Spring Scene 2010 by Colgate University

scene Spring 2010

News and views for the Colgate community

The Illusion of Sameness Snapshots A Few Minutes with the Rooneys

scene

Spring 2010

26 The Illusion of Sameness

Retiring professor Jerry Balmuth’s parting parable on our confrontations with difference

30 Snapshots

A class documents life at Colgate around the clock

36 A Few Minutes with the Rooneys

A conversation with America’s “curmudgeon-in-chief” Andy Rooney ’42 and his son, Brian ’74

Message from Interim President Lyle D. Roelofs

Letters

Work & Play

Colgate history, tradition, and spirit

Life of the Mind

Arts & Culture

Go ’gate

New, Noted & Quoted

The Big Picture

Stay Connected

Class News 72 Marriages & Unions 73 Births & Adoptions 73 In Memoriam

Salmagundi: Puzzle, Rewind, and Slices contest

DEPARTMENTS

On the cover: Bold brush strokes. Theodora “Teddi” Hofmann ’10 in painting class with Lynette Stephenson, associate professor of art and art history. Photo by Andrew Daddio. Facing page photo by Timothy D. Sofranko.

News and views for the Colgate community

scene team

Contributors

Volume XXXIX Number 3 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.

Kate Preziosi ’10 (“Back on campus,” pg. 9, “Broadcasting new perspectives,” pg. 18) is majoring in English literature; her honors thesis focuses on Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park. Her studies have also included a concentration in Spanish literature, culminating in study abroad in Madrid last spring. A senior writer for the MaroonNews, she hopes to work in broadcast journalism after graduating in May.

Jerome Balmuth, Harry Emerson Fosdick Professor of philosophy and religion (“The Illusion of Sameness,” pg. 26), has taught at Colgate since 1954. His legendary teaching has covered the core, logic, philosophy of law and aesthetics, and the history of modern philosophy, as well as his own specialty, which he introduced to Colgate: the yearly seminar on Wittgenstein and the philosophy of language.

Award-winning ABC News Correspondent Brian Rooney ’74 (“A Few Minutes with the Rooneys,” pg. 36) has reported on everything from the Persian Gulf War, 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, and the Iraqi insurgency to the 1992 Los Angeles riots, Southern California wildfires, and the Oklahoma City bombing. He has received several Emmys and is a twotime Edward R. Murrow Award recipient.

scene online

Listen

Undergraduate Voices: http://www.colgate.edu/podcasts Students taking a bioethics course created podcasts that reflect different viewpoints about reform of the American health care system.

Watch

Known for depicting many celebrities’ visages, illustrator Mike Thompson (“A Few Minutes with the Rooneys,” pg. 36) has applied his super-realistic style for clients including CocaCola and Infiniti Motors, contemporary recording artists such as JayZ, Kanye West, Linkin Park, and P. Diddy, and clothing designers like Marc Ecko. Video game packaging, books, albums, and magazines have also featured his artwork.

Look

Photo Galleries: www.colgate.edu/photos Take a look back at “the winter that was” in the Chenango Valley. Thirteen (of course!) images from around campus capture the beauty of the season.

Talk

Peace Initiative: www.colgate.edu/video Colgate Global Citizens for Peace, a new student group, sponsored an event that drew more than 50 students who created origami cranes to be sent to Nagasaki, Japan.

Got Goods?: www.colgatealumni.org/giftguideform Do you have a product — organic chocolates, handcrafted jewelry, boutique hard cider — that you’d like Scene readers to know about? Fill out our online form to submit your item for consideration in our upcoming gift guide.

Get connected

Go paperless

The Hill at Home: www.colgatealumni.org/hillathome The Hill at Home puts Colgate at your fingertips with webcasts, classes, presentations, event information, and more — visit today.

Online Scene subscription: sceneletters@colgate.edu To stop receiving the printed Scene, e-mail us 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 (www. colgatealumni.org/scene).

Vice President for Public Relations and Communications Charles Melichar Managing Editor Rebecca Costello Associate Editor Aleta Mayne Director of Publications Gerald Gall Coordinator of Photographic Services Andrew Daddio Production Assistant Kathy Bridge

Contributing writers and designers: Director of Web Content Timothy O’Keeffe Art Director Karen Luciani Assistant Director of Athletic Communications John Gilger Director of Marketing and Public Relations Barbara Brooks Senior Advancement Writer Mark Walden Manager of Media Communications Anthony Adornato Design assistance provided by Will Cook and Summer Parker, Sametz Blackstone Associates

Contact: scene@colgate.edu 315-228-7417 www.colgatealumni.org/scene 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, call 315-228-7453, or e-mail alumnirecords@colgate.edu. 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 on the basis of race, color, national origin, citizenship status, sex, pregnancy, religion, creed, physical or mental disability (including AIDS), age, marital status, sexual orientation, status as a disabled veteran of the Vietnam era, predisposing genetic characteristics, domestic violence victim status or any other category protected under applicable law. The following person has been designated to handle inquiries regarding the university’s non-discrimination policies: Keenan Grenell, Vice President and Dean for Diversity, 13 Oak Drive, Hamilton, NY 13346; 315-228-6161.

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Cert no. SW-COC-002556

scene: Spring 2010

Message from Interim President Lyle D. Roelofs

Colgate is one of nearly 700

colleges that have signed the

American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment, aimed at broad achievement of carbon neutrality. This effort will be significant, not only in the steps we will take to reduce and offset greenhouse gas emissions, but also in terms of the educational opportunities those initiatives will provide.

The issue of sustainability has received a great deal of attention, but the

Andrew Daddio

discussion of how to address it is challenged by three factors. First, we do not know enough to respond capably. This lack of understanding prevents us from reaching agreement on the consequences we face, and their magnitude. So, it is not surprising that a second factor is the heated disagreement that surrounds sustainability. Most thinking persons have reached some positions on this challenge, and some are inclined to denigrate opposing views as “uninformed.” But truly, because we really don’t know enough yet, all positions are to considerable extent “uninformed.” The stakes are high, and the debates will continue. Finally, even when we come to a better understanding and consensus on what responses will be necessary, we do not yet have a global structure strong enough to take on shared problems of this magnitude. This is the point at which Colgate, as an institution dedicated to the generation and sharing of knowledge, is poised to lead informed discussion, at the same time that we take steps to address the issue. Colgate’s administrative approach to sustainability is to minimize our impact on the environment while benefiting our budget. Perhaps the best example is our 20-year-old wood-fired boiler, which generates 76 percent of the campus’s heat and domestic hot water. Burning woodchips is far more environmentally friendly and cost effective than burning oil. We have extended this effort through an experimental planting of a local willow biomass crop that will eventually fuel our boiler, and further reduce cost and the environmental impact of trucking woodchips from farther away. Our efforts are reviewed by Colgate’s Sustainability Council, which has led initiatives including the development of a 10-year stewardship plan for the university’s 1,100 acres of undeveloped open and forested lands; the adoption of local food purchasing for dining services; and the establishment of a Cam-

pus Sustainability Fund, supported by the 2008 and 2010 senior class gifts, and matching gifts from Colgate trustees. How we address sustainability as an educational issue is even richer. We bring important speakers to campus. We offer formal courses, including several focused around questions that go beyond discrete disciplines and extend to real-world applications. For example, Sustainability in Theory and Practice is the senior capstone course for environmental studies majors, being taught by Bob Turner, professor of economics and environmental studies, and John Pumilio, sustainability coordinator. This course culminates with students identifying and working on sustainability initiatives on campus or in the surrounding community. The challenge of sustainability reaches nearly every academic discipline, including my own — physics. Physicists and engineers understand energy, work, the second law of thermodynamics, electronics, materials, efficiency, etc. We have done a lot in the service of lowering the impact of humans and their lifestyle on the planet. In other areas, political scientists have to study the global dimensions of both the problem and the solution. We don’t yet have sufficiently robust entities of global governance to really take on worldwide issues; the international summits that have taken place so far are a good start, but humanity has actually made very little progress on that basis in the absence of viable enforcement mechanisms. The philosophers have been busy: many questions of sustainability have crucial ethical and moral dimensions. The fine arts provide compelling images, whether visual, musical, or theatrical, that can move opinion and open or deepen understanding. The challenge of sustainability is one example of how the breadth and flexibility of the liberal arts approach to learning can benefit students and society alike. Beyond campus, as we seek to engage alumni in important conversations, we have hosted events such as the 2009 Energy Summit, which featured alumni representing various perspectives on the energy debate. All of these efforts are part of Colgate’s work to prepare students to thrive in a global society and to develop as lifelong learners who will continue to inform themselves about global climate change and to work to ameliorate it. It is certain that we will not be finished dealing with this challenge for 25 or even 50 years. To be part of the response to this challenge will require each of us to listen to various viewpoints, seek information, understand the issues, and participate, following a pattern of involved citizenship and leadership that we expect all students to acquire through their Colgate education.

A new kind of willow path: 7.5 acres of fast-growing willow planted on Colgate land last spring will supplement the campus wood-fired heating facility within three years. Last year alone, renewable, carbon-neutral wood chips provided 76 percent of the campus’s heating needs, saving the university $1.8 million in fossil fuels and preventing the generation of 13,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions.

News and views for the Colgate community

scene

Letters

Winter 2010

News and views for the Colgate community

It’s Only Natural How to Build a Novel Path to Healing

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. On occasion, we may run additional letters online.

Naturally speaking

Great story, but a warning

I just had the pleasure of reading the Winter 2010 Colgate Scene cover to cover, and for an hour, I felt like I was back at Colgate. I particularly liked the article “It’s Only Natural.” I am a native upstate New Yorker who grew up surrounded by small farms, and I am so pleased to see that Colgate has found a way to work with local farmers and food producers in a way that is mutually beneficial. I was also impressed by the students’ desire and motivation to support Colgate’s local community.

The article on Kate Holcombe’s “Path to Healing” (Winter 2010) was well thought-out and actualized on the page. As an acquaintance during our Colgate years, I am gratified to learn that Kate found a path to channel her considerable energies and break free of her demons. One possible “red flag” caught my attention: the idolization of the teacher. Before we met, my wife lost 15 years to a guru cult with a “godly” leader who grew to control all aspects of her life. Even after she found her way out, the bad associations kept her away from yoga for years afterward. Today, we practice yoga regularly but do not subscribe to any particular system. There is a long tradition of devotion to the teacher or “master” in Indian yoga. Unfortunately, that devotion can sometimes cross the line to deification, with negative psychic, physical, and social results. Holcombe participates in one of the less proscriptive yoga systems, in which particular emphasis is given to the individual’s needs, wants, and capabilities. While I detected in the article a great affection for her teachers, it appears that she is relatively safe from guru worship and victimization on the path she chose. Hers is a great story.

Gretchen Ward Mancuso ’98 Fairfield, Conn.

I am delighted to see a growing movement by Colgate to incorporate local food into its menu, to see such a valuable course as Food being offered, and, especially, to see that students are becoming more aware of where their food comes from and have made an effort to increase awareness about local, “real” food on campus. While I was a student, I went to the Farmers Market on the green, but didn’t go beyond that to eat food that was healthy. Since having my own children, I’ve educated myself about the benefits of local food, raw milk and honey, pastured eggs and livestock, and what is behind such terms as “organic,” “natural,” “free-range,” etc. I would highly recommend to Green Thumbs or the university to invite Joel Salatin, owner of Polyface Farms, to the campus as a speaker. He was featured in Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma. I was lucky enough to have Mr. Salatin as a guide when I went to the farm for a tour, and to say I was enlightened is an understatement of the impact he had on me. Thank you for an inspiring article, which gives me hope for the next generation. Janet Cushing ’91 Reston, Va.

scene: Spring 2010

Charlie Tiller ’92 St. Paul, Minn.

Natural gas the way to go I couldn’t agree more with Bruce Selleck’s remarks in the article summarizing the Colgate Energy Summit (Winter 2010, pg. 63). We should be encouraging our brightest and best to pursue careers in the geosciences. There is a huge age gap in the industry today. A colleague of mine attended a recent American Association of Petroleum Geologists regional meeting. One of the topics was how enrollment of U.S.-born students in the geosciences is way down. He also noted that the Chinese government

is paying big money to educate 5,000 of their brightest young minds at the graduate level in the world’s best institutions. Our government is investing in pipe-dream alternative energy technology, the majority of which has no shot at producing anything viable. I have attended many industry presentations in the last year, including on domestic peak oil and gas, the global warming/carbon credit system, and unconventional (shale) gas economics. I researched the facts and have formulated my own opinion: natural gas is the most viable short-term alternative fuel. We will need to recruit talented young individuals to explore and develop these reserves in addition to studying the environmental impacts of the same. Scott Avanzino ’91 Madisonville, La.

A correction, he thinks In the Autumn 2009 Class of 1949 notes, the final note, from Dave Davies, says, “While we were undergraduates, the second African American in Colgate history was admitted. The first had been Adam Clayton Powell ’30....” My father, Sanford Stanton, Class of 1905, attended Colgate during 1901– 02. He was on the baseball team, and I have a picture. One of the team members appears to be African American. The photo was taken by Mr. Stone, who was still shooting Colgate teams when I enrolled in 1947. I had seen the photo on the wall in Huntington Gym and went to Mr. Stone’s studio to try for a copy. He walked quickly into the back room, found the plate for it in just a couple of minutes, and immediately made me a copy, which I still have. No names with it, unfortunately, but I recognized my dad. He didn’t remember the fellow with him on that team half a century earlier, but did not seem surprised that an African American was there then. Ted Stanton ’51 Houston, Texas Carl Peterson, Colgate’s archivist, replies: I can verify that at least 13 African Americans graduated prior to 1940. The first we know for sure were two cousins from Lynchburg, Va., in the early 1870s. In the 1850s, there was a student here from New Orleans. One of his current relatives in South Carolina claimed he was African American, but there is no way to verify this

absolutely. We do have materials on the student mentioned above, including a photograph.

More Moliere Shannon Wolfe’s letter recalling Atlee Sproul’s direction on Le Misanthrope in 1987 (Winter 2010) made me remember his production of Moliere’s Le Misere in 1966–67. I remember playing Cleante, but, malheureusement, no lines! Atlee was a wonderful professor who inspired many students to go into the theater. He was also a World War II hero, having volunteered early for service in a Canadian commando unit. I do not recall the details, but I believe it was the same unit involved in the unfortunate raid on Dieppe. He never spoke of it, but my grandfather, who saw similar service and taught with Atlee, mentioned it once. Richard J. Kessler ’70 Chevy Chase, Md.

Remembering Bill Skelton The Scene has really hit its stride with the Winter ’10 edition. Of particular note was the coverage of family friend and teacher Bill Skelton (In Memoriam, Pg. 79). Kevin Sio ’73 Skaneateles, N.Y. Behind Bill’s “gruffness” was a hidden side that I had the honor to experience my sophomore year. His Asian Ethnomusicology class culminated in a one-on-one oral final on the course material and a recital on an Asian instrument, which, in my case, was the Japanese shamisen. Anyone like me who was a member of the concert orchestra at that time was familiar with Bill’s unpredictable personality and tirades as conductor, so I was apprehensive about the final. A few days before, Bill had a heart-related episode that sounded scary. I made one of those decisions that could prove to be either very memorable, or momentously stupid. I sought out an Asian friend from my dorm and borrowed his karate-style robe and tea brewing set, thinking, I can at least try and look the part and possibly fake my way through. I brewed some tea, sat crosslegged on the floor wearing the robe, and tuned up the shamisen, shaking with nerves and hoping he retained his sense of humor.

When he walked into his office, I greeted the scowl on his face with, “How do you like your tea?” Bill broke into a grin. He walked over to his desk, pulled out a bottle of vodka, picked up his own shamisen, and we played duets in between shots! Never did get around to the oral final. The best part for me wasn’t the A I got for the course; I learned that he told the story over and over at a Christmas party a few days afterward. Jeff Johnston ’77 Westport, Conn. In 1955–59, Bill Skelton was a young music instructor; I was an aspiring clarinetist. I played in all of his bands. I was his concertmaster for three years. Bill thought enough of me to allow me to teach Prof. M. Holmes Hartshorne’s son Dick the clarinet, which I did for two years. In my junior year, the only record of Colgate songs was done with the concert band and glee club. I still play it. A creative leader, he invented different shows for every football game. My first big game with the band, I was so nervous that I marched the wrong way, but Bill never criticized me. In fact, he laughed and told me that with everyone on the field, who was to know? He always restored confidence. Robert Shapiro ’59 Slingerlands, N.Y.

trends continue, this will double in less than 50 years, and double again before 2100. I know of no responsible person who has studied the issue who believes that 24 billion is a sustainable number. I have seen a serious estimate of the answer to the question above of 3 billion, half of where we are now. If this is correct, we are now in an overshoot mode. There is a conundrum here. Many people, either explicitly or implicitly, believe that science can solve all of our problems: energy, hunger, disease, etc. But, when science comes up with an answer they do not like, or that requires action they do not want to take (think global warming), these same people dismiss the science as wrong. I suggest reading The Limits to Growth, Meadows et al. Their computer modeling has been criticized, but their predictions so far are spot on. We have a choice: we can find a way to limit population growth, which will be very difficult politically, or we can let nature take its course, and hunger and disease will do the job. George A. Williams ’52 Salt Lake City, Utah

More on Banter covers I was greatly surprised and pleased to find a nice letter from Ben Patt and a reproduction of one of my Banter covers (Letters, Winter 2010). I remember folding over a big snowflake drawing time after time to try to get all the facets the same. As you can see, I failed. It’s too small to see, but the title of the book the student is reading is Survival in the Arctic. Jim Berrall ’56 Carroll Valley, Pa.

The great football debate

More Growing Pains I was distressed to see some of the comments on Al Bartlett’s article on population growth (Letters, Winter 2010). In particular, the idea that more people is “good” shows that the message has not gotten through. The key question is this: How many people can this planet support, long term, and at a reasonable standard of living? Current world population is about 6 billion. If current growth

It was with great pleasure that I read Brad Tufts’s letter in the Winter 2010 Scene honoring the reputation of the undefeated, untied, unscored upon, and “uninvited” campaign of the 1932 football team. That football season is part of our family lore, passed on to us by my father, Grover Radley ’37, grandfather of Emily Stein ’02 and Katie Minehan ’04. Sarah Stein Rockport, Maine We had a pretty good team: Mark van Eeghan ’74, who followed Marv Hubbard ’68, was our claim to fame and made

it to the pros. We, of course, gloried in the 1932 team — truly special in the annals of college football. But 2003 was special as well. There was an excitement that we could see and feel: the goalposts fell, the beautiful photo in Sports Illustrated, and most important — we were invited. In my mind, there is no debate. The two teams are equal: twin goalposts in Colgate’s field of dreams. When it comes time, we should have Dick Biddle Field at Andy Kerr Stadium. Frank Kaiman ’74 Scarsdale, N.Y. With all due respect for and recognition of the 2003 football team, we should keep in view that those of us who played during the 1959–61 era played a true Division I schedule, as did those before and some of those who followed us. We played Syracuse when they were #1 in the country, with Ernie Davis, the Heisman Trophy winner, and several all-Americans. We also played Penn State, Rutgers, and Army. The football schedule certainly has changed since then, and I would suggest for the best. Charles F. Dalton Jr. ’62 Andover, Mass.

Shaw piece sparks memories Your beautiful article (“A Writer and His Image,” Summer 2009), with its gorgeous presentation, brought to life for a few moments perhaps the most charming of all the wraiths that move in and out of our memories. Way back in 1956 or 1957 when my wife, Joby, and I were living in the Village, we were heavily involved with the Paulist Fathers and their parish’s Legion of Mary ministry to the many Puerto Rican immigrants on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. In all of this, we became quite friendly with [Hungarian film producer/director] Gabriel Pascal’s widow. Her husband had had a very close and important connection with The Great Man, George Bernard Shaw. Although we can’t remember her first name, we can’t forget her lovely face, her ash blonde hair and light eyes, her slim, ladylike form. She was quiet, soft-spoken, with a lovely Hungarian accent. She had an intensity about her and a great deal of holiness (she took doing God’s work very seriously). John A. Pfaff ’53 Princeton, Ill. News and views for the Colgate community

work & play

Campus scrapbook

Dialoguing about the Vagina Monologues tickets and T-shirts for sale.

Puzzling out a New York Times crossword puzzle in the Coop.

Hamiltonians united on foot and ski at the first Heat Up Hamilton Winter Duathlon, a 6K cross-country ski through Seven Oaks Golf Course followed by a 5K run through the village and campus. Photo by David Hollis B

E-Waste — this sculpture by Leslie Strobel ’10 and Jesse Chang ’12, representing electronic items that should be recycled rather than dumped into landfills, was displayed at the Green Summit in February.

As these students toss the ’bee, the quad buzzes with activity on a warm spring day.

Ladies bust a move during a dance-a-thon organized by Students for Students at the Palace Theater. Proceeds benefited the Kisayake Memorial School for children with special needs in Mbale, Uganda. Photo by Janna Minehart ’13

Heart-shaped pizza at Oliveri’s was one of many holidaythemed downtown deals for the midnight Hamilton Movie Theater showing of Valentine’s Day, sponsored by CAB Take Two. Photo by Janna Minehart ’13

Photos by Andrew Daddio unless otherwise noted

scene: Spring 2010

D C

News and views for the Colgate community

Students perform during the Hope for Haiti benefit concert, which raised funds for the American Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, and Partners in Health.

The sounds of campus and community music groups turned into some much-needed financial support for relief efforts following the devastating earthquake in Haiti on Jan. 12. More than two dozen musical acts performed at Colgate’s Hope for Haiti benefit concert in Memorial Chapel at the end of January, helping to draw a crowd of 600 and raising about $6,000. Additional fundraising efforts by Greek-letter organizations raised $2,250, and the Colgate Bookstore raised more than $400. “A crisis like we are seeing in Haiti brings out a strong desire to help and, in this case, a strong desire to band together with a sense of common purpose,” said Mark Shiner, Catholic campus minister and one of the concert organizers. “I was deeply moved to see everyone reaching out.” The concert lineup featured central New York musicians including Grammy Award–winning artist Joanne Shenandoah, Hamilton schoolchildren, and students, faculty, and staff from Colgate. All proceeds went to the American Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, and Partners in Health.

Workshops, class support sexual misconduct policy After a year of research and careful consideration, Colgate has put into place a new student sexual miscon-

duct policy that more clearly defines prohibited behaviors and also emphasizes the responsibility of all parties to express their consent. Students are learning about the new policy, as well as the channels for reporting violations, through a series of mandatory training workshops. By press time, a few hundred students had attended so far, and more than 20 additional sessions were scheduled for the remainder of the spring semester. “The questions have been thoughtful and nuanced, and the conversations very productive,” said Kim Taylor, dean of the sophomore-year experience. “These sessions are just the beginning of many conversations we will be having about healthy sexuality on campus.” Taylor serves as a harassment adviser and co-facilitator of the training program. In addition to the student sessions, some members of the faculty, administration, and staff are participating in first-responder training in case a student comes to them before officially reporting a problem. “We’re out to educate people about what exactly misconduct is,” said Marilyn (Lyn) Rugg, professor of Romance languages and literatures and the university’s harassment officer. The policy, which addresses student interactions with other students, explicitly defines two categories of sexual misconduct as well as sexual exploitation. It deliberately stops short of attaching sanctions because, Rugg

Brown bag The dirt on Marcellus Shale

Andrew Daddio

work & play

Concert, fundraisers generate nearly $9,000 for Haiti

scene: Spring 2010

Geology students and community members crowded into a Ho Science Center classroom in February to hear John Williams ’76 present “Hydrogeology of the Marcellus Shale Gas Play in New York State.” A hydrologist who works for the U.S. Geological Survey, Williams has studied the Marcellus Shale and aquifers above it in Pennsylvania and is now focused on New York State. He discussed the proposed, yet controversial, drilling of the Marcellus Shale for the extraction of natural gas, explaining the hydrogeology, the technology that will be used, and the possible environmental effects. The Marcellus Shale is a black shale formation that extends deep underground from Ohio and West Virginia northeast into Pennsylvania and southern New York. Active drilling and gas development has already begun in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. “In New York, the state said we’re not ready, so there’s been none of this fever that’s been down in Pennsylvania, but it is coming to New York State very soon,” explained Williams. Hydraulic fracturing — the method used in gas extraction — is at the center of the debate. Those opposed to “hydrofracking” are concerned with its possible effects, including surface water and groundwater contamination, chemical spillage, and the amount of water required. Those in favor of the drilling argue that the potential job opportunities and fiscal incentives will greatly benefit the economically depressed areas of the state. Williams presented both the advantages and pitfalls. He said that the state must use the best technology available, including microseismic monitoring of hydraulic fracturing, reducing the impact on freshwater resources by reusing fluid, and sampling local well water before and after drilling. At press time, New York State had developed draft regulations and was reviewing the more than 13,000 submitted comments from the scientific community, other regulatory agencies, and the public.

Students spring into action as community volunteers

Andrew Daddio

Music and dance from several student groups kicked off the celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day in Memorial Chapel. Colgate hosted a month-long series of discussions, keynote addresses, workshops, and other campuswide activities.

With suitcases filled with supplies carried by arms ready to do work, 65 Colgate students set out during spring break to engage with communities in need. The Center for Outreach, Volunteerism, and Education (COVE) and the Office of the Chaplains run alternative spring break trips for students looking to do something meaningful with their time away from campus. Students served communities as near as Edmeston, N.Y., and as far away as Hato Mayor in the Dominican Republic, while learning what it means to be global citizens. “These trips open students’ eyes so that whatever job they end up in, they have an awareness about the world,” said Ingrid Hale ’89, COVE director. The COVE sent teams to four locations: Oglala Lakota Nation on Pine Ridge Reservation, S.D., for community building; Hato Mayor, to lead incomegeneration workshops; the Pathfinder Village (a community for individuals with Down syndrome) in Edmeston, to provide residential assistance; and New Bern, N.C., for Habitat for Humanity. Hale noted that students were doing more than manual labor — they were partnering with a community. “The students [participating in the Habitat for Humanity trip] were asked to speak at a local elementary school about the importance of community service,” she said. “Colgate has a very positive relationship with Habitat for Humanity. Not only are the students respectful and professional, but they also work hard. They want to make the most of this experience, so they wholeheartedly throw themselves into it.” Students participating in the chaplains’ office trips also collaborated

Back on campus Real World On the weekend of January 15, hundreds of Colgate seniors convened on campus just a few days before the official end of winter break. They came to meet with more than 100 alumni, who made the trek to frosty Hamilton for Real World 2010. These alumni generously advised the soon-to-be-graduates through a series of panels and cocktail receptions, reassuring them that although the future may be uncertain, the Colgate network is always available.

Andrew Daddio

Molly Kunzman ’12, a leader in Gamma Phi Beta, agreed. “For me, the scariest part is not that someone will take advantage of another person, but that when people drink too much, there are two people who might both be in an unhealthy place.” Her sorority held a joint training session with the members of Sigma Chi fraternity. “Even if now it feels confusing, the administration wants everyone to know that they have options if something happens to them,” said Kunzman.

said, “We wanted a policy that could work for every case and not hamstring the process.” According to the policy, the distinction between acceptable and unacceptable conduct lies in the notion of mutual respect and clear consent, which can be blurred by the use of alcohol or drugs. “However,” the policy states, “being under the influence of alcohol or drugs is not a defense to an allegation of sexual misconduct or sexual harassment.” In addition to explaining the new policy, Rugg hopes the training will foster a stronger buddy system on campus. “What I want is to empower people — men and women — so that if they see someone drinking too much or being taken advantage of, they will step up,” she said. Consent is also one of the subjects of a five-week non-credit class called Yes Means Yes, which looks broadly at sexuality at Colgate and in general. Developed from a senior thesis by Jaclyn Berger ’09 and supported by Colgate’s Wellness Initiative, the class is facilitated by Dawn LaFrance, associate director of Colgate’s counseling center, and other staff and faculty. “The policy brings up a lot of new issues,” said Nick Mitilenes ’10, who is a peer counselor, president of the Intrafraternity Council, and member of Colgate’s conduct board. “You could have cases where a person thinks they got consent, but maybe they didn’t.”

J. Austin Murphy ’83

J. Austin Murphy ’83, senior writer for Sports Illustrated, delivered an amusing yet poignant keynote address in which he related his own life experiences as a “reverse barometer for success.” He reminded the seniors to be optimistic about the next step: “You’re about to be unleashed on the world with an enviable array of advantages, most of which you’ve earned. You have youth, wisdom beyond your years, a superior work ethic, and a network of alumni who care deeply about your progress. In a lot of ways, you’ve already won.” At the Government/Public Policy panel, Patrice Chang Bey ’94 described her experiences teaching in Africa

and St. Lucia before taking a job in Syracuse, N.Y., government. She encouraged the seniors to “be fearless” in their job searches and in life: “Research the people who are holding the positions that you want,” she said. “Learn what they do, who they are, what they need. It is important that you come out of your comfort zones and engage them.” Glenn Ivers ’73 spoke at the panel on nonprofit organizations about how being at Colgate during the peak of activism against the Vietnam War inspired him to enter the nonprofit sector. “Part of what we were doing as a generation was reacting to the horrific things our nation was doing,” said the executive director of Wanderer’s Rest Humane Association in Canastota, N.Y. “Over the years, I have really derived not just monetary wealth, but also emotional wealth from helping people in my career.” The print news industry transition to web content was the topic of a discussion led by Paul Toscano ’07, producer for CNBC.com, at the Media and Journalism panel. He sounded optimistic for the future, explaining that, “There is a new frontier. The fact that we can’t monetize it just means we haven’t figured it out yet.” Interim President Lyle Roelofs encouraged the seniors to reflect on their accomplishments at Colgate, and be proud: “You’ve been exposed to the great thinkers of all eras, you’ve majored in a discipline, and at this point you probably don’t have the realization that you are better prepared for the real world than most people your age. Don’t be shy about your abilities. Employers might not know it yet, but it’s very much to your advantage, and theirs, that they understand that.” — Kate Preziosi ’10

News and views for the Colgate community

work & play

with communities. Through the Colgate Jewish Union (CJU), a group traveled to New York City to volunteer at schools in Harlem and prepare kosher-for-Passover packages to send to the elderly. The University Church sent a team to Jamaica for service work, and members of the Newman Community traveled to Vatican City. Rebecca Blake ’10, who went on the CJU trip, spoke of the value of a faithbased service trip. “I enjoy traveling with Rabbi Dave — he is both my professor and spiritual mentor. I find that service in a religious context is very fulfilling.” After the trips, participants had brown bag lunches to share their experiences with the Colgate community. — Brittany Messenger ’10

It’s electric: panel discusses alternative transportation

Andrew Daddio

As part of a discussion during the 13 Days of Green, panelists agreed that alternative transportation is on the horizon.

The question is not “if” but “when” electric cars will be seen on local and national highways, according to a panel of experts who discussed alternative transportation technology as part of Colgate’s 13 Days of Green. The seven panelists included filmmaker Chris Paine ’83, who took on the automotive and oil industries in his documentary Who Killed the Electric Car? A range of questions about electric cars was asked by audience members in Love Auditorium as well as those tuning into the live webcast on colgatealumni.org. “What would it take to charge a car individually at a house or a fleet of cars at Colgate?” asked one person. “The charging is potentially a barrier, but I think it’s an insignificant

scene: Spring 2010

one, a relatively cheap one,” answered Colgate’s sustainability coordinator, John Pumilio. “In some cases, it’s as simple as running an extension cord, and in other cases it might be setting up an electric station where we park our vehicles.” As part of Colgate joining the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment, Pumilio hopes to reduce the university’s vehicle emissions. Ninety-five vehicles make up Colgate’s vehicle fleet, and all are due to be replaced in the next six years, according to Pumilio. “If we replaced our gasoline fleet with an electric fleet, we would save an estimated $48,161 per year in fuel costs, and we would avoid 186 tons (409,000 lbs) of emissions,” he said. Paine, who has driven electric cars for 13 years, added: “It becomes like your cell phone. You stop thinking about it, you begin to trust that your car’s going to work, and you have it charged. I’d go to friends’ houses to spend the night, and I’d have my fiftyfoot cord and I’d ask, ‘Do you mind if I string this into your electric charger?’ You maybe cost your friend a dollar fifty with the power you’re using. It becomes very convenient.” Steven Von Bargen of Bannon Automotive, an electric car company in Syracuse, fielded questions about battery issues. “Batteries are not stable — no two are really alike, and coordinating the batteries is a major obstacle, but it can be solved,” he said. “With the amount of money being pumped into battery research, it’s going to be improved,” he said about the life span of an electric car battery. “We’re still climbing, and I think it’s going to evolve quickly.” Panelists agreed that government support and regulations are essential to the success of alternative transportation. “If we enacted a set of laws that required a certain number of electric vehicles to be in place, Shell and Exxon would be building electric refueling stations along the highway because they could make a bucket doing it,” said geology professor Bruce Selleck. Paine is hopeful that attitudes in Washington are changing: “In the most recent presidential election, both the Democratic and Republican parties argued for the electric cars and battery research and funding, and that wasn’t happening when we made our film.” His optimism that “change is going to prevail” is the subject of his next film, Revenge of the Electric Car.

Go figure – Colgate on Facebook 7,818 on the Colgate network 24 Colgate class groups 1976 earliest class with a dedicated Facebook group

907 friends of Raider 2,077 Raider Nation fans 83 members of the “I’m from Colgate

University and I use Colgate Toothpaste” group

videos of performances at the Barge Canal Coffee Company

2,297

fans of New York Pizzeria — aka “Slices”

“fan photos” on the Colgate University fan page

3 photos of students snoozing on the Extreme Napping (Colgate Chapter) group page

members in the Colgate group Chuck Norris Concentrators [Numbers collected in March 2010] — Jason Kammerdiener ’10

8 Find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ colgateuniversity

Also as part of Colgate’s 13 Days of Green, alumni working in various environmental fields returned for the Green Careers Forum, a panel discussion and networking opportunity for students. Watch videos of both the alternative transportation panel and the Green Careers Forum at www. colgate.edu/video.

Former NFL star shares stories of adversity, hope

Earlier this year, former NFL running back Warrick Dunn handed keys and $5,000 checks to two single moms who each became first-time homeowners in Baton Rouge, La. In February, the soft-spoken Dunn delivered a powerful message to Colgate students about why he helps single parents through his Warrick Dunn Foundation, and why it’s so important for everyone to give back to

Get to know: Mrs. V. (Gloria Vanderneut)

Andrew Daddio

In talking to student-athletes in attendance, he stressed how important it is to view sports as just one part of life, and the importance of being good citizens. Dunn, 35, who graduated from Florida State with a degree in information technology and now is a minority owner of the Falcons, left a solid impression with the students. “He stressed how important relationships are in your life, how you need to hang out with the right people,” said Emmanuel Christian ’12. Dunn told students that even after being in the NFL for eight years, he still had not bought himself a new car. Instead, it was family that came first.

the communities in which they live. Dunn, named to the Pro Bowl three times during his 12-year NFL career, was invited to campus by the Brothers student group. He shared intensely personal stories with students and staff members in Love Auditorium. He spoke about how his mother, a Baton Rouge police officer, was gunned down in 1993 as she worked a second job as a security guard. Dunn, 18 at the time and the eldest of six children, was devastated. “I lost my mom; I lost my world that night,” he said. “A part of me died when she died.” His mother’s dream was to one day own a home of her own. His foundation is a way to honor his mother and make the dreams of others a reality. “The foundation is a way to change lives,” he said, urging students to find what they are passionate about and make a difference in the lives of others. So far, his foundation has helped 93 single parents, who had to go through an intensive process to become eligible, and more than 250 dependents. Dunn also talked about how after leaving the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and joining the Atlanta Falcons, a casual conversation with a teammate led him to contact a counselor who helped him address his clinical depression. He never looked his counselor in the eyes during the first eight months of sessions. Eventually, he became more comfortable, and counseling helped him “take my life back,” he said.

Tuition-free week

Andrew Daddio

Warrick Dunn, who played 12 seasons in the NFL with the Buccaneers and Falcons, talks about his foundation for single parents.

Whether you tend to see cups as half-empty or half-full, one measure remains constant: Student fees only cover 67 percent of the Colgate experience. Since those 13 men with 13 dollars and 13 prayers first gathered at Olmstead House, alumni and friends have stepped forward to fill the legendary “gap.” If the university started funding its mission exclusively with tuition revenue on move-in day, those dollars would run out at approximately the same time students returned from spring break on March 21. To commemorate the moment, undergraduates and members of the university’s advancement staff expanded it into a weeklong celebration: Tuition-Free Week. Signs posted around the university, March 21–28, recognized generous alumni and reminded everyone that philanthropy has an impact on each aspect of campus life — the courses students take, professors they encounter, trips they participate in, buildings they inhabit, and even the food they eat. On March 24, students gathered in the Coop for a Thank-a-Thon, a new initiative that gives undergraduates a chance to send personal notes to alumni who have provided critical support for scholarships, financial aid, and more. Two days later, student members of the Presidents’ Club — the university’s leadership giving society — had an opportunity to say “thank you” in person when they met with the Board of Trustees for a networking luncheon in Donovan’s Pub. “This is a perfect time to talk with students about philanthropy while they’re on campus,” said annual fund assistant director Mike Tone ’07, who coordinated the program.

Admission Office Assistant You are often the first person people meet on campus. Describe your job. That’s what people like to say: “the face of Colgate,” which is a little scary sometimes! I greet people, make appointments, make sure they are pointed in the right direction — just make their visit to Colgate a positive and enjoyable experience. I have a lot of interaction with the student greeters and the senior interns. The students recharge my batteries. Where did you work before you came to the admission office? I worked in student activities starting in ’76. That’s when I met Gary Ross [’77, current dean of admission]; he was in the Student Senate. Next, I went to history. Then, to the computing center. In 1980, I came to admission. What’s so special is that it’s gone full circle. Here I am, working with Gary. What kind of interesting people have come by your desk? Meredith Baxter Birney helped me pop up umbrellas after a tour one time because she didn’t think I should be doing it by myself, which was very sweet. Many years ago, one of the Rockefellers came through. The Secret Service went through every office and then stood guard at my desk. Tell us about your family. My husband, Gary, just retired from New York State’s Department of Environmental Conservation. We plan to visit our two sons soon. Rich, who’s in Missouri, has two little girls; Randy, who’s in Texas, has two girls and a boy. The grandchildren are the love of my life. What do you do in your spare time? I make gift baskets. My favorite is the one I make for the Konosioni Charity Auction. I call it “TLC from Mrs. V.” Whoever gets it, I find out their likes and dislikes, and mold it around them. Only people who don’t know you well call you Gloria. Tell us about your nicknames. Besides “Mrs. V.,” there’s “Cookie” — had it since I was a baby. Bob Blackmore [English] used to sing, “Lookie, lookie, lookie, here comes Cookie” to me. Gary Ross calls me Mrs. Noot, which came from a lady who couldn’t figure out my name over the phone and kept calling me “Vanna Noot.” What are your most memorable Colgate moments? The Maroon Citation is right up there. I was highlighted in the yearbook several years ago, which was a big thrill. When alumni visit Colgate with their children, taking time out of their visit to stop by my desk (I’m going to tear up on you now), that means a lot. What do you think you’ll miss the most when you retire this summer? The whole Colgate family, especially everyone in admission, and the students. I love every single one of them in their own way. And I know that I’ll be going down 12B south and the car will turn up Oak Drive by accident.

News and views for the Colgate community

Passing through Hamilton on any given day, you’re likely to see Chuck Fox ’70 strolling down the sidewalk clutching a red-and-white-striped box in his hands. Nearly everywhere he goes — from the post office to meetings — Fox, who manages the Hamilton Movie Theater, carries a popcorn snack to give away. Just three years after he graduated from Colgate, Fox said, he and his wife, Maureen, returned to Hamilton as a great place to raise their family. He’s become a fixture in serving the community, from coordinating the playground’s construction and raising funds to build the Chenango Nursery School and restore the Village Green, to chairing the Village Bicentennial and coordinating the 4th of July celebration. He recently started a nonprofit, Community Bikes, which refurbishes donated bicycles for Madison County families who can’t afford them, and will ship new bikes to Africa, coordinating with the Malawi Children’s Village.

Dinner and a movie (and so much more) By Chuck Fox ’70 The first graders tumble off the bus, excited by the big day. The boys all wear ill-fitting ties, the girls are in dresses. The bus says Madison Central School, but the kids each hand

Andrew Daddio

work & play

Passion for the Climb

scene: Spring 2010

the driver a token as they get off. After all, this is City Day and, just as if they were heading into the Big Apple, they’re celebrating with dinner and a show. OK, “dinner” is juice and a doughnut at Quack’s Diner and the show is a movie at the Hamilton Theater. Still, for lots of kids in Madison — or Brookfield, Munnsville, Otselic, or the other little villages that surround Hamilton — Broad Street might just as well be Broadway. “It’s so nice of you to let us come to the movie for free. We have no budget for this,” the teacher tells me. She adds, “A lot of these kids have never been to a theater of any kind.” I tell people I’m in showbiz. Best job I ever had. Managing a movie theater provides endless opportunities to make it fun for others, contribute to the energy of the community, engage people in ways that only a hometown theater can, and tap into that desire in all of us to make a difference in ways big and small. It’s perfect for me. A little bit of the arts (we present opera), a little bit of culture (Jackass: The Movie notwithstanding), a slice of Hamilton history (the theater opened in 1895), lots of room for creativity (we had Spiderman scale the theater’s wall), and a heavy dose of community fun. The Sherburne-Earlville marching band is performing a mini-concert on the street, which we’ve blocked off in front of the theater. Tom, one of our high school staff, is standing with me looking out at a big crowd enjoying the music. “What’s the connection?” he asks. “None,” I tell him. “Just for fun.” He laughs approvingly. Great place, Hamilton. It’s a community that is receptive to new ideas, embraces creativity, values tradition, and celebrates history. People care about each other. And the theater has always been a centerpiece, a place that has created memories for generations of campus and community folks. More than just movies, there have been USO drives, Depression-era fundraisers, wartime blood drives, Colgate and high school graduations — even a wedding! People love to stop by and tell their stories. A Colgate grad returning for his 50th Reunion stands outside the theater, reminiscing with Judy Plesniarski, longtime proprietor with her husband of John’s Shoe Shop next door. “I remember there was this cute

little blond usherette working at the theater,” he recalls. “That was me!” Judy tells him. Heritage Farm, the center for special-needs adults just north of town, has a treasure trove of animals. Goats, horses, peacocks, rabbits, llamas — you name it, they’ve got ’em, and the participants love to come showcase them at the theater as part of our free children’s series. It’s fun for them, and a treat for the families coming to the theater (and for lots of passers-by). Today they’ve brought a miniature donkey and a pig dyed green for Shrek. A couple arriving for another movie glances over. I hear the woman whisper to her husband, “There’s something you don’t see every day!” Folks seem delighted to see donkeys in front of the theater, or school buses unloading, or the jazz ensemble performing under the marquee, or the guests lined up down the street for Pay What You Want Tuesday. They may not know exactly what’s going on, but they like that there’s “stuff happening” at their community theater. It’s a continuation of a long tradition. They appreciate what that means. So when we ask them to contribute to help pay for the free programming we provide to schools and families, they’re happy to pitch in. It’s a beautiful starlit night in July. More than 500 people are packing up their lawn chairs and blankets at the ball fields, where we’ve just shown our first free outdoor Movie Under the Stars, The Sandlot, a real feel-good summer movie. Kids are throwing Frisbees and waving glow sticks in the dark. A young dad surveys the scene and says to his wife, “This is why we live in Hamilton.” The movie is over. Most of the Madison first-graders have fallen asleep. The teacher is rousting them for the bus trip home. She gives me a smile and says, “This was a big day for them.” Great day for me, too. Hey, that’s showbiz.

8 Read more essays from our Passion for the Climb series, or see how you can submit your own essay: www.colgate.edu/scene/pfcessays

The Creepy, Kooky Cartoons of Charles Addams ’33 The body of macabre artwork concocted by longtime New Yorker cartoonist Charles Addams ’33 was resurrected this spring with the release of a new book and a Broadway musical. Mysteriously, only scant records are to be found of his year at Colgate: his name and hometown (Westfield, N.J.) in the 1931 Salmagundi, and a reference to his joining Theta Chi. But nearly 20 cartoons published in the comic student magazine Banter clearly show the roots of his artistic style and the twisted sense of humor for which he came to be famous. From drawing style to wicked irony, these Banter covers, “Winter Carnival,” Feb. 13, 1930 (left), and “Good ’till the last drop” (New York Stock Exchange in background), June 6, 1930, show similarities to the New Yorker cartoons Addams drew by the hundreds.

The Addams Family: An Evilution by H. Kevin Miserocchi, a coffee table book tracing the Addams Family history, was released in March 2010. The Addams Family: A New Musical, starring Nathan Lane as Gomez and Bebe Neuwirth as Morticia, premiered on Broadway in April 2010.

Morticia cartoon ©Charles Addams with permission from the Tee and Charles Addams Foundation. For more on Charles Addams, go to www.charlesaddams.com.

13 Page 13 is the showplace

“Good Lord — we’re skidding — anything behind us?” “Not a thing — not a thing.” Banter illustration

showcasing Addams’s penchant for depicting deadly situations (“Winter Carnival” issue, Feb. 13, 1930).

“Oh, I couldn’t make it Friday — I’ve so many things to do. It’s the thirteenth, you know” (The Addams Family: An Evilution,

page 51). Legend has it that Professor Jerry Balmuth’s current home in Hamilton is one of several buildings across the country claimed to have inspired the Addams Family’s house.

for Colgate tradition, history, and school spirit.

life of the mind 14

scene: Spring 2010

S-STEM students present at science symposium

Six students took advantage of the opportunity to share research findings and sharpen their presentation skills at a science symposium held at Harvard Medical School. The undergraduates, who are in Colgate’s Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math Program (S-STEM), mingled with peers from other universities, postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, and others at the New England Science Symposium held Feb. 28. “It was a great experience to discuss my work in this kind of setting,” said Walfrey Lim ’11. “It allowed me to interact and learn about other people’s research projects and immerse myself in different areas of biology.” Lim and Yvett Sosa ’12 presented a poster about their research, which they had conducted with Editza Velazquez ’11, of how three different species of bacillus create spores. Sosa said she got a lot of satisfaction from discussing her work and having it reviewed in such a formal setting. “I had a chance to sharpen the skills I need in presenting, and it was a good chance to network with a wide range of people,” she said. Also attending the symposium were Marvee Espiritu ’12, Julio Chanelo ’12, Vickie Cadestin ’12, and Lucy Velasquez ’11. Velasquez found it a bit nerve-wracking at first to be among the 150 or so presenters, but it took just a couple of conversations to make her comfortable. She presented a poster about her research into how single-nucleotide polymorphisms might affect the size of different breeds of dogs. She worked on the project this past summer with Luis Mejia ’11 in the lab of biology professor Barbara Hoopes. All the students had taken advantage of Colgate’s summer research program and had presented their findings to fellow students and to professors. They are among the dozen students in the S-STEM program, which is supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation. The program supports selected students with an interest in healthscience fields who are from underrepresented communities or from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. Administered by the Center for Learning, Teaching, and Research and the Division of Natural Sciences

and Mathematics, the program provides the students with educational and financial support through their sophomore, junior, and senior years. Germaine Gogel, associate professor of chemistry and director of S-STEM, and Katherine Hoffmann, a postdoctoral fellow in biochemistry, went with the students to the symposium. “It was a fantastic experience for all of us,” said Gogel. “I think it reinforces in our students the belief that they can do this — they can get a degree in the sciences and pursue a career in the field.”

Students create symbols of peace

More than 50 students took part in an effort to fold paper into 1,000 origami cranes to send to Nagasaki, Japan, one of two Japanese cities hit with an atomic bomb during World War II. “A thousand cranes is symbolic of a community’s hope and dedication to peace in this world,” said Alex Sklyar ’10, co-founder of Colgate Global Citizens for Peace (CGC). During his visits to Hiroshima and Nagasaki while studying abroad in Japan, Sklyar was moved by the strength of the residents’ hope for peace, which inspired him to bring a bit of that hope to campus. Working with Shauna Dunton ’10 and Carolina van der Mensbrugghe ’10, Sklyar founded CGC this semester. Its mission is to raise awareness about important issues in international peace activism on campus and to provide students with a path to pursue that interest. “We hope to change the focus of the club every semester to a different area of peace activism,” said Sklyar. “This semester, we’re focusing on nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament.” Along with making cranes, students learned about nuclear weaponry from posters and information sheets. There also was a petition-signing event to support President Barack Obama in talking more openly about

Syllabus HIST 313: Upstate History (new) MW 2:45–4:00, Alumni Hall 108 Faye Dudden, Professor of History Course description: Upstate New York has a rich history. In the late 1700s, it was a borderland between Europeans and Native Americans. Pre–Civil War, it was a hotbed of radical social movements, an economic powerhouse fed by canals and railroads, and a haven for all sorts of “isms,” from millenarianism to utopian communism. Later, it became home to industries and immigrants. Recently, upstate has exemplified the declining fortunes of the “rustbelt.” This course explores upstate issues of national significance, as well as phenomena unique to the area. On the reading list: Cross, The BurnedOver District: The Social and Intellectual History of Enthusiastic Religion in Western New York, 1800–1850; Sheriff, The Artificial River: The Erie Canal and the Paradox of Progress, 1817–1862; Stauffer, The Black Hearts of Men: Radical Abolitionists and the Transformation of Race; Ginsberg, Untidy Origins: A Story of Women’s Rights in Antebellum New York Key assignments/activities: Long paper on a site study; field trips including to the home of the utopian Oneida Community (1848–1880) The professor says: I’ve been thinking about developing this course for years; any historian who specializes in 19th-century social history knows the importance of the “Burned-Over District” here in upstate. An example of the students’ site studies is one focusing on the 1821 exhumation of the body of Major Andre, the British spy who was executed for his role in the Benedict Arnold treason plot; he was originally buried in Rockland County. So far, the class is most enthused about Alan Taylor’s book William Cooper’s Town; we brought in a speaker from the New York State Historical Association, and the students suggested we invite Taylor himself.

nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament at the treaty revision session this May at the United Nations. The Japan Club made sushi for the event. “We hope that the people who come here feel like they are contributing to the international peace activism movement in a way. Also, by exposing them to Japanese food, culture, and tradition, [it instills] a sense of global community,” said Sklyar. Bryan Rasbury ’12 commended CGC’s efforts to raise awareness of this important issue. “A lot of times people just turn a blind eye to certain things, and once things are in the past, people just forget about them. So it’s great to make people remember and to show them that this happened, and we should be aware of it,” he said. Along with sending 1,000 cranes to Nagasaki this summer, CGC hopes to connect with a sister group in Japan to work together toward peace activism at their respective schools. They are planning upcoming lectures with an atom-bomb survivor and with someone who has lived with an atom-bomb survivor. — Lea Furutani ’10

Professor performs key role in digital theater archive

For the past seven years, English professor Susan Cerasano has been working on a project that aims to create the world’s most important digital archive on early modern English theater. The first stage of this major scholarly endeavor is now available.

but also is critically important for conservation purposes.” Cerasano has worked with the Dulwich College Archive for more than 20 years, and has written numerous essays on Henslowe and Alleyn. She authored biographies of both men for the New Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, one of the definitive historical sources in the United Kingdom, and is currently editing the diary of Alleyn for Oxford University Press.

Cerasano is a member of the advisory board for the Henslowe- Alleyn Digitization Project, which is led by a team of experts from King’s College London, The Museum of London, UCLA, and the University of Reading. The experts have been working to make available the largest collection of manuscript material on professional theater and dramatic performance in the age of Shakespeare and many other leading playwrights online. These include the only surviving records of theater box office receipts for any play by Shakespeare, the 1600 contract to build the Fortune Theatre in London, and notes of payments to playwrights including Ben Jonson and Thomas Middleton. The original collection, housed at the Dulwich College Archive in London, holds thousands of pages of manuscripts relating to its founder, the celebrated actor and entrepreneur Edward Alleyn (1566–1626), and of his father-in-law Philip Henslowe (d. 1616), the most successful theater impresario of the age. Cerasano, chief academic consultant for the project, wrote biographies of Alleyn and Henslowe as well as three foundational essays for the website. She also helped plan and choose materials for the database. “This project is an excellent example of how today’s technology can relate to historic documents,” she said. “It will not only make further study much more widely accessible,

Students, elders build digital stories and relationships

Andrew Daddio

Mary Deland of Hamilton points out some photographs to Jane Eilbacher ’10. The pair worked on a digital story about Deland’s life for the class Sociology of Age, Aging, and the Lifecourse.

What do a 20-something Colgate student and a 70-something area resident have in common? More than you might think, it turns out. Twelve seniors taking a class called Sociology of Age, Aging, and the Lifecourse were paired with an elder and tasked with creating a digital story about that person. The students in sociology professor Meika Loe’s course, though, learned as much about themselves as they learned about their partners, discovering what “it” is that can define a person’s life and give it real meaning. Timely lessons, Loe pointed out, for students considering post-Colgate options and the need to navigate friendships, family, material life and possessions, and a sense of home in a new way. The lab component of the course culminated in the digital stories — three-minute videos that were screened in Golden Auditorium. While there was no red carpet, it was like a movie premiere at the auditorium for the students and elders who greeted each other as old friends and shared animated conversations with classmates, family members, and friends. Joanna Sherman ’10 chatted with her elder partner, Joanne Geyer. The two hadn’t known each other before the project, despite living only a few houses away from each other in the village. They met about five times at the Barge coffee shop and spent hours talking. They soon discovered that they were both only children, and that they shared interests in international relations and the columns and books of Nicholas Kristof. “It was just such a pleasant surprise how much the two of us had in common,” said Sherman, a political science major. “I feel like I have made a new friend in the Hamilton community.”

Live and learn

Lindsey Jacobson ’10 reports: During winter break, 12 other students and I rekindled ties made by alumni more than 100 years ago, in an extended study trip to India. We were all students in Religion 326A: Far From Thy Valley, a course dedicated to studying Colgate Baptist missionaries and their contributions to communities in northeast India. The course, taught by Asian studies, philosophy, and religion professor John Ross Carter, focused on the alumni as individuals and examined the dedication they needed to face missionary life. Each student then chose a missionary (a Colgate alumnus or spouse) to write a paper on. Visiting the Council of Baptist Churches in North East India, Eastern Theological College, and Harding Theological College, we presented our papers to descendents of the people who were converted to Christianity by Colgate alumni, including Miles Bronson 1836, Cyrus Barker 1838, Ira Stoddard 1845, William Ward 1848, M.C. Mason 1872, Elnathan G. Phillips 1872, P.H. Moore 1876, and Frederick W. Harding 1904. It was exciting to see the real-world connection to our classwork. The students and faculty we met in India were also inspired to learn more about the Colgate men and women who had such an impact on their lives. They expressed how grateful they were to the missionaries, and by extension, treated us with much kindness everywhere we went. We were considered honored guests, and they incorporated us into their “college families” through cultural presentations and sports. It was an honor to represent Colgate and to be associated with the fine men and women who risked their lives for a calling.

8 See a slideshow of photos from the trip at www.colgate.edu/photos

News and views for the Colgate community

life of the mind

Carol Bergen of Hamilton met with Laura McDonald ’10 several times to share her story, which focused on her passion for the Spanish language and Hispanic studies. “We laughed together, and we cried together,” said Bergen. “It was emotional for me to go back in time like that.” The collaborative nature of the project was compelling for everyone involved, said Loe. “It was interesting to see how the life story moved from memories to being a student-elder co-production, and how both elders

and students walked away with new perspectives.” Jane Eilbacher ’10 worked with Mary Deland, who discussed the importance of family and about serving as postmaster in nearby West Eaton. Deland couldn’t attend the campus screening, so Eilbacher went to her Madison Lane apartment to show the video. “I didn’t know ahead of time, but Mary’s family came to see it, and we had the chance to watch the digital story together,” said Eilbacher. “After hearing so much about the people in

Good to know: research projects yield tips and advice

with only 2.6 to 7 percent of residents below the poverty line had seven high-quality and only two low-quality stores. Many areas, particularly impoverished ones, are not served by any, she found. Food for thought for county officials and developers.

The research findings of students who took last fall’s Geographic Information Systems course, taught by professors Adam Burnett and Pete Scull, could be useful to a variety of people, from government officials to vacation planners. In a project aimed at demonstrating their ability to use GIS to collect data, formulate an appropriate analysis, and cogently present their results, the students were given carte blanche to come up with their own topics, said Burnett. Some added a GIS dimension to research for another class; others explored aspects of a personal interest. Whether serious or more lighthearted, Burnett said, all of the projects had good GIS science going on behind them. Here is a sampling: America’s Next MLB Team If expansion is planned, Albuquerque, N.M., should be the next city to have a Major League Baseball team. Sara Aschheim ’11 studied factors for success, which include a city far from another with an existing team, with the financial wherewithal to support a team, and a significant Latino population, reflecting the growing interest in baseball among that group. Accessing Food Lack of access to quality food outlets correlates directly with areas of higher poverty in Madison County, N.Y., where 11 percent of residents live in poverty. Jen Rusciano ’10 found that the areas with 12 to 15 percent of residents living below the poverty line had 11 low-quality and six high-quality food outlets, while areas

scene: Spring 2010

Rise in Lyme Disease Get out the bug spray and pull up your socks. The incidence of Lyme disease — carried by deer ticks — in New York has risen sharply (1,000 more cases in 2008 than in 2007). Cat Weiss ’10 attributes that rise to the increased contact between deer and humans due to increasing proximity. She found that perimeters of residential land that borders deer habitat, as well as land with nearby water sources that borders deer habitat, rose significantly between 1992 and 2001. Which Route to Choose? If you plan to bike across America, Meg Hanley ’11 recommends you take the TransAmerica Bicycle Trail from Astoria, Ore., to Yorktown, Va. Of the three major cross-country routes, it is the longest, and has the largest percentages of the route within parks. And while it covers more ground with steep slopes than the Southern Tier route, the mid-latitude TransAmerica trail presents bikers with a more temperate climate than either the Southern or Northern Tier routes.

her life, it was wonderful to talk with them and see the great rapport Mary has with her daughter and grandsons.” The videos don’t represent an elder’s whole life — they can’t in three minutes — but they might provide an understanding of that life. “It was eye-opening for me,” said Kate Gundersen ’10, who spoke after her partner Arthur Rashap ’58 taped the script for their video in the audio studio of Case Library and Geyer Center for Information Technology. “It was great to put what we were learning in class into such real terms,” she said. “And it was a highlight of my week to meet with Arthur. He had so many experiences to share.”

Picker Institute funds new collaborative research projects

Colgate faculty members will collaborate with professors from around the world and the nation on research projects funded by the university’s Picker Interdisciplinary Science Institute. According to the director, biology professor Damhnait McHugh, the institute supports research by faculty members who combine their expertise from different areas of study “to address otherwise intractable scientific questions,” she said. The grants were awarded to: Krista Ingram, assistant biology professor; and James Watkins, a plant ecophysiologist, and Nancy Pruitt, a comparative cellular physiologist. Ingram will work with Guy Bloch, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Rudolf Meier, National University of Singapore, to examine how ant workers in a nest organize all of their necessary behaviors or tasks when no single ant is in control. It turns out that ants rely on the same mechanism that humans use to organize their daily activities: an internal molecular rhythm generator called the circadian clock. The scientists will investigate the genetic structure of the ant circadian clock, explore how genes that regulate circadian rhythms are associated with specific tasks, and reconstruct the patterns of change in rhythm regulation throughout ant evolution. The team hopes to improve the understanding of the role of molecular clocks in the synchronization of animal behavior with external environments. Watkins and Pruitt are teaming up with Melvin Oliver, a molecular biologist at the University of Missouri, to examine how plants respond to desic-

Harlem trip offers cultural awakening

During his first two years at Colgate, Naledi Semela ’10 lived in the Harlem Renaissance Center (HRC). Yet, he didn’t fully connect the residence’s theme to its history and culture — until he took the recent Harlem Renaissance Tour. “There were portraits and artworks on the walls,” said Semela, an art and art history major, “but they felt like relics, or like they were there for aesthetic reasons. Visiting the landmarks and hearing about the people helped us fill in the gaps.” On the 21-hour whirlwind tour, Semela and 50 other students and administrators visited sites significant to the Harlem Renaissance period,

including the Abyssinian Baptist Church, which was founded in opposition to racially segregated seating in houses of worship; the home of Madame C.J. Walker, the nation’s first African American woman millionaire and entrepreneur; and the Apollo Theater, where nearly every American jazz great debuted. Afterward, some two dozen members of Colgate’s Alumni of Color organization joined the group for a traditional soul food dinner. Before the trip, students attended a day of Harlem Renaissance lectures. Keenan Grenell, Colgate’s vice president and dean of diversity, explored the prosperous tradition of entrepreneurship in Harlem; English professor Michael Coyle looked at the powerful poetry of the period; and Mel Watkins ’62, NEH Professor in the humanities and author, discussed the rise of assertive satire and literary humor. “The workshop topics helped us build connections to the significant sites and people of Harlem,” said Shevorne Martin ’08, ALANA outreach/ programming coordinator, who led the trip. “We learned not only the significance of the Harlem Renaissance period, but also its importance to Colgate — especially in terms of Adam Clayton Powell Jr. ’30, one of our most well-known graduates.” Fast-forward to today: the presence on the trip of Yasmin Mannan ’12 made the Colgate–Harlem connection even more real. Her father, Mujib Mannan, is a musician and director of the Harlem Jazz Festival, and he, too, was mentioned several times during the tour.

Andrew Daddio

Get to know: Ulla Grapard

As an economics graduate student in the early ’80s, Ulla Grapard was encouraged to pursue a subject outside the field to round out her studies. When she mentioned women’s studies as a topic, her professor said, “What?” and then, “No.” But she was doing a ton of reading about women’s issues, attending talks and lectures, and would not let the idea go because she saw the connection, the thread. “It seemed to me that gender was profoundly important when you started looking at economics,” she said. “But it was as if the economic age that I grew up in was always presented as completely without gender.” The times changed, and Grapard contributed to that change as a founding member of the International Association for Feminist Economics and in her role as associate professor of economics and women’s studies at Colgate. Her dual interests manifest themselves on campus all the time. Recently, she took part in a faculty-led discussion about the Great Recession’s impact, and then a couple of weeks later, participated in a training session about the new student sexual misconduct policy. One of her early research interests was the unpaid sector of the economy. “We all come into this world as babies who need care and attention. And that labor has by and large been performed by women, and been performed by women without pay. So there is this whole unpaid sector, a whole activity that is productive activity, that has been disregarded by economists for a long, long, time, and that is profoundly gendered.” Feminist economists now are examining the role women play in the success of male CEOs whose jobs require a spouse who can provide child care and run a household while the executive works 70 to 80 hours a week. In some recent divorce cases, women have argued that they are partners and significant contributors to the husband’s success, and should be compensated that way. Grapard regularly examines such issues in her Gender in the Economy course. She teaches the course at the university’s Women’s Studies Center, where she has maintained a second office in her role as director of the Women’s Studies Program. She has been director the past three years, and is encouraged by the increasing role the center has played in the advancement of the academic program. She explained that many colleges have a women’s studies program or department that is separate from the women’s center. “The nice thing about Colgate, and a real strength, is that we have an academic component that’s matched up in the center with all of its programming and activities.” Students, mostly females but by no means all, and some who are women’s studies majors and some who aren’t, now use the center as a place to hang out. “We have a regular group of students who use this as their space for studying because we have a library and computers. They come here to talk. They bring their food and they eat because it’s a pleasant area. It’s cozy. Many of our students will talk about the center as their home.” It is a home she has helped improve and hopes will continue to grow — for all students. — Tim O’Keeffe Lorenzo Ciniglio

cation. Environmental changes in the coming decades will expose plants to extreme stress and will likely alter natural species’ distributions, upset ecosystem processes, and threaten the world’s food supply. The scientists will focus on an ancient group of plants — ferns — that respond differently to desiccation at various stages of their life cycles. In addition to lab work at Colgate and the University of Missouri, the project will take the researchers and Colgate students to Costa Rica for fieldwork. It will be one of the first studies to integrate ecological, physiological, and molecular approaches in seeking to understand the mechanisms by which plants have evolved to survive on dry land and how they are likely to behave under predicted global change scenarios.

News and views for the Colgate community

arts & culture 18

Navajo sand painting images

Where the Two Came to Their Father: Paintings for a Navajo War Ceremonial, Plate 16: Big Snake Painting, Maud Oakes

scene: Spring 2010

A Native American Studies senior seminar learning the Navajo creation story had the chance to see a visual representation of their studies with the exhibition Where the Two Came to Their Father: Paintings for a Navajo War Ceremonial. Mounted at the Longyear Museum of Anthropology from November through the end of February, the exhibition served as a learning tool across several disciplines, including Professor Chris Vecsey’s Navajo Creation Narratives class. The 18 portfolio prints not only tell a portion of the Navajo creation story, but also are reproductions of sand paintings used in a war ceremonial performed by chanter/medicine man Jeff King. The chanter dedicated his life to learning the ceremonial, which was traditionally performed for young men going to war but could also be applied to ward off illnesses caused by contact with enemies. King would create the sand paintings as he performed the ceremony, using either the sand or a buckskin laid on the ground as his canvas and mineral pigments, charcoal, corn meal, pollen, and ground-up flowers. “The person for whom the ceremony is being given stands or sits on [the painting] and absorbs strength from the holy ones invoked by making these images,” explained Carol Ann Lorenz, senior curator of the Longyear. “So the remains of the painting, which they have disturbed by standing or sitting on it, are polluted; all the benefits have come to the person and all the illness has transferred to the painting.”

Meant to be ephemeral, the sand and materials are then ritually disposed of. Because King was believed to be the last living person who knew the ceremony, artist Maude Oakes collaborated with him in the early 1940s to reproduce the paintings, thereby preserving the ceremonial. The prints, which have been housed in Case Library’s special collections as a study resource, were exhibited for the first time on campus in the Longyear Museum. “So much of the sand painting tradition is about the malleability of the medium, so to see these core values in a more permanent form is invaluable to those of us who have only studied it from afar,” said Rachel Wassel ’10, a religion major and Native American studies minor. Vecsey’s class spent time in the gallery examining the images after having spent the semester studying the underlying story. “We were able to look at how one religious or medical specialist in Navajo life represented the narrative in visual form and how he would have used it to help either cure people or prepare them for a particular, potentially dangerous activity — warfare,” Vecsey explained. In November, the Native American Studies program coordinated a series of related events, including a visit to campus by acclaimed Navajo storyteller Sunny Dooley. A closing reception for the exhibition was held in late February, attracting students, faculty, and representatives from the Oneida Nation.

Inspired by nature

As Bruce Guernsey ’66 was reading his poem “October” for the PBS magazine series Arts Across Illinois, he was continuously interrupted by mooing from cows on the farm where it was being filmed. “For a guy named Guernsey, that really is something,” joked the wordsmith. “I felt like I was touching a real audience there.” Guernsey was featured in an episode of Arts Across Illinois called “Inspired by Nature.” “I found his poem ‘October,’ about the harvest season in Illinois, to be a perfect fit for the episode featuring artists inspired by nature,” said producer Andrea Guthmann. “[It] is a somewhat dark, gothic interpretation of a rural Midwestern landscape,” she explained. The episode shows Guernsey reading the poem in an old barn and

Bruce Guernsey ’66

imaginatively brings to life the haunting images that he presents in his words: “Stalks dry and blowing, brown / and rattling, rattling / when you walk by / as if something were inside.” He wrote the poem shortly after moving to Illinois because he was intrigued by the stories he was hearing about children getting lost in the tall corn. “I used to run along the open roads, and I swear I could hear something in the corn,” Guernsey said. “It fascinated me, and I imagined some child in there.” “October” is part of The Lost Brigade, one of four poetry collections Guernsey has written. “When you write a book of poems, it’s a little bit like going outside in the evening on a clear night and seeing a few stars — after a while you see constellations,” he explained. “[Poems] may come from immediate experience, they may come from memory, but after a while, you begin to see certain patterns in them.” Guernsey’s current writing projects include a biography of John Haines and a textbook about reading poetry, called A Traveler’s Guide to Poetry. Additionally, he is editor of The Spoon River Poetry Review, a journal published through Illinois State University, and a distinguished professor emeritus at Eastern Illinois University. Among his favorite poets, including John Keats and Robert Browning, Guernsey counts his former Colgate professor Bruce Berlind. “He was a very large inspiration to me.” To watch Arts Across Illinois “Inspired by Nature,” visit http:// www.wttw.com/main.taf?p=1,8.

Hostage by Dara Birnbaum, part of the Broadcast exhibition

conferences by President Lyndon B. Johnson taken from Sony’s Portapack portable video device in 1965. He deftly cuts the audio to project single words and messages, deliberately challenging the power of the broadcast. Robinson was especially excited about bringing this dynamic collection to the Picker because it was such a departure from the gallery’s typical exhibitions. “You can become a part of what you’re seeing,” he said. “It’s a piece of the founding fathers of those who taught us that art was not just ink on a canvas.” — Kate Preziosi ’10

Title poetry

What is art? The question loomed large over Sorted Books, a cooperative exhibition featuring the work of Nina Katchadourian and students from Literary Journalism, taught by Jennifer Brice, and Photojournalism, taught by Linn Underhill. The pieces, which were on display through the end of February in the Clifford Gallery, are formed by stacking books in a particular order so that the titles create simple poems with complex messages. Photos of Katchadourian’s poems stretched around the walls. They led to tangible sortings prepared by Colgate undergraduates. Katchadourian selected three texts as a foundation for every student’s

work: The Bullfighter Checks Her Makeup by Susan Orlean, Regarding the Pain of Others by Susan Sontag, and Consider the Lobster by David Foster Wallace. Class members added volumes from their own libraries to round out the lyrics. The collaboration culminated in an open lecture, sponsored by the Institute for the Creative and Performing Arts, on Feb. 4. The artist talked through several of her favorite creations. Video, audio, installations, and photographs — the variety of Katchadourian’s work is nearly as stunning as the way in which each piece forces the viewer to encounter the common in an uncommon way. On screen, California-born Katchadourian, her Finnish mother, and her Armenian father each try to shed their native accents. On CD, the artist explores alarming similarities between the sounds of South American birdcalls and the cry of an urban anti-theft device. Through photographs, the daughter retraces her mother’s childhood. On display, she demonstrates how to create a pre-modern Twitter account using a telescope and a 17th-floor office window. “Sometimes there will be something that I end up engaging — something I've been noticing or thinking about for longer than I even realized,” she told the audience. “And it ends up becoming an art project.” The original idea for Sorted Books took shape during a vacation with friends in 1993. The crew agreed to create art out of materials on site, and Katchadourian was drawn to the library. She began to move books around and make phrases from the titles. By the end of the weekend, she had not only created a series of statements, but she had also invented a new, accessible art form. It’s that form that Colgate students had a chance to share with Katchadourian during her time on campus — a form that tries to answer the question, “What is art?” Close observation.

Open mic

I’ve listened to the way You’ve been drifting through this crazy life, and I visualize the ways you are rectifying all you’ve tried Here and now, here and now it comes calling out Here and now, here and now it comes calling out Just let it stay, just for today, and It’s the only way to finally live your life

— Collin McLoughlin ’10, “Here and Now” The original music of singer-songwriter Collin McLoughlin ’10 and his group Fourté, whose members include Garrington Spence ’10, Ty Henry ’10, and Uzoma Idah ’10, sets the stage for six slideshows of images taken by four photographers during one week at Colgate for a new admission project. McLoughlin describes his part in Colgate 24/7: “I wanted to include some faster, more energetic tunes, along with some slower, more relaxing songs to give prospective students a spectrum of music that exemplifies the wide range of activities and experiences present at our university. I think the intense/relaxed dichotomy expresses my last four years as a student here, and works well for a piece that is meant to accurately portray student life.”

8 To listen to the tracks and check out the slideshows, visit www.colgate.edu/247. Janna Minehart ’13

Members of the Colgate community who visited the Picker Art Gallery in February and March experienced an exhibition unlike anything the space has hosted before. The Broadcast exhibition included 13 works by an international group of artists who have engaged, critiqued, and, in some cases, inserted themselves into official channels of broadcast television and radio since the late 1960s. In order to accommodate the technologically intensive demands of this show, Colgate’s lead electronics technician, John Robinson, and carpenter/mason Jeff Golley worked tirelessly to transform the space into a media gallery in just two months. Artist Gregory Green’s WCBS Radio Caroline is an actual short-range pirate radio station. Students were given the opportunity to manage the station for an allotted period of time, and they could reach anyone within a six-mile radius on 93.7 FM. Robinson and Golley joked about the perils of installing the antennae on the roof of the Dana Arts Center in the Hamilton winter weather. But for Robinson, it was worth the risk. “This is where the sixties came out of,” he said of Green’s radio station. “This is where ‘peace, love, and let’s fix all the wars’ came from. It was people running around with little pirate transmitters, totally breaking every rule in the world, going up on the air and hopefully staying up on the air long enough to get their message out.” Golley was in charge of making Robinson’s layout for the exhibition a reality. In one month, he built new walls to accommodate the artists’ separate requirements, and found innovative ways to conceal the thousands of wires hiding in the immaculate white space. “We worked together to create what the artists envisioned,” said Golley. “I like doing this kind of stuff because it’s a lot of thinking on your feet. I’m hoping that when all is said and done, some of these walls will stay, because I think they add character to the space.” The exhibition addressed a broad range of historical events and political debates, sometimes from behind the lenses of some of the earliest portable video equipment. Nam June Paik’s Video Tape Study No. 3 contains images of news

Warren Wheeler

Broadcasting new perspectives

News and views for the Colgate community

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Making waves

Stewart has amassed 99 points (56 goals–43 assists) to put her in sixth place on the Colgate career scoring list; her record of 56 career goals places her third on Colgate’s career goals list.

The women’s swimming and diving team placed third at the 2010 Patriot League Championships at Lejeune Hall in Annapolis, Md. During the three-day event, the Raiders claimed three individual titles. Erica Derlath ’12 swam a 4:18.11, and Caren Guyett ’11 won the title in the 400 IM. Erin McGraw ’11 claimed her fifth individual crown by winning the 200 fly with a 1:59.82. Lia Kunnapas ’13 touched with a 1:59.58 to claim the 200 back. Colgate placed nine women and two men on all-league teams as the Patriot League announced its first and second teams a few days later. The Raiders had five first-team performers: Derlath, Kunnapas, McGraw, Guyett, and Emma Santoro ’13. Four others — Kim Pilka ’13, Courtney Callahan ’12, Kate Murphy ’10, and Caitie Curran ’10 — were named second-team honorees. The men’s team, which finished fifth overall, had a pair of second-team performers: Tucker Gniewek ’11 and Dan Sweeney ’13.

Athletics gives back

The women’s basketball team, in association with the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA), held its annual Pink Zone Day on Feb. 20. The Pink Zone initiative, which began as Think Pink in 2007, is a global breast cancer awareness effort on campuses, in communities, and beyond. Although the WBCA’s main charity is the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund, Colgate women’s basketball partners with the Susan G. Komen Foundation to ensure that all the money raised at the game stays within the greater Hamilton community. The women raised $1,500 for the cause, with Head Coach Pam Bass donating $1 for every fan in attendance. The Raiders also won the day’s game, defeating Bucknell 62–58. Also lending a helping hand to the Hamilton community is Ethan Cox ’10, who was named a finalist for the BNY Mellon Hockey Humanitarian Award for the third consecutive season. At press time, the award winner had not been announced. The senior co-captain’s philanthropic events have been beneficial to the village of Hamilton, Madison County, and the American Cancer Society. One of Cox’s successful endeavors was a canned food and toy drive in November to supplement the holiday inventory at the Hamilton Food Cupboard and Holiday Interfaith Council. He also organized a “Face-off Against Cancer” for the final regularseason weekend games versus RPI and Union, and it carried into the first round of the ECAC Hockey tournament. All proceeds went to the American Cancer Society.

Forward firsts

The women’s swimming and diving squad wrapped up its regular season with victories over Army and Lafayette at Lineberry Natatorium.

In February, Katie Stewart ’10 became the first forward to be named to the ECAC Hockey all-league first-team. During the regular season, she broke several Colgate records, including most goals in a single season and most goals by a forward. Her 39 points tied three previous players for most points scored in a single season. Stewart scored her 50th career goal, against Princeton on Feb. 5. A week later, she became one of just three Colgate players to ever score four goals in a single game. Over her career,

Second time for McIntyre

For the second consecutive season, David McIntyre ’10 received post- season ECAC Hockey honors. McIntyre, a 2008–09 first-team honoree, was chosen as a second-team selection this time around by ECAC Hockey head coaches.

Andrew Daddio

Two track titles for DeRoo

scene: Spring 2010

Elise DeRoo ’12 won a pair of titles to lead the Raiders to a sixth-place finish at the Patriot League Indoor Championship at Army’s Gillis Field House at the end of February.

DeRoo posted a personal-record and ECAC-qualifying time of 17:24.85 to claim the 5,000-meter title during day two of the competition. She then followed with the 3,000-meter title on the final day, with a personal-record time of 10:00.27, earning all-Patriot League first-team honors. DeRoo’s time in the 5K is the third best in the Colgate record book, while her 3K time sits second.

Men’s soccer standouts sign with pros

Two seniors on the men’s soccer squad signed with professional league teams this year. In January, Chris Ross was drafted by Chivas USA in the fourth round of the MLS SuperDraft, which took place in Philadelphia. Ross is the first Colgate player to be selected in the SuperDraft. He was the fifth pick for Chivas and one of three midfielders drafted by the organization. Having graduated early to pursue an opportunity with professional soccer, he played in 67 games for the Raiders, collecting eight goals and nine assists over his career. Ross finished his senior season with eight points off of two goals and four assists and was chosen for the first team All-Patriot League. Then, in March, Alex Weekes signed a professional contract to play with the Pittsburgh Riverhounds of the USL second division after taking part in the USL Showcase. Weekes led the Raiders in scoring during both the 2008 and 2009 seasons, tallying a total of 39 points off of 15 goals and nine assists. The senior captain was a two-time All-League selection, earning firstteam honors this season. Weekes was also the first Raider to be named to the Hermann Trophy Watch List, prior to the 2009 season. Despite beginning the Riverhounds season before graduation, Weekes noted that he still plans on graduating and walking with the rest of the senior class this May.

U.S. Naval Academy Leadership Conference

Soccer players Calista Victor ’11 and Steven Miller ’11 attended the 2010 United States Naval Academy Leadership Conference in Annapolis, Md., Jan. 24 through 27. They were chosen by Director of Athletics David Roach and the athletic department to represent Colgate. The theme of this year’s event was Leadership under Stress. The conference provided an opportunity for military and civilian

Raider Nation

Fan spotlights with Vicky Chun ’91, senior associate athletic director

Joe Leo ’01 (husband of Amy Hargrave ’03) and son Joshua Leo, Class of 2028 Game: Men’s Basketball vs. Holy Cross, 1/27/2010. Colgate won 69–68.

Why did you attend this game? I wanted to visit my alma mater and bring my son to a basketball game.

Andrew Daddio

What is your favorite sports memory at Colgate? The midnight ESPN men’s basketball game during my first year. We were defending Patriot League champions, and the place was packed. I wore a maroon wig with a basketball on top of it.

Francois Brisebois ’11 (#13) posted two assists in the Feb. 16 game against rival Cornell, but Big Red defeated the Raiders 6–2 in Starr Rink.

undergraduate student leaders to interact with their peers and exchange ideas, experiences, and methodologies on leadership. Victor and Miller learned from military, business, diplomatic, and community leaders who have overcome obstacles and transformed crises into extraordinary opportunities. They took part in interactive sessions that challenged them to practice what they have learned and apply those lessons to their futures, and attended a lecture by Tom Brokaw, NBC News Special Correspondent. “Being an athlete, the discussion I found most interesting was one that covered the psychology of leading in trying times,” said Miller. “Some of the best advice I took was that even in a stressful situation, you are still capable of performing at your highest level and bringing your teammates along with you. The biggest part of being a leader is leading by example, and that includes having a positive mentality.” Victor said that she also gained much insight: “The conference was both a learning experience and an opportunity to rethink my priorities and values. In doing so, I grew as an individual and a leader.” Each year, nearly 250 military and civilian students and faculty advisers from more than 30 colleges and universities attend the conference. The unique mix of military and civilian schools facilitates the conference objective to encourage

substantive interaction between undergraduate students from diverse backgrounds who share a passion for leadership.

Colgate buses become rolling library

Each season, Colgate Raiders spend dozens of hours traveling to and from different competition venues. Almost all of that traveling is done on a bus — but these are not your standard buses; they are now known as a rolling library. Since 2008, several Colgate buses have included Autonet, a mobile Internet router that enables studentathletes to use the Internet to stay ahead on various projects, research papers, and classroom assignments. This forward-thinking project, initiated by the parents of current student-athletes, has allowed players to successfully continue their academic studies.

Honor rolls

More than 190 student-athletes were honored at the Raider Academic Honor Roll Luncheon held at the Hall of Presidents. The athletics department honored all student-athletes who achieved a 3.25 GPA or higher in the 2009 fall semester; seven received special recognition for having a 4.0 GPA. Marc Cassone ’10 and Katie Garman ’10 were the student-athlete speakers, while Professor Padma Kaimal, associate professor of art and art history and Asian studies, was the keynote speaker.

While at Colgate, did you have a favorite sport to watch? Golf [Joe was a member of the varsity golf team] … no, seriously, every sport was my favorite to watch. I have been to at least one home game/meet for every varsity team. What was one of the craziest things you did at a sporting event? My brother, Ralph Leo ’99, and I drove six hours to watch our men’s basketball team play New Hampshire. We were the only Colgate students there and we were heckled throughout the game. That only made us cheer louder for the team!

Evelyn Koh ’11

Hometown: Seattle, Wash. Game: Women’s Basketball vs. Bucknell (A Patriot League game), 2/20/2010. Colgate won 62–58. Do you have a favorite Colgate sports team? I am on the Cheer Team, so I get to go to a lot of different home and away games. I like supporting all of them. What is your favorite Colgate sports moment? Our Men’s Basketball Patriot League semifinal game against Bucknell a couple of years ago. It was a “white out,” stands were filled up everywhere, everyone was screaming the whole two hours, and we won! What do Colgate games mean to you? It is a way to connect with other people, represent your school, and show your school spirit. I love how everyone embraces each other in our love for this school. What do you think about today’s game? I was jumping up and down so hard that my knees were hurting. The team stayed focused and worked so hard for that win.

Mclain Roth ’13

Hometown: Cleveland, Ohio Game: Men’s Ice Hockey vs. Cornell (sold-out rival game), 2/16/2010. Cornell defeated Colgate 6–2. Are you cold? I’m not at all … not yet. Why are you at this game? This is the big ice hockey event! We came really early and we’re waiting for the teams to get on the ice. Are you a big hockey fan? Of course — I go to Colgate. What other sport do you enjoy watching? Volleyball! [no hesitation] Favorite varsity player? I’ll go with #26 David McIntyre ’10 for men’s ice hockey, and I like all of the volleyball players. Why did you choose to attend Colgate? It’s the best school in the world! I’m loving Colgate. I like the small-size classes, the professors… I have no complaints.

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Dawn LaFrance, associate director of counseling and psychological services, handed out the 4.0 awards to David Ake ’10, Sarah Chabal ’10, Victoria Hulit ’10, Jonathan Knowlton ’11, Colin Prather ’12, David Pudalov ’13, and Sarah Sciarrino ’10. A total of 62 Colgate studentathletes were named to the 2009 Patriot League Academic Honor Roll, as announced by the Patriot League’s executive director, Carolyn Schile Femovich. To be eligible for the Academic Honor Roll, a student-athlete must earn a 3.20 GPA in the fall semester and be awarded a varsity letter in one of the Patriot League’s fall championship sports. The criteria for awarding varsity letters are different for each team.

New fitness center to open January 2011

Elise DeRoo ’12 earned the Katie Almeter Most Valuable Player award after winning the mile at the Class of ’32 Invitational at Sanford Field House.

In the spring, construction began on a new Colgate fitness center, slated to open in January 2011 adjacent to Huntington Gymnasium, in front of Lineberry Natatorium. This $7.8 million project is fully funded by generous gifts from a small group of Colgate parents and alumni who wish to make an impact on current students and are focused on fitness and wellness as their way to do so.

One floor of the new 15,000-squarefoot fitness center will be dedicated to cardiovascular machines, and the other will be filled with weighttraining equipment. The construction will solve significant space issues within Huntington Gymnasium. The varsity weight training facility will be enhanced and moved from the third floor to the first floor of Huntington Gym in the vacated Little Fitness Center space, increasing its size and making it more accessible to athletes and recruits. That vacated room will be modified to provide significantly enhanced space for dance and aerobic training. This new building will also carry the distinction of being the first for which the university will pursue LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification, the building industry standard for sustainable design, construction, and facility operation. Considered to be state-of-the-art when it opened in 1994, the Wm. Brian Little Fitness Center no longer meets the demands of an ever-more fitnessand wellness-oriented campus community. Remedying the limited size and features of the fitness center has been a priority for students in recent years, because long waiting lines for machines have become common during peak times.

The fitness center will also foster Colgate’s Wellness Initiative, which encourages healthy, purposeful, and balanced lifestyles within the community. For more information, renderings, and project updates, go to www. colgate.edu/fitnesscenter.

Groh ’46 inducted into Shrine HOF

Former Colgate football great James Groh ’46 was inducted into the East-West Shrine Game Hall of Fame during the Player Awards Banquet at the Rosen Plaza Hotel in Orlando, Fla., on Jan. 22. Groh was one of four inductees this year. He joined an elite group of EastWest Shrine Game alumni, including former President Gerald Ford, Dick Butkus, Pat Tillman, and Jerry Kramer. Additional 2010 inductees included: former NFL tight end Kellen Winslow, former NFL fullback Larry Csonka, and 1960 East-West Shrine Game player Jim Walden. Criteria for being considered includes that the inductee must have played in the game at least 25 years ago. Groh played in the 19th East-West Shrine Game, held in 1946, and was a highly recruited NFL offensive guard. Teams that recruited him included the Chicago Bears, Philadelphia Eagles, and Green Bay Packers. Groh declined all offers and pursued his passion for medicine, becoming an orthopedic surgeon in Milwaukee, Wis. “It is with great humility that I accept this recognition,” Groh said. “I am honored to be a part of the philosophies and mission of the Shriners community. It was a lifetime ago that I left the field of green where I got muddy playing with the boys and entered the field of medicine — both great, rewarding experiences.” Colgate was represented at this year’s East-West Shrine Game by wide receiver Pat Simonds ’10.

Andrew Daddio

More than peanuts and Cracker Jack

scene: Spring 2010

The 2010 Major League Baseball season is underway, but fans who want to relive last season’s memorable moments can check out an MLB.com video produced by Russell Sherman ’91 and featuring a song written and performed by his sister, Suzanne Sherman Propp ’85. Propp’s song “Running Home” takes viewers through touching clips from

playing baseball. All of a sudden, it dawned on me that these were professional players and that it was my song.” “Running Home” is part of Propp’s second CD, Play, and the video produced by Sherman can be seen on www.SuzanneShermanPropp.com as well as on iTunes.

2009, like when the 3-year-old threw back the foul ball that her dad caught at the Phillies game and, surprised, he just embraced her. Other unforgettable events include the Mets’ Gary Sheffield hitting his 500th career home run, Derek Jeter passing Lou Gehrig on the Yankees’ all-time hits list, and a recap of the World Series. Bob Bowman, CEO of MLB.com, was co-coach of Propp’s son’s Little League team. Bowman asked her to write a song about baseball, so the music teacher wrote “Running Home” about her feelings as a mom watching her child play. “Initially, that’s what it was about, but when I started singing it, people started saying to me, ‘That’s a song about life, not just about baseball,’” she told an MLB.com sportscaster. Then, Propp’s brother Russell Sherman approached Bowman about creating a 2009 Season in Review with her song as the background music. Sherman, a strategic communications consultant, worked with an editor at MLB.com to create the video. “I had no idea this was happening,” Propp said. “One day my brother invited me over and sat me down in front of the computer. I couldn’t really tell what was going on — I thought he had made a casual video of his son

Get to know: Laura Nardelli

In true giant-killer style, after shifting its emphasis to collegiate competition only two years ago, the Colgate Figure Skating Club skated to third place out of 15 teams at the Cornell competition in November 2009. Originally founded to keep former figure skaters active while also giving back to the community through the Skate at the ’Gate learn-to-skate program, the club recently began participating in U.S. Figure Skating Eastern Intercollegiate Competitions, coached by Anne-Marie Lemal Brown, wife of Dean of Students Scott Brown. The club’s members still enjoy teaching local children to skate at Starr Rink, as well as presenting a showcase each semester. In other club sports news, the men’s squash team completed an excellent season. After beating Georgetown early on, the team was ranked 29th in the country. At nationals, Colgate lost a close match (4–5) to Northwestern and scraped out a nail-biting 5–4 win against Northeastern, only to lose to Georgetown in the final round. Their year-end ranking of 30th in the nation is the highest Colgate has achieved in the past four years. Rob McCary ’10, Colgate’s number one player at the College Squash Association Individuals tournament for the past three years, achieved a national ranking of 122 out of 735 ranked players this year. Eleven members of the alpine ski team went to the regional tournament at Bristol Mountain in Canandaigua. The women’s team ended up third in the New York region overall, and on the men’s team, Pat Hughes ’10 was selected Second Men’s Overall Individual.

Colgate overcame a 12-point first-half deficit to defeat Holy Cross 69–68 at Cotterell Court on Jan. 27.

Andrew Daddio

8 Check out www.gocolgateraiders.com for game schedules, rosters, statistics, online ticket ordering, and news and video features. For scores, call the Raider Sportsline: 315-228-7900. Ticket office: 315-228-7600.

Andrew Daddio

Club sports highlights

Women’s Track and Cross Country Head Coach – Hometown: East Greenbush, N.Y. – College track experience: Syracuse University Track and Cross Country – Previous track coaching experience: Head coach, West Virginia University; assistant coach, Eastern Michigan University; head coach, SUNY at Cortland – Honors/Awards: Syracuse University Verhulst Award; SUNYAC Outdoor Track Coach of the Year, 1985; Patriot League Men’s Indoor Track Coach of the Year, 2000; Patriot League Women’s Outdoor Track Coach of the Year, 2009 Tell us about your current track and field team. We have 34 women, which is the largest team we have had in the 12 years I have been at Colgate. What is it like for the team and alumnae to compete at Colgate’s annual Katie Almeter Memorial Class of ’32 Invitational? It is always pretty electric. Our women were really excited to run in front of a hometown crowd — they don’t get to do that a lot. We had about 35 alumnae there. We had a luncheon upstairs during the meet, and an alumnae mile. I apparently still have some influence, because the [alumnae] felt pressured to run. Talk about a memorable record that was broken this year. The Distance Medley Relay team that competed at Yale’s Giegengack Invitational was incredible. It was Chelsea Burns ’12 running the 1200-meter leg; Michele Miller ’11, who is our record holder in the 400 meter, running the 400 leg; captain Ashley Niness ’10, who set a new best in the 800-meter leg; and Elise DeRoo ’12, who is going to be a national-level runner shortly, on the anchor mile. They qualified for ECACs and busted the previous school record by seven seconds. What most shaped your experience of running track at Syracuse University? I was there when Title IX was passed, and the team went from a club to a sponsored varsity sport overnight! Is it true that you competed in the Olympics with Lance Armstrong? Oh gosh, I was in the Olympic Trials for cycling in 1996, and somehow that got blown out of proportion. I can’t remember quite how it happened. I just remember this woman calling me up one day and asking if I wanted to be in the Olympic Trials, and I thought, ‘Sure.’ It was an experience just to be part of it all. I remember Lance Armstrong was there with his team, and we were all getting Power Bars from them and asking what gear Lance was going to use. What has it been like raising your children — Nick, Schuyler, and Sophie — in the Colgate community? It’s good for my kids to grow up here, see Colgate students, have autographs signed by student-athletes. My children think that college, and a college like Colgate, is everything. Having the support of my spouse, Ray [digital media manager at Colgate], the community, the students, the administration, and everyone here who looks upon family favorably, has made it work. — Kiki Koroshetz ’11

News and views for the Colgate community

new, noted , & quoted 24

scene: Spring 2010

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

As Good As Gold

Kathryn Bertine ’97 (ESPN Books) As Good As Gold is the account of elite triathlete and former professional figure skater Kathryn Bertine’s mission to make the 2008 summer Olympics in Beijing. In preparation, she spent two years testing herself physically and mentally as she traveled the globe, trying out for nine different sports, from team handball to race walking to luge. Between harrowing episodes of athletic triumph and humiliation, Bertine takes short “water breaks” to contemplate the ins and outs of sport sponsorship, fan mail, nasal reconstruction, and a letter to herself as a 15-year-old athlete.

Diversity Consciousness Richard D. Bucher ’71 (Prentice Hall)

In Diversity Consciousness: Opening Our Minds to People, Cultures and Opportunities, Richard Bucher integrates personal and organizational perspectives, research, and theories while discussing communication, leadership, conflict, and other issues in diverse organizations. This allows the learner to personalize the learning experience and develop awareness and understanding of diversity within as well as between groups. A professor of sociology at Baltimore City Community College, Bucher releases his newest book on the belief that developing diversity consciousness is a lifelong, incremental process that requires an ongoing commitment.

Glenn Cashman & the Southland Big Band! Glenn Cashman (Primrose Lane Music)

Glenn Cashman & the Southland Big Band draw upon the spirit and legacy of Maynard Ferguson’s Birdland Dream Band, offering in this debut recording a kaleidoscope of modern big band styles performed by Los Angeles jazz and studio musicians. East and West Coast jazz styles, Brazilian, Blues, ECM, Twelve Tone, and ballads are all showcased. The recording made number four on the list of “Top 10 CD Spins — September 2009 Releases” on the Los Angeles jazz station KJAZZ, which is in the number two U.S. media market in the country. Cashman is associate professor of music and chair of the department at Colgate.

Political Rules of the Road

Lou Frey Jr. ’55 (with Aubrey Jewett) (University Press of America) Political Rules of the Road: Representatives, Senators, and Presidents Share Their Rules for Success in Congress, Politics, and Life is a collection of informal rules that members of Congress have used to guide their political careers and private lives. At the request of former Rep. Lou Frey, 172 political leaders contributed more than 500 rules that cover a wide variety of topics: campaigns and elections, representation and decision making, political parties and partisanship, media and ethics, and life. Their anecdotes shed light on how Congress really works and provide guidelines for how to be successful in politics and in life.

David Ruggles

Graham Russell Gao Hodges (University of North Carolina Press) David Ruggles: A Radical Black Abolitionist and the Underground Railroad in New York City is the first biography of David Ruggles (1810–1849), a figure of the early abolitionist movement in America. Graham Hodges tells the story of this African American activist, writer, publisher, and hydrotherapist who secured liberty for more than 600 former bond people, the most famous of whom was Frederick Douglass. Hodges’s narrative places Ruggles in the fractious politics and society of New York, where he moved among the highest ranks of state leaders and spoke up for common black New Yorkers. He inspired many upstate New York and New England whites, who allied with him to form the Underground Railroad. Hodges is Colgate’s George Dorland Langdon Jr. Professor of history and Africana and Latin American studies.

Grandma Wants to Eat My Baby Sister! Jackie Jafarian Broad ’90 (Three Puppies Press)

In this children’s story, Maddie adores her grandma. But when Grandma says that Maddie’s new little sister, Alyssa, is cute enough to “eat,” Maddie wonders, “Does Grandma mean it? Maybe having Alyssa disappear wouldn’t be so bad.” As Maddie discovers that her sister is actually fun to have around, she decides to take matters into her own hands to save Alyssa. Author Jackie Jafarian Broad and illustrator Shielaugh Victoria Divelbess reveal the comical side of what happens when children misinterpret figures of speech.

In the media The Year’s Work in Lebowski Studies

Edited by Aaron Jaffe ’93 (and Edward P. Comentale) (Indiana University Press) The Year’s Work in Lebowski Studies contains new ways of thinking and writing about film culture. An underground sensation, The Big Lebowski has been hailed as the first cult film of the Internet age. In this book, 21 fans and scholars address the film’s influences — Westerns, noir, grail legends, the 1960s, and Fluxus — and its historical connections to the first Iraq war, boomers, slackerdom, surrealism, college culture, and, of course, bowling. Editor Aaron Jaffe is associate professor of English at the University of Louisville.

Run Like a Mother

Dimity McDowell ’94 and Sarah Bowen Shea ’88 (Andrew McMeel) In Run Like a Mother: How to Get Moving and Not Lose Your Family, Job, or Sanity, the essays written by two former Colgate athletes (now both freelance magazine writers and moms) mimic the conversations good friends have when they’re out on

Colgate bestsellers at the Colgate Bookstore • • • • • • • • • •

End of Time: The Maya Mystery of 2012 — Anthony Aveni (Astronomy) Execution: The Discipline of Getting the Job Done — Larry Bossidy ’57 The Competent Cook — Lauren Braun Costello ’98 The Memory Keeper’s Daughter — Kim Edwards ’81 Empire of Illusion — Chris Hedges ’79 Woodcuts in Modern China: 1937–2008 — Joachim Homann (exhibition catalog, Picker Gallery) Crafting Fiction, Poetry, and Memoir: Talks from the Colgate Writers’ Conference — Matt Leone (director, Colgate Writers’ Conference) Perfectly Imperfect: A Life in Progress — Lee McConaughy Woodruff ’82 The Hill Road — Patrick O’Keeffe (English) In An Instant — Bob ’83 and Lee McConaughy ’82 Woodruff

a long run: a mix of personal stories, helpful advice, and humorous anecdotes that cement a connection that goes well beyond the miles logged that day. Unlike clinical, do-this-exact-workout running books, the tone in the book makes the benefits of running — a clearer mind, confidence, a more capable body, an energized spirit — seem so enticing that mothers, no matter how few hours of sleep they got last night, can be inspired to get moving. The authors also include several mentions of Colgate, where, over four years, they ran countless miles.

“The little kids think you are celebrities, so you can get mileage out of that.”

Northern Comfort

“[The mission] first and foremost is going deeper in the communities that we are in. We want to build relationships to help transform those communities.”

Edited by Annette Nielsen ’82 (Adirondack Life) Northern Comfort: Fall & Winter Recipes from Adirondack Life was released in celebration of the magazine’s 40th anniversary in December. These fall and winter recipes, which have also appeared in the magazine, range from traditional apple desserts to contemporary approaches to hearty soups, salads, and sides that have been collected and tested by food writer Annette Nielsen. The more than 125 recipes include medallions of venison with caramelized apples and cilantro, grouse marsala, potato-parsnip gratin, and North Country baklava.

Broken Landscape

Frank R. Pommersheim ’65 (Oxford University Press) Broken Landscape: Indians, Indian Tribes, and the Constitution is a chronicle of Indian tribal sovereignty under the U.S. Constitution and the way that legal analysis and practice have interpreted and

— Alison King ’84, political reporter with New England Cable News (NECN) and a Swinging ’Gates alumna, chats with current members of the singing group during their live appearance on NECN

“As a minority mid-manager on the rise, you are always leery of the snipers out there and all of the microinequities that exist in a corporate environment.” — Patricia Hayling Price ’76, a career coach, talks to National Public Radio for a story about minorities working their way up the career ladder

“Veggie oil is carbon neutral. It’s also cheaper. The money goes to local people. It’s investing in our own community.” — John Pumilio, Colgate's sustainability coordinator, talks to The Post- Standard (Syracuse) about a pilot program that will use fryer oil as fuel for some campus buildings

— Brendan Tuohey ’96 describes to USA Today how the organization Peace Players International (founded by him and his brother) uses basketball to build community spirit where none existed

“We have all the same fears and goals and activities … All we’re asking for is to be recognized and to have the same rights as everybody else.”

— Jennifer Lutman, director of the Writing Center and the partner of a Colgate faculty member, speaks about same-sex marriage to the Observer- Dispatch (Utica)

misinterpreted tribal sovereignty since the nation’s founding. A scholar in Indian tribal law, Frank Pommersheim offers a synthesis of this legal history from colonial times to the present, confronting the failures of constitutional analysis in contemporary Indian law jurisprudence. He closes with a proposal for a constitutional amendment that would reaffirm tribal sovereignty.

Contesting Patriotism

Lynne Woehrle ’87 (co-authored with Patrick G. Coy and Gregory M. Maney) (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.) Contesting Patriotism: Culture, Power and Strategy in the Peace Movement engages theories in social movements research to understand the ways that activists promote peace through their

words. Concepts of culture, power, strategy, and identity are used to explain how movement organizations and activists contribute to social change. Lynne Woehrle is associate professor of sociology and coordinator of the peace building certificate at Mount Mary College.

Also of note:

In Shape Shifter (The Puddin’head Press), Tom Roby ’60 presents the reader with a journey through changing patterns — free verse, formal poetry, and picture poems — that convey his feelings.

News and views for the Colgate community

The illusion of sameness A professor’s parting parable By Jerome Balmuth

Eyeing his retirement in May 2010, Prof. Jerome “Jerry” Balmuth, Harry Emerson Fosdick Professor of philosophy and religion, delivered the following talk, titled “The Illusion of Sameness: Differences and Ambivalence,” at the baccalaureate service for the graduating Class of 2009. His oration was as philosophical and thought-provoking as the lessons he delivered in the countless P&R and core courses he has taught during his 56 years in Colgate classrooms, from the Angel Factory and East Hall to Lawrence, Lathrop, and Hascall. In honoring the retirement of the man who is possibly Colgate’s longest-serving professor, we invite Scene readers into Jerry Balmuth’s classroom — albeit this virtual one — to partake of that intellectual repast.

scene: Spring 2010

t must be noted that all of you students share with me the circumstance that this weekend is for each of us, as graduates, a formal goodbye to Colgate and to the wonderful education we’ve received from this special school, now our alma mater. The difference between us is simply that it has taken me 56 years to graduate successfully, while you have speeded through brilliantly, in just four years … more or less! I mention this personal note because it is germane to our common respect and love of Colgate; a school that has nurtured and nourished each of us to an uncertain maturity. We have learned and grown much in this dynamic institution with its quietly turbulent history. Colgate is a gritty and triumphant survivor, resolutely confronting the future as the determined and ambitious mentor of the liberal arts that it is: an exacting liberator of our nascent talents and the grounding for our prospective achievements. We are here both to express thanks as well as to testify to Colgate’s formative impact and its intellectual fruits: providing each of us with a more vital and resonant life than we otherwise would have. We owe this institution our lifelong gratitude for, among other goods, cultivating our sensibility and developing our skills, and for uncovering for us a world of knowledge and thought, which earlier we didn’t know were there to be known or to be mastered. But now allow me to begin more formally with a philosophical parable — the way serious matters are often introduced. We all know from our core program that the first book of Hebrew scripture, Bereshit (Genesis) — “the Beginning” — is an account of how God created the heaven and the earth. But we are given no explanation of why God so acted, and why then? Surely there must have been some pre-beginning reflection — a suggestive intention — possibly a twinge of need? Yet what could God need? Before God spoke, it is said that there was nothing! Nothing? What can that mean? Well, clearly, there was no “here” nor “there,” no “up” nor “down,” no “left” nor “right,” and so, no “place” — no space, and so yet no heaven: galaxies, planets, earth, or stars; indeed no things and so no movement, no duration, and no earlier or later and so, no change: no aging, but then, no youth. With nothing, there was evidently only possibility, the potential of all actuality — God alone — the Big Bang. Here the determined naysayer has really little to say when it comes to explaining why, then, something rather than nothing? God — as Spinoza might

say — is that active potentiality for the becoming of Being. It would appear, according to Genesis, that to God, no universe — no space and no time, only pure negation — was suddenly intolerable. And so, we are told, God uttered literally transformative words: “Let there be light.” Suddenly, replacing nothing, there were remarkably two things, now distinguished: light and darkness — the beginning of distinction, and with it, the discovery of the peculiar power of difference. The fact is, it took difference, at least two distinct things — light and darkness — to begin the beginning. How further can we explain this beginning? Why begin when there is nothing? I hesitate to give an account of God’s intention and motives (a presumption solely of politicians and evangelical preachers), but I would offer the following candidate: Alone, with literally nothing from which to be set apart, God had no sense of genuine Self, there being literally nothing to distinguish God. What was required for God’s own identity were other beings: some fresh and different expression of Creation. Clearly, God became dissatisfied with the lesser of two Worlds: the worse (the nothing) rather than the better (the something), so launching creation. Thus, God chose something over nothing. But this was only the beginning of the pre- beginning. Light and darkness were hardly sufficiently substantive for genuinely Something. And so, we

Suddenly, replacing nothing, there were remarkably two things, now distinguished: light and darkNESS — the beginning of distinction are told, God created the firmament — the vaulting arches of the heavens, set off and separated simultaneously from the waters. And because this was still not sufficiently complex and interesting, certainly not yet a genuinely distinguished work, God then set an earth to be separated from both. Yet the earth was now but an undistinguished sphere, wholly featureless. But then, we are told, God rested. Now we are not told why God rested, given God’s clearly indefatigable energy and obvious fresh enthusiasm for creation — a creation now celebrating, by distinguishing, the Creator. Surely God must have rested to survey it all, and to think it out; for yet, something did not quite fulfill this now ever-growing need for a full “Whatness” to occupy the void. Then, intellectually refreshed, God recognized that both the heavens and the earth required detailed features if, quite literally, they were to have any distinction. So he created flora — a tree and a bush, a flower and a sliver of grass; an earthly feature — a tiny mountain and its accompanying valley; and, further experimenting, God produced a self-contained animate creature — an animal,

News and views for the Colgate community

27 27

and subsequently one simple human, a primitive Neanderthal-like hermaphrodite. It seems clear that the Creator was struggling with creation to discover the fullest expression of God’s self-identity: ever-developing powers beginning to realize a genuinely imaginative creation. But now, ingenuity demanded more than a simple paucity of things and kinds. Reflecting further (after, we are told, the third and fourth “days”), God then multiplied (many times over) the solitary mountain, the one tree, the individual blade of grass, the single animal, and the unitary human hermaphrodite, cloning these identically, since God was inclined initially, as we are, to follow a strict pattern for simplicity, making for easy recognition and multiplication. Now the universe was a seriously developing work in progress.

After all this effort, God clearly deemed the results unacceptable — not good enough! So that last momentous day, God said: “Let there be differences. Let there be an infinite number of profound and multiple differences, such that no two things be exactly the same. No two identical flowers, no two identical roses, petals, crystals, snowflakes. No two identical animals, nor identical persons (even twins); and so, no two identical families or groups of persons.” And so God decreed that for any two things in the universe, there must at least be one distinct feature that belongs uniquely to each one and shows it to be different from all others; so that each thing created in this universe is truly special and distinctive; and that this plethora of differences should blossom and be alone the defining condition of a flourishing creation. So God said, “Now they shall know me as I know myself — by distinction — by the richness of differences, since it cannot be by the apparent same-nesses of things.” And then God rested; supremely content in the multiples of creation: that each thing in the universe is unique from every other, and that whatever the apparent commonality, it is only and simply that

NOW THEY SHALL KNOW ME AS I KNOW MYSELF — BY THE RICHNESS OF DIFFERENCES,< SINCE IT CANNOT BE BY THE APPARENT SAME-NESSES OF THINGS

Yet every tree and bush, every animal and human, was identical with every one of the others of its sort. To look at one of the kind was the same as seeing each and all of the others: exact copies even to the color, weight, and height. So, too, for the fruits of the tree, the sounds of that animal and the human: the faces, the voices, the shapes were ever the same. So there was no need for sound or speech, since the encounter with one was identical with that of any other; and to be human, as to be flower or animal, was to be an identical replica of every other human, flower, animal, with no differences and no wonder; and thus no sense of being a one of that kind. In such a world, there were finally only a myriad of identical reflections to celebrate God’s special powers. So there was nothing to exhibit the ever-inventive ingenuity and fertile richness, nothing to celebrate the creative imagination. Only a cookie-cutter repetition of sameness and patterning; a distinguishable, yet barely satisfying, improvement over the monotony of Nothing. 28

scene: Spring 2010

each is, and all are, distinct expressions of God’s creative will, and thus an indirect reflection of the infinite variety of God and nature’s ingenuity and creative imagination (systematically employing various mechanisms, even of gene variation). Here is the universe we have inherited: a vibrantly active, continually evolving, and necessarily changing universe of differences, since difference is essential to creation and change, and all appropriate for celebrating God’s distinguished creation. And indeed, this is how it is now, and we can surmise, forever. Why have I invented this parable? I was led to reflect on its point and central meaning by a number of events that have confronted us as a community at different times, and by subsequent thoughts about our education and what this university is about. If you reflect on this, you will recognize that our education is in detailed and reflective knowledge of differences and distinctions — these are what it is, critically, to understand our special world and ourselves. One such event had to do with the celebration of the Obama presidency, which naturally led me to the re-celebration of a seminal event of 70 years ago: Branch Rickey’s decision to hire a black baseball player, Jackie Robinson, to become the first black regular member of a team in the then–all-white professional National League; in this case, the Brooklyn Dodgers, a culturally inbred home team if there ever was one. Robinson was a magnificent athlete, an outstanding

player of four sports, and it was clear to Rickey that it would take an extraordinarily superior talent for a black player to be allowed simple acceptance as an ordinary player — an irony not lost on any minority member. The event that stands out for me is the wonderful re-description by Robinson’s widow of the sheer drama of those early games, with Robinson — a very black man in that blazing sun — alone among the players on the field, isolated on second base, and separated, seemingly utterly different even from his own teammates, each and every one of whom was pristine lily-white. And everyone was waiting and watching. What were they all watching for? The breakdown! Out of the stands, from the bleachers, from the opposing team’s dugout, even from some members of his own home team came the outpouring of epithets, name-calling, ugly invectives, malicious messages of hate: “Hey, n----r! You want to shine my shoes?” “Where’s your spear, jungle boy?!” “Boy, was your mother or your father the baboon?” and so on, in an unrelenting stream of nastiness and offensive provocation. But Robinson in the face of all this did nothing, only continuing to play baseball, fiercely and competitively, playing always by the rules. Why? What was the strategy? It was a simple agreement between Robinson and Rickey that Robinson would do everything he could on the field, but that he would not physically or verbally retaliate. He would not allow himself to acquiesce to the obvious tactic to undermine his stature or demean his personhood by succumbing to the attempt to elicit from him verbal or physical violence, which would have been public confirmation of the fears and anxieties of his tormentors. These fears were based on an illusion — that his being different was somehow, in some intuitive way, a serious threat to their own well-being — the superstition that difference is a menace, not a creative blessing. For the fact is that his tormentors were fearful and desperately seeking reassurance. Their hateful talk was a reflection less of their fundamental lack of decency than a cracked mirror of their uncertain insecurity and ignorant anxieties in the face of a new reality. They were alarmed and anxious, with a deep sense of Hobbesian distrust and wariness of the “other,” and more generally of all difference and its counterpart, change. The name-calling was to test — really, to confirm — the appropriateness of their fearfulness, so that they could then, with justification, act defensively, and now violently, in responsive retaliation to remove the offensive difference. But Robinson gave them no such excuse. Stoically and determinedly, he played brilliantly, very competitively but fairly, within the rules. And most importantly, he played regularly and steadily, and by mere normal presence, gained — first begrudgingly, but finally freely and enthusiastically — the recognition and welcome respect for his skills and participation, and thus finally an overall, although never unanimous, acceptance of difference. Eventually, the sense of fairness and goodwill embedded in

each of us overruled our collective fears and natural diffidence; the respect for virtue and true distinction began to win out. It need not be stressed how important it is that this very public event took place a good seven years before the legally authoritative dismantling of segregation, the Brown decision. It was nationwide pre-education, as were the teachings of Martin Luther King, in the future’s need to accommodate, indeed embrace, the reality of difference. The second event was less reassuring and more chilling of the prospects for welcoming differences. It centers on my recollection of an interview conducted on PBS with the celebrated British historian of Jewish background (and, incidentally, once a visitor and lecturer to the Colgate campus), Sir Martin Gilbert. The occasion was a discussion of his then–newly published book The Boys: The Untold Story of 732 Young Concentration Camp Survivors, the research for which involved taking testimony from many victims of the German-Nazi occupation of Poland. In one small town in central Poland, Professor Gilbert encountered a Polish doctor who had witnessed the roundup and deportation of the Jewish families of that town and village. He described in detail the brutal and ruthless actions of the SS and their Polish counterparts in smashing any resistance by the children, women, and men to the ruthless uprooting of these families, who had lived as neighbors to their compatriots in this village for decades, if not centuries. The doctor held out no justification for the savagery of the Nazi occupiers, but toward the end of the interview, he remarked to Gilbert, “It was a terrible, terrible event, but honestly, it was wonderful for the village to be free of Jews!” Imagine: all these years yearning to be “free of Jews,” to live only, and see only, and be only with people no different; everyone, say Polish and Christian, just like ourselves and everyone else. What an illusion of reassurance! Now there would be no sickness, no poverty, no suffering, no cruelty, no drunkenness, no wickedness nor criminality, no malice nor willful ignorance, no evil — none of the threats of an offending “difference” corrupting and confusing children and families! Here is the root of genocide and its profoundly evil counterpart, ethnic cleansing, whether Nazi, Serbian, Rwandan, Irish, American, Turkish, or Taliban. The illusion — the total hallucination — that sameness and commonality brings security and enhanced

quality of life. In fact, the urgency for sameness functions most often as a deep deception to distract from genuine understanding and agreement. In fact, the distraction of difference is used as a foil for fear, death, and of the yet-unknown. Thus, it serves as a subterfuge and surrogate for human ignorance and superstition, for resisting change and uncovering new realities, for insisting on a narrow and reassuring mediocrity, and for its smug security and illusory superiority: a life dedicated to confinement and insulation, inducing a truly cultural and intellectual ghetto. How does any of this touch our lives? Whether we are prepared to acknowledge it or not, our future, as well as the future of those who come after us, is bound to the conception of society reflected more by the symbolically revolutionary events of Jackie Robinson’s dramatic impact on American life (not only on public life, but even also on the most intimate and personal aspects of our lives) than it is reflected in the dead and illusory world of that Polish village (part of the archaic and superstitious prejudice for unchanging sameness and unquestioning mediocrity). I would draw also another more philosophical point. The most influential philosopher of the last century, reflecting 10 years later on the highly acclaimed and brilliant work of his youth — work that provided the theoretical basis for our present disciplines of symbolic logic and theories of meaning — proceeded then, carefully, meticulously, to challenge every one of his earlier thoughts by posing a totally different perspective on his work and life. He put his new awareness about his earlier vision this way: “A picture held us captive. And we could not get outside it, for it lay in our language and language seemed to repeat it to us inexorably.” As a great philosopher, Wittgenstein was thus enjoining us by example to seek to avoid intellectual captivity, and to recognize that our deepest views of ourselves in and of the world inevitably reflect a certain picture by which we may be held captive, and that our lives and thoughts are too often lived

through, and within, misleading and dangerous metaphors — metaphysical metaphors — that unreflectively influence, if not dominate, the way we and our society think and so act. The picture I have described above is just a case of a captivating and corrupting illusion: that similarity and sameness offer genuine safety and reassurances

THE UNIQUELY SPECIAL WORTH OF EACH PERSON IS THE MOST REALISTIC AND THE MOST JUST UNDERSTANDING OF HUMAN CAPACITIES AND TALENTS against the self-induced fears of difference and change. We see over and over again how dangerous such an illusion can be. But another popular but even more highly problematic picture is that of the notion of success in life as a ladder on which we either climb to public recognition, or remain rooted in private failure. This is a view of life as a persistent struggle for visible status and position, for a life utterly dependent and conditional on the disposition of others; and so inevitably undervaluing one’s own unique and distinctive strengths for the others’ view of us as persons. Alternatively, Colgate would urge you to adopt a different picture: that of each person (you and your neighbor) as capable of distinctive, unique, varied and different talents, skills, potentials, and forms of fulfillment; all such differences adding distinction (recognized or not) to the multiple richness of our common good. My own experience with generations of students reaffirms to my mind that the latter picture — the uniquely special worth of each person — is the most realistic and the most just understanding of human capacities and talents. Thus, it seems to me, finally, that God and Nature in their creative zeal were clearly democratic equalizers as well as innovators, demanding that the recognition of differences is completely compatible with assured but reflective valuing of these differences. This is the only way we can both accept and respect the world of differences we have inherited, all the while judging and embracing that world, as did God, when, as Genesis says, “God saw that it was good.”

Joined the faculty in 1954 — first course: Logic and Scientific Method Received all four Colgate teaching awards: Alumni Corporation Distinguished Teaching Award, AAUP Professor of the Year, Phi Eta Sigma Professor of the Year Award, Samuel French Award Jerome Balmuth Endowed Fund, established in 2000 by Karl L. ’65 and Carol Baumgartner, provides annual support to attract visiting lecturers in philosophy Jerome Balmuth Scholarship Fund, established in 2004 by family, friends, and former students, awarded with preference for a philosophy major The first Jerome Balmuth Award for Teaching and Student-Faculty Engagement, established in 2009 by Mark Siegel ’73, was given to Balmuth’s longtime colleague Marilyn Thie, professor of philosophy, religion, and women’s studies More than 50 of his former students teach philosophy at colleges and universities Son Andrew ’89 majored in religion; grandson Eli Raffeld ’10 majored in philosophy

News and views for the Colgate community

5:39 a.m. | Ian Murphy â&#x20AC;&#x2122;10 | There are very few cars moving through the west side of the village and

no cars parked down the main block of Lebanon between Broad and Maple.

hat happens when 15 students taking linked courses in the art and craft of journalism* set out to document life at Colgate around the clock? The assignment: with the blank slate of a three-hour time slot, a camera and reporterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s notebook in hand, find three stories worthy of telling. Here is a sampling of what they came back with: black-and-white photos and words that capture the mundane and the intriguing, the playful and the unexpected, the quietude and the din they encountered along the way.

* ARTS342: Photojournalism and ENGL379: Literary Journalism, taught by Linn Underhill and Jennifer Brice. 30

scene: Spring 2010

6:15 a.m. | Caitlin Mullen ’10 | Swim Practice

6:50 a.m. | Sarah Kingsley ’10 | Campus Landscape

arly morning in Hamilton, N.Y., in October is what you might expect — quiet, cold, desolate. The sun has yet to break over the mountains in the Chenango Valley, and the windshields of parked cars in front of Huntington Gymnasium are cemented with a thick layer of translucent silvery frost. Nearby, the Lineberry Natatorium gives off a gentle yellow glow, ethereal in the predawn, warming the solemn gray stone that surrounds it. But the tranquility that emanates from Lineberry is hardly indicative of the commotion beneath its roof, where the Colgate University swim team’s first practice of the day is already underway. At an hour when most students couldn’t rouse themselves to climb into a hot shower, the swimmers are already churning up the pool, whisking it into whitetopped waves and diffusing the smell of chlorine in the air. The swimmers’ red rubber swim caps make them look like buoys as the water swells with bobbing heads, angled elbows, and successive flip turns. A lethargic student lifeguard perches above the pool, eyes following the swimmers, entranced by their continuous motion. For a moment, the rubber-capped heads collect on the side of the pool as Coach Amy Krakauer instructs them on the next set of laps. Phrases like “sweet spot with a single,” “triple switch,” and “six plus three transition” are shouted out and quickly lost in the echoing acoustics of the high ceiling. The reprieve is brief and the laps resume, disturbing the glassy calm of the pool’s surface once again. Six a.m. practices are as much a part of a Colgate swimmer’s routine as Speedos and side kicks. According to Coach Krakauer, the team swims 5,000 yards in the morning and 6,000 at night because “the body just can’t take that amount of yards in one go.” The swimmers are cheerful for the early hour and grueling workout, smiling and bantering with Amy from the water, like dolphins at SeaWorld soliciting praise from their trainers. Coach Krakauer leans over one of the begoggled young women approaching the wall for a turn. “Are we surviving?” she asks with a smile, as a hint of day starts to sneak through the glass.

7:00 a.m. | Caitlin Mullen ’10 | Mail Center/Excerpt

“You should have seen this place twenty years ago, before e-mail,” Ron says as I eye the pile of papers, which grows higher with the accumulation of errant pages of the Colgate MaroonNews. “There were five distributions of mail a day!” He shifts his weight forward and grips the shaft of his broom with one hand, using the other to imitate the Colgate students of the ’80s tossing unwanted mail over their shoulders to the floor. “Papers everywhere!”

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1:53 p.m. | Megan Heise ’10 | Siena College Rugby Pitch

ou’re not sure what to make of the scene on the field in front of you: young women lifting each other into the air by their butts and thighs, battling mid-air for what almost looks like a football, but not quite. You look around for some explanation and find one young woman, clad in Colgate sweats, standing on the sidelines holding a large poster-board sign reading, “Get Some,” and “Colgate Ruck’s Hard.” Her hair is in pigtail buns reminiscent of the ears of a Japanese cartoon panda bear. She looks knowledgeable. Her name, she says, is Temily. Like Emily, but with a “T.” Strange name, you think, until someone explains that it stands for “Tall Emily.” “It was a blood bath,” Tem says, explaining the A-side women’s rugby game that just ended. “Four people went to the ER and one girl was left with a bleeding liver … Other than that, we lost.” Right now, though, 17 uninjured young women — 15 starters and two substitutes — are warming up for the B-side (equivalent to junior varsity) game. The girls lifting each other in the air are practicing for a “line out,” or inbounds play. The “scrummies,” the eight players that make up the scrum, are trying to gain control of the ball in the air and toss it down to the scrum half, who will then pass it out to the “lineys,” the remaining seven players that compose the line. The hope is that the line can run with the ball, dodge their way past the defenses of the opposing team, and with the scrummies’ help, score a “try,” rugby’s equivalent of a touchdown. But don’t you dare call it that in front of the “ruggers,” as they are often called, or make any comparisons to American football. 32

scene: Spring 2010

“Rugby is better than football!” exclaims senior “Eight-Man” Hannah Feldman on behalf of ruggers everywhere. “No pads, full tackles … what could be better than that?” She raises a good question. From the RIL emblazoned on the lady ruggers’ sweatshirts referencing their motto, “Rugby is Life,” to the fact that rugby is the reason Temily decided not to transfer from Colgate, it’s clear that these young women love their sport of elegant violence and love their teammates even more. “Our girls are the sweetest, funniest, accepting, and most lovable people I’ve met at Colgate and in life,” Tem says. “I have had the greatest time being their teammate and am so excited I have two more years with them after this season.”

“The girls on the team are some of my best friends at school,” Hannah echoes, “and we all look out for one another on and off the field. It is more than just a sport for us; it is a friendship and a connection to some extremely cool people.” You turn to Temily, wanting more. What else can she tell you about rugby, the team, the game, the rules, everything? “RIL,” is all she replies.

4:11 p.m. | Lea Furutani ’10 | The Writing Center

7:30 p.m. | Chris Gonnella ’10 | Trap Shooting Class/Excerpt

“You need to make your topic sentences more

specific. Make sure you wouldn’t be able to

talk about hamburgers in this paragraph,” says Courtney Walsh, a Colgate senior majoring in psychology. “Does that make sense?” Courtney’s 4:15 appointment is Melanie Miller, a sophomore who has come to the Writing Center to get advice about her modernity paper. She’s four minutes early. Courtney and Melanie are seated in swivel chairs at one of three round tables in 212 Alumni Hall. Atop each of the tables are a bright magenta bowl of peppermints, a stack of bookmarks listing six reasons to go to the Writing Center, a notepad, and a box of tissues, which I would guess is either in response to the swine flu spreading over the campus or for those unfortunate and nervous freshmen who get harsh Writing Center advisers. Courtney certainly isn’t going to send Melanie running for the tissues; after every piece of advice she gives, she adds, “Does that make sense?” Courtney reads over Melanie’s paper on the role of progress with a Bic pen in hand, jotting down her thoughts on a notepad while pulling strands of her dark strawberry blonde hair between her fingers. She throws out words and phrases like “comma splice,” “thesis statement,” “conjunctions,” “citations,” “parallel sentence structure,” and “x, y, and z.” Melanie’s hand keeps her head from falling on the table, and her face suggests that she’s exhausted, overwhelmed, or bored. It could well be all three; it is midterm week, after all. Her eyes glaze over but are pointing in the general direction of her paper, as Courtney massacres the introductory paragraph — which takes up the entire first page — with squiggles, arrows, circles, check marks, underlines, stars, and notes in the margins.

“Capitalism lies to everyone!?” says Courtney, as she reads a line three pages into Melanie’s paper. “You need textual support for absolute statements. Does that make sense?”

shift my attention to the fluorescent-pink-fingernail-painted girl loading her 12-gauge shotgun. She does not even look down as she loads the mammoth gun that casts a shadow on the wet grass in front of her. She ignores the men around her. Cocks the gun. Takes aim, her pink finger caressing the trigger. She yells, “Pull.” BAM! The bird explodes into a hundred pieces and disappears into the darkness of the field beyond her. I look back at her after gazing at the demolished bird. She wears a gray Colgate sweatshirt, jeans, and glasses. She has pinned her curly, dirty-blonde hair up, but the cold winds of upstate New York have thrown a few strands into her face. With the 12-gauge shotgun balanced in her left hand, she brushes the stray strands of hair out of her eyes and tosses the empty shells into the yellow bucket beside her. She buries her neon-pink hand into her satchel of ammunition and pulls out another round. Staring off into the field once again, letting the barrel of the gun drape casually in front of her as though it were the sleeve of a sweatshirt she has tied around her waist, she reloads. “Pull,” she says. BAM! The sound echoes through the night, across the field, and through the forest of trees beyond us. I try to follow it, my ears tracing its sound, imagining the gunshot echoing up to the bright full moon that dominates the clear sky above us. If not the moon, then at least the university chapel or the observatory, which lie about three miles from the trapshooting range. Just as I think I have found the echo of the 12-gauge rumbling back to Colgate’s campus, I hear someone yell: “Pull!” BAM!

News and views for the Colgate community

8:10 p.m. | Edouard Boulat ’11 | Climbing Wall

8:22 p.m. | Chris Gonnella ’10 | Ryan Studio

push open the heavy metal doors that lead to Ryan 212, and the bright lights that illuminate the glossy wooden floors and mirrored walls momentarily blind me.

When I open my eyes and regain my sight, Simona Giurgea, a theater professor, gives me a quick, broad smile and returns to her emphatic listening. She prowls around the room, her puffy vest, black pants, and short hair doing little to soften her complexion.

There is a place on the third floor of Huntington Gymnasium where you can touch Buddha’s head, where Smooth Criminal is worth 680 points, and where if you fall, you won’t get hurt. What strange and magical room is this, you ask? For those of you who have never ventured here before, welcome to the climbing wall. Tonight, maybe because it’s midterms week, maybe because it’s raining and miserably cold out, or just maybe because not enough people know about this place, Alisandra Denton and Spenser Nehrt are the only ones doing any climbing. As Shakira’s “She Wolf” plays on the radio, both stand motionless for a minute or two, hands on their hips, catching their breath, mapping out their next path up the wall. To the untrained eye, these walls seem to be covered in randomly placed holds and grips: a multitude of different shapes, colors, and sizes, a green Buddha, a blue alien, red hands and feet, lime lips, half of what looks like a giant tennis ball. To Alisandra and Spenser, however, each hold is an essential part of a “route,” assigned a difficulty score ranging from 80 to 800 and a name. For beginners, Like a Virgin and Forever Young are recommended. More experienced climbers might try their luck at routes such as Don’t Think Twice, Vertigo, and the rather self-explanatory Help! “The Buddha’s a good one,” Spenser says, catching me staring at the neongreen hold, the holy sage’s belly looking bigger than ever, a massive grin on his face. “It’s the slick ones that will get you. Those round ones, man … Those are tough.” After having seen both Spenser and Alisandra take numerous falls in the last 10 minutes or so, some from 4 or 5 feet off the ground, I am inclined to agree that this whole climbing wall thing is indeed pretty tough. Yet, after each fall comes the same exact routine. They stand up off the mats, chalk their hands, place them on their hips as they map out their next route, and off they go, back up the wall.

scene: Spring 2010

“No, no, no. You are a bully. If you were a man, you’d…” Simona jumps into the scene, instructs with her Romanian accent, and then departs. The players resume without hesitation. Three weeks into rehearsal, it is obvious that this team of actors are all business. Rehearsing seven days a week from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m., there is a jovial intensity inside this group that normally can be found within families. With Simona Giurgea prowling, exploding from the sidelines, directing her players, making them laugh one moment and focus the very next, these thespians are attempting to perform Eugene Ionesco’s The Future Is in Eggs. “Line,” Lauren Harries says, with her hand extended, her feet spread, her eyes glaring, as the character she portrays is wild, determined. “It is clear that…” Ming Peiffer reads from a small, red table in the corner of the room. “It is clear that…” And Lauren Harries is off, eyes growing, voice intensifying, her body moving. Her energy is palpable, almost as grasping as the energy of the room and the people inside.

10:40 p.m. | Emily Kelly ’11 | Payne Street

4:34 a.m. | Ian Murphy ’10 | Sergeant Sitts/Excerpt

“Usually Monday mornings are pretty mundane and routine,” Sitts says. “Right now everyone is sleeping and gettin’ prepared for midterms. Just go around, lock your buildings, write your parking tickets, check your e-mail, catch up on the paperwork from over the weekend, answer a few minor calls, stuff like that. Mondays are nice and peaceful in the morning; now watch, I’ll jinx it.” News and views for the Colgate community

Illustration by Mike Thompson

A Few Minutes with the Rooneys On February 9, Colgate hosted a Tribute and Toast evening celebrating the man who is arguably Colgate’s most famous alumnus — Andy Rooney ’42, known to millions for his end-of-show segments on CBS’s 60 Minutes, who recently turned 91. The day of the event, Rooney’s son, Brian ’74, an award-winning ABC News correspondent, sat down with him to reminisce about his life and career. Brian: Would you state your full name and spell it for me, please? Andy: Andrew A. Rodney, R-O-D-N-E-Y. Brian: How did you become a writer? Your father was a salesman, your mother was not very intellectual; it wasn’t in the family. Andy: It’s interesting, isn’t it? I went to a good school in Albany, the Albany Academy. Brian: You weren’t a brilliant student. Andy: No, I wasn’t a good student at the academy. Brian: Well, it was clear you weren’t going to be a mathematician. Andy: That’s right. They all knew that. We used to write what they called themes. I remember, they were a page-and-a-half, handwritten. I had two teachers, Lawrence Pike and Beanie Owen, and they thought I was good as a writer. It was a great encouragement. I thought, well, if they think so, I think so. Brian: So they put the idea in your head? Andy: Oh, they did. No question. It is really great, what a teacher can do. Then I went from there to Colgate. And I had a great teacher at Colgate: Porter Perrin, who was probably the best teacher I ever had. He thought I was good, and he helped me. Brian: What writers did you admire? Andy: I was not a great admirer of other writers. Even way back then, I can’t believe this, but I read the New Yorker magazine. I liked the writers for that.

Brian: You know, you were never a big reader. Andy: I was never a big reader. I still read the newspaper every day, but I have read very few books in my life, and almost no novels. I can count the novels I’ve read on one hand. Brian: But you admired E.B. White. Andy: Oh, God — E.B. White was my hero. I thought he wrote better than anyone who ever lived. Brian: Is that because his was the only book you ever read? Andy: No, he wrote for the New Yorker, and he wrote a lot of books. I read everything E.B. White ever wrote. He wrote very simply and directly. And whatever the subject was, it was always good.

Coming to Colgate Brian: Why did you go to Colgate? Your family wanted you to go to Williams. Andy: They did. My father went to Williams. I don’t know whether I could have gotten into Williams or not, but I was the captain of the Albany Academy football team, and I wanted to play football. Colgate played big-time football, bigger-time than I was, really. Brian: Were you ever a starter? Andy: I wasn’t, but I played a lot of football. I was a guard. I weighed 185 pounds. I wasn’t light, but I wasn’t heavy. Syracuse was our big game, and they were always good. We played the Albany State College team. We played Cornell, of course. Brian: And that was in the days of Andy Kerr. What do you remember about him? Andy: He was a great guy. He was tough. He was only about 5' 8" and weighed only 135 or 140 pounds. But he was a great coach. And Colgate was doing very well. They were one of the best teams in the country.

The war Brian: You fell in with Kenneth Boulding, who was the anti-war college professor, right on the brink of the war. Andy: That’s right. He was brilliant. I was not brilliant, but I thought I was against war of any kind. And it was hard to know how far to take it, because you could go to prison if you refused the draft. So, as much as I was against the war, I did not refuse the draft, and I was drafted out of college, at the end of my junior year. Brian: Why were you against the war? I think people now, looking back at World War II, would be pretty surprised to hear that. Andy: Well, I think there is no question that war is ridiculous. For men to kill each other is wrong. Is there any doubt about that? And there should be some

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other way to resolve an argument rather than to kill each other. But I was so lucky. I was drafted into the Seventeenth Field Artillery and I was shipped to England. The Stars and Stripes, the army newspaper, was moving from Belfast, Ireland, to London. They were going to start publishing newspapers for everybody in London and they needed reporters. And I lied and said I was one. I had done a newspaper for the Seventeenth Field Artillery, but I was not really a newspaper man. But I said I was, and I got the job with the army newspaper, the Stars and Stripes, and it was the great break of my life because I was thrown in with not only the reporters on the Stars and Stripes, but also the reporters for the Associated Press, the United Press, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, everything. Brian: You knew Ernie Pyle and Ernest Hemingway. Andy: I did. And that’s where I met Walter Cronkite. Yes, I knew Ernie Pyle well, and I met Ernest Hemingway; I didn’t know him that well. But I remember incidents with Hemingway. I remember going out, I was in an army line, and it wasn’t safe because they were in armored tanks and I was sitting there alone in my Jeep. And the Germans started shelling us. I pulled over and ran into a field. I was behind a hedgerow, and I’m looking around and I see this guy down the hedgerow and it’s Ernest Hemingway. I think, ‘My God. Here I am behind a hedgerow with Ernest Hemingway.’ Brian: Had you read Ernest Hemingway with Porter Perrin at Colgate? Andy: I had known of Ernest Hemingway, sure. Brian: I remember you saying people didn’t like him.

Brian: If you can recall, did it feel like the world was coming apart when World War II was starting up? Andy: No, it didn’t, to me. It seemed like the Germans were bad people, and they started the war, and we were going to correct them. Brian: You couldn’t have imagined how serious it would get.

Andy: People didn’t like Hemingway, no. I don’t know why. I didn’t like him, but I forget why, too.

Andy: No, I could not have. I was wrong about that. I was at Colgate and I didn’t realize how serious it was.

Brian: What’s the most scared you’ve ever been?

Brian: Why was 9/11 not that scary to you?

Andy: Well, there are a couple of kinds of fear. One is at war, of course. I have been worried about my life at war. When I was in the army, I was in several very dangerous positions and I was afraid then. And then lots of times during my life, when I was not working, or not working well enough, or not making enough money and I had children, I was worried then.

Andy: It seemed as though we had it under control. I just thought we could handle what had happened. I didn’t think anything else was going to happen.

Brian: And the time I got lost in Brooklyn. Andy: That’s right. I’ll never forget that time you got lost in Brooklyn. Boy, was I scared. Yeah, that was really frightening. Brian: Comparatively in history, how scary was Pearl Harbor compared to 9/11? Andy: I think I was more scared of Pearl Harbor than I was of 9/11. And I was right here in New York. It seemed like a big event, and disastrous, but it didn’t affect my life the way World War II did.

scene: Spring 2010

Making a living Brian: How much did growing up in the Depression affect your life and maybe even the way you are now? Andy: You know, I heard about the Depression, but I was not aware of the Depression, even though I was in high school, I suppose. My father worked for a company in Albany, New York, and he made, I think, $12,000 a year. It was a lot of money. We were relatively rich. I went to a good school. We lived very well. We had a nice house. When I was about 12 or 14, we moved from the house I had grown up in to a big house farther out of town. Brian: You didn’t make much money for many years as a writer.

Andy: Well, you can say that, but after the war I went to Hollywood and I was paid a lump sum, a big amount of money for a piece I had written, a book. And then I went to work for MGM and yes, I made good money then. Brian: You had a lot of drought years. Andy: I had some bad years, yeah. Brian: Before you became Andy Rooney. Andy: But don’t forget that I worked for a lot of people before I was Andy Rooney. I worked for Godfrey for five years in the ’50s, and Arthur Godfrey was the biggest thing that had ever been on television. I was one of the writers. So when you were growing up, I was making good money. Brian: Well, no you weren’t. Andy: I was making $6,000. Why, that was not a lot? Brian: It was OK, but no, it was not a lot. I mean, I remember having one pair of blue jeans and a couple of shirts, which was fine, but… Andy: But we were not poor. We had enough to eat. Brian: Oh, yeah. But you had to watch it. It was normal.

Being Andy Rooney Brian: Do you feel accomplished as a writer? Do you feel like you’ve written what you would have wanted to write?

Andy: I do. I wish I was more of an intellectual than I am. And if I was, I would have written different things. But I have written a lot. I put one word down after another, and I usually get it together. I’m proud of what I’ve done, even though there are a lot of things I wish I could do better. Brian: How do you think you became the chronicler of the particular? Andy: Well, not many other people are doing it. I am interested in details. If you go into anything far enough, you get into the details of it, and people turn out to be interested in what makes things work. Brian: Way back when, you did a television show. An essay on doors. Andy: It was fun to pick some simple object like a door and look into all the aspects of a door in our lives. There are so many things about doors that are important to us, whether it is open or closed, whether you lock it or not, and it was interesting for me to look into the details of these things. Brian: And that, as I recall, was a bet with Fred Friendly. Andy: That’s right. He didn’t think I could do it. I was arguing with him in his office. He was president of CBS News, and I said, “I’d like to do some longer essays, a half-hour or an hour, on certain subjects.” And he said, “Like what?” I looked behind me in his office and I said, “Well, doors. I’d like to do an essay on doors.” It occurred to me at that moment that I could do an essay on doors. There are so many things about a door that are important to a room that I knew I could do it, and I did, and it was a good piece.

Andy: That’s true. And that’s what’s a good thing for me.

Brian: How is it that you have a boss [Jeff Fager ’77] who’s half your age who graduated from Colgate?

Brian: How much sense of yourself do you have as being a guy who addresses the nation once a week? They’re not all listening, but a lot of people have heard what you have to say. When you walk down the street, what are you thinking?

Andy: I suppose, but you get to think less about age as you get older. He did go to Colgate. He doesn’t tell me what to do. I can’t even think of a piece I have done about which he’s said, “We’re not going to do that.”

Andy: I’m not thinking about myself or about people knowing me. I mean, I was at the Super Bowl — it’s fun to have people recognize you. I’m not immune to that. And I like the idea that they know and like what I’m saying. It’s fun. And it makes writing more interesting to think that people read what you write. I like being a writer, no question. Brian: Do you think you’re influential? Andy: I suppose in a minor way. Brian: Why minor? Andy: Oh, I don’t think people take what I say very seriously. And I don’t think they follow anything I say. Brian: That’s a frustration of all of journalism. There’s a lot of it, and I sometimes think none of it really makes very much difference. Andy: Journalism is good that way. At its best, it gets to the root of what is true and untrue in the world.

Family and fatherhood Brian: How did you meet Mom? Andy: Oh, my goodness. I went to the Albany Academy, and Mom was at St. Agnes, which was a girls’ school. Inevitably, the two schools had dances together. Your mother’s father was a doctor in Albany, and a great guy. I really liked him. I wasn’t keen on her mother, nor was she keen on me. I used to go over to her house a lot. We went to dances and the movies together. I saw a lot of her. Then I was drafted and we were married during the war. Brian: Pretty much the only girl you ever dated? Andy: Pretty much. There was one other girl I dated that I liked, but there was no one but your mother, really. Brian: What do you think you were like as a father? Andy: I thought I was a good father. I understood kids. And Margie was a great mother and wife. We had four kids, as you know.

Brian: But it started just because you were talking big with the boss, so you had to pull it off. Andy: That’s true. Brian: People always ask where your ideas come from. Andy: Oh, ideas are a dime a dozen. There is nothing that is not an idea. I mean, I look at my desk here and it is just covered with ideas. Brian: It looks like junk to me. Andy: Everything is an idea. My couch over there behind you, and your sweater. There isn’t anything you can’t sit down and think of everything you know about that object and make a piece out of it. The people are interested. Brian: But they don’t notice what you notice. Andy: Well, because I am a writer, I make a point of noticing it, I suppose. They do notice it — because if I say it, they say, “Hey, yeah.” Brian: They recognize it after you tell it.

News and views for the Colgate community

Brian: Some of whom I know personally. Andy: I think we did a good job raising our kids. We were honest with them and sent them to good schools. What do you think? Brian: One thing I remember. You were, as a father, reckless in a fun way that would get you arrested now. For instance, there was the time you towed us around town on the toboggan behind the car. You would speed up when the toboggan was going downhill and catching up with the wheels. Andy: Yeah, I had a good time with my kids when they were growing up. I liked it. Brian: And you took us winter camping without a tent. Andy: Oh, Jesus. Boy, that was cold, wasn’t it? Brian: It was raining. We built an igloo and it melted. Andy: I remember that thing we built. We shoveled for hours and got this huge mound of snow together, and then we started digging it out and made a house out of it. Your three sisters and you, and me — five of us — got into this thing. We had blankets, and it was relatively warm compared with outside. And of course, it began to melt. We finally had to get out of it. Brian: Yes, in the middle of the night. I remember waking up. My head was out the door, and it was raining on my head. You were up by the fire drying clothes. Andy: That was a rough time. Brian: Probably more memorable than if we’d had a tent and it had all gone well.

Change Brian: When you were born, the Model T was still being built. You’ve adapted to technology very well, but what are some of the things that you think, “I’m amazed that this is possible”? Andy: Well, my computer. I wrote for what, 50 years on a typewriter. I use three fingers, and I loved it. I wrote a lot of books on a typewriter. People are reluctant to give up what they know well, but I wouldn’t dream of going back to the typewriter. I love my computer. It is so much easier, so much better. You can start over. You can do anything on a computer. Brian: But you just use it to write. You don’t go on the Internet. Andy: Well, I have, but I don’t. Brian: I guess you don’t have a Facebook page. Andy: I like the newspaper. Brian: Anything else? Cars? Space exploration?

scene: Spring 2010

Andy: Cars were important in my life. During the Depression, we owned a Packard, if you can believe it. My mother drove it more than my father did. It was a big boat-y vehicle. It had a back seat and I remember the iron bar that went across ’cause you could hold onto it. We had a cottage on Lake George, which was about 75 miles from Albany. My mother used to drive us up there every weekend, or at some point, for the whole summer.

Brian: It’s nice to have a place to go back to, no matter where you go in life, that’s home.

Brian: She wasn’t a good driver, either.

Work and play

Andy: Well, yeah, she was. What do you mean, “either”? Brian: I drove with her. Andy: I thought she was good. I have a car now that I love, a Sunbeam Tiger. It has a Ford 8-cylinder engine in it. It’s little, and it doesn’t weigh much, either. It’s now 25 or 30 years old. Brian: It’s a 1966. Andy: It will beat anything on the road. It’s up at our country place now. I get the guy who owns the garage to get it out for me every year and make sure it’s oiled and greased properly, and then I drive it all summer. Brian: Now, Lake George is huge in all our lives. Your family went up there first when, in the Twenties? Andy: They grew up in Ballston Spa, which is halfway to Lake George from Albany. They had friends who had homes on Lake George, and they bought this cottage that we’re still in. I bought the one next door, and it is a great place to be. We’re right in the middle of the lake, and the water is pristine. We have a pipe that goes down into the lake — suck it up and drink it. There aren’t many places in the world where you can do that.

Andy: Oh, it is great. I miss my house in Albany on Croswell Street that I lived in for so many years. Then we moved to the house in Connecticut. You grew up there, and your three sisters. I still have it. I love to go out there. I can’t bring myself to sell it.

Brian: You’re 91 years old. Why are you still working? Andy: Well, I wouldn’t know what else to do. I love it. I like sitting down at my computer and thinking of something to say. And I do my newspaper column. It’s just fun. It’s rewarding. The idea of being a writer is ultimate to me. The idea of putting words on paper that other people read and might be influenced by is about as good as anybody can do. Brian: And you don’t fish. Andy: I hate fishing. Jeez, I hate fishing. My father and my grandfather loved to fish. I hate fishing. Brian: I remember being trapped in the boat with your father. I would about go out of my mind. He’d be trolling and you couldn’t talk because you’d scare the fish. Six years old, squirming… Andy: Why would you want to hook a little animal on a metal barb and bring it into the boat and let it die, flopping? Brian: You don’t like going to movies. Andy: I don’t like fiction of any kind. To sit down and make something up seems ridiculous to me. There are so many interesting things in the world that are true that it seems totally unnecessary to make fiction out of anything. Brian: You do like football. Andy: I like football. Because if there’s anything that’s not fiction, it’s football. I mean, this is real — 22 guys trying their best to do something with a ball. Moving the ball four yards is important. Brian: It’s drama. Andy: It’s fictitious drama, I suppose, because we make up the game, but it’s a great drama. Brian: But that’s your sport. You don’t really care that much for any other sports. Andy: I don’t. World Series don’t interest me much; I don’t care about baseball. I don’t know how much this has to do with it, but — I don’t know what’s wrong with my arm, but I always threw like a girl. Brian: You did. How did you get into woodworking? Andy: I don’t know. I am a woodworker. I made this desk. I put that little ebony dovetail in there.

Andy: Oh, no. Brian: It’s the $50 and $100 bottles. Andy: Well, I don’t buy those, I’ll tell you. Brian: See, that’s why I asked whether the Depression had an effect on your life, because you won’t buy a $17 bottle of wine. You are sort of a Calvinist in some ways. You never cared for vacation that much. Andy: Anything that I enjoy doing, I can do when I’m working just as well as I can do on vacation. I like the places I go on vacation. But the idea of being off work does not interest me. I like getting up every morning and coming into the office. Brian: Going to France didn’t entertain you all that much. Andy: Well, I like to go to France to see what the French are thinking. But no, I didn’t care about going away for a vacation. Brian: What do you mean, what the French are thinking? You don’t care what anybody else is thinking. Andy: That’s true. Brian: It’s called a Dutchman. Andy: Not by me, it isn’t. I love wood. There is something about wood that’s very real, and I love this desk that I write on — it’s been here for 25 years now. I’m not good at woodworking, but I’ve made a lot of good things. Brian: I’ve always said you enjoy the process more than the finish. Andy: I do, yeah. Brian: You’ve got piles of wood. Andy: I collect wood. I like to go to a lumber yard and find that they have recently cut a maple tree that, unbeknownst to them, has great figure in it, burls or stripes of any kind. I buy it. I’ve got a lot of wood in my shop.

Brian: You’ve got more wood than you’ll ever make into furniture. Andy: It’s hard to make stuff, but I love it.

Brian: Really, one of the only reasons you ever went back to France was to see where the bullet holes are.

Brian: But that’s your relaxation. When you’re not writing, you’re woodworking. How did you get interested and knowledgeable about wine and food?

Andy: That’s right, and to see what they’re having for food because they cook so well. It’s fun to see what you can learn from the French.

Andy: Here is something we need three times a day. If you’re going to get interested in something as a hobby, you might as well get interested in something that has to do with our lives, and food is one of those things. I like to cook and I like to go to good restaurants that have tried different things.

Brian: So, those kinds of diversions, just not for you. You just want to keep doing more of what you’ve always done.

Brian: You’re a good cook, but you’re not a “fussy recipe” cook. Andy: No, I don’t use a recipe. Whatever I do I pretty much make up. I’ll read a recipe and get ideas sometimes, but I don’t use them. Brian: How did you learn about wine? For instance, you went through World War II, and even when they were liberating the wine cellars, you didn’t drink. That should be a regret to you. Andy: It must be a regret, because we ran into little cellars that had hundreds of bottles of wine. It must have been great, and I didn’t drink. I was late in life with wine. I like good wine. I don’t like spending a lot of money on wine, though. I see a bottle of wine for $17 and it seems awfully a lot to me.

Andy: I’m not for diverting myself from my life. I like my typewriter and my computer and I like my desk and I like everything I have here. I have a great job. I’m talking to millions of people every week. And no matter how ridiculous it is that I say something, people listen and hear it. I try to be honest and write about things, and people seem to like it. Brian: I noticed that you’ve started leaving early on Fridays. You think if they find out, they’ll fire you? Andy: I don’t think CBS would fire me. I think I’m just as apt to fire them as they are to fire me.

8 Watch a video and read about Colgate’s roast of “America’s curmudgeon-in-chief” at www.colgate. edu/rooneytribute

Brian: You don’t buy a $17 bottle of wine? That’s pretty average.

News and views for the Colgate community

scene: Spring 2010

Andrew Daddio

News and views for the Colgate community

stay connected

to know: Know:Art Name Here’55 Get to DuBois

Alumni bulletin board Questions? Contact the alumni office at 315-228-7433 or alumni@ colgate.edu

– Alumni Council member since 2007 – Volunteer roles include reunion, class gift, and Society of Families steering committees; Class Agent Excellence Award ’96; Maroon Citation 2005 – Retired VP, Rand McNally; adjunct professor, Lake Forest Graduate School of Management – MBA, Northwestern U.; U.S. Air Force, 3 years You spent your whole career at Rand McNally? Yes, I worked there 33 years, in production, sales, and marketing, and spent much of the latter part in division management and general management in the publishing area. What was the most important lesson you learned when you first started working? I learned a great deal from a man who never graduated from high school, a cartographer named Adolph Bravi. He taught me how to get things done, how to go from department to department — things that would have taken me quite a while to learn on my own. The point is that there are very able people in the world without degrees. How do you view your role as an Alumni Council member? I think the most important thing we do is outside of our meetings. I go to club events, where I am able to help people understand Colgate today. People like to look back at the way things used to be and wish they would never change. But I can talk about the many things that have made Colgate, in my view, a measurably better institution than it was when we were all in college. Of all your volunteer work, what has been closest to your heart? I edited our 50th Reunion yearbook. Getting reacquainted with those classmates both in person as well as their written work (each was asked to write a biography) was wonderfully refreshing. Tell us about your family. My wife, Fairfield, and I met at the end of my freshman year, on a bicycle trip to Europe; now, isn’t that romantic? Two of our four children went to Colgate: our son Bill ’78 and our daughter Anne Yap ’80. What Colgate person had the biggest influence on you? My father-in-law, Curtiss Frank ’25, had the most profound effect on me. My own dad had died shortly after I graduated, and Curt helped me with career choices, and later when I had difficult business situations and when I got involved in local politics, to analyze the pros and cons of any situation. What do you do for enjoyment? My wife and I are readers. I’m fortunate: my wife reads 10 books for every one that I read, and she screens them for me. Invariably, I’m lucky with what I read. We can do well on crossword puzzles, but not if they’ve got any TV characters or sitcoms; we’ve never watched much television! Golf, tennis, and trying to learn bridge are among our other activities.

scene: Spring 2010

Take advantage of the “Maroon Advantage” When the economy hit the brakes last year, the 55 members of the Alumni Council put their heads together to think about how Colgate could help alumni affected by the turmoil. The result: the Maroon Advantage program — a joint effort of the Alumni Council, Office of Alumni Affairs, and Center for Career Services. “The recipe for a Maroon Advantage event is simple: start with alumni and staff who are experts on a particular topic, add alumni who can benefit from their expertise, and watch what happens,” said council president Gus Coldebella ’91. “It’s alums looking out for fellow alums in a tough economic climate.” So far, Maroon Advantage has sponsored five programs in as many cities. Programs have ranged from general topics, such as career networking in New York with Karl Stewart ’91, to specific, such as careers in education in Boston with Devon Skerritt ’03. We’ve even had a few “speed networking” sessions with alumni of other colleges. Our three online “webinars” have been so successful that the Alumni Council voted to invest in conference software to make them even better. Keep your eyes peeled for info on regional Maroon Advantage events, or watch an online seminar at www. colgatealumni.org/careerservices. If you’re interested in helping, by hosting, serving on a panel, sharing your career skills, or volunteering conference space for an event, contact Amanda Kalal in the alumni office at akalal@colgate.edu.

“Oooh!...Aaah!...Ohh!” Reunion 2010 — It Will Leave You Relatively Speechless ’0s, ’5s, and perennials: There’s still time to register at www. colgatealumni.org/reunion. Speak up, and let us know if you’ll be under the tents on Whitnall Field, June 3–6. Questions? Call the alumni office at 315-228-7433.

Alumni of Color News The Alumni of Color (AOC) community will be mentoring Colgate undergraduates through the Shaping Your Vision program, set for next fall. To find out you how you can connect with Colgate students and prepare them for life as alumni, contact Amanda Kalal at akalal@colgate.edu. Find AOC online! Visit www.colgatealumni.org/aoc or go to Facebook and search keywords Colgate Alumni of Color or AOC.

Your opinions, thoughts, and comments matter — so we provide multiple ways to connect with and hear from you. Here’s one more: provide your feedback, offer a question, or open a new conversation by clicking this icon found all over www.colgate alumni.org. We promise to answer your message in a timely manner or direct it to an appropriate alumni office staff member.

salmagundi

Take Five puzzle

Can you divide this arrangement of campus pictures into five sections so that each section consists of five connected squares and contains one of each kind of picture? The sections will not all have the same shape. Answer key on pg. 69.

I drove a ’67 Comet, and kept a six-pack of spark plugs in the back seat, because I never knew when the engine block would spit one or two of them out with a teethrattling explosion, leaving a dimple in the hood. – Craig Peters ’80 …My best ride home was off the “ride board” in a late ’60s GM. Due to one of those wet snows, the Morrisville hill was like driving on grease. Unable to make it up going forward, my resourceful ride simply turned the car around and drove up backwards. – John Liebschutz ’73 …A ’68 Dodge Monaco 4 door with a 383 … I actually hauled a full-size Dr. Pepper machine in the trunk (sticking out of course) from Houston to Hamilton and installed it at Random House. – Richard Siciliano ’76

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. Tell us in what academic year these two Bobs performed at Colgate. Submit 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 June 11, 2010, will be put into a drawing for a Slices T-shirt.

scene: Spring 2010

Reflections of Colgate through the generations What type of car did you drive at Colgate? A random posting to the Colgate Connections group on LinkedIn by Diane Danielson ’89 yielded many fun memories of student “rides.” Join the group, read the whole thread, and post your own.

Puzzle by Puzzability

Rewind

…My father (Robert Sager ’51) had a 1931 Packard Duel Cowl Phaeton and a Crossley that they parked in the living room at Lambda Chi Alpha (now Ralph Bunche house) in the late ’40s. They used to ride around in raccoon coats in the Packard and at football games. – Clint Sager ’79 …An old black Jeep Wrangler (complete w/ cow-print seat covers) fitted with doors that were perpetually frozen shut — such that for 5 months out of every school year, I was climbing into my car through the trunk. – Danielle Covati ’00 I had a Ford Tempo that I bought from a rent-a-car place. It only went 25 mph on the hills around Hamilton, and yet I still managed to get four speeding tickets my senior year. – Leslie Flinn ’84 Do you have a reminiscence for Rewind? Send your submission of short prose, poetry, or a photograph with a description to scene@colgate.edu.

Above: Colgate spirit at the menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ice hockey game against rival Cornell. Back cover: Spring puts a bounce in studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; steps alongside the Ho Science Center. Both photos by Andrew Daddio.

News and views for the Colgate community

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