York. “When you’re doing something you love, it’s not hard to get up in the morning,” said Anthony. “Every day I ask, how can I expand the mission and who are the underserved communities we haven’t reached?” — Hannah O’Malley ’17

Stuart Anthony ’84 has spent a lot of time in the art world and said he has come to recognize its neglect of traditionally underserved communities. As the new executive director of Art Connects New York, he is on what he calls “a killer mission” to bring art to wider audiences. Art Connects New York is a charitable organization that connects artists and curators with social service agencies throughout New York City to provide museum-quality permanent exhibitions of contemporary artwork for free. From a homeless shelter in the Bronx to an Arab-American family support center in Brooklyn, the organization has placed artwork in 34 locations throughout the five boroughs. Anthony’s role involves overseeing the programs to ensure that they meet partner organizations’ stated wishes, fundraising, managing Art Connects New York’s Executive Director Stuart Anthony ’84 staff, and with longtime board member John A. Higgins ’69 at the opening guiding the of the Animalis art installation at the Stanley M. Isaacs Neighbororganization hood Center in New York City. forward. “The need is great in New York; the constituents and residents we’re [working] with are frequently in crisis,” he said. “Art can be a really powerful way for people to face what they want to become, what

News and views for the Colgate community

Andrew Daddio

go ’gate Jared Stroud ’18 (#5) took six shots in the season opener against Saint Mary’s. It was the first game on Colgate’s new Beyer-Small ’76 Field.

Christening Beyer-Small ’76 Field It was a night to remember when the Raiders christened the Beyer-Small ’76 Field at the end of August. A standingroom-only crowd packed Colgate’s new stadium, watching anxiously as the game went into double overtime. Fans erupted as Ethan Kutler ’17 notched the game winner thanks to a penalty kick in the 102nd minute, lifting Colgate 1-0 over Saint Mary’s. The Raiders are now competing on one of the very best facilities in the country, said head men’s soccer coach

ceremonial ribbon-cutting ceremony along with President Jeffrey Herbst and athletics director Victoria M. Chun ’91, MA’94. John Beyer, who was the men’s soccer head coach from 1966 to 1979, led the team to an 81-66-15 overall record with six All-Region players and one All-American (Barry Small ’76). Beyer also coached the women’s team for two years in the early 1980s, posting a 22-10-1 record for a combined 103-7616. Small earned All-America Second Team honors in 1975. The four-year letter winner ended his Colgate tenure fourth on the school chart in career goals with 22 and third in points with 48. The 1975 team captain, he was twice named All-New York Region by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America. As an alumnus, Small served nine years on Colgate’s Board of Trustees, and was instrumental in the establishment of the John Beyer Endowed Coaching Chair for men’s soccer. Check out more photos of opening night at: www.colgate.edu/field opening.

Erik Ronning ’97. Beyer-Small Field “enables us to prepare and compete at the highest level of college soccer,” he said. “It is with great pride and enthusiasm that the women’s soccer program begins this new chapter,” said Kathy Brawn, head women’s coach, as she reflected on the positive changes she’s seen throughout her 24 years at Colgate. Her team drew 0-0 against Colorado College in its home opener. Earlier that evening, the new field’s namesakes took part in a

Andrew Daddio

Alumna helps create, competes in La Course

scene: Autumn 2014

Recognizing the obstacles facing female cyclists, Kathryn Bertine ’97 is paving a new course. In July, she competed in La Course, a race for women, sponsored by the Tour de France, that her activism group helped create this year.

More than 100 women participated in the 56-mile race on the Tour de France’s final circuit, finishing down the Champs-Élysées. The one-day event took place on the same day of (but ended shortly before) the conclusion of the male-only, 23-day race. Bertine competed for Wiggle Honda, the leading British professional trade team. “The Tour de France is the pinnacle event in cycling,” Bertine said. “I saw how many other women, including the Olympic champions and national medalists, also wanted to race the Tour de France,” she added, “and I thought, why aren’t women able to participate?” The inequality between men’s and women’s cycling became clear to Bertine when she started cycling in 2007. “Women weren’t allowed to compete in the same distances and we didn’t have as much opportunity to race,” she said, also noting that “the women’s side of the sport was not a fair playing field in terms of gaining sponsorship and media exposure.” In fact, the Tour de France previously had an equivalent race for women between 1984 and 1989 that was disbanded because of organizational and funding problems. Bertine and her cofounders campaigned to persuade

the race organizer Amaury Sports Organization to bring back and host the women’s race. Through Change. org, they garnered 97,000 signatures in just three weeks. Reflecting on the race, Bertine said, “Off the bike, this race is something I’ve been working toward for a long time. On the bike, standing on the start line of my own dream is and will always be the highlight of my racing career.” “I will never forget: crowds lining the course, cheering for our race (with as much passion as they cheer for the men), the fantastic and aggressive racing, an exciting sprint finish, and an understanding that even though [Marianne] Vos took the podium, we all shared in the win that day. We made history. And at the same time, we’re creating the future.” When Bertine is not training on her bike, which she does six days a week, she is an ESPN journalist, author, and documentary filmmaker. Her third book, The Road Less Taken, was published in September (see this issue’s New, Noted & Quoted section). “I want to be part of the change that brings women’s sports into the limelight and celebrates strong women,” said Bertine. — Hannah O’Malley ’17

Where are they now? Howard Blue ’04

Howard Blue ’04 wants his students to know that he’s on their team. As director of athletics and graduate support at Washington Jesuit Academy (WJA), Blue works with 5th- through 8th-graders from low-income families. “We provide a high-quality and comprehensive education to boys, offering them a safe, rigorous academic setting, and advancing their spiritual, intellectual, emotional, and physical growth,” said Blue, who is now in his 10th year at the academy. He returned to teach in his hometown of Washington, D.C., after Colgate because he wanted to help kids from similar backgrounds to his. “It is important that we support our students through high school, with the graduation rate among minority men in the country — and especially D.C. — being as low as it is,” he said. Part of Blue’s role involves developing initiatives that prepare students for college and their careers. “A lot of our kids are first-generation college students, so their parents haven’t been through this,” he said. “I help relate things for them, and I’m able to draw on what I went through — from the time I was in high school, to choosing a college.” Blue came to Colgate from Gonzaga College High School, where Devin Tuohey ’02 was one of his basketball teammates and older brother Brendan Tuohey ’96 was an assistant coach. Brendan introduced Blue to Colgate by driving him up to Hamilton for visits when Devin went off to college. Blue made another Colgate friend from D.C. on his senior-year official visit when he spent time with basketball player LaMarr Datcher ’02. Although Blue was recruited by numerous universities, he chose to attend Colgate and play under Head Coach Emmett Davis. The adjustment from the heart of a city to rural Hamilton was a challenge, Blue recalled. But, “my teammates helped me get over some of the struggles I had,” he said. “I had a built-in support system.” The four-year basketball letter winner made the Patriot League All-Rookie Team his first season and went on to stamp his name throughout the Colgate career charts. He finished 16th in scoring with 1,201 points and also was sixth in field-goal percentage, 11th in steals, and 12th in rebounding. He was team captain his senior season alongside Mark Linebaugh ’04, who now directs Colgate’s basketball operations. Finishing on a high note, Blue earned All-Patriot League Tournament honors in 2004 after an injury had limited his play during the regular season. Blue’s Colgate-D.C. connections continue today. One of his WJA coworkers is J.B. Gerald ’04, a wide receiver and key contributor on the 2003 football team that made it to the Division I-AA national championship game. Gerald helped Blue start WJA’s athletics program, which includes football, soccer, baseball, track, and basketball. The two also coach football and basketball together, and led the basketball team to winning back-to-back city titles. “We produce some of the finest and most complete student-athletes in the D.C. area,” Blue said. In addition, he and Gerald started a nonprofit organization called Vertex, whose goal is to provide character and academic enrichment to student-athletes. “Vertex allows student-athletes to improve in sport-specific areas by taking a holistic approach to their development,” Blue explained. “Along with academics and test prep, training consists of strength, skill, and mental aspects aimed toward balanced and rapid improvement.” Whether it’s on the court or in the classroom, Blue ensures that his students know he’s in their corner. — John Painter

Pro cyclist Kathryn Bertine ’97 raced the inaugural La Course by Tour de France, which she helped to create.

News and views for the Colgate community

go ’gate

Waeger to lead Raiders swimming and diving

A new era at Lineberry Natatorium began with the announcement of Andy Waeger as the Mark S. Randall Head Swimming and Diving Coach. Waeger arrived from Texas Christian University (TCU), where he was assistant coach for the Horned Frogs of the Big 12 Conference for two years. He previously served as women’s head coach at Lock Haven University and as men’s and women’s head coach at Slippery Rock University. “Andy understands what it takes to lead student-athletes to excel at one of the best academic universities in the nation, while offering them a superb Division I athletics experience,” said athletics director Victoria M. Chun ’91, MA’94. Waeger takes over for Fernando Canales, who left after four seasons to assume duties with the Turkish National Team. At TCU, Waeger assisted in all phases of the Horned Frogs men’s and women’s program. He was the men’s team coordinator and overall recruiting coordinator as well as the breaststroke and butterfly stroke group coach. He helped TCU establish 30 school records and 151 top-five performances. The Horned Frogs earned 73 All-Big 12 Conference honors, 87 NCAA “B” cut performances, and eight Academic All-American honorable mentions. A native of Dublin, Ohio, Waeger started out his coaching career as a student assistant at Fairmont State College in West Virginia, where he had been a four-year letter winner for the Fighting Falcons. As a senior, he took the conference title in the 200 breast and 400 medley relay along with serving as a team captain. He holds a bachelor’s degree in education (2002), and a master’s in sport management (2004) from Slippery Rock.

Josie Stockill ’16 in action when Colgate took on the University of Connecticut

Lauren Schmetterling ’10 (fourth from left) and the U.S. Women’s Eight crew

Stockill ’16 named to Kiwi national team

Josie Stockill ’16 had a little side trip to make before returning for the start of fall classes. Hailing from Napier, New Zealand, she was one of 12 players named to her country’s women’s national basketball team. In late August, the New Zealand Tall Ferns traveled to China for the 2014 JinQiang Cup Four-Nation Women’s Basketball Tournament. They played a combined six games against a U.S. select team and the national teams from Slovenia and the host nation. Stockill had spent five years with New Zealand’s Junior National Team and earned MVP honors for her Under 17 team during the 2009 national championships. In 2010, she played on the Under 19 team at the FIBA Oceania Qualifiers, and in 2011 competed for New Zealand’s Under 20 team in the state championships in Australia. During her two seasons at Colgate, the forward has played in all 61 games with nine starts. She was a Patriot League All-Rookie Team member her

first season and already owns 68 career blocked shots, good for ninth-best in Colgate history.

Schmetterling ’10, U.S. eight win gold

Lauren Schmetterling ’10 and the U.S. women’s eight crew captured another gold medal with a victory at the 2014 World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam at the end of August. It was Schmetterling’s second turn on the victory stand in as many years and the ninth consecutive first-place trophy for the U.S. women’s eight at an Olympic Games or world championship. At the start of the championship final, Canada was with the United States stroke for stroke, but that lasted only a few hundred meters. The U.S. women’s eight dynasty had been working on the front end of their race, and once they pushed into the lead, it was all over. Seat by seat, they pushed the Canadians back as the buoys flew by, winning gold in 5 minutes and 56.83 seconds in front of Canada and China.

U.S. Rowing

Lacrosse laurels

scene: Autumn 2014

Three Colgaters in the lacrosse world hit some high marks this summer. Two of them helped the U.S. National Team to a second-place finish at the FIL World Lacrosse Championships in Denver in July. Chris Eck ’08, who plays professionally for the Boston Cannons of Major League Lacrosse (MLL), “was dominant throughout the entire tournament at the face-off X,” said Mike Murphy, head coach of Colgate’s men’s lacrosse. Winning 65

Raider Nation: Fan spotlights John Flannery ’88

Hometown: Chappaqua, N.Y. Game: Women’s field hockey vs. Ball State (L, 2-1) on 9/6/14

Debbie Eck

What brings you to the game today? My niece, Katelyn Francese ’15, plays field hockey.

L to R: Matt Abbott, Peter Baum ’13, and Chris Eck ’08 played in the 2014 Major League Lacrosse All-Star Game.

of his 87 face-off attempts for a 74.7 percent success rate, Eck added 42 ground balls and caused one turnover. As a Raider, Eck starred at midfield, earning one All-Patriot League firstteam selection and two second-team nods while helping the team to the 2008 Patriot League championship. Matt Abbott, Colgate’s volunteer assistant coach, performed as a defensive midfielder. He started three games, posting 11 ground balls and causing two turnovers from his defensive midfield position. An All-America performer at Syracuse University and key member of the Orange’s 2008 and 2009 national championship squads, Abbott is currently a midfielder for the Chesapeake Bayhawks. Abbott, who put up eight goals and eight assists this season, was also selected by the league’s game

officials for the inaugural USL/MLL Sportsmanship Player of the Year Award. The six-year veteran, known for his positive behavior on and off the field, is thought of as one of the best all-around lacrosse players whose versatile skills allow him to assist his teammates however needed. He now helps the Raiders alongside his brother, assistant men’s lacrosse coach Mike Abbott. In other MLL honors, Peter Baum ’13 was named by the league’s head coaches and general managers to the 2014 MLL All-Pro Team. He finished third in goals with 35 after leading the league for most of his rookie season, amassing 50 points to help him earn one of the 12 places on the team. Earlier in the summer, Baum was selected to and scored in the MLL All-Star Game, playing against Abbott and Eck.

Is there anything different about Colgate sports today, compared to when you attended school here? The facilities are dramatically better. Tyler’s Field didn’t exist, and the stadium portion of the football field wasn’t there, either. Tell us something sports-related about yourself. I play a lot of golf, and I’ve played golf a lot here. My wife and I used to play here for about 10 years, before we had kids.

Joe Porco ’15

Hometown: Brookfield, Conn. Meet: Men’s and women’s cross country Harry Lang Invitational, 9/6/14 Why did you come to the meet today? A lot of my friends are on the team, so I came out to support them. They are seniors on both the men’s and women’s teams. What is your favorite thing about coming to see the cross country meets? They just look so good when they’re running. They really do. Have you seen a Colgate athlete do anything today that really impressed you? Nick Harper ’15, one of my very good friends, started his warm-up late and caught up to the rest of the team.

Sarah Bowles ’17

Hometown: Cicero, N.Y. Game: Women’s soccer vs. UMass (W, 2-0) on 9/7/14

Demetrius Russell ’16 (#20) sprints to gain yards for the Raiders during the football season opener against Ball State University. The Cardinals flew over the Raiders 30–10 on their home field in Muncie, Ind. Russell and his teammates’ helmets bear a “72” this year in honor of former All-Patriot League offensive lineman Brian Crockett ’13, who died in March.

What is your favorite thing about coming to watch soccer? It’s not choppy like other sports where you hear the whistle blow twenty-four/seven. It’s very flowy and fun to watch. What do you think of the new Beyer-Small ’76 Field? Oh, I love it. It’s so nice that it ties Tyler’s Field and Andy Kerr [Stadium] together. What is one of the most important things about sports to you? I play on the lacrosse team. Working hard, and a sense of family are important. You always have someone who has your back, so you always want to work hard for the other people.

Bob Cornell

— Interviews by Jessica Rice ’16, photos by Phil Inglis

News and views for the Colgate community

new, noted , & quoted 24

scene: Autumn 2014

Books, music & film Information is provided by publishers, authors, and artists.

The Road Less Taken: Lessons from a Life Spent Cycling Kathryn Bertine ’97 (Triumph Books)

Beginning in her early 30s, Kathryn Bertine made the life-changing decision to pursue professional cycling. Her new book of essays, meant for all who seek to challenge the ordinary path and pursue their dreams, looks at life from the perspective of following one’s heart. For Bertine, the choice to pursue cycling meant choosing bicycles over babies, highways over husbands, and carbon fiber over a fortuitous career.

American Higher Education in Crisis? What Everyone Needs to Know Goldie Blumenstyk ’79 (Oxford University Press)

Technological innovations and disruptive market forces are buffeting colleges and universities as their financial structure grows increasingly fragile. State disinvestment has driven up tuition prices at public colleges, and student debt has reached a startling record high. Cost-minded students are questioning the worth of a college education, even as studies show its importance for economic and social mobility. As elite institutions trim financial aid in search of more sustainable business models, racial and economic stratification in higher education continues to grow. American higher education is at a crossroads, explains Goldie Blumenstyk, a reporter for the Chronicle of Higher Education. Blumenstyk guides readers through the forces and trends that have brought the education system to this point,

highlighting the ways they will reshape America’s colleges in the years to come. In examining this embattled and evolving arena, she emphasizes the open-ended conversation about higher education’s future and illuminates the stakes for students, colleges, and the nation.

When Private Talk Goes Public: Gossip in American History

Edited by Kathleen A. Feeley ’90 and Jennifer Frost (Palgrave Macmillan) Rumor, hearsay, tittle-tattle, scuttlebutt, scandal, dirt — whatever the term, gossip is one of the most common forms of communication. And yet, even as it is often absorbing and socially significant, gossip is also widely denigrated. When Private Talk Goes Public: Gossip in American History brings together an array of case studies in the history of American gossip, from colonial witchcraft trials to the antebellum, free black press to the post–World War II red scare to modern celebrity culture, in print and online. Contributors from diverse disciplines explore the role of gossip in American society, culture, and politics. They trace its transformations and continuities over time and make a convincing case that we should reassess this too-readily dismissed variety of social exchange. Kathleen A. Feeley teaches history at the University of Redlands and her co-editor Jennifer Frost teaches at the University of Auckland, New Zealand.

Jonathan Reynolds moved back to the Cape to take over his uncle’s business and start fresh after his own marriage ended. He’s not looking for anything complicated — until he meets Kendall. Throw an unruly foster puppy and an uptight new neighbor into the mix and things get a little crazy. Now Kendall has to decide if it’s the kind of crazy she can live with … for the rest of her life.

Featured fiction

You can read excerpts from the following new alumni works, as well as others listed in previous issues, in “You Are Here” on pg. 32.

Swing

Philip Beard II ’85 (Dystel & Goderich Literary Management) In Philip Beard’s new novel, John Kostka is 3 feet tall but larger than life, moving through the world on gloved hands and powerful arms as if on a set of parallel bars. Henry Graham is a 10-year-old boy whose father has just left home for good. When the two meet at a downtown bus stop, all they seem to have in common is their love of the 1971 Pittsburgh Pirates. But that is enough to begin a lifelong friendship that, eventually, enables both men to confront old enemies and heal old wounds. Swing is a multifaceted meditation on childhood heroes, the beauty of baseball, and the power of love to heal a family in crisis.

My Kind of Crazy

Sing for Life: Away, You Rolling River

Katie O’Sullivan’s new contemporary romance My Kind of Crazy is a story of new beginnings and second chances. Kendall Roarke is betting everything on making her Harwichport Bed & Breakfast into the premier wedding destination on Cape Cod, despite her recent messy divorce.

Away, You Rolling River, the second part of Douglas Cowie’s Sing for Life diptych, continues the story of a musician named Brian who is on a personal journey that’s taken him from Iowa, to Manhattan’s Tin Pan Alley, to Minnesota and beyond. Following the trail of a postcard sent to him by his long-missing friend, Brian travels in

Katie O’Sullivan ’87 (The Wild Rose Press)

Douglas Cowie ’99

In the media search of clues — and as he does, the search for his friend becomes a discovery of himself. As Brian encounters a variety of musicians and their music, he begins to use these experiences as a means of shaping his own relationship to the country he’s living in and traveling through.

moves abroad with her parents, while Owen heads out west with his father. Their relationship plays out across the globe as they stay in touch through postcards, e-mails, and phone calls. But can they — despite the odds — find a way to reunite?

“Unfortunately there’s a little more work to do to better understand crab reproduction so we can make sure the population thrives while we serve up this delicious crustacean for dinner.”

The Tumble Inn

The River’s Tale

Michael Virtanen ’76 (Lost Pond Press)

— Jacq Zier ’15, a SeaDoc Society intern, wrote for the Islands’ Sounder (Eastsound, Wash.) about a SeaDoc Society/UC Davis research project

William Loizeaux ’76 (Syracuse University Press) Tired of their high school teaching jobs and discouraged by their failed attempts at conceiving a child, Mark and Fran Finley decide they need a change in their lives. Abruptly, they leave their friends and family in suburban New Jersey to begin anew as innkeepers in the Adirondack Mountains. There they muddle through their first season at the inn, but miraculously, conceive a child, a girl they name Nat. Years later, when Mark and Fran are nearing middle age and Nat is a troubled teenager, Mark’s life is ripped apart, and he must choose between returning to his old home in New Jersey or trying to rebuild what is left of his life in the place of his greatest joy and deepest sorrow.

The Geography of You and Me Jennifer E. Smith ’03 (Poppy)

Jennifer E. Smith’s new young adult novel, The Geography of You and Me, shows that the center of the world isn’t necessarily a place. Sometimes, it can be a person. Lucy lives on the 24th floor. Owen lives in the basement. It’s fitting, then, that they meet in the middle — stuck between two floors of a New York City apartment building, on an elevator rendered useless by a citywide blackout. After they’re rescued, Lucy and Owen spend the night wandering the darkened streets and marveling at the rare appearance of stars above Manhattan. But once the power is back, so is reality. Lucy soon

In The River’s Tale, Alison Reade flees to the Adirondacks to escape an obsessive boyfriend. She moves into her aunt’s cabin on an isolated stretch of the Hudson River, lands a job as a rafting guide, and starts to fall in love with her charismatic boss. Life is good — until she discovers that the Adirondacks are not the safe haven she thought they were. Jack Kirkland, the main character in Within a Forest Dark, reappears in Michael Virtanen’s new novel as an insurance examiner investigating a drowning in the Hudson Gorge. Both novels are infused with Virtanen’s knowledge and love of the Adirondacks.

Also of note:

Amy Baram Reid ’86 translated from French and wrote the afterword for Far from My Father (UVA/CARAF), the latest novel from Veronique Tadjo. A woman returns to the Côte d’Ivoire after her father’s death and confronts not only unresolved family issues that she had left behind but also questions about her own identity. A Handbook for Managing Strategic Processes: Becoming Agile in a World of Changing Realities (Author House) by Michael W. Lodato ’54 provides steps for strategic management at all levels. In Punishment Enough: A Different Approach to Doing Time — One Superintendent’s Journey to Transform the Experience of Incarceration (David Miller Press), author David L. Miller ’65 reflects upon 39 years in the New York State Department of Corrections. During his tenure, Miller believed in patience, humor, shared humanity, and creative programming to transform life within a maximum security prison.

“There were things here that no one really knew about.” — Rachel McGarry ’95 talks about curating in the Star Tribune article “Minneapolis museum showcases 100 master drawings from its collection”

“Summer internship funding for students … is a win for both the student and the higher education institution because the student can afford to take an unpaid internship that will help his or her career prospects, and the college can showcase its ability to prepare its undergrads for the job market to prospective students.” — Natalie Sportelli ’15 wrote “Who’s Really Paying the Price of Unpaid Internships” during her own summer internship for Forbes

“A professor of mine likened fasting to training a horse with the purpose of withstanding the rigors of war.” — MacKenzie Neeson ’16 wrote about the “difficult yet rewarding journey” of fasting in her blog post on Faithstreet.com

“It really brings people together, the number 13.” — Sarah Chandler ’16, whose parents also both attended Colgate, talked to WKTV (Utica) about the importance of the university’s numerical tradition on Colgate Day

“Colgate University’s Robert H.N. Ho Science Center, for example, is organized to foster conversations among biologists, physicists, geologists, environmental scientists and even geographers — who are traditionally thought of as being from a social science rather than a natural science.” — University Business, “Inside Look: Science Center”

News and views for the Colgate community

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Upwardly Mobile:

Alumni App-lying

themselves

Bob Woodruff ’58 won’t leave home without Teux Deux, a mobile to-do list that keeps him organized. Julia McCoy ’15 is hooked on Snapchat — keeping her friends posted on her whereabouts with selfies. No matter the generation, Colgate people, like many Americans, are spending less time on their smartphones talking and more time using mobile apps. In the past year, app usage in the United States spiked 52 percent, according to a new study released by comScore. The Internet analytics company is calling the phenomenon “the app majority” because Americans are spending 7 out of 8 of their mobile minutes on apps. And yet, it’s also been discovered that smartphone owners are losing their “appetite” for downloading new apps. So, although people are spending more time on Facebook, YouTube, and Pandora, they’re less likely to install novelty

scene: Autumn 2014

apps like iFrenchKiss, which rates your smooching ability. “Most people don’t use a lot of apps,” opined Kevin Galligan ’98, a leader in New York City’s Android development community. “But there’s the hope and the chance that if you can get your brand directly into someone’s device and provide them some utilities, they’ll keep it. And if you do that well, you can carve little slivers of the market.” We talked to innovators in the app industry, from alumni carving slivers with niche applications to those who are taking big chunks out of the market. We included young alumni, those making a leap of faith mid-career, and seasoned professionals for whom this industry didn’t even exist when they were on campus. They told us their inspirations and motivations, perspectives on the industry, and predictions for the future.

Good libations HARRY RAYMOND ’11 Now that the term mixology is part of the general lexicon, craft beer is hipper than ever, and box wine has shaken its trashy reputation, Harry Raymond ’11 is providing people with a new tool for what he calls this “renaissance in the drink world.” With Shindig, he invites people to become “drink explorers.” A political science major at Colgate, Raymond first “fell in love with digital” when, as managing editor of the Maroon-News, he was tasked with redesigning the student newspaper’s website. After graduation, he founded East Village Digital, building websites for small businesses and working in social media marketing in New York City. In his free time, Raymond began frequenting a swanky Italian restaurant in the East Village. Oftentimes, he would be overwhelmed by the wine list, as well as by drink offerings at other bars. Although he’d tried countless types of wines and beers, Raymond said, he “still was clueless

about what my tastes were.” So, he concocted the idea for Shindig, which helps people log the beverages they’ve tried and get recommendations from others in the app’s social networking community. To get Shindig in motion, Raymond teamed up with Nick Manning, a developer with whom he’d formed a friendship by going to mobile meet-ups. They launched the first version of the app as a personal drink journal, and Raymond sent it to all of his Colgate buddies. “They helped get us into the top 125 food and drink apps in the world,” he said. Wanting advice on positioning the app and future growth potential, Raymond and Manning applied to the

Colgate Entrepreneurs Fund for the summer of 2013. They received $15,000 in development funding, and for six weeks they shared incubator space in downtown Hamilton with other alumni and students. In addition, the two received guidance from alumni mentors through the university’s Thought Into Action (TIA) Entrepreneurship Institute. “It was really helpful because there were so many successful entrepreneurs who were willing to give advice,” Raymond said. He and Manning made changes based on user feedback and shipped new versions (Shindig is now in its 22nd iteration). Retooling it as a photo app as well as expanding from beer and wine into the world of cocktails helped accelerate Shindig’s growth. The investment money kept pouring in when Team Shindig’s pitch won $45,000 in New York City’s Startup Jackpot in November 2013. And last April, a Kickstarter campaign brought in $22,000. Shindig has approximately 10,000 global users, and thousands log in daily. As Raymond noted, with those kinds of numbers “your customers kind of become your boss.” In at least one way, he really is at the beck and call of his users — his personal phone number is built into the app. That function has its rewards. One day, Raymond heard from a grateful guy in Pittsburgh who said he’d fallen into Bud Light laziness, but seeing people online having fun at different places encouraged him to get off the couch and try new things. “The community is super passionate about [this app] and that’s the exciting part for us,” Raymond said. At press time, Shindig was in the top five worldwide in the app store under the search term “liquor.” So, next time you’re about to order your standard rum and Coke, Raymond hopes you’ll instead consider a jalapeño margarita or lobster claw bloody mary — then tell him how it tasted.

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Building communication MATT SENA ’98

Friends since grunge ruled the airwaves, Matt Sena ’98 and Doug Chambers now build apps for pros who get their hands grungy. Their app, FieldLens, is a communication platform designed for construction professionals, “[including] the different companies and people who work together on the job site, to help them document, communicate, and coordinate around field issues,” Sena explained. Up until 2010, Sena had been working in the finance world. Unsatisfied and wanting a career shift, he joined JumpStart NYC, a program that helps professionals transition into new professions. From there, he honed his business development skills at an inbound marketing start-up. Meanwhile, as a construction project manager for more than a decade, Chambers had witnessed the common problem of miscommunication on the job. When he left that industry and became a Google apps reseller for construction companies, “he saw a tremendous amount of potential in cloud technologies and ways for companies to communicate more effectively,” Sena explained. The two, who’d met in 9th grade, decided to pursue Chambers’s idea and became business partners in 2011. To get FieldLens off the ground, they first brought a technical partner on board. They released the beta version to select

companies in 2013, and last March officially launched the product. FieldLens has since been gaining traction with companies of all sizes and their employees, including general contractors, subcontractors, and designers. “These professionals are not in front of a computer for many parts of their day,” Sena said, “so they’re communicating with pens and paper, e-mail, texts, and phone calls.” The app puts all of those pieces in one place, tracking productivity and organizational items. Having built the company from three people to more than 30 employees, Sena has seen his role evolve into director of customer success, managing the group that handles coaching, on-boarding of new clients, and support. And, because FieldLens is essentially a project-management tool, he and his staff use the app to track their own work. When asked about the future role of technology in the construction industry, Sena said, “Wearable technology brings the promise of a more connected, more efficient, and safer jobsite. Examples could be Google Glass, allowing for hands-free video recording; a piece of machinery that schedules its own maintenance; or clothing that relays a person’s vitals to ensure worker safety.”

Leading Droid out of the void KEVIN GALLIGAN ’98

Android devices used to be considered inferior to the iPhone, but they’ve been taking more bytes out of Apple in recent years. As app creators try to keep up with the rising demand, they’ve turned to Kevin Galligan ’98. He and his team at Touch Lab are hired by companies to make their iPhone apps Android compatible. Galligan founded Touch Lab in 2011 after noticing a dearth of Droid developers. Very few people in the New York City tech scene were working on the Android side professionally, but he had been “doing it for fun” for a few years. The former computer science major and serial entrepreneur was working on his start-up idea during the day and doing Android consulting on the side. In the summer of 2010, when Verizon released Motorola’s Droid X to great reviews, perceptions about the Android system shifted toward the positive. Galligan decided the time was right to devote his full attention to Android development. Touch Lab is still the only major Androidspecific development

company in New York City. Galligan has seven full-time employees as well as a stable of parttime workers and contractors. Their clientele ranges from small start-ups to large enterprises like the Associated Press and Topps trading cards. And, two of his clients are Colgate alumni. “Kevin is a big presence in the Android development community,” said Matt Sena ’98, who met Galligan at a technology meet-up group. “He’s got a great reputation, a great team, and they do great work.” Galligan helped Sena’s FieldLens app become Android compatible and now he’s working with Sena on his exploration of Google Glass possibilities. Galligan is also doing Android development on the Shindig app for Harry Raymond ’11, whom he met in a co-working space. “We immediately hit it off,” Raymond said. When Galligan is working on a new project, he endeavors to differentiate the Android and iPhone versions. “You don’t want your users to think that you just copied their iPhone app, because then they would feel like they got hand-me-downs, and that’s a real problem,” he said. “We call that i-Droid rage.” Galligan leads meet-ups and gives educational talks to dispute the misconception that “you only get an Android because you can’t afford an iPhone,” he said. At press time, Galligan was organizing the first Droidcon in the United States, held in New York City in September. The lineup featured a variety of professionals on topics from Android animations to GPS apps. He became interested in organizing a New York convention after speaking at Droidcon Berlin and was able to land sponsors including Google play, Microsoft, Sony, and Yahoo. Galligan said he organizes these events because he believes in strengthening the community and meeting new people — he operates out of co-working spaces for the same reason. Another way that Galligan keeps the human touch is by unplugging from the digital world. Instead, he plugs into an electric guitar when playing with his hard-rock band Diesel America, which originated at Colgate and includes Frank Cherena ’03. The band just released an album called Leave Your Mark. It’s fair to say that Galligan is leaving his mark in more ways than one. Photo: istockphoto

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What’s something that can be a connection bringing two things together? Making the connection

Solving the date dilemma

JUSTIN MCLEOD ’06

KATIE RYDELL’14

What’s something that can be a connection bringing two things together? A “hinge” — hence, the aptly named new dating app by Justin McLeod ’06. As he was graduating from Harvard Business School in 2011, McLeod realized how few people in his class he had met during his time in Cambridge. Even in an environment designed to help foster relationships and meet new people, he still noticed an overwhelming number of connections just waiting to be made. From this realization, McLeod sought a solution. His ideas ultimately evolved into Hinge, which connects people with friends of friends. The app plugs into Facebook, creating the user profile and curating potential matches from the user’s extended social network. The app works in geographical regions, prompting users to enter their zip code of one of 16 cities in which Hinge is currently active. Then, each day, users are presented with a small pool of potential matches — who either share a mutual friend or are third-degree connections. Limiting the match options each day reinforces McLeod’s “quality over quantity” mantra so that users give greater consideration to their matches before clicking the X or the heart icon at the bottom of the screen. Hinge is meant to simply create connections. Its name deliberately lacks any romantic notions, reinforcing the concept that the app is just the first step in the process of meeting new people through friends. Like being introduced through a friend, Hinge gives users the scoop on where their matches work and went to school. That feature sets the app apart from other tech dating experiences, McLeod said, adding, “the transparency and accountability involved make it a much more well-lit, enjoyable experience for everyone.” If Facebook is where you keep track of your connections, then Hinge is the place to cultivate new ones and ultimately move them into the real world. With a recent $8.5 million investment from Founders Fun and Lowercase Capital, it’s clear that McLeod’s own social clout is soaring in the tech industry. Hinge has been heralded by national publications including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Glamour, and Cosmopolitan. As of August, Hinge had expanded to Houston, Texas; Seattle; and Denver.

As president of Kappa Kappa Gamma during her time at Colgate, Katie Rydell ’14 was no stranger to functions and events that required dates. She was all-too familiar with the stories of stressed-out sorority women searching for reliable, fun companions at the last minute before a formal or date party. Instead of ruminating on the hassle of finding a suitor for the evening, Rydell started brainstorming. She decided to pursue a project through Colgate’s Thought into Action (TIA) Entrepreneurship Institute that would address the issue in the form of a mobile app. From this proactive idea to remedy the dating woes of college students across the country, Rydell created LateDate. LateDate provides an interface that can be used by event hosts and guests alike. It connects through Facebook, suggesting potential dates for events through its interface. The app utilizes the Facebook profile to present users with suggestions of mutual friends and people their friends may already know on campus. Last spring, Rydell pitched her project to the “Shark Tank” investment panel at TIA Entrepreneur Weekend and received $5,000. In addition, she got $15,000 through the Colgate Entrepreneurs Fund as well as the use of the TIA incubator space in downtown Hamilton over the summer to develop the app. Her three interns, Sarah Cummings ’15, Joanie Davis ’15, and Anna DeDio ’15, worked from Hamilton as Rydell focused on LateDate in New York City. In June, the team celebrated LateDate’s release in the iTunes app store and excitedly anticipated its adoption by Colgate students. Although she currently has a full-time job as a financial analyst in Manhattan, Rydell dedicates her nights and weekends to LateDate. Her idea, which began as a way to find dates for events, evolved into the mobile platform that she hopes can be downloaded at other colleges for functions outside of Greek life on campus.

News and views for the Colgate com-

“ Gamers” are no longer just bespectacled teenage boys playing Zelda. The art of gaming AJ ABADI ’05

Game changer JULIAN FARRIOR ’93

“Gamers” are no longer just bespectacled teenage boys playing Zelda. Housewives, professionals, and girls are all taking part in the Clash of Clans and Candy Crush craze. “More and more people, across the board, are playing games of all shapes and forms,” said Julian Farrior ’93, co-founder of mobile-game company Backflip Studios. “Mobile gaming consumption is now nearly ubiquitous.” Farrior spent 1999 through 2006 at Yahoo. When the iPhone came out, he thought, “This is going to change the world … we need to make a business out of this.” He decided to “follow a brilliant engineer [Dale Thoms] out to Boulder [Colo.] to start a different company.” At the same time, Farrior noticed the changing demographics in gaming when he saw his wife, Jennifer (Heltzel) ’95, playing Words With Friends. Noting that it was out of character for her, “the light came on,” he said. “We saw a lack of compelling casual gaming content, and we built our business around that. It was also the segment that was making the most money.” With a third partner, they founded Backflip Studios in 2009 and released Paper Toss, based on the theory that people wanted “a simple, short-duration game.” Set in an office, the game’s objective is for players to flick a crumpled piece of paper into a garbage bin. Farrior’s instincts were on target: Paper Toss shot through the roof and was the top downloaded game that year. By 2011, it had been downloaded 50 million times and was the 10th most downloaded iPhone app of all time. The partners have enjoyed continued success with games like Ragdoll Blaster, NinJump, and DragonVale — the top-grossing iPad game and third top-grossing iPhone game of 2012. Those hits helped Backflip grab the attention of Hasbro, which last year paid $112 million for a majority stake in the company. Farrior is still CEO, handling the management and operational details. The trend that he recognized years ago has stayed steady, with games ranking second only to social media in time spent on mobile devices. “Gaming is now an acceptable form of entertainment,” he said, “and drawing the distinction between that, watching a video from Netflix, or consuming television is getting blurred.” To those just starting out in the app industry, Farrior advised: “This is a hard business right now. Learn from your mistakes.” Recognized as Colgate’s first Entrepreneur of the Year this past spring, he added, “Sometimes it takes a few years’ experience to truly get the formula right.”

scene: Autumn 2014

For AJ Abadi ’05, video gaming is more than just a visual experience; it’s a chance for storytelling. With his game Ash, for example, players take their characters through a world and watch them develop and grow. “They foster new relationships and increase in scope and experience,” he said. Abadi immersed himself in the gaming world after graduating from Colgate with a Japanese and mathematics double major. While earning his MBA at the University of Virginia’s Darden Business School, he studied the theory behind game development and design. “I’ve always believed that video games are the next medium of art, so that was my thesis going into Darden,” Abadi said. One of his classmates learned of his interests and suggested that they create their own gaming company during the summer of 2009, when the video game craze was in its early stages. Abadi took a leap of faith. Through SRRN Games, they released iLib — a play on Mad Libs, using classic literature like the Sherlock Holmes series and Frankenstein. After that summer, he entered Darden’s incubator program to work with other entrepreneurs to further explore his gaming pursuits. In April 2010, Abadi released Chimes: by tapping five colored spheres, players can clear the like-colored obstacles flowing across the screen at any given time. Each time an obstacle is cleared, the player hears the soft notes of a

Colgate takes a page from app developers’ e-book

chime. The game gained recognition by being featured by Apple staff in the app store — a prestigious honor bestowed to few at the time. After his success with Chimes, Abadi worked with his team to build Ash. Abadi’s dialogue and scripting for the role-playing game was praised by gaming magazines for its mature themes such as love, loss, and betrayal. Since that release, he has launched other mobile app games and is currently pursuing gaming on consoles. Abadi considers himself not just a founder of SRRN, but also a developer, an innovator, and a multitasker, working with his team through every step of the process. “The biggest challenge for any developer is finding a way to connect with an audience,” noted Abadi, who is constantly seeking to push past the clutter in the app store and gain recognition for his apps on a greater scale. Much like the characters in Ash, Abadi will continue to increase his scope, developing and growing as he creates innovative games in this digital age.

Colgate’s own mobile app provides information for all members of the university community, whether you’re a grad looking for the latest news or a student trying to find food. With the touch of an icon, you can launch the Colgate Mobile Directory, which features LinkedIn integration and an “alumni near me” function that uses directory information to tell you if there are alumni with mailing addresses near your location. “We’re working inside the mobile space to engage with alumni and connect them with each other,” said alumni relations vice president Tim Mansfield. “We’re not only facilitating conversation — we’re a part of the conversation.” More than 4,500 alumni, parents, and students have downloaded the Colgate mobile app since it launched in November 2013.

Reflecting on the mobile age KEN LANDAU ’86

Ken Landau ’86 has been selling apps since before they were downloadable. In 1994, he and his business partner founded LandWare — a name Landau came up with, along with their slogan “Software for Terra Firma” — and were making apps for the Apple Newton, one of the first personal digital assistant devices. “It was big, it was clunky, the writing recognition was not perfect, but despite all that, it had a really solid following,” Landau said. LandWare sold a financial calculator, a checkbook app, and some games. Because this was before the Internet became popular, they delivered the software on floppy discs through the mail and in stores. Over 19 years, Landau and his team adapted to keep up with new technology — the Palm Pilot, Windows Mobile, Blackberry, and then the iPhone. They also switched their name to reflect the changing industry: as MobileAge, their releases included Shanghai Mahjong, Pocket Quicken, the first portable keyboard, and the Zagat restaurant guide. “We learned that you obviously can’t count on [consistency in] technology,” said Landau, who recently left MobileAge to become a solution specialist at Toshiba. There, he helps clients solve business challenges in areas such as digital signage, advanced document security, and document management. On his first day at Toshiba, Landau got a chuckle when an IT staffer e Th

les W

asked if he needed training on his companyissued iPhone. “I said, ‘No, do you?’” joked Landau, who had gotten his start with Apple right after Colgate. As a senior, the English and economics double major created a newsletter with James Sarna ’87 that focused on the just-released Macintosh. Titled “MacGate,” Landau mailed a copy of the publication to Apple. Shortly after, he got a call from the head of university marketing, who offered him an internship. Landau’s parents had always been supportive, but they envisioned their son working in a traditional firm or on Wall Street. His grandfather also questioned why he was taking an internship “with a fruit company in California.” Still, as a sign of solidarity, his father and grandfather bought stock in Apple — only to ask later, why didn’t we buy more? “It’s been a tremendous run,” said Landau, who concedes that his iPhone now has considerably more power than his Mac128K at Colgate did. He also marvels at wireless capabilities, voice recognition, and Apple’s Facetime. “The fact that my mother can call her grandkids on her phone and see them … that’s something that when she was a little girl, she would see in movies and dream about, but it’s here now.”

.M org an, und er res ort) toration ( Courtesy of Mystic Seap

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ew books of all kinds regularly roll into our office. No surprise: there are a lot of great writers among our alumni. And, maybe partly because of the setting of our campus — rural, and yet a center of learning and exposure to ideas and culture the world over — Colgate alumni also know the power a particular place can have, in life, learning, and literature. As Eudora Welty, fiction luminary of the American South, put it, “Place, to the writer at work, is seen in a frame. Not an empty frame, a brimming one. Point of view is a sort of burning-glass, a product of personal experience and time; it is burnished with feelings and sensibilities, charged from moment to moment with the sun-points of imagination.” Recently, we noticed a particularly strong sense of place — and displacement — in several works of new fiction by Colgate alumni. (As it happened, the lineup for this fall’s Living Writers course also reflects a global iteration of that theme.) In light of that interesting confluence, we share selections from several of those alumni books, along with thoughts from the authors about how real places inspire the mind’s eye of the storyteller. — Rebecca Costello

scene: Autumn 2014

THE RIVER’S TALE Michael Virtanen ’75 Lost Pond Press

In the opening passage of “The Waste Land,” T.S. Eliot wrote, in the voice of an elderly woman recalling an outing from her youth in the Bavarian Alps, “In the mountains, there you feel free.” It’s the wistful note from the modernist masterpiece about discordant civilization, which Professor Joseph Slater deconstructed and read to us in his elegant cadence in London. In other mountains, the Adirondacks, I’ve felt that without irony, on its gray cliffs, clear rivers, and approaching unbroken snow in deep forests — and then in the company of people who found there new or stronger or forgotten versions of themselves. Alison slept on the ride north. She woke to an empty pickup and panicked for a moment until she realized they were parked outside the general store in Newcomb, which hadn’t changed in 12 years. Lottie came out with a bag of groceries, followed by the dogs. They walked down the road and loaded everything in Lottie’s little aluminum boat with the outboard motor, which she’d left tied to a post near the boat ramp. As they traveled down the Hudson, Alison sat toward the middle, behind the dogs, and later could hardly remember the trip. When they got off the river, the dogs ran ahead. She and Lottie pulled the outboard into the edge of the woods and chained it to a tree. Illustrations by Douglas Salati

“If somebody tries to steal it I’ll chop their hands off,” Lottie said. Alison wondered if she was joking and decided she was. Mostly. There was an old aluminum canoe nearby, chained to nothing. The cabin stood about a hundred yards from the river, in a small clearing behind some trees. It had an open southern exposure with a big latticed window but sat snug against a stand of maple and birch on the north side. There was a plank porch, where Lottie, an ornithologist, worked at her typewriter when it was warm and sunny, with journals, photographs, and books on a table next to her. When it was cold or rainy, she worked indoors by the wood stove. The cabin had two rooms, a well for water, indoor plumbing, and a propane hot-water tank. Alison had a slight cough and felt chilled and feverish. Lottie put her in the smaller room, the bedroom, on the soft mattress in a sleeping bag, under quilts. She slept there with the dogs snuggled against her as if they sensed her need for comfort and protection. She woke 12 hours later, damp and still tired. Lottie fed her vegetable soup and freshly baked crusty bread. Alison stayed in bed for another day, refusing to think about anything. When unsettling thoughts intruded, she went back to sleep. She found comfort in breathing the clean air, listening to the breeze in the trees, and hearing her aunt’s occasional footfalls. Her fever broke. On the third day, she woke to the smell of breakfast. Lottie made pancakes, bacon, and strongerthan-usual coffee and laid everything out on the hewn wooden table. Alison looked around, at the log walls, the wood stove, the steel sink, and the window with the view of the forest, at Lottie’s clear blue eyes and lined face. Little had changed since her summers here. She saw her old recurve bow leaning against one of the two straight-back chairs. “My bow,” Alison said. “I wondered what happened to her.” “So that thing is a her. I remember.” Alison ran her hands over its smooth contours. The string dangled from one end. “Do you think the string is still good?” “I bought that one the other day,” Lottie said. “It works just fine.” Alison pulled the top of the bow down, attached the string at the other tip, and let it stretch taut. She felt the heft, ran her finger down the string, gripped the bow, and pulled the string back with three fingers until she could feel the 35 pounds of pressure on her fingertips. “Where have you been?” Her aunt had given it to her and taught her archery as a girl. She took it with her when she went exploring in the forest. She had small sharp field points on her arrows, instead of the large, lethal broadhead. In Lottie’s view, the field points were safer for everyone and probably still enough to drive off a bear, a man, or anything else. Alison had aimed the bow at various animals, after waiting furtively in her makeshift blinds, but she shot only one. She had heard a ruckus in a tree and saw something that at first she couldn’t believe, a squirrel on a high

branch, biting a mourning dove, which was frantically flapping its wings. A strange and terrible sight to the girl. “Stop it,” she yelled. Then she drew an arrow and took steady aim at the squirrel’s thick body. The bird dropped off the branch, fluttered to earth, hopped a while, and flew off. The squirrel fell to the ground and died. Alison buried the squirrel and the arrow. “It’s your own fault,” she said by way of eulogy. She put the bow away. It was almost September anyway. Although she liked the idea of hunting, she realized she didn’t like killing things. She still felt that way. “I figured it’s time you got out a little bit,” Lottie said. “I got you six arrows. They’re used, but they’ll do.” When Alison went to bed that evening, she laid the unstrung bow on the floor beside her. The dogs again snuggled against her. Over the next few days, she did little else but sleep, eat, and observe the forest from the front porch. Then, feeling fully recovered, she woke one morning with an inspiration. Taking burlap sacks piled in the closet, Alison made an effigy, with head, arms, legs, and torso cut and roughly stitched together. She filled it with twigs and leaves, and on the outside she pinned a piece of paper on which she had scrawled one word in big letters: Will. She felt a little alarmed at her action, as if he would know what she was doing and find a way to pay her back. “What are you making?” Lottie asked when it was nearly finished. “A target.” She studied her niece and the effigy. “Anybody you know?” “He was my boyfriend,” Alison said. “He was nice for a while. But then he changed. He cheated on me, and he wouldn’t let me go. He refused to let me go. And then he became my stalker. That’s the word for it now.” The Albany Times Union called Virtanen’s characters “well drawn — imperfect, complicated, and human.” A veteran journalist, he reports for the Associated Press, and has written on the Adirondacks in newspapers as well as Adirondack Life.

SWING Philip Beard ’86 Dystel & Goderich

All of my books seem to end up being (at least in part) about going home. And although defining “setting” as a separate element might be a convenient way to talk about literature, I don’t think of it that way. Where my characters live or where they grew up is just as much a part of their makeup as what they believe and whom they love. It’s also an area where I get to be selfish. I can put my characters in those few places where I feel “a part” as opposed to “apart” (in this case, both Pittsburgh and a version of Hamilton, N.Y.), and know that my own love for those places will create weight and meaning for my characters as well. It is early October of 1971 and I am 11 years old, standing at a bus stop at the corner of Fort Duquesne Boulevard and Sixth Street in downtown Pittsburgh. I am there alone on a school day, without permission, which adds a sharpness to everything around me: the sidewalk sparkling bloodorange in the low sun; the light breeze cooling where it had warmed only an hour earlier; the bridges across the Allegheny River at Sixth, Seventh, and Ninth streets superimposed over one another in a maze of yellow iron. The Pirates, my Pirates, have just beaten the San Francisco Giants to advance to the World Series, and my father has just left us — two oppositely charged facts that make such a muddle of my thoughts that I don’t know whether to continue grinding the souvenir ball into the worn, oily palm of my glove, or throw them both into the river. My father left on a Saturday, carrying a single suitcase. On his way out, he put the Pirate tickets on the kitchen table and I sat on the window seat holding them, watching him walk to his car. My little sister, Ruthie, wrapped herself around his leg in the driveway and screamed. My older sister, Sam, pounded on the hood of his car, both hands clasped into one big fist, trying to make a dent. My mother stood unmoving in the doorway, resisting a visible urge to comfort her daughters

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in favor of letting my father’s departure become as ugly as possible for him. Thinking of my mother in that same doorway again, expecting me to get off the school activities bus, is the first time all afternoon that I have given any thought to how I am going to explain my absence. I had hung on the third-base railing for more than an hour after the final out to get my souvenir, so the crowd from the game is mostly gone. The few people approaching the bus stop are heading home from work or shopping: a slender, young black woman in a tailored white pantsuit holding her child’s hand; two businessmen carrying briefcases, laughing and talking about the upcoming Series with the heavily favored Baltimore Orioles; a fidgety, greasy-haired white man in an ill-fitting shirt and short, wide tie. All of them have come up Sixth Street from town, and that is the direction I am looking. It isn’t until I hear the sound of a bus approaching, with the whining downward shift of its gears, that I notice that someone has appeared next to me. When I say “appeared,” I mean that quite literally. And I am momentarily bewildered by the fact that he doesn’t look as if he has finished appearing. Instead, the man next to me seems to have grown out of the sidewalk, with only his torso having emerged so far. He is hip-deep in the concrete and looks as though he has been there forever, waiting for a young King Arthur, me perhaps, to pull him free. He is a man; there is no doubting that, even though I am looking down at him. His hair is black and gray and mussed, wiry as a pot-scrubber, his nose wide and crooked, and there is a three- or four-day growth of salt and pepper beard on his face. Still, it isn’t until the bus comes to a stop in front of us and opens its doors that I understand what I am seeing — staring at, more precisely, in violation of every childhood admonition from my parents to do otherwise. The adults around me do no better, though. They all take an involuntary step backward, the young black woman pulling her child, and I am left standing alone with him. “Thank you kindly,” the man says, as if everyone behind us has, in fact, remembered their manners. Then he winks at me. “You here all by yourself?” “Yessir,” I reply, thinking I must be under some kind of spell to talk to a stranger and tell him I’m alone, a double-play of cardinal rules violations in the Graham household. “You comin’ from the game?” He nods at my glove still clutching the ball. “Yessir.” “Lucky kid. What’s your name?” “Henry.” “Good baseball name. Like Hammerin Hank Aaron.” He cocks his head toward the bus. “Mind if I go first?” “Nosir.” “Thanks.” He has no legs, barely even a hint of a thigh Strapped over broad, powerful shoulders, he wears leather suspenders attached to a thick leather harness that protects the base of his perfectly flat torso. Even concealed inside a flannel shirt it is clear that

scene: Autumn 2014

his arms are massive, and he wears heavy work gloves on huge hands, which he now places on the sidewalk in front of him. He presses, his shoulders shrugging downward, and in one smooth motion lifts his torso, swings it forward as if on a set of parallel bars, and sets it down again gently on the sidewalk. He does this two or three more times, all of us watching unabashedly, until he reaches the base of the bus steps. I feel the group around me tense, sure that the man has gone as far as he can go on his own, but equally unsure of how we are to help. He stops and looks up at the driver, who appears neither concerned nor surprised. “Hey, Russ,” the half-man says. “How you been, John?” “Fine thanks. Hey, what did the bus driver say to the legless man at the bus stop?” “I don’t know. What?” “‘Hey there. How you gettin’ on?’” The driver shakes his head. “Come on now. I got other customers.” “I’m comin’,” he says. Then he places his hands firmly on the bottom step and lifts himself up as easily as I might have lifted myself out of a swimming pool. He takes the second step, then the third, then turns and swings himself down the aisle, out of sight. “Come on, folks,” the bus driver beckons, because none of us has moved, and I am the first to break the dazed tableau and follow John Kostka, The Swinger, up and into the bus for home. New York Times bestselling author Sarah Gruen called Swing, available from all major e-booksellers, “a novel to be savored.” An attorney as well as a writer, Beard reports that his first novel, Dear Zoe, is in development as a feature film.

UNMENTIONABLES Laurie Loewenstein ’76 Kaylie Jones Books/Akashic Books

Unmentionables opens on a steamy August evening in 1917 as a small Illinois town gathers to hear Marian Elliot Adams, an Easterner and an activist who sweeps onto the stage seeking to enlighten and edify. To outsiders like Marian, the Midwest is a vast, uncultured swath that, as Nick Carraway observes in The Great Gatsby, is “the ragged edge of the universe.” To Midwesterners like myself, it is

a place of great beauty; of distant horizons where the sky bleaches to white, where windbreaks of catalpas hem farm fields, where the courthouse is ornately fluted. But it is also a place of contradictions, where politeness and conformity glide above deep currents of emotion and sentiment. Where we are both insiders and outsiders — fertile ground in which to explore the true nature of community. The breezes of Macomb County usually journeyed from the west, blowing past and moving quickly onward, for the county was just en route, not a final destination. On this particular night, the wind gusted inexplicably from the east, rushing over fields

of bluestem grasses, which bent their seed heads like so many royal subjects. A queen on progress, the currents then traveled above farmhouses barely visible behind the tasseled corn, and swept down the deeply shaded streets of Emporia, where they finally reached the great tent, inflating the canvas walls with a transforming breath from the wider world. The farm wives had staked out choice spots under the brown canvas; an area clear of poles but not far from the open flaps where they might feel the strong breeze that relieved the oppressiveness of the muggy August evening. The ladies occupied themselves with their knitting needles or watched the crew assembling music stands. Some fretted about sons, already drafted for the European trouble and awaiting assignment to cantonments scattered across the country. They pushed back thoughts of the steaming canning vats they faced when the weeklong Chautauqua assembly of 1917 concluded. All they would have to get through another dreary winter were the memories of the soprano’s gown of

billowing chiffon; the lecturer’s edifying words; the orchestras and quartets. The strings of bare bulbs that swagged the pitched roof were suddenly switched on. The scattered greetings of “Howdy-do” and “Evening” grew steadily as the crowd gathered, burdened with seat cushions, palmetto fans, and white handkerchiefs. Leafing through the souvenir program, they scrutinized the head-and-shoulders photograph of the evening’s speaker, a handsome woman wearing a rope of pearls. She was described as a well-known author, advocate for wholesome living, and suffragist. What exactly was this lecture — “Barriers to the Betterment of Women” — about? Some expected a call for more female colleges, others for voting rights. Then Marian Elliot Adams, a tall and striking woman in her early thirties, swept onto the stage. She wore a rippling striped silk caftan and red Moroccan sandals. With dark eyes and dramatically curved brows, her appearance hinted at the exotic. In ringing tones, she announced, “I am here tonight to discuss the restrictive nature of women’s undergarments.” Hundreds of heads snapped back. The murmurs of the crowd, the creaking of the wooden chairs, stopped abruptly. Even the bunting festooning the stage hung motionless, as if it had the breath knocked out of it. Marian’s gaze swept across the pinched faces, assessing the souls spread before her, and she concluded that they were the same people she’d been lecturing to for the past three months. There was the gaunt-cheeked elder with his chin propped on a cane; the matron with the bolster-shaped bosom; the banker type in a sack coat; the slouching clerk with dingy cuffs. Just like last night and the night before that, stretching back eighty-three straight nights — these strangers she knew so well. Kirkus Reviews called Unmentionables an “engaging first work from a writer of evident ability.” A fifthgeneration Midwesterner, Loewenstein has been a feature and obituary writer for several newspapers and a college writing tutor.

SNOW IN MAY Kseniya Melnik ’04 Henry Holt and Company

Although the linked stories in Snow in May are set in various places, the book’s emotional center of gravity is Magadan, my isolated hometown in the northeast of Russia. Nothing excites my literary imagination more than location — the physical place with its specific political situation, landscape, quality of light, and level of noise. Magadan, with its dark history as a gateway to one of the cruelest networks of Gulag camps but also a source of my happy childhood memories and much family lore, was a place too intriguing for me to resist. An element of longing for a place I’ve left comes into play, too. I wanted to portray my hometown in all its complexity, including the years of relative prosperity. In “Rumba,” set during the aftermath of the fall of the Soviet Union, a middle-aged ballroom dance teacher, Roman Ivanovich, nurtures the exceptional talent of his 12-year-old student, a girl he nicknames Asik, which leads to admiration of a different kind. By this point in the story, Roman Ivanovich oscillates between looking at Asik through her various dance roles and seeing her as just a young girl from a broken family, for whom, perhaps, he has more responsibility than he first thought. On his way back from the grocery store he lingered in a small park with a worn-out bust of Berzin, the first director of the Dalstroy trust and forced-labor camps in Kolyma. Naked trees stuck out of the tall banks of hardened snow. Theatrically fat snowflakes streamed from the black sky. It was quiet. The cold air smelled of burning garbage — his childhood’s scent of freedom and adventure, when he and his gang of ruffians would run through courtyards and set trash containers on fire to the grief of hungry seagulls. Before his mother bound his feet in dance shoes and shackled him to a girl. He had a sudden craving for fried eggs with a particular Polish brand of cured ham, sold at a private shop in the town’s center. It was his one

evening off work; he figured he deserved a small indulgence. He walked up Lenin Street. Its preholiday luminescence was even more radiant this year, more drunkenly optimistic. White lights lay tangled in trees. A shimmering canopy of pink garlands hung across the roadway. Up ahead, the dystrophic A of the TV tower, the Eiffel Tower’s long-lost illegitimate child, shyly illumed its red and white stripes. The town clock, lit up in green, read half-past eight. By now the junior group would be halfway through their weekly ballet class. These classes weren’t mandatory, but Roman Ivanovich had made it clear that no dancer should dream of correct posture without paying their dues at the barre. He considered the instructor, Gennady Samuilovich, too lenient, though, and preferred not to imagine the likely chaos of his practices. The wind had picked up. He bought the Polish ham and walked, out of habit, to the Palace of ProfUnions. He crept around the back and hid in the shadow of a copse. Through a single window Roman could see the ballet class. The vision, suspended in the darkness, seemed to him all the more brilliant and distant. Against his expectations, most of the junior group was at the barre by the mirrored wall, diligently knocking out petits battements. Gennady Samuilovich strode back and forth, whipping the air with his wrists. His white tights showcased the anatomy of his legs in excessive detail. Pale Asik, dressed in a black leotard, with her hair up in a tidy bun, was merely adequate. Her butt kept sliding out of alignment, and she wobbled as her leg swung. But she was trying the hardest of them all. Roman Ivanovich was in shock. Who would she be now? Not his Carmenochka, not his fiery little gypsy. He watched her till the end of class. She was that hard-working average student he liked to praise to the parents. Effort over results. He breathed easier. Gennady Samuilovich dismissed the class. Before wandering off, several girls — Olesya among them — trapped Asik in choreographed parentheses. They were saying something to her, something unpleas-

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ant, judging from Asik’s pinched mouth. She crossed her arms and threw her weight to one hip. After they left, Asik was alone in the room. She turned to the mirror and performed an ironic half plié, half curtsey to her reflection. Then she put her elbows on the barre and worked her face through a series of smiles in different tonalities. A laughable sinnerseductress. Pierrot at a party. Piranha. She stomped — sloppily, neurotically — pitched forward and folded herself at the waist over the barre (against the rules! The barre wasn’t made to sustain such weight), her leotarded backside the shape of a black heart. She closed her eyes and just hung there, like a piece of laundry forgotten in the courtyard. Roman Ivanovich imagined the fragile basket of her hip bones rubbing painfully against the barre, all her little organs squished. He looked down. The snow was mildewing over a pile of cigarette butts and a green balloon scrap still attached to a string. She was nothing more than a body that danced. At press time, Snow in May had just made the short list for the International Dylan Thomas Prize. Melnik’s work has been published in Virginia Quarterly Review and selected for Granta’s New Voices series.

THE TUMBLE INN William Loizeaux ’76 Syracuse University Press

Mark and Fran Finley, two high school teachers tired of their jobs and discouraged by their failed attempts at conceiving a child, abruptly move from New Jersey to become innkeepers on a secluded lake in the Adirondacks. Why did I take them there? Well, having spent many summers in the Adirondacks with my family, I have some knowledge of that part of the world. But more importantly, those old mountains, forests, and lakes are, for me, a metaphorical landscape: a place of extremes, of extraordinary beauty and extraordinary danger, and a place where the usual boundaries between those extremes are often vague, difficult to read, or sometimes nonexistent. So easily, so seductively, one can slide from beauty into danger. Peering over the domed granite at the top of a waterfall, you take a little step to see more of the cataract below, and then you take another step, and another, and then…. So if you’re a novelist, what better place to plunk down your protagonists and give them challenges and difficult choices? In the passage below, Mark, who narrates the story, recalls the budding relationship between the now-teenage daughter he and Fran finally conceived, and the son of visitors to the inn. “Nobody,” of course, turned out to be somebody. Or somebodies. And one of those somebodies during that late summer after Nat’s junior year was a guy named Chuck Frazier, the son of Ted and Clara Frazier, who were longtime Regulars, though this would be their last time here, as they were coming up in the world and would soon go on fancier vacations. A few summers before, Chuck had been “Charlie,”

scene: Autumn 2014

just another spindly, curly-headed kid who ran on the beach and threw a Frisbee for hours. Now he was tall, had ropey muscles, a deep tan, stubble on his face, and hair under his arms, and his curls had grown into long, blonde waves that put you in mind of surfers. When he was wearing any sort of shirt at all, he wore a blue college sweatshirt. He also wore a backwards baseball cap that said “Just Do It!” and he walked in a cocky, loose-jointed way that made you wonder how his baggy swimming shorts ever stayed on his narrow hips. He must have been at least 18 because, during the two weeks his family was here on vacation, he drove his parents’ new silver BMW, churning in and out of the driveway, spitting stones, and churning Fran’s and my insides, as well. He’d always been a fun-loving, daredevil kid with an infectious smile, who in his early teens had learned how to slalom water ski, how to lean way back, carving through the water at breakneck speed, once wearing one of his father’s red business ties, and to tell the truth, I’d always liked him, though things would get more complicated. I don’t know exactly when he and Nat first caught each other’s eye as blossoming teenagers, but that August you couldn’t help but feel the attraction, like a charge in the air. He was just so hungry, selfassured, and handsome in his lean and casual way.

And she was just so curious, eager, ready and not ready for anything. During his initial days here that summer, he and Nat would loosely drift around one another, he, in his sweatshirt, hanging around the inn, suddenly interested in the landscape photos on the living room walls or the contents of the bookshelves. Or she, in her jeans, flip-flops, and tank top — and suddenly interested in things automotive — would wander over to the parking lot, where he’d be fiddling with that car, bent over the engine or waxing the hood, a sheen of sweat on his back and shoulders. As advised, Fran and I tried to set boundaries. We said that Nat had to be in every night by ten. We said that under no circumstances could she go out driving with Chuck behind the wheel. So cleverly, in the evenings, they’d sit for hours, low down in the front seats of that BMW, parked in the back corner of the lot. I guess that’s the thing about living in the wilderness. What boundaries there are you can wriggle around, and so much is unrestricted or indefinite. You won’t find many fences or walls around here. We seldom speak of property as “lots.” One thing blends into another. By degrees, a gravel road becomes a dirt road, which narrows down to an old wagon track, which becomes a foot trail,

which peters out into a deer path overhung with foliage … and then you’re just into the thick of it, “bushwhacking.” Over the next week, we saw less and less of Nat. With Chuck, she was always down on the beach, or out somewhere on a long walk, or transfixed by the beauty of a V-8, 324-horsepower engine. When she was here, she was usually “busy” in her room, with her music going behind her closed door late into the night. In the mornings, she slept later and later, often missing breakfast altogether. When occasionally she couldn’t avoid us, she was certainly uninterested in our interest in and concern for her. “Back off!” she said. In the kitchen, she’d leave a carton of ice cream on the stove top and put silverware away in the refrigerator. Once I saw her rinsing the same coffee cup for minutes on end, and she jumped when, without meaning to, I disturbed her. Her whole being was elsewhere. Then on the night before the Saturday when Chuck and his parents were to leave, she didn’t come home by ten. Nor by ten-thirty, when Fran and I usually said goodnight to the guests remaining in the living room and headed up to bed. Nor even by eleven. Nor had she called from wherever she was to say she was late. Sheepishly, we knocked on the Fraziers’ door and asked Ted and Clara if they knew of Chuck’s whereabouts. We said he “might” be out somewhere with Nat. Older, and perhaps because he was a guy, Chuck was on a looser leash than she. “Oh, if they’re out somewhere, they’ll turn up soon,” Ted said offhandedly. “Kids,” he added by way of explanation, which, for Fran and me, wasn’t explanation enough. So I took the flashlight outside where the wind was kicking up. Near the parking lot, I cringed with visions of what I might see or interrupt. Did I really want to find them? No. But not finding them would be even worse. There in the back corner was the BMW, crouching on its wide tires, but no one was inside. I went down to the beach and shined the flashlight across the sand, all bumped and dented with footprints. Here and there, I saw a plastic shovel or a castle some kids had made. Canoes lay upside down, like strange, misplaced bananas. On the far end of the beach, a small campfire danced in the wind and darkness, and, walking over, I said a few words to the circle of folks who were just breaking up before heading to the inn for bed. None of them had seen Nat or Chuck that evening. Retracing my steps, I shined the flashlight on the shaggy field where the tall grasses were swaying and thrashing. I turned off the light and for a while stood still and listened. I heard waves breaking on the beach, and people laughing and saying goodnight, after they’d doused the campfire. It was one of those times when a cool westerly wind carries the smell of the lake mixed with pine and that sudden sense that these late summer

nights are so few and fleeting, going, almost gone, as you live them. I turned the flashlight back on and, following some intuition, crossed the sand toward the boathouse, a dark, peaked, boxy shape, with its hip roof overhanging much of the dock that extends a good ways into the water. I went up the granite step to the paint-chipped back door, then lifted the latch and followed the beam of my flashlight inside. The air in the boathouse smelled of waterlogged wood and the muddy nests of barn swallows. To my left were the empty canoe racks and the warped stairs that lead through a trap door to the storage attic above, which was still padlocked. No, they couldn’t be up here. Straight ahead, ropes and pulleys hung from beams. To my right and attached to a thick post was the winch for hauling up the guide-boat for the winter. There were the life jackets hanging from pegs on the wall. There on the narrow dock were the horn-shaped cleats to which the boat should have been tied. But the bay between the docks was empty, and near the middle of one dock lay Nat’s flip-flops and Chuck’s blue sweatshirt in a heap, alongside four empty beer bottles. The Tumble Inn is Loizeaux’s first novel for adults; his memoir Anna: A Daughter’s Life, was a New York Times Notable Book. He’s a writer-in-residence in Boston University’s English department.

THE GEOGRAPHY OF YOU AND ME Jennifer E. Smith ’03 Poppy/Little, Brown and Company

I’ve lived in New York City for nearly a decade now, and have been lucky enough to experience a lot of memorable moments here. But even all these years later, the Northeast blackout of 2003 still stands out most of all. My experience that night didn’t quite unfold the way it does in the book — for one thing, I didn’t find myself trapped in an elevator with a cute boy! — but the magical, almost celebratory atmosphere of the city was the same. It was a hot summer night, and everyone seemed to be out in the streets. Ice cream shops were giving away free cones before they could melt, and restaurants were serving food by candlelight; people were hanging

out of their windows, waving at all the commuters on their long walk home. There was a sense of camaraderie that really struck me. I was brand-new to New York then, and I had no idea at the start of that day how much I’d come to love the city by the end of it. Ten years later, I still do. When he unlocked the door, they stumbled out onto the darkened roof, their eyes focused on the ground as they picked their way across the tar-covered surface. “Over there,” Owen said, pointing at the southwest corner, and Lucy walked over to the ledge that ran along the perimeter, where she stood looking out. “Wow,” she breathed, rising onto her tiptoes. Owen dropped the backpack before joining her, positioning himself a few inches away. The wind lifted her hair from her shoulders, and he caught the scent of something sweet; it smelled like flowers, like springtime, and it made him a little dizzy. They were quiet as they took in the unfamiliar view, the island that was usually lit up like a Christmas tree now nothing but shadows. The skyscrapers were silhouettes against a sky the color of a bruise, and only the spotlight from a single helicopter swung back and forth like a pendulum as it drifted across the skyline. Together, they leaned against the granite wall, invisible souls in an invisible city, peering down over forty-two stories of sheer height and breathless altitude.“I can’t believe I’ve never been up here,” she murmured without taking her eyes off the ghostly buildings. “I always say the best way to see the city is from the ground up, but this place is amazing. It’s–” “A million miles above the rest of the world,” he said, shifting to face her more fully. “A million miles away from the world,” she said. “Which is even better.” “You’re definitely living in the wrong city, then.” “Not really,” she said, shaking her head. “There are so many ways to be alone here, even when you’re surrounded by this many people.” Owen frowned. “Sounds lonely.” She turned to him with a smile, but there was something steely about it. “There’s a difference between loneliness and solitude.” Susanne Colasanti, bestselling author of When It Happens, said Smith “represents the absolute best in young adult writing.” Author of six novels, Smith is also a senior editor at Ballantine/Random House.

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Which is more hazardous: living here...

ILLUSTRATIONS BY DANTE TERZIGNI

BY WILLIAM MEYER, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF GEOGRAPHY

Cities are fundamentally at odds with environmental quality and safety, right? Not so fast. In the fall of 2004, I was assigned to teach a course on urban environmental issues in the coming semester. Although Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve done extensive research into the human dimensions of environmental issues, I had never thought particularly about the role of cities. In preparing the course, I supposed (and soon discovered) that the students would arrive expecting that cities and environmental quality are fundamentally at odds, and that the rationale for the course would lie squarely in the greater magnitude and severity of damage that cities can do. So, I thought that providing a few counterexamples might provide some interest. I was surprised at how many I was able to find. That inspired me to look further. I began assessing what many people have written on the subject in the popular as well as the scientific literature, and found myself identifying mistakes they made in thinking about it. In fact, many widely held beliefs that sound

scene: Autumn 2014

not just plausible, but downright convincing, fail to stand up to close logical or empirical scrutiny. The mistakes display many of the same recurrent underlying errors. I found that even some of the most respected authorities have stepped into certain pitfalls, which are well camouflaged and highly seductive. I came to call the negative profile formed by the beliefs those errors promote commonsense environmental antiurbanism. I decided to write about cities and the environment through object lessons in how not to think about their relationship, citing not only those who erred, but also those who got it right. Several of my students, notably Shannon Sweeney â&#x20AC;&#x2122;07 and the members of my spring 2012 class in urban geography, helped me along the way. The result is my latest book, The Environmental Advantages of Cities: Countering Commonsense Antiurbanism.

The city, defined What do I consider a city, anyway? In the absence of an established core discipline of urban studies, there is no standard terminology for the subject. I stay as close

or here?

as possible to everyday usage: the terms city and urban denoting a place both with a high density and a large number of people. Both elements are necessary. Consider the 1973 study of the !Kung Bushmen (hunter-gatherers of Botswana and Namibia), which found that they live at densities equivalent to about 30 persons per room. Yet, we wouldn’t call them urbanites, because they live in groups of only 30 to 40. There is no cutoff point in size or density between urban and rural. We can only say that one place is more urban than another. Suburban sprawl, sometimes sloppily described as urbanization, is better termed de-urbanization; it shifts population from more to less urban settings. And the terms imply other criteria as well. Cities, or highly urban places, function under some formal or informal institutions of government, with land cover occupied by structures and artifacts of human shaping, and the chief livelihood being something other than agriculture. So, let’s consider some examples of commonsense environmental antiurbanism. Urbanization and poverty go together. True or false? It depends on what you mean by “urbanization.” The poorest countries in the world are indeed the ones that have the highest rates of urban growth. The richest countries in the world, though, are the ones with the highest levels of urbanization. Burundi and Papua New Guinea, the two least-urbanized countries, are two of the very poorest. And rapid urbanization in the poor countries also coincides with rapid economic development. It would be more accurate to say that high levels of urbanization and wealth

go together. Cities house many poor people, yes. But urban poverty is much more visible than rural poverty, not necessarily more prevalent, and usually less so. Where it is more prevalent, it is not so much because cities make people poor as because poor people move to cities. Cities are relatively good places to be poor in, and abundant in opportunities for becoming less poor.

Ecological disruption Suburban areas are far greener than cities. True or false? Literally, true. Suburbs, of course, have more green cover like lawns and trees. Metaphorically, false. Green cover usually replaces the natural ecosystem and sustains an imported one by drawing upon heavy inputs of chemicals, water, and energy. The geographers Paul Robbins and Julie Sharp found that the same homeowners who described themselves as environmentalists were the ones likeliest to manage their yards intensively, adding higher-than-average inputs of lawn-maintenance chemicals. Taking care of a lawn may indeed represent a highly valued interaction with “nature” in the eyes of many suburbanites, who seem less aware that it is a kind of interaction involving the aggressive transformation of the predevelopment land cover. And, high-density urban settlement reduces the area over which intensive development alters the ecosystem, whereas low-density occupation deforests, fragments, or otherwise disrupts much-larger areas per household. A study of the urban heat island in Atlanta illustrates this: parcels developed for low-density suburban residence contributed proportionally more heat to the urban warming than did ones developed for higher densities. A confusion between what is literally and metaphorically green may do much to hide the real environmental advantages of cities.

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If you believe that population growth is a major cause of environmental degradation, you should be especially worried about the growth of cities. True or false? False. It is true that population growth contributes significantly to the growth of cities. But not vice versa. Indeed, one of the best-proven generalizations in the social sciences is that urbanization reduces population growth. And it’s not because urban mortality is greater than rural — the opposite is usually true. Rather, urbanization lowers the number of children that families choose to have, for reasons including the higher cost per child and women’s greater access to education, employment, and contraception. Trying to slow or reverse urbanization would hinder the process of reversing environmental degradation.

Resource consumption If you wanted to reduce your consumption of natural resources, where would you move in the United States today: a city, a suburb, or a rural area? Shannon Sweeney ’07 asked this question in a mail survey as part of her senior honors thesis at Colgate. The largest percentage of respondents said “a rural area,” and the smallest, “a city” — which is actually the correct answer. The smaller living and yard spaces, less dependence on automobiles, and more efficient use of infrastructure (roads, utility connections) among urban dwellers mean a lower per capita consumption of key resources from land and water to energy and materials. The misconception involves thinking about where the greatest total resource consumption occurs, rather than measuring levels of demand by population. Cities have much larger “ecological footprints” than rural areas. True or false? In absolute terms, true, but an absolute measure is seriously misleading. The population of an American city, logically enough, consumes a greater aggregate of resources than that of a less-populous rural unit. But again, per capita consumption is what really matters. The per capita footprint of a city dweller, all else equal, is smaller. To put it another way: a given number of people living at their country’s characteristic standard of living would consume a smaller quantity of resources if they lived in an urban (high-density) pattern than if they lived in a rural or suburban (dispersed, low-density) one.

Pollution The world’s worst air pollution exposure levels are found in third-world cities. True or false? False, surprisingly. third-world cities indeed have appalling levels of air pollution. But it is never enough to point to environmental problems that occur in cities, without comparing them to conditions in rural areas. third-world rural areas are even worse off in air quality, because the most important component of total exposure is indoor pollution. Rural households rely disproportionately on smoky biomass fuels for cooking and heating. For example, a study revealed that in southern China, total urban exposure to airborne particulate matter was only 65 percent of what it is in rural ones. But exposure in rural and indoor settings is far less visible to observers than in the urban outdoors — another frequent source of misconceptions about cities and the environment — and so the image of the clean countryside and the polluted city persists.

counties are higher. Urban settings offer such advantages as easier access to safe shelters, more timely dissemination of warnings, quicker post-disaster aid, and better construction encouraged by stricter building codes. Rural areas are safer from earthquakes than urban ones. True or false? Again, one’s first image might be one of urban danger, of falling debris and collapsing buildings in a crowded city. But the one study to make a controlled comparison found that death rates from earthquakes increase as population density declines. The reasons that help explain the difference in tornado safety also apply here. They apply equally well to hurricanes, the other acute weather hazard of the developing world.

Technological hazards Where are traffic accidents (the world’s leading cause of accidental death) more deadly: in cities or in rural areas? Surely, where the streets are most congested? In fact, it’s just the opposite. Traffic accidents are least deadly in cities, where speeds are most restricted, roads are better designed, and emergency aid is closest at hand. In the developed world, suburban rates fall between urban and rural ones.

Where in the United States is it safer to drink the water: rural areas or cities? Taken straight from the source, naturally, it is likely to be safer in rural areas. But that’s not how we get our drinking water. Rural residents rely much more heavily than urbanites do on wells and on small municipal systems. Neither have the safeguards against harmful contaminants that large city systems, with protected sources and purification facilities, can offer.

The most dangerous occupations are typically urban ones. True or false? False. We tend to think of industrial accidents when we think of workplace hazards. But industry is not the most hazardous kind of work (nor, for that matter, is it any longer predominantly urban). Farming, the classic rural livelihood, is also particularly dangerous; likewise lumbering, mining, and trucking. Not only are injuries more frequent, but, as with traffic accidents, help is farther away when they occur in rural settings.

Natural hazards

Infectious disease

Rural areas in the United States are safer from tornadoes than urban ones. True or false? False. One’s first thoughts might focus on the greater thickness of flying debris in a city. But tornado death rates in the most urban counties of the American heartland are lower than statewide averages, and those in the most rural

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Malaria, the world’s worst vector-carried infectious disease, affects city dwellers more than rural residents. True or false? False. It might seem that infectious disease of any kind must be more common where people live most closely together. But clustering has other effects that, on the whole, more than offset this urban penalty. For one, the land cover of cities is

and their most important qualities depend on society and interaction for their full development.

Sprawl, considered Wouldn’t Americans be better off if they were spread out evenly across the surface of the United States, minimizing crowding and all of its inconveniences? No. Frank Lloyd Wright proposed something like this in his ultra-dispersed vision of the United States as “Broadacre City.” He was a genius of architecture — but not of social or natural science. Such a dispersed population pattern would not only be an environmental disaster in many ways, but also an economic one. Likewise, President Lyndon Johnson asked in the 1960s, “Does it really make sense to have more than seventy percent of our people crammed into one percent of our land?” He was a genius of politics — but not of urban geography. When the advantages of clustering and proximity are taken into account, it does make sense. Doesn’t the outwardly sprawling growth of the modern American city prove that human beings, deep down, dislike living in dense urban settings — because those who have the widest freedom to choose opt for something different? Not necessarily. For one thing, Anglo-American societies have traditionally been anti-urban, while others have been the opposite. This is a matter of culture, not of human nature. For another, even in the United States, the bias against cities has never been universal, and has weakened recently with large numbers of affluent residents returning to urban cores. Finally, only on a level playing field could we accurately compare. Tax, energy, environmental, transportation, food, and housing policies in the United States have directly and indirectly subsidized suburban and rural areas at the expense of urban ones. Those who have opted for low-density settlement have not had to pay the full costs of their choices. far-less hospitable to the mosquitoes that transmit malaria than that of urbanfringe and, especially, rural areas. In fact, urbanization in sub-Saharan Africa is one of the most hopeful trends in the continent’s struggle with the disease. Drug-resistant tuberculosis is most prevalent in cities. True or false? True. Not all urban penalties are myths! But even this one grows out of an underlying urban advantage. Concentration of population facilitates the provision of medical care, including anti-TB drug treatment. This, in turn, facilitates the process by which strains resistant to the drugs arise and flourish.

Human habitat Forced urbanization by national governments has been an important cause of city growth. True or false? False. In fact, government policy around the world has aimed much more often to prevent people who want to move to cities from doing so than to force the unwilling to urbanize. A 2006 United Nations study found that 115 national governments had policies meant to discourage urbanization, versus only six that sought to promote it. Governments tend to fear and distrust the cities that most of their people would prefer to live in, because urban unrest is more effective than rural. “A people, when assembled in a town,” as the English historian Thomas Babington Macaulay wrote in 1827, “is far more formidable to its rulers than when dispersed over a wide extent of country.” Most rulers have known this and acted accordingly. High-density living is unhealthy for animal species, human beings included. True or false? A famous article published in 1962 by John B. Calhoun described a shocking deterioration in the behavior of rats when their populations increased exponentially in confined spaces. Many took his findings to mean that human behavior in cities will do the same as densities increase. But rats do not represent all animals. Others — ants, honeybees, schooling fish, prairie dogs, for example — are social creatures that can only survive and thrive in high densities. Human beings do not have the same biological territoriality as Calhoun’s rats,

A final question The role of the academic is to clarify these things. I’m not a city planner, nor a government official. My hope in debunking these misconceptions is to confront them in order to help prevent us from repeating errors frequently made in the past. The policies of most countries in the world are antiurban. Most limit urbanization and try to discourage people from moving to cities. At the very least, those policies should be questioned and rethought. And at the individual level (although much less so than in the past), many environmentalists today are still instinctively antiurban. Their ideal of life is not the city. People move to the country because they love nature, but that has aptly been called loving nature to death. The question is, if you value and want to preserve the

earth, where would you live to make the least impact? Editor’s note: “Some people may be startled to find that a book clearly in praise of cities would be written by someone based in such a rural setting as Colgate’s,” said geography professor William Meyer of The Environmental Advantages of Cities (MIT Press). But, in fact, he’s found Colgate an ideal place in which to do his research and teach courses such as Global Shift: Economics, Society, & Geography; Earth, Society, and Sustainability; Urban Geography; The American City; and Water and Society. His book has received favorable reviews in journals such as Growth and Change and Regulation. You can listen to him discuss his notion of commonsense environmental antiurbanism in “Want to Save the Environment? Build More Cities,” a Techwise Conversations podcast for Spectrum, the magazine of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. A former research associate at the Belfer Center in Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and Clark University, Meyer also wrote Americans and Their Weather: A History and Human Impact on the Earth. This article is the second in our series featuring scholarship by Colgate professors that — in creative and sometimes counterintuitive ways — explores ways that humans are impinging upon the Earth.

News and views for the Colgate community

scene: Autumn 2014

Andrew Daddio

News and views for the Colgate community

the village chocolate train fest, then tailgating and watching the football game,” said Jacob’s mother, Amy Leo ’03. “It’s great to see them getting a taste for Colgate and enjoying a family day in such a special place.”

Living Writers on ColgateX Homecoming keynote speaker Mark Divine ’85, retired Navy SEAL, author, and founder of SEALFit, talked about “The Unbeatable Mind: Forging Mental Toughness.”

The Office of Alumni Relations is pleased to offer many ways for alumni to stay in touch with each other, and with Colgate! E-mail me with questions or concerns at tmansfield@colgate. edu. — Tim Mansfield, associate vice president, institutional advancement and alumni relations Questions? Contact alumni relations: 315-228-7433 or alumni@colgate.edu.

scene: Autumn 2014

Andrew Daddio

stay connected

Alumni programs, volunteer opportunities, career networking, and more

Homecoming extravaganza The Chenango Valley echoed with the cheers of Colgate faithful during Homecoming 2014, September 18– 21. More than 1,000 alumni, parents, and friends came for the festivities, which included sports, a bonfire, fireworks, and receptions. The keynote address featuring Mark Divine ’85 was sponsored by the Presidents’ Club. A retired Navy SEAL, author, and founder of SEALFit (read more on pg. 54), Divine encouraged students to affirm their core values and work hard every day, tapping their physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual strength to achieve success. He also urged them to sit quietly in this often-noisy and frenetic world, saying that, in silence, you find your reason for being. “If you don’t know your ‘why,’ in the most trying moments,” he said, “you’re going to quit.” Hundreds of alumni helped students “find their why” during a meet-and-greet reception powered by Colgate’s eight professional networks. That night, the Presidents’ Club kicked off its 50th anniversary celebration with a reception that highlighted the organization’s commitment to leadership, tradition, and impact. Across College Street, Whitnall Field lit up with a bonfire, fireworks, and klieg lights that shone down on alumni band Waiting for Henry. To keep spirits high before game time on Saturday, Van Doren Field was transformed into a pavilion of Raider power. Greek-letter organizations, WRCU-FM, the ALANA Cultural Cen-

ter, the Presidents’ Club, the alumni office, and other groups pitched their tents and tailgated together before field hockey confronted Holy Cross and football defeated Cornell. From beginning to end, homecoming was a celebration designed to appeal to Raiders of all generations, from John LeFevre ’41 to Jacob Leo, Class of 2034. “The kids had a ball at

LW Online, the e-version of Colgate’s legendary Living Writers course, kicked off during a reception with professors Jane Pinchin and Jennifer Brice in New York City on August 27. More than 700 alumni, parents, and friends enrolled in the class, made available for the first time via ColgateX, which was developed through a partnership with the Internet-based education company edX. Through Livestream events, video posts, chat-room conversations, and much more, participants had the chance to interact with four of the renowned international authors featured in the full on-campus undergraduate course — Nadifa Mohamed (The Orchard of Lost Souls), Jonathan Franzen (Freedom), Marjane Satrapi (Persepolis), and Martin Amis (The Zone of Interest) — as well as the students, professors, and each other.

Maurer on tour Nearly 30 alumnae knocked on Peg Flanagan’s door in Cambridge, Mass., on June 19. The Class of 1980 alumna hosted the final leg of the Women at Colgate Book Tour, featuring longtime English professor Margaret Maurer. Gathered in a classic Englishclass circle, the Alumnae circle up with Professor Margaret Maurer at group dug into Jane the home of Peg Flanagan ’80 for a Women at Colgate Austen’s Mansfield Book Tour conversation. Park. Maurer also led similar conversations in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and New York City. “Many of the women had studied Austen while at Colgate, but Mansfield Park is often characterized as unlike the reigning favorites,” Maurer said. “We had a good time thinking about it and, through it — about such things as the sister relationships and the first-cousin marriages (that don’t come off) in Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion.”

Celebrating Colgate Day and the year’s Photo Finish June 13 marked the only Colgate Day in 2014, and Raiders around the country made the most of it. Nearly a dozen events took place from coast to coast, including a picnic in Rochester, N.Y., happy hour in Orange County, Calif., and a professional network celebration in Washington, D.C. That special Friday also served as the kickoff for Photo Finish, the grand finale to the fiscal year. Hundreds of alumni, parents, and friends stepped up between June 13 and 30 to support current Colgate students. Coming on the heels of a record-setting $5.1 million Colgate Day Challenge on December 13, their participation helped the university achieve 50 percent participation among alumni this past year. Read more at colgate.edu/photofinish. Alumni from the Washington, D.C., area after a day of volunteering at Bread for the City.

There’s still time to take part. Amis, author of Zone of Interest, rounds out the schedule on December 3, so visit colgate.edu/colgatex for details and registration information. Want to catch Amis’s reading via Livestream? Tune in to livestream.com/colgateuniversity at 4:30 p.m. ET on December 4.

Gate gives back in D.C. On August 17, volunteers from the Club of Washington, D.C., lent a helping hand at Bread for the City, which provides vulnerable D.C. residents with food, clothing, medical care, and legal and social services. The team spent the afternoon packaging produce for distribution centers throughout the district — including peppers, green beans, lettuce, and okra, reflecting Bread for the City’s focus on healthy eating. The experience was educational for participants, as well … especially

those who finally learned what okra looks like! The alumni also toured the Bread for the City facility, learning more about how it provides services and surmounts challenges. The rooftop garden, which supplements the food collected by the organization, was particularly interesting. Prior to departing, in true Colgate fashion, some of the volunteers were already discussing their next opportunity to return to the facility. — Dan Fichtler ’08, event organizer

Seniors in the City In July, more than 100 rising seniors took part in networking events — in Boston, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., New York City, and Los Angeles — where they chatted face to face with alumni, picking up tips about work and play in their preferred metropolis. “Seniors in the City was an exciting way to ask questions, receive advice,

A COVE-sponsored trip to the island of St. Kitts is just one example of the impact that generous gifts to Colgate can make in the lives of students.

and exchange ideas in a low-pressure, fun environment,” said Juliane Wiese ’15 about her evening in Boston. “I felt comfortable approaching alumni and asking them about their postgraduation experiences, and I have even kept in touch with some of them in the last few months. Alumni are so excited to speak with and help students in whatever capacity they can.”

A ’gate debate

After students left the Boston Seniors in the City event and returned to campus, Colgate’s newest graduates descended on Beantown to meet with alumni at a Welcome to the City event (pictured here).

In the spirit of discourse and deliberation, Constitution Day on campus featured a hot-topic debate. The Colgate Lawyer’s Association, the Center for Freedom and Western Civilization, and the Program in Constitutional Government sponsored the September 17 event. The debate featured Gus Coldebella ’91, a former general counsel to the Department of Homeland Security, and David Cole, a Georgetown University Law Center professor, arguing the constitutionality of the National Security Agency’s bulk telephony metadata

program. They focused particularly on Fourth Amendment implications of the program, which collects and archives basic information on all phone calls made and received in America. For some, that represents a violation of constitutional protections against unreasonable searches and seizures. Coldebella argued that not only is the program constitutional, but it is also a vital tool for a government intent on protecting its people. Meanwhile, Cole argued that the program is a dangerous and unconstitutional overreach of power. He suggested that any favorable rulings on the program’s constitutionality were based on outdated precedents that failed to consider the capability of modern technology to scoop up and store vast amounts of data — a situation inconceivable to judges and lawmakers a few short decades ago. It’s your constitutional right to watch the debate and decide for yourself at livestream.com/ colgateuniversity.

News and views for the Colgate community

salmagundi

Strokes of Genius

To get the answer to the riddle below, find the six individual pieces in the large photo. Some pieces have been rotated. When you find a piece, fill in the color-matched boxes with the letters from the piece’s original row and column. Then read those letters, in order, to get the answer to the riddle. (See pg. 69 for the answer.) What are the coxswains here responsible for?

We received a range of slapstick, witty, and philosophical replies to our photo caption contest in the last issue. Sizing up the submissions, we couldn’t pick just one. Here are our four faves: “Whee! And I only took one sip from the ‘Drink Me’ bottle, honest.” — Harry Haldt ’68

Puzzle by Puzzability

Slices A pictorial contest, in homage to the nickname of New York Pizzeria, the late-night Village of Hamilton hot spot serving the Colgate community for more than three decades — one plain slice at a time. Who are these dukes of Dixieland? Write a caption for this photo, correctly identifying the name of this Colgate jazz band from the late 1950s. Bonus points if you can name the band leader (hint: he was a future professor here) and other members. Send in your answer about this “slice” of Colgate to scene@colgate.edu or attn.: Colgate Scene, 13 Oak Dr., Hamilton, NY 13346. Correct responses received by November 21 will be put into a drawing for a Slices T-shirt.

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13 Words (or fewer)

“Small Man on Campus!” — John Fletcher ’53 “Colgate: where small only means more room to grow!” — Glenn Monk ’76 “Wow, that’s amazing … there is no snow on the ground.” — David Cooper ’98

Afternoon vinyasa: As the sun sets, Paige Brooks â&#x20AC;&#x2122;16 and Julia Fisher â&#x20AC;&#x2122;16 (l-r) practice yoga on the Academic Quad. Back cover: Lawrence Hall basking in autumnal beauty. Both photos by Andrew Daddio

News and views for the Colgate community

scene: Colgate University

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