20 art breaks out of its frame
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26 hard work, no paycheck
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Magical Memory Tour
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contents Magical Memory Tour Revisiting your favorite campus spots
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Breaking Out of the Frame The Art Museum isn’t just for art students anymore
20 Volunteerism Powerful work without pay
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A Critical Race Theory course, one of eighty-five classes whose students used the Art Museum recently
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D e partments
F R O M T O P : M H C A rchives and S pecial C ollections ; T A Y L O R S C O T T ; M ark T hiessen / N ational G eographic S tock
2 Viewpoints Your thoughts on sustainability and contraception, and top social-media posts
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5 President’s Pen Thoughts from Lynn Pasquerella ’80 6 Campus Currents MHC timeline: an era of unrest; teaching music with technology
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32 Alumnae Matters Clubs around the world celebrate the 175th, alumna chronicles the Dust Bowl 38 Off the Shelf Historical murder mysteries, philosophies of pregnancy, photographs of Paris 42 Class Notes News of your classmates
35 O N T HE COV ER
77 Bulletin Board Announcements, and trips to the Dalmatian Coast and Greece and Turkey 80 “My Voice” Olivia Lammel ’14 on the pressure to be an uncommon woman
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Blanchard Campus Center P H otograph B y
Ben Barnhart
O P P O S I T E PA G E :
MHC Art Museum/ Natalie Kulikowski ’11
Spring 2013 Volume 97 Number 1 Editorial and Design Team Carly Kite, senior director of marketing and communications Emily Harrison Weir, Quarterly editor Millie Rossman, creative director Taylor Scott, assistant director of digital communication Kris Halpin, class notes editor Quarterly Committee: Susan Bushey Manning ’96 (chair) Cindy L. Carpenter ’83 Shawn Hartley Hancock ’80 Olivia Lammel ’14 (student rep.) Zanna McKay ’13 (student rep.) Shoshana Walter ’07 Hannah Clay Wareham ’09 Alumnae Association Board of Directors President* Cynthia L. Reed ’80 Vice President, Engagement* Jennifer A. Durst ’95 Treasurer* Lynda Dean Alexander ’80 Clerk* Hilary M. Salmon ’03 Classes and Reunion Director Erin Ennis ’92 Alumnae Trustee Elizabeth Onyemelukwe Garner ’89 Nominating Director Antoria D. Howard-Marrow ’81 Director-at-Large, Human Resources* Joanna MacWilliams Jones ’67 Director-at-Large, Global Initiatives Emily E. Renard ’02 Communications Director Sandy Mallalieu ’91 Young Alumnae Representative Tamara J. Dews ’06 Clubs Director Elizabeth (Beth) Redmond VanWinkle ’82 Volunteer Stewardship Director Katie Glockner Seymour ’79 Executive Director* Jane E. Zachary, ex officio without vote *Executive Committee
The Alumnae Association of Mount Holyoke College serves a worldwide network of diverse individuals, cultivates and celebrates vibrant connections among all alumnae, fosters lifelong learning in the liberal arts tradition, and facilitates opportunities for alumnae to advance the goals and values of the College. Ideas expressed in the Quarterly are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official position of either the Alumnae Association or the College. General comments concerning the Quarterly should be sent to Emily Weir quarterly@mtholyoke.edu or Alumnae Quarterly, Alumnae Association, 50 College Street, South Hadley, MA 01075-1486. For class notes matters, contact Kris Halpin (413-538-2300, classnotes@mtholyoke.edu). To update your information, contact Alumnae Information Services (same address; 413-538-2303; ais@mtholyoke.edu). Phone 413-538-2300 with general questions regarding the Alumnae Association, or visit alumnae.mtholyoke.edu. The Mount Holyoke Alumnae Quarterly (USPS 365-280) is published quarterly in the spring, summer, fall, and winter by the Alumnae Association of Mount Holyoke College, Inc., 50 College St., South Hadley, MA 01075-1486. Spring 2013, volume 97, number 1, was printed in the USA by Lane Press, Burlington, VT. Periodicals postage paid at South Hadley, MA and additional mailing offices. Copyright Alumnae Association of Mount Holyoke College.
Postmast er
(ISSN 0027-2493; USPS 365-280)
Please send form 3579 to Alumnae Information Services Mount Holyoke Alumnae Association, 50 College Street S. Hadley, MA 01075-1486.
The Alumnae Association of Mount Holyoke College, Inc. 50 College Street South Hadley, MA 01075-1486 tel: 413-538-2300 fax: 413-538-2254 alumnae.mtholyoke.edu
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viewpoints
Letters Policy We welcome comments on the Quarterly’s content and will select for publication letters that reflect the diverse viewpoints of the Mount Holyoke community. Letters should be no more than 300 words, and we reserve the right to edit them for length, accuracy, and clarity. Send kudos or complaints, rants or raves, but please, no personal attacks. Send comments to: quarterly@mtholyoke.edu (or use postal address on page 1).
Choose Natural Family Planning
More Sustainability Ideas
I am writing in response to “Fighting for Reproductive Freedom for a Half-Century.” I take the contrarian view and believe the sexual revolution of the sixties has done much harm and little good. The birth-control pill itself has many side effects, including increasing the risk of breast cancer. When the pill is used to treat reproductive disorders it only relieves symptoms—never getting to the underlying cause of the disease. Also, despite the proliferation of the pill and all the talk about making abortion rare, it is an epidemic of mass proportions. And the real tragedy of the times is the loss of innocence, especially among the youth and the devaluation of human life. There are natural methods of family planning that are 100-percent safe and just as effective as any artificial contraceptive. I am most familiar with the Creighton Model System, which involves a woman understanding the fertile and infertile times of the cycle. It is highly reliable and can be used throughout a woman’s entire procreative life. Natural systems treat fertility as a something to be worked with and appreciated rather than like a disease. With knowledge of how one’s reproductive system works comes understanding that fertility is a gift. With wisdom, responsible decisions can be made to bring (or not) new life into the world. And unlike the birth control pill, NaProTechnology and the Creighton Model System treat the root cause of reproductive disease. This is not good news, it is great news. The US Department of Health and Human Services mandate is an attack on religious liberty, which is protected under the First Amendment of the Constitution. Under the mandate, Catholic institutions and employers would be forced to provide healthcare insurance that would include coverage for artificial contraception and sterilization services. There is no “right” to free contraceptives, and no one is forcing anyone to work for a Catholic institution. I am Catholic. I support the bishops and the millions of Americans who value religious freedom.
Thank you for the entertaining and timely “Grease-Car Odyssey.” One typo: on the Odyssey map, Atlanta, Georgia, was plunked squarely into northern Alabama. [Apologies for our “creative geography.”—the editor.] I’d like to suggest more items for Sustainability 101: • Low-flow toilets, which use barely one-third the water of a standard flush. Composting toilets are even better, but expensive and hard to retrofit into most dwellings.
Mary McPhillips Menendez ’89 Kingston, New Hampshire
• Tankless or “on demand” hot-water heaters. These heat water only when needed, rather than keeping many gallons hot even when no one is using hot water. • No clothes dryer! I hang my wash on the back porch on a rack—a wooden frame suspended from the ceiling, strung with multiple lengths of clothesline and with two pulleys so it can be raised out of the way. In persistent damp weather I use a wooden rack indoors, but clothes will dry even in freezing temperatures. Dryers consume enormous amounts of energy, forming a large, and unnecessary, chunk of most people’s carbon footprint. Individual efforts are important, especially if they set examples that others emulate, but larger-scale changes are needed at least as much. We should use public transportation and advocate for more of it, especially rail, the most energy-efficient way to travel. Political efforts to mitigate global warming are also necessary: e.g., there is no such thing as clean coal, and the military probably uses, and wastes, more energy than any other sector. In Cambridge, and surely elsewhere as well, composting is done privately and publicly. Yard waste and kitchen scraps should be part of the natural cycle on which we all depend, organic matter nourishing plants of all sorts. Finally (in more senses than one), there is the ultimate in composting: green burial, in which our bodies—encased only in biodegradable containers and without the pollutants of embalming, costly caskets, and vaults—return their nutrients to the earth, which makes our lives possible even as we continue to abuse it. Eva Steiner Moseley ’53 Cambridge, Massachusetts
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Watching the Quarterly’s Evolution
More Knitting Yarns
Thanks, MHC
I have just read almost every word of the winter issue; like eating peanuts, I could not stop! You have produced an outstanding issue: its breadth, depth, diversity, and design/layout are fabulous. Over the years I have watched the quarterly metamorphose from a classic mid-twentiethcentury magazine to a powerfully thoughtful, provocative, attractive product [representing] all of us, grads and nongrads, students and faculty, inside critics and outside observers— till it fairly takes my breath away! I am proud to be one of your readers. Onward…
I, too, knitted in John Lobb’s most enjoyable sociology class. (“Strands of Time,” fall 2012). However, I remember well his announcement at the beginning of the semester—“You may knit in class, but please, please do not drop a needle (metal, of course) because they ping and reverberate on the hard wood floors.” Joyce Horner, who taught freshman English, made her announcement about knitting with quite a caveat. If a metal needle were to hit her classroom floor, she promised to start all over her dramatic reading of T.S. Eliot’s The Wasteland. That was sufficient for all of us to keep a tight grip on our needles!
You’re a grateful bunch, judging by these responses to our Facebook post asking what your MHC education gave you for which you’re particularly thankful.
Anne Rutherford Lower ’52 Richmond, Virginia
The article about life on Mars was very interesting. I wrote this poem in 2011 after I heard an NPR story about the search for planets with conditions that could sustain life.
carol l . S hin
Are We Alone in the Universe?
Cynthia Darragh Oatman ’60 Abilene, Texas
The unimaginable gift of a do-over, a chance to set right the mistakes of my youth and have a second shot at being the uncommon woman I always knew I could be. Diana Chaban Griffith FP’04
The Kepler telescope searches for planets that exist in a “habitable zone.” If Earth-like conditions can be found somewhere else, then maybe we’re not alone.
A planet must be rocky, not gassy. It must also be temperate in clime. But mostly, it must have plenty of water. Our planet, we know, is sublime. We can’t live without water. We know that we need this alchemic elixir. Two H and one O is an elegant formula. Life from the ultimate mixer. Earth may be one in a million. Or a miracle, all on its own. That’s a stellar statistic to ponder. A humbleness to hone.
The ability to think critically Jessica Yocum ’96 My ability to see through nonsense and get down to business Sarah Crowther Craig ’02
Our Quest for Company
We’re looking for life as we know it. We’re looking for us out there. We’re looking for rocky, and warm, and wet. That’s the “zone” a life form might share.
Lifelong friends…and, oh yes, twenty-eight years later, that extra thirty pounds I am still trying to get rid of. Wait, I am not thankful for that. Naomi Friedman Lindower ’84
Kathy Kim, Frances Ma, Ann Lee, and Jennifer Kim (left to right, all ’02) perused the winter Quarterly while in Paris to celebrate Lee’s engagement. Send us your photo with the Quarterly; we’ll share the best submissions on Facebook and/or in print.
Meeting young women from other cultures and parts of the world changed me and my worldview forever. Elizabeth Siebert ’83 I am grateful for the way I learned to learn anything. Gretchen Schmelzer ’87 The openness to see the world through different lenses, and the absolute best friends I could have hoped for. Marty Checchi ’01
Leslie Miller Bailey ’81 Old Forge, New York
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Well “Liked” Your viewpoints are always welcome on our website (alumnae.mtholyoke.edu) and social media sites (facebook.com/aamhc; twitter.com/aamhc; instagram.com/mhcalums; alumn.ae/LinkedIn). Top Tweet
We knew it! MHC women are the best and brightest! College Prowler—the “by students, for students” college-search site— ranked Mount Holyoke students #1 in their “smartest girls” category. (If the Prowler staff had really been smart, they’d have called us the smartest women.)
#1
Top Facebook Post
And just after we were ranked the “smartest women’s college!” Well, college students are notorious for getting up to a little mischief at 2 a.m. Did you pull any shenanigans during your days at MHC? Mount Holyoke students give “dumbwaiter” new meaning: two Mount Holyoke College students had to be rescued after trapping themselves inside a dumbwaiter overnight.
Colleen Manning ’88 found her bedroom moved into the communal bathroom on April Fool’s Day 1986. Fess up about your own student pranks by sending an email to quarterly@mtholyoke.edu.
Most Visited Page on Our Website
Our February post about how 1847 alumna Esther Howland became the “mother of the American valentine” captured your hearts. And you shared the love by sending thousands of Valentine ecards to friends and sweethearts.
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M H C A rchives and S pecial C ollections
An Esther Howland valentine, “Affection,” from the 1870s.
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Mountain Day 2012
president’s pen
M ichael M alyszko
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wo years ago, Maine’s governor Paul LePage removed from the Department of Labor building a mural depicting the state’s labor history and featuring 1902 Mount Holyoke alumna Frances Perkins. The governor was concerned that the mural presented a one-sided, pro-labor view of history that was contrary to the pro-business stance he advocated during his campaign. Indeed, he went so far as to cite an anonymous letter he received from a business leader who compared the mural to North Korean propaganda. Attempts to equate the history of the labor movement in Maine with a totalitarian government fueled further debate, and the governor’s critics charged him with threatening the very democratic principles he used to justify his acts. Within a month, a half a dozen lawsuits had been filed in response to his decision. I began revisiting the issues at the center of this case recently, after one of our alumnae from the class of ’63 sent me a news clipping about the labor mural from her local paper in Maine. The article reported that the eleven-panel artwork by Judy Taylor resurfaced in January and is now on display in the Maine State Museum. In reading the story, I couldn’t help but think of the power of art in shaping social movements and of the critical importance of women like Perkins in creating a better world. Indeed, Perkins was one of the most influential voices in United States history. She was instrumental in leading the country out of the Great Depression and instituted such wide-ranging reforms as the Wagner Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act, and Social Security. Perkins stands as an extraordinary role model for women and girls seeking inspiration in a world that desperately needs more female leaders. The removal of the Maine labor mural was perhaps emblematic of Australian feminist philosopher Dale Spender’s contention that every century has its great women thinkers, but with each passing generation the institutional politics of gender leaves women consigned to the “lower shelves” of cultural material and eventually forgotten. Because politics has kept our actual achievements out of the canon, we are challenged to “rediscover” our female antecedents with every generation. As Mount Holyoke alumnae, we share an understanding that promoting women’s education worldwide is one of the most important safeguards against the generational forgetting that Spender notes. We also know that women’s education is crucial not only because it strengthens the institutional presence of women leaders who will work against the generational forgetting of women’s accomplishments, but also because of the urgent need to continue deepening and accelerating the pace of achievement for today’s women. For 175 years, Mount Holyoke has educated women of influence who represent a breathtakingly broad range of political, social, and cultural perspectives. Like Frances Perkins, the College’s 36,000 alumnae are poised to inspire current and future generations. In doing so, we pay tribute to our founder Mary Lyon, to the extraordinary faculty who have taught us, and to the College’s powerful mission of using liberal learning for purposeful engagement in the world.
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On the Switchboard of History: Frances Perkins and Social Justice By Daniel Czitrom, professor of history
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e claim the legacy of Frances Perkins, class of 1902—Fannie, as she was known at Mount Holyoke—because it was here that she began her path toward a life dedicated to creating a more equitable and just society. Mount Holyoke at the turn of the twentieth century embodied powerful connections between women’s education, feminism, and movements for social justice that shaped Perkins’s future. She studied with Professor Anna May Soule, who brought students into the textile and paper mills of Holyoke and Chicopee to confront the realities and consequences of industrial labor. In 1902 Florence Kelley, the dynamic founder of the National Consumers League (NCL) spoke at the College, deeply impressing Perkins by demonstrating how one could live a life devoted to social activism. After graduation Perkins worked in settlement houses in Chicago, where with the muckraking socialist Upton Sinclair as her guide, she saw firsthand the dangerous workplace conditions and shabby housing endured by immigrant workers in the meatpacking industry. Later, at a Philadelphia settlement, she interviewed and came to know African American and immigrant women forced into prostitution. By 1910 she was in New York, doing graduate work at Columbia, campaigning for woman suffrage on street corners, living the bohemian life in Greenwich Village—even fending off a marriage proposal from novelist Sinclair Lewis—and making political contacts with everyone from Socialist Party activists to wealthy society women.
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She became the head of the New York office of the NCL, where she investigated the lives of salesgirls at Macy’s and Bloomingdales, who earned three dollars for a week of sixteen-hour days. She witnessed the disastrous Triangle Fire of 1911 that killed 146 textile workers, mostly young women and girls, trapped in a factory with its exits locked. In the aftermath she made strategic alliances with Tammany Hall leaders, pushing through landmark legislation that limited women factory workers to a fifty-four-hour week, banned children under sixteen from factory labor, and created new standards for workplace safety and inspection. Writing to the MHC alumnae newsletter around this time, Perkins described the swirl of her life in NYC as “being on the switchboard of contemporary history.” Her appointment as secretary of labor in 1933 was met with shrill criticism from conservative labor leaders, and outraged Republicans and plain old sexists. By this time Perkins had absorbed a key lesson learned by her Progressive mentors: social justice had always moved forward through social movements. But these movements needed to harness the power of the state and public institutions to improve and transform people’s lives. And that’s exactly what key legislation of the New Deal era did, with Perkins playing a central role. Perkins died in 1965 at age eightyfive, but if she were to visit us today, I am confident she would be pushing us still. She would be appalled to find an America where more than 15 percent of all citizens live below the poverty line. I think she would tell us that charity, philanthropic giving, and foundation grants surely have
Perkins in 1935 (above), the year the Social Security Act was signed into law (below, Perkins is behind President Roosevelt)
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Stud en t Ed g e
A nne P reston ‘ 1 3
a role; but any vision of social justice must be rooted in broad-based social movements and vigorous public debate. Today, the switchboard of history is perhaps an international call center in Karachi. Last September, we read of the horrible fire that killed 295 workers in one of that city’s textile factories. Accounts in the New York Times made parallels to the Triangle Fire of a century ago, when clothing manufacturing was centered in New York rather than South Asia. Catastrophes like this may help inspire a Pakistani version of Frances Perkins. And I can imagine her coming to Mount Holyoke to study. If she does, the spirit of Perkins, and the fierce ideals of social justice that have helped define Mount Holyoke, will surely welcome and inspire her. —Taylo r Scot t
This essay was adapted from Czitrom’s presentation during MHC’s 175th anniversary celebration. B en B arnhart
M H C A rchives and S pecial C ollections
Catia Cunha’s Legs Wins Young Playwrights Competition “Write a love story marked by cruelty,” visiting professor Thomas Bradshaw prompted his playwriting class in fall 2010. From this, Catia Cunha ’14 wrote a short, dark, humorous play, initially entitled The Last M&M and later changed to Legs. Her elevator pitch? “It’s a play about two people who love each other,” she says, “and the things they haven’t exterminated yet, both in themselves and in the house.” This synopsis, combined with the title, should give you a fairly creepy understanding of what the play entails. Although she wrote the play as a first-year, it wasn’t until last spring that Cunha submitted it for consideration to one of the most prestigious organizations for young playwrights, the professional theater organization Young Playwrights Inc., founded in 1981 by Stephen Sondheim. Each year they hold a national competition in which eight young adults are recognized for a specific play and given the chance to travel to the foundation’s headquarters in New York City, where they workshop, rehearse, and ultimately hold productions for the public. Soon after being recognized with the award, Cunha was paired with the dramaturg (a professional who helps with the development of plays) Julia Jarcho and director Amanda Junco. In the months leading up to the gathering in New York, they worked with Cunha to expand her four-page script to ten, and gave her advice about character development, stage directions, structure, and a variety of other aspects of the play. When the eight young winners converged in NYC in December, they quickly got to work, holding cold readings, meeting with their dramaturgs and directors, rewriting, and finally the big moment—watching their plays performed for the public. Cunha’s experience observing her own play was anything but nerve-wracking. She sat next to a friend, and says, “We just laughed the whole time.” As you may have guessed, it wasn’t all work and no play for the eight writers. Cunha says they were all fast friends. “It was an interesting group of people, and we became close to one another very quickly.” Back at Mount Holyoke, Cunha, an English and theater major, continues to take writing classes and work on plays. She initially wanted to major in chemistry when she was looking at colleges, but quickly changed her mind when she had a transformative experience at a summer program called Urban Retreat, also organized by Young Playwrights Inc. After college, Cunha plans to apply for writing residencies sponsored by theater organizations. They can last anywhere from one to seven years and provide playwrights with development labs where they can write and rehearse their plays with the goal of finishing a manuscript. Once she has completed a residency, Cunha says she’d love to attend graduate school and is researching the best schools for playwriting.
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R emembrance of T hings Past:
Mount Holyoke Timeline Revisiting the College’s past, we are reminded of the fundamental characteristics of Mount Holyoke women, both then and now: independence, innovation, vitality, and a deep-seated sense of social justice. In this installment of the MHC timeline, we remember an era of unrest in which the fight for equal rights took center stage. As the civil rights movement unfolded, feminism took root, and war divided the country, Mount Holyoke women waged sit-ins, took to the streets in protest, and created new student groups to address the issues of the day. Visit mtholyoke.edu/175 to view more photos and videos from the 1950s and 1960s. A N A G E O F U N R E S T : F rom 1 9 5 0 to 1 9 8 0
1957 Richard Glenn Gettell becomes president. Fellowship program for foreign students established; many serve as language assistants while on campus.
1950
1952
First reference to “gracious living” tradition in the Freshman Handbook
Virginia Apgar ’29 devises Apgar score system to measure health of newborns.
Poet W.H. Auden is visiting professor of English Kendall Hall opens, providing modern facilities (including a swimming pool) for sports, recreation, and dance.
1951 Civil defense shelters established in eleven campus buildings to offer protection during a military attack Student-run radio station WMHC begins broadcasting.
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1954
1960
Washington Internship Program, initiated by political science professor Victoria Schuck, allows students to gain practical experience by working in offices and agencies of the federal government; becomes model for similar programs at other colleges and universities.
Pattie J. Groves Health Center opens to provide modern health services on campus. Students form MHC Committee on Civil Rights to raise money for African American students arrested for staging peaceful protests against segregation in southern states. Frances M. Kerr, the first African American Mount Holyoke faculty member, becomes associate professor of psychology and education.
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A ll images : M H C A rchives and S pecial C ollections
1974 Alternative vegetarian meals provided to students Asian Student Association founded to celebrate and support people of Asian descent
1963
1969
The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. gives sermon in Gettell Amphitheatre on “The Three Dimensions of a Complete Life.”
Exchange program allows students to spend a semester or year at Amherst, Bowdoin, Connecticut, Dartmouth, Smith, Vassar, Wesleyan, Wheaton, or Williams.
1965 Teletype connection allows faculty and students limited use of Dartmouth College Time Sharing Computing System.
Ella Tambussi Grasso ’40 elected governor of Connecticut, becoming the first woman governor of that state and the first woman governor elected in her own right
1976 La Unidad organization for Latina students established
1978
Afro-American Center (now the Betty Shabazz House) provides African American students with a place for meetings, parties, and other functions.
Elizabeth Topham Kennan ’60 becomes first female president of Mount Holyoke since 1937, and the first alumna to serve in that office in eighty-nine years.
1966
Students and faculty stage antiapartheid sit-in urging Mount Holyoke to divest of stock in US companies doing business in South Africa.
First Freshman Handbook mention of “elfing” tradition in which sophomores give gifts and treats to new students
Seniors begin tradition of singing “Bread and Roses” at conclusion of laurel parade as an expression of women’s solidarity.
Men allowed to enroll in graduate program
1967 Afro-American Society organizes to support increasing numbers of African American students.
1968 Board of Trustees changes rules to allow male visitors in dorm rooms. Thomas Kelley is first man to receive a master’s degree from Mount Holyoke. Computer science is added to curriculum.
1980
1970
1972
Classes end early and final exams are canceled when students and faculty join nationwide strike to protest escalation of Vietnam War.
New Five College Winter Term (later January Program or January Term) allows students to pursue internships or independent-study projects, and take credit or noncredit courses outside of the usual curriculum.
Five College African American students occupy buildings at Mount Holyoke and Amherst, demanding curricular, admission, and financial aid changes to support them more fully.
Frances Perkins Program established for women of nontraditional age who wish to complete requirements for bachelor’s degree Lesbian Alliance organization formed to support lesbian, gay, and bisexual students First Pangynaskeia celebration features a campuswide picnic and other events.
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News and Notes from Around the Campus V erity A hlin ’ 1 6
Students watch Wooly & the Mammoth at concert hosted by student organization Doing It Live.
“Doing It Live!” Strikes a Chord at MHC Once a month, the Blanchard Great Room becomes a concert venue. Local bands serenade a crowd of Mount Holyoke music lovers, Five College fans, and unsuspecting Blanchard goers who wander in curiously after dinner. Doing It Live! is the new student organization orchestrating these concerts and rocking campus. As a firstie, Anna Berlin ’15 was disappointed she couldn’t find any live music organizations. Inspired by the vibrant surrounding music scene, she and fellow first-years founded Doing It Live! By the end of this academic year, the group of music buffs will have hosted ten concerts in three semesters. Doing It Live! always includes female artists in their lineup. Their mission is to pull Mount Holyoke women out of the audience and onto the stage. Berlin and the Doing It Live! team plan to create “not just a listening musical community on our campus, but one that creates music too,” she says.
Students teach philosophy to second-graders Have you ever asked a child why the sky is blue, or why people dream? If you have, you know that children often give comical yet oddly profound answers. Philosophy professor Thomas Wartenberg and his Philosophy for Children class set out to explore the answers that children give to thought-provoking questions, traveling to the Martin Luther King Jr. Charter School for Excellence in Springfield, Massachusetts, to teach philosophy to second graders. During the lessons MHC students read a children’s book or showed a piece of art and posed questions, such as “What makes art good?” Such questions helped steer the youngsters into a conversation about different concepts and beliefs. “They’re learning how to really reason and think deeply about different sorts of questions,” Professor Wartenberg told New England Public Radio. The second-graders weren’t the only ones learning; Wartenberg’s students found that—contrary to popularly held assumptions by psychologists—young children are able to “think outside of themselves” and perceive things objectively. The project won an award from the American Philosophical Association/Philosophy Documentation Center for innovation in philosophy programs. See Wartenberg’s book Big Ideas for Little Kids: Teaching Philosophy Through Children’s Literature (R&L Education) for more about this project.
Professor Lois A. Brown Contributes Expertise to PBS’s The Abolitionists Lois A. Brown, Elizabeth Small Professor of English, contributed her expertise to the making of the widely acclaimed PBS documentary
The Abolitionists. It revisits a crucial turning point in American history with a mix of beautifully reenacted scenes from the lives of key activists and commentary from expert historians. Although they hailed from widely different backgrounds, Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, Harriet Beecher Stowe, John Brown, and Angelina Grimké were united by their shared belief in the injustice of slavery. The drama weaves a true tale of how America was torn apart and reassembled to become the nation we know today. In a behind-the-scenes PBS interview, “Historians on The Abolitionists,” Professor Brown says, “When we find out more about who those abolitionists are, we realize we are them, they are us…Ordinary folks have really effected extraordinary change.”
Feel-good Facebook page combats bullying, spreads the love Unfortunately, cyberbullying is not just an issue faced by preteens or high school students; it has also trickled onto the Mount Holyoke campus. But when Susanna Holmstrom ’14 found negative comments made about her online, she fought back—nicely. Holmstrom created a Facebook page for MHC students
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to anonymously post compliments to one another. So far, the page has more than 1,000 likes, and hundreds of posts, such as “To the exhausted, lovely student in Rao’s tonight who prepared me a tea even though I was a couple of dollars short. I wish you the best of luck on your exams, and I so appreciate your generosity and
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[ love ]
kindness toward others,” or “To the wonderful, kind anonymous alumna who sent me a care package just because we happened to share the same post box number in Blanch—thank you. I’m stunned speechless by your thoughtfulness.” See more compliments at facebook.com/MHCompliments.
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S e n io r Su rvey
A Class of Overachievers (Did you expect less?)
What next? Future plans
54% full-time employment 22% graduate school And then?
30% plan to pursue a PhD 6% plan to attend medical school 38% plan to pursue an MA/MS While at MHC
64% participated in independent study 17% participated in intercollegiate sports Top five majors English:10.4% Biology: 9.5% Economics: 7.1% International relations: 7.1% Psychology: 6.9%
T aylor S cott
24% part-time employment
B r a i n storms
There’s an App for That Using computer science to teach music
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ave you ever marked up a book or textbook? Perhaps you scribbled notes in the margins, highlighted interesting sections, underlined important phrases, or circled so many keywords that you could barely see the actual text. Musicians also write notes on paper scores regarding bowing styles, scales, shifting, and more, and often run into the same problem. Under all those markings, the music disappears. Professor of music Linda Laderach has dealt with how best to annotate musical scores for years. For her students’ performance studies lessons, she works with them on any issues they may have when playing and preparing for recitals. This means both she and the students are marking the score. “Their music starts to be so filled with written information that they begin to lose their ability to take a successful ‘Zen’ approach—getting a clear picture of what they want to do, and then allowing their muscles to simply do it.” Until recently Laderach was a selfproclaimed “Post-it queen,” putting notes on top of the music instead of marking it directly to help solve the problem of page crowding. Last year an idea struck when she was explaining this conundrum to Valerie Barr ’77, a professor of computer science at Union College. Barr mentioned she had recently been awarded a National Science Foundation grant that encourages professors and students to explore joint ways of using technology across disciplines.
Laderach immediately thought of Gabby Snyder ’13, a computer science major, music minor, and concertmistress. They brainstormed. “At Valerie’s suggestion,” says Laderach, “I made a list of the things I would like to do with an application to enhance student learning. Then we looked at existing apps to avoid recreating the wheel.” What they found was forScore, an iPad application that allows musicians to annotate scores multiple times. In other words, if a violinist wanted to work on her bowing and had scale problems she would be able to create two different annotated scores, minimizing clutter and allowing her to use a score based on the element she wanted to practice. In addition, Laderach could annotate a score while watching her students, and then send them a PDF of her own notes. Snyder acted as technology support, troubleshooting problems and helping Laderach’s Individual Performance Study students learn to use the application. She was thrilled with the results and came to understand the value of cross-discipline collaboration in helping with the technical aspects of practicing and performing music as well as preparing students for life after Mount Holyoke. She says, “Those who have knowledge and skills beyond what’s required for a particular job or career will jump to the top of the candidate pile, offering employers creative thinkers in addition to capable doers. This path gives a richness and complexity to our students’ profiles that will set them and us apart.” —Taylor Scott
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Magical Memory Tour Revisiting your favorite campus spots
Principal photography by Ben Barnhart
I loved to walk across the bridge over Lower Lake by the ’delles and see the whole lake behind me, the trees around me, the ducks and nutria swimming… and I liked to play my bagpipes there in the evening when I lived in Prospect. —Laura Kamrath ’04 I would often stop on the bridge to the Mandelles on my way home from a long day of classes and rehearsals just to listen to the water and take in a moment of calm. —Rain Ross ’00
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Wh e n yo u t h i n k a b o u t yo u r fav o r i t e s p ot at
Mount Holyoke, do you envision autumn’s scarlet splendor? The murmur of hushed conversations and concentration in the library’s reading room or the smell of coffee in the atrium? Upper Lake’s thundering waterfall? Perhaps you hear boots crunching snow on the hill behind the Mandelles or recall a secluded oasis where you recharged after a busy day. Perhaps it’s an exercise in futility trying to choose just one favorite place on a campus that’s regularly rated as one of the country’s most beautiful. But when we asked, you responded with eloquence and enthusiasm. We’ve selected photos that reflect the most popular spaces on campus— Upper and Lower Lake were your top choices, followed by the library—but of course you mentioned many more idyllic spots than we have room to feature. Here are your shout-outs to some of your favorite campus spaces. Read, look, and let your mind take you back to your time at Mount Holyoke. Can you see the wind rippling the surface of Lower Lake? Hear Jorge the goose honking and the bells ringing in Mary Lyon Hall? Smell the lilies of the valley outside the library? Ahhhhhh… —E.H.W.
I love the crossing between the library and the Clapp Hall tower when both buildings had blazing red leaves on them and the colors were reflected by the leaded window panes in each tower. —Ruth Anne Wolfe ’82
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I used to love to sit on the stone wall next to the waterfall on Upper Lake and ponder “big” questions… often brought on by my classes. —Taylor Pressler Vydra FP’08 I loved climbing down and slipping behind the waterfall. When water was high, it thundered and took your breath away as you looked back through the falls toward Lower Lake…On the Orchards golf course in winter, cross-country skiing as the snow continued to fall, and all was silent until the MHC clock chimed. —Pamela Adkins ’79
The garden by the Art Building... roomie and I used to have a sunrise champagne breakfast to celebrate the last day of finals. —Lisa Jarisch ’81 The sculpture studio in the Art Building felt like home to me. That was back in the day when we still cast bronze there; Hephaestus (the giant kiln) was a warm, comforting presence. —Nancy Root Miller ’79
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M i c ha el M a lys z ko
Many places in the library…the bridge to Mandelles…Mead fire escapes, where I watched fireworks over Lower Lake…music practice rooms…stables… While the Ortega Center was festive, the Betty Shabazz Center fed my spirit. —Naomi Barry-Perez ’96
Coming out from the Upper Lake loop near the equestrian center when the horses are out and they realize someone is there—twenty pairs of alert ears prick toward you. —Sarah Lamoreux Courchesne ’03
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My favorite place is everywhere, because MHC was (and always will be) home to my heart, my intellect, and the most interesting, powerful, and compassionate people I have ever met. â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Sue Cameron â&#x20AC;&#x2122;07
More Magical Memories Click on our interactive campus map at alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/ memorymap to discover more about your favorite spaces.
Skinner Green and Blanchard Campus Center
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T a y l o r Sc o tt
Running around Upper Lake in the morning, with the sun protection from the foliage, the deep crisp smell of fresh air and the tranquility that comes with the surroundings—bliss! —Oyinade Ogunbekun ’07
I also love the hauntingly beautiful chapel, especially since I got married there. When I was a student, I would watch the alumnae brides, out my Brigham window, making their way to the chapel. It is such a romantic and sacred spot. —Laura Malone Hunt ’02
Wa Shin An meditation garden
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The copper beech tree next to Dwight Hall
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By Emily Harrison Weir Illustration by Ellen Weinstein Photos by Natalie Kulikowski â&#x20AC;&#x2122;11
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Out Breaking
of the Frame The Art Museum Isn’t Just for Art Students Anymore
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a n y of p r of e s s o r R e na e B r o d i e ’s first-year biology students start the semester confident that they know what to expect in an introductory science course. But one day during the first few weeks of class, they’re analyzing not cell structure under a laboratory microscope but a seventeenth-century Flemish painting—in the MHC Art Museum. Applying the scientific process in a new setting, they observe a painting from a distance for several minutes, then move closer to note details. Finally, they describe and explain the paintings to one another, offering evidence for their interpretations. Brodie’s students are hardly alone. Sixty-two professors in twenty-six academic disciplines brought their students to the museum in the past year. In fact, eighty-five courses held at least one class session in the Art Museum. What’s the draw? Learning skills that will help students succeed now and long after graduation. John Stomberg, museum director, has a vision of the museum as a campus crossroads where art meets ideas— and students—of all kinds. And the vision is becoming reality. For the past four years, Ellen Alvord ’89 has been the museum’s primary connection to faculty and students. As its Mellon Foundation–funded coordinator of academic affairs, she helps professors shape lessons and select which of the museum’s 17,000 objects best fit each class. Alvord is busy: the museum logged 2,782 student visits last year. (Some students visited in more than one course.) One of her office file drawers is labeled “Ellen’s Hatchery,” and indeed many inventive ideas have incubated there. “We’re reexamining what a liberal-arts college can provide in the twenty-first century that’s important and relevant to training the leaders and innovators of tomorrow,” she explains. What future leaders need—and what Stomberg and Alvord believe the museum can help students develop—is captured in a multiyear plan emphasizing three things: working across disciplines, developing creativity, and enhancing visual literacy.
Working Across Disciplines
Interdisciplinary work was an early success. Alvord says the museum is “a natural place to have people experiment with new ways of teaching. Faculty here have interdisciplinary interests and are willing to try new things.” Biologist Caleb Rounds teamed science majors with art majors and had them use wooden dowels and elastic bands to create sculptures that could be compressed without breaking. This illustrated the concept
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Art Helps Premedical Students Improve Diagnostic Skills A group of future physicians clusters in the museum’s Carson Teaching Gallery for their postbaccalaureate introductory biology class. “To be great at medicine, your powers of observation need to be stellar, because patients don’t tell you everything you need to know,” says guest speaker Dr. Jill Griffin. So the students—who previously have practiced precise description using seventeenth-century Dutch paintings—say what they see in a series of clinical photographs. One is obviously a common blister, but Griffin pulls the students back from rushing to a diagnosis. “OK,” she says, summarizing their observations. “We see a thumb with a red ring around the outside, topped by a fluid-filled sack of skin.” Students add details until they deduce, Sherlock Holmesstyle, that this patient’s hand was burned by splashes of hot liquid. “Art forces us to look at the world differently,” says Emilie Heidel ’10. “I think the point was to teach us how to stop making judgments and to let the data tell us what it has to say—a useful skill for both artists and scientists.” Dean of prehealth programs David Gardner explains that this method, developed by the Yale Center for British Art and Yale School of Medicine, helps premed students “because those who are trained to be more precise in their observations will be better at making diagnoses in a clinical setting.” Stomberg describes the advantage using more artistic language. “To a doctor, the difference between having an ear infection or not is the difference between having your ear be Veronese red versus Titian red.”
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of “tensegrity” (tension plus structural integrity) central to the work of sculptor Kenneth Snelson, whose work graces the museum’s contemporary gallery. Elise Croteau-Chonka ’13, who visited the museum with a biology class, says, “the work strongly emphasized the intersection between disciplines that I am looking for as a student at a liberal-arts institution.” Some exhibitions are particularly adaptable for interdisciplinary use. Professors in fourteen disciplines used the recent exhibition Kara Walker: Harpers’ Pictorial History of the Civil War (Annotated), in which the contemporary artist comments on race and racism by altering nineteenth-century prints. Students in English professor Sara London’s course Verse wrote poetry collaboratively in response to this exhibition. History students in professor Mary Renda’s US Women’s History Since 1890 course compared Walker’s visual work with a century-old essay on the same topic by activist/journalist Ida B. Wells. “The way students got to interact in the museum with one another, with the visual material, and with the reading set the tone for what became one of the most terrific courses I’ve ever taught,” says Renda. Art history and anthropology classes joined forces to shape the 2011 exhibition Transported and Translated: Arts of the Ancient Americas, proposing ideas as teams, revising them, then making final decisions on the show’s themes, title, contents, even the color of the walls. That exhibition turned up in unexpected courses too, such as Explorations in Algebra. Coteachers Charlene and Jim Morrow used it to help students think visually about the abstract concept of symmetry. “It is at the heart of much higher-level algebra, and our visit to the Art Museum played a crucial role in deepening students’ understanding,” they say. Using Transported and Translated objects, students discovered ways symmetry was used functionally and as decoration. The Morrows say, “It was fascinating to hear students’ surprise and delight in seeing all the symmetry in the world around them.” Stomberg says the museum collection’s depth and breadth serve the College well. “We’ve found that some of the best-quality objects in the collection are also the best teaching objects—ones that professors return to again and again,” he says. Take, for instance, Masaniello, a nineteenth-century French oil painting depicting a workers’ revolt against Spanish rule. A biologist will talk about how the artist’s use of red makes the retina perform a certain way; a historian or theatre professor might focus on the soldiers’ uniforms; and social scientists will talk about the class differences depicted. “They’re all having meaningful engagements with the same work of art, but each is totally different from the others,” says Stomberg. As coordinator of academic affairs, Ellen Alvord ’89 (facing camera) is the Art Museum’s primary connection with faculty and students using the museum for coursework.
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Poetry Students Find Words in Visual Art
Assistant Curator Rachel Beaupre (left) helps Professor Wes Yu and his Surrealist Poetry students examine a collage by Joseph Cornell.
Creativity Can Be Taught
Many people believe that creativity is something one either has or lacks. Stomberg disagrees, and has adapted the work of Steven J. Tepper of Vanderbilt University, who argues that creativity can be learned by practicing these behaviors: • Observing closely • Approaching problems in nonroutine ways • Asking “What if ?” • Risking failure and facing uncertainty • Revising and improving through critical feedback • Communicating in multiple ways (speaking, writing, etc.) • Working collaboratively
English professor Wes Yu’s tutorial in Surrealist Poetry begins not with words, but with a silent film by artist Joseph Cornell. Images of the moon, volcanoes, and other natural phenomena are intercut with deliberately unrelated shots of upperclass women. “This fragmentation of style offers what?” asks Yu, whose students soon move on to examine eight of Cornell’s collages. Guided by Yu, Assistant Curator Rachel Beaupre, and Ellen Alvord, students inspect the collages, turning each over gingerly to read words pasted on the reverse of some. The artwork they focus on reveals itself, ten minutes in, as a complex collection of images with layers of meaning that they tease out. At the end of an hour, fragmentation of experience—a key concept in surrealism—is clear. (“It’s about how you interpret what the artist represents,” concludes Najwa Aswad ’16.) Only now is it time for the students to consider poetry. Yu says, “In an art museum, I can ask a student questions that train her eyes to observe, comment, and inquire based only on what’s there. A museum visit can help transfer the experience of observation from visual works of art to written ones.”
“We believe creativity can be encouraged through our role as the creativity crossroads on campus,” explains Stomberg. This matters, he says, because “almost every field of endeavor identifies creativity as one of the most salient characteristics of emerging leaders.” Here’s how the process worked for Five College Senior Lecturer in Music Robert Eisenstein’s Music and Technology students, who created a modern version of Mussorgsky’s nineteenth-century suite Pictures at an Exhibition. Each student chose an artwork at the museum, studying it closely as inspiration for her own original composition. Students translated the visual into sophisticated pieces of contemporary electronic music, then wrote about the connections between the two. Alex Trost ’14, who selected a statue of the Buddha, composed music she describes as “dark and magical—as close to mystical chanting as I could get using a computer. Seeing the actual art helped me explore the feelings it manifested in me and to ‘listen to’ the piece.” Mou n t Ho lyo k e Al u m na e Qua r t e r ly
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Top: Museum Director John Stomberg speaks to a class about the Kara Walker exhibition, which was used in fourteen disciplines. Above: Neurobiology students learn how the brain perceives color by recreating a black-and-white Ansel Adams photograph using colors of similar value.
The Neurobiology Behind Color Perception Students in Professor Susan Barry’s Neurobiology of Art and Music course comprehended color perception in a novel way—by recreating a black-and-white photograph by Ansel Adams using torn pieces of colored paper. Brian Kiernan, the museum’s technician and an artist himself, invented the exercise to teach the concept of luminance. The challenge was to select colors with the same luminance as each shade of grey, then to arrange the colored scraps to create the same shading and depth effects as the original image. Sure,
Barry could just have lectured about luminance, but, she says, “there’s nothing like doing work yourself to really understand a concept.” Completing an art exercise was initially intimidating for some of her science students, Barry admits, but she says they enjoyed it. “I take them out of the lab—an environment they’re used to—and put them in the museum, where what they see is for the most part new to them,” she says. “There’s plenty of neurological evidence that we learn best when presented with novelty.”
Developing visual literacy involves close observation, asking questions, considering alternate points of view (center: English professor Elizabeth Young’s first-year seminar); working collaboratively; and communicating in multiple ways (below: premed students discussing a nineteenthcentury painting).
Art IN ACTION Put yourself inside three classes taught in the Art Museum. Visit alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/artvideos.
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The “creative campus” movement sparked by Tepper is widespread, but having an academic art museum take the lead role in fostering these skills is new, according to Ellen Alvord. The Matisse Foundation recently awarded MHC’s museum a grant for this innovative initiative.
New Life for an Old Museum
This generation of college students has grown up bombarded by visual images but in many cases hasn’t been taught how to think critically about them in the same way they’re taught how to analyze written or spoken material, says Stomberg. “More than ever, we have to develop visual literacy, by extending critical thinking to the visual world.” English professor Elizabeth Young does this with her first-year students. They have read Art Spiegelman’s Maus, Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, and Yann Martel’s The Life of Pi for a seminar on The Nonhuman, and now they’re looking at artworks featuring dogs, horses, and insects. Young inquires, “What do you see? What choices has each artist made? What’s ambiguous? What’s missing?” Patiently, she solicits observations and interpretations to develop students’ descriptive language skills. Works ranging from Henry Fuseli’s eighteenth-century fantasy painting “The Nightmare” to William Wegman’s contemporary photograph of a dog draw reflections on power, class, gender, and wildness vs. domestication. “This museum experience is revelatory for students,” says Young. When she asked them to write about a museum object, she recalls, “they did very well and seemed to enjoy it too. It is the rare paper assignment where students have complained that they wished the paper were longer!” Young adds that her use of the museum “has been unquestionably one of the highlights of the last few years, and has deepened my own scholarship as well as my teaching and collegial life at Mount Holyoke.” For both students and faculty, one benefit is clear: “A chance to slow down and observe closely is a luxury these days, and the museum is the perfect place to hone this skill,” says Alvord. Mount Holyoke students have learned from art since its earliest days. But the Art Museum serves a particularly important purpose in this digital age, according to John Stomberg. “The more we digitize, the more people come to the museum as a place for real-life engagement with objects that exist only in one place,” he says. “When students hold a Rembrandt or an ancient Roman coin in their hands, something astounding happens. Our 137-year-old museum is taking on the challenge of being a generator of ideas relevant to the future, not just a storehouse for the past.” Q
At the Skinner Museum, history students encounter how early American women lived.
Art Immerses History Students in Their Foremothers’ Lives “I taught here for years without realizing what a resource the museum is or how I could use it,” admits Mary Renda, associate professor of history. In her Gender and Power in the History of Mount Holyoke course, Renda brought her students to the College’s Skinner Museum to get a visceral sense of women’s lives during the Mount Holyoke Seminary era. Getting a hands-on sense by handling objects—a rack for drying flax, a butter churn, a cooking pot, an open hearth—“is so different from just reading documents,” she says. For instance, students realized how strong early American women had to be by lifting a forty-pound cast-iron pot used to dye cloth. “As a historian, I want them to look with new eyes at documents, and that is enhanced by the visual work we do in the museum,” Renda says.
Working collaboratively in small groups is a key tenet of the museum’s efforts to teach creativity.
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High . k r o w d r a . H s t fi ne e b No s. r u o h g n Lo y. a ob? j p s ve, i a h t h No e s r u tak ntee ld yo nae volu u o W alum ! y n Ma atedly repe
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O P E N I N G S P R E A D : N A S A / J P L - C al t ec h ; TH I S P A G E : N A S A / J P L - C al t ec h / L A N L / C N E S / I R A P ; O P P O S I T E P A G E : B E N B A R N H A R T
p l He ted . n n o i a t W job satisfac
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By Shawn Hartley Hancock ’80
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ft er her husband Jim, a Navy pilot, was shot down in 1965 and taken prisoner during the Vietnam War, Sybil Bailey Stockdale ’46 was frustrated by the US government’s expectation that relatives of POWs not speak out about their mistreatment. So she organized the National League of Families of American Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia to advocate on their behalf. Sybil created and drove an enormously persuasive movement that woke up Americans to the plight of POWs. She met with Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and President Nixon and even confronted the North Vietnamese at the Paris peace talks with the demands of POW families. Her husband was finally released in 1973, after eight years. Sybil’s work changed lives and transformed our nation. While it’s hard to think of her accomplishments as “mere volunteer work,” that’s exactly what she was—a volunteer. —Cynthia Cathcart ’80 No one paid her. No one handed her a job description, managed her efforts, or evaluated her performance. Most volunteers will never find themselves in the public eye, let alone confronting a foreign government. Nevertheless, “whether you’re on the frontline at the soup kitchen or on the board of the organization, it all matters,” says Eileen Shanley Kraus ’60. Lifelong volunteer Cynthia Cathcart ’80 agrees. “You want to make your street, your town, your world a better place. You want to have an impact, so you volunteer.” At Mount Holyoke, volunteering is a part of our collective DNA. “The College provides a framework for thinking beyond ourselves; to see long-term, to engage issues and how you might deal with them,” Cathcart says. And Mount Holyoke alumnae are involved as volunteers at all levels and in myriad organizations.
“You want to make your street, your
town, your world a better place.
You want to have
Some, like Sybil Stockdale, have created and organized their own projects. Many more devote time (and often money) to existing organizations through weekly or monthly service. From creating clean-water initiatives in the developing world to reading bedtime stories to hospitalized children, the volunteer activities of alumnae run the gamut. Many serve in leadership roles that are often as demanding as any paying position. Those who minimize the impact of volunteerism don’t know its power or its history. The spirit of volunteerism is woven into the fabric of the United States, beginning in our faith-based institutions and schools hundreds of years ago. Today, churches and schools are still the primary beneficiaries of most volunteer efforts. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, roughly 65 million people volunteered for an organization in 2011, providing more than 8.1 billion hours of service. Women volunteered more than men—about 30 percent of women volunteer—and those between the ages of thirty-five and fifty-five volunteered most. Whites volunteered at a higher rate (28.2 percent) than African Americans (20.3 percent),
an impact, so you
G enaro M olina , L A Times . R eprin t ed wi t h permission
O P E N I N G S P R E A D : N A S A / J P L - C al t ec h ; TH I S P A G E : N A S A / J P L - C al t ec h / L A N L / C N E S / I R A P ; O P P O S I T E P A G E : B E N B A R N H A R T
VolunteerisM
volunteer.”
Sybil Bailey Stockdale ’46 alerted Americans to the plight of POWs through high-profile volunteer work. She’s shown on the ship named for her late husband, ex-POW Vice Admiral James Stockdale.
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Asians (20.0 percent), and Hispanics (14.9 percent), and married people with children volunteered more than single folks and those without children. And the more education you have, the more likely you are to volunteer.
From Volunteer to board chair
“We are the
ones we’ve been waiting for.
We have to
be the change
we want to see.”
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Eileen Shanley Kraus ’60 Carol Willett Rodman ’52 Caroline Fuller Sloat ’65
Cynthia Cathcart ’80
Akua Soadwa ’03
Jane Zimmy ’74
Rodman took on leadership roles in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, where she’s lived for the last fifty years, running the hospital gift shop, the garden club, and other organizations that make the community a better place. She’s worked on behalf of Mount Holyoke, too—she’s been secretary of the Alumnae Association board, chaired the Classes Committee, and chaired her class reunions for a mind-boggling five decades. Over the years, however, Rodman felt the need to defend why she wasn’t working, even though she was happy as a professional volunteer. “I was home, which is where I needed to be because my husband traveled a lot,” she says. Volunteering, especially taking on leadership roles, allowed her to accomplish goals, but on her own terms and as her schedule allowed.
Leadership Demands Active in her community for decades, and former president of the 2,800-member New York Junior League, a 112-year-old women’s volunteer training organization, Cynthia Cathcart is an expert in volunteerism. As League president, she and her board steered more than thirty direct-service community partnerships with schools, social-service agencies, and other nonprofits to benefit New York City’s underserved children and families, in addition to overseeing staff. “Don’t forget the critical social aspect of volunteering,” Cathcart advises. “There’s great camaraderie in building something together, sharing a cause with others.” Citing crossover values between the volunteer and corporate sectors, Kraus promoted community service (Continued on page 30)
K ra u s and R odman : P a u l S c h nai t t ac h er
Volunteering often became a career for women who had few options for paid work after graduation. “You could be a nurse or a teacher, but not much else,” Eileen Shanley Kraus ’60 says of her generation and earlier ones. “I started out by not working outside the home.” Volunteering, then, was a pathway to satisfaction. Kraus has been involved with forty to fifty organizations over the course of her fifty years in the Hartford, Connecticut, area, including serving as president of the Hartford Junior League in the early 1970s. She did direct service as a teacher’s aide in an inner-city school, worked on boards, and even led the Governor’s Council on Volunteer Action. “I always had a sense of making the world a better place, and I knew my classmates did too,” she explains. “I learned so much, and I knew what was really going on in the community as a result.” An important element of volunteering, especially as the work world opened up for women, was the ability to turn skills and experience acquired in the volunteer sector into a paid —Akua Soadwa ’03 career. When Kraus was forty, that’s exactly what happened. While serving on the board of Children and Family Services, she was recruited by Shawmut Bank. “By the time I went into banking, I already knew those people on the other end of the phone,” she recalls. “That was priceless. You can’t develop those relationships any other way.” By 1988 she had become the bank’s president, and when Fleet Bank bought Shawmut in 1995, Kraus was named chair of the board, a position she held until her retirement in 2000. Carol Willett Rodman ’52 always thought of herself as a professional volunteer. “Volunteering tests your strengths and skills in every way,” she says. She credits the Junior League with excellent training. “My family always came first, but I included our children (daughter Cyndie ’82 and son Scott) in our volunteer activities when we could.”
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Young Volunteers: Times Change; Motivation Doesn’t The Symphony works to increase audience diversity by offering moderately priced tickets and making free tickets available to underserved populations. “I wanted to give back to an organization that means a lot to me.” A keen awareness of the needs of the elderly motivates Claire L. McClain ’03, who volunteers at a nursing home in Waltham, Massachusetts, where she once worked full-time as its activities director. (She now heads activities at another nursing home where she also recruits and trains volunteers.) “Nursing homes always need more friendly faces,” she says. “No matter how good the staff is, some residents just don’t get the attention they need.” McClain says single women who never married are most alone. “They never had children, so there’s often no family to visit or look out for them.” In college, McClain volunteered at the Hamilton Learning Center in Holyoke, where she tutored high school students in various subjects. It was good preparation for her other volunteer role as a Big Sister to a thirteen-year-old girl in Boston. “She gets one-to-one attention from a
Taylor S co t t
Lisa Utzinger Shen ’02 concentrates her volunteer energy where her skills, interests, and community need converge. “I had a great college experience, so after I graduated and moved to Boston, I volunteered for Mount Holyoke,” she says, recalling work as a college admissions volunteer and collegefair rep. “But there wasn’t a great need for alumnae interviewers.” A music and psychology double major, violinist Shen had been the business manager for the Glee Club in college and also cofounded (with classmate Sara Curtin-Lechner) the Mount Holyoke Orchestra while on campus. It was a natural fit for her to work with Cerise Jalelian-Keim ’81 and the rest of the Boston Club, which coordinates the MHC Glee Club’s Christmas vespers appearance at Old South Church. Soon enough she was on the “radar” of the Alumnae Association. “I met these Forty alumnae volunteers women with busy, full lives, which helped me gave professional advice to 190 students at the Alumnae see what I want for my own life.” Shen is now Association’s annual career a mother herself and full-time student again, networking fair. getting a PhD in education at Harvard.
Meanwhile Shen quickly made her mark as a creative force in music management, with From the Top, the widely hailed showcase of young classical musicians on National Public Radio, her work at the New England Conservatory, and with the Civic Symphony of Boston, where she is on the board of directors. “They needed help and I had the skills and knowledge to do recruitment, develop partnerships with other organizations,” and a host of other things the music group needed.
caring adult. What I get is a lot of fun with a youngster.” McClain sees her commitment as a Big Sister as a sanctuary of sorts before she becomes a mom herself. Training is important in volunteering,” McClain says. So is trust. With her Little Sister, “it was hard to gauge in the beginning how far we were going to let each other into our lives,” she explains. “We made a breakthrough recently, though. Just last week we were singing fake show tunes at the top of our lungs.” —S.H.H.
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while she was bank president, offering employees two paid days off per year for volunteer projects, and she initiated volunteer projects for their team- and skill-building potential, including a Habitat for Humanity house the bank’s women employees designed and built.
Wanted: Deep-Commitment Volunteers “It’s vital for organizations, MHC included, to single out people who can do more extended volunteer work,” says Caroline Fuller Sloat ’65. “We need the deep commitment these jobs require.” For decades, she has volunteered for the Alumnae Association, while also serving in the highest ranks of community organizations including the Girl Scouts. As times have changed, so have patterns of volunteering, although the need for effective, reliable volunteers continues. In the 1980s, when women entered the workforce in large numbers, organizations adjusted by shifting more volunteer projects to evenings and weekends. Today, as people hold more than one job and the stresses on families seem greater than ever, organizations have adjusted again, developing more episodic volunteer opportunities. These include events requiring only short-term commitments to accomplish well-defined goals, such as Saturday afternoon walk-a-thons or similar activities that are social, fit into a busy schedule, and provide a feel-good payoff. But all volunteer efforts need project leaders, and all organizations still need smart, capable, and dedicated people at the helm and on their boards. Those jobs, say alumnae, are harder and harder to fill. “Now, there are fewer professional volunteers, and yet the demand is greater than ever,” Carol Rodman says. “It’s a reflection of time available, the economy, and job demands,” Cathcart adds. “Volunteering is often third or fourth down the line of what’s important. People often can’t make the commitment.” For those who do commit, “the payback is there in who you get to know, and what you learn,” says Sloat. “The more you can do, the better for the organization and the better for you.” Cathcart agrees. “One of the most awe-inspiring aspects of volunteer work is the avenues it opens. My professional work would never take me into the places my volunteer experience has.”
Don’t wait; make an impact now Volunteering provided older alumnae an opportunity to use their minds and get out of the house. Younger alumnae “see volunteerism as part of how they’re going to get ahead,” according to Cathcart. “Your volunteer network becomes your stepping-stone into life.” A significant volunteer or community-service component is expected for college admittance today; and if hiring managers don’t see community service on the résumé of job-seekers, they look askance.
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Akua Soadwa ’03 agrees. She’s been comfortable in leadership roles since high school. In 2008 she founded the Gye Nyame Empowerment Project, which marries her interest in event planning with her desire to empower people of Pan-African descent. After years of volunteering for other organizations, Soadwa told herself, “I’m not going to wait for someone else to create what I want; I have all of the tools.” In five months she completed the paperwork for nonprofit status, organized a board of directors, and launched the organization. Last April she left her job at the New York State Banking Department to run the project full time. Soadwa’s efforts help adults and high school students let go of their past and imagine their futures. Her MHC network continues to provide priceless support as board members and event volunteers. “I’m clear that we are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We have to be the change we want to see,” she says.
MHC Mission: Improve the world For almost a decade, Jane A. Zimmy ’74 has generated interest in MHC among alumnae living abroad for the Office of Advancement. “I’ve always built bridges and made connections. Having friends who are different from me makes my life more interesting,” she says. Before a trip to, say, Japan, she’d email an alumna living there and offer to bring her up to date on what’s happening at the College. She’s visited alumnae in Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, China, and Vietnam so far. Due to her efforts, there’s a reenergized alumnae group in Hong Kong meeting regularly. Zimmy also helped organize mini-reunions around the United States when she and her classmates turned sixty. “These were so much fun,” she says. “It only takes a handful of women to make a difference.” Sloat thinks of her College and Alumnae Association experience as the gold standard. “I wouldn’t know how to volunteer in the community if I hadn’t volunteered for the College,” she says. Sloat was toting around a small baby (daughter Elisabeth ’90) when she agreed to serve on the Alumnae Development Committee back in 1970; she has served on the Alumnae Association board in every decade since. A list of her volunteer work for Mount Holyoke could fill a book—literally. What makes her service possible are practical considerations as well as a deep desire to contribute—she lives ninety minutes from campus, has a supportive husband and family, and has the time to give. Sloat retired recently from the American Antiquarian Society. Like a good historian, she connects the College’s mission today with its history of alumnae engagement, which stretches all the way back to the Seminary days. “Look at all those missionary wives. They went to the ends of the earth to serve God and make life better for people. Mount Holyoke alumnae come from a long line of great women volunteers. From the start, it’s been part of our mission to improve the world.” Q
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What They Said
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C o m m e n t s h e a r d o n , off, a n d a b ou t c a m p u s
“My job’s the worst, because usually you catch on fire.” Katey Walter Anthony ’98 (right), quoted in December National Geographic about natural gas. Anthony, an ecologist at the University of Alaska–Fairbanks, is trying to gauge how much methane is rising from lakes that now occupy nearly a third of the Arctic region.
“I’ve been asked by reporters, ‘Mrs. Ledbetter, don’t you understand defeat?’ I probably understand it better than anyone here tonight...don’t depend on somebody else to take care of your community.”
M ark T hiessen / N ational G eographic S tock
Lilly Ledbetter, women’s equality activist, who sued Goodyear about unfair compensation practices, giving a lecture on February 26 about her fight for equal pay.
“If you kill ten extremists, you get a hundred al-Qaeda members.” Medea Benjamin, Code Pink cofounder and peace activist, who spoke on “The Reality of Drone Warfare” on February 1
“I love that everyone who spoke exhibited a refusal to apologize for her confidence.” Jenna Lempesis ’12, on the Women in Public Service project kickoff
“Go through your entire list and get vicious with that red pen.” Ailsa Sachdev ’14, writing for the Huffington Post on how to narrow your book options when creating a holiday reading list.
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alumnaematters A Revelry Rundown Clubs around the world celebrate the College’s 175th anniversary During this anniversary year, Mount Holyoke alumnae clubs far and wide organized celebrations that ranged from small get-togethers at alums’ homes to large galas held in hotel banquet halls. Learn more about these festivities and view photos online at alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/clubs175.
Puget Sound Club with the most attendees
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Clubs that formally celebrated the College’s 175th anniversary
15 30% 1 7 2
Seoul, Korea Celebration farthest from Mount Holyoke
Number of countries represented at the gatherings
Held at a restaurant
Held at a horse-racing track
Hosted special guests
Ireland Club that continued the celebrations with an after-party at a local pub
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Had homemade Deacon Porter’s hat
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Musicologist/Activist Jennifer Kyker ’02 Wins Mary Lyon Award
H e at h e r M c K ay
The Alumnae Association is pleased to honor Jennifer Kyker ’02 with the Mary Lyon Award, which goes to a young alumna (out of college fifteen years or fewer) whose work embodies the humane values that Mary Lyon exemplified in her life. Kyker is a musician, scholar, and activist. As a child, she was fascinated by the music of Zimbabwe, and by the time she found her way to Mount Holyoke she had already learned both the language and music of the Shona people, specifically percussion instruments such as the marimba (wooden xylophone), and the mbira (thumb piano, shown at right). Following her graduation she was awarded a Fulbright scholarship for a year of independent study in affiliation with Zimbabwe College of Music, and while working toward her PhD at the University of Pennsylvania in history, theory, and ethnomusicology, she was awarded a Fulbright–Hays doctoral fellowship to conduct further research in Zimbabwe. Kyker’s time spent in the country exposed her to the alarming lack of resources there for teenaged girls, who rarely obtain an education and are at the highest risk for contracting HIV. One year after college, she cofounded a nonprofit organization with Memory Bandera ’04 called Tariro to help address these issues. Since its inception, Tariro has gone from assisting approximately a dozen students to now close to one hundred. The organization pays the students’ school fees and helps them purchase uniforms and supplies, provides academic support, and offers extracurricular activities. Today, Jennifer is assistant professor of musicology at the University of Rochester, continues to perform and produce music, and serves as the executive director of Tariro.
Jennifer Kyker was drawn to Zimbabwean culture through her love of mbira music.
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Caroline Agnes Boa, 1901
the documentary, the Washington Post described Caroline Boa Henderson, class of 1901, as “Laura Ingalls Wilder with an adult awareness; imagine her as the first mommy blogger.” An Iowa native, Henderson had always hoped to farm her own land, and in 1907 she traveled alone to the panhandle of Oklahoma to pursue her dream. Here she lived in a one-room shack she called her “castle,” and a year later she married Will Henderson, whom she had hired to dig a well on her property. Together they set out to make her goal a reality, building a proper home, planting millet and corn, and raising turkeys, cattle, and chickens.
In April 1908 she wrote to her close friend and Mount Holyoke classmate Rose Alden, “So here I am, away out in that narrow strip of Oklahoma between Kansas and the Panhandle of Texas, ‘holding down’ one of the prettiest claims in the Beaver County strip. I wish you could see this wide, free, western country, with its great stretches of almost level prairie, covered with the thick, short buffalo grass, the marvelous glory of its sunrises and sunsets, the brilliancy of its star lit sky at night....” Despite her love of the land, she and her husband found it difficult to make ends meet on the farm. To gain extra income,
Heavy black clouds of dust rise over the Texas Panhandle.
Henderson wrote articles for farm and ladies’ publications, and was even a contributor to the Atlantic Monthly, the nation’s most prestigious publication at the time. By the time of the Great Depression, the Hendersons’ beloved plains had been overfarmed, and the deep-rooted grass that prevented erosion was destroyed. Thus, when a severe and long-lasting drought set in, the topsoil had no anchor and would gather with the wind, creating immense dust clouds that covered the land, not only forcing thousands of residents (known as Okies) to leave, but also causing severe bronchial illnesses to those who stayed, including Caroline and Will Henderson. In June of 1935, Caroline wrote to another friend, Evelyn Harris, this time in a much more ominous tone, “The dust has been particularly aggravating to [Will’s] bronchial trouble, but he keeps working on. A great reddish-brown dust cloud is rising now from the southeast, so we must get out and do our night work before it arrives.” Despite ongoing hardships well past the 1930s, the Hendersons remained on their farmstead, raising their daughter and enduring the harsh environment and recurring droughts until Caroline’s death in 1966. During her lifetime Henderson garnered a national reputation as a skilled writer who gave detailed and poignant accounts of farm life during one of the worst man-made disasters in history. Today, her letters and articles continue to inform our historical understanding of the period. Watch clips of Ken Burns’s The Dust Bowl at video.pbs.org/ program/dust-bowl. —Taylor Scott Caroline Boa and Will Henderson on their wedding day
A r t h u r R o t h s t e i n ; Th e L i b r a r y o f C o n g r e s s , P r i n t s & P h o t o g r a ph s D i v i s i o n
Last summer the plains of the Midwest experienced an acute sense of déjà vu. Drought destroyed crops, killed livestock, and sent farmers into bankruptcy, all against the backdrop of a severe economic recession. While perhaps more extreme, the long-term drought that occurred during the Great Depression evoked many comparisons between then and now. Always timely, the documentarian Ken Burns released in November a four-hour account of this era titled The Dust Bowl. In the film, Burns employs the engaging voice of a smart, capable, and tough young woman who captured the events of the time through the many letters she wrote to friends and family. What kind of woman could withstand such hardship while producing eloquent and insightful descriptions of this era? Why, a Mount Holyoke alumna, of course. In a review of
C a r o l i n e at g r a d uat i o n a n d o n h e r w e d d i n g d ay: C o u rt e s y o f D av i d G r a n d s ta f f ;
Dust in the Wind
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Alums Nominated for Association Committees
A r t h u r R o t h s t e i n ; Th e L i b r a r y o f C o n g r e s s , P r i n t s & P h o t o g r a ph s D i v i s i o n
Jepchumba ’07 Named One of 20 Youngest Power Women in Africa In December 2012 Forbes released its annual list of the twenty youngest power women in Africa. Among the entrepreneurs, actresses, and chemists was Jepchumba (Elizabeth Cheluget-Thomas ’07), founder and creative director of African Digital Art (ADA), an online platform providing space for artists in all areas of digital media and regions of the continent. The boundary-pushing Jepchumba, originally from Kenya, regularly appears at conferences such as South by Southwest and TedxEuston to discuss African art and technology. You can experience the incredible work she is fostering on ADA’s visually stunning website, which is and chock-full of everything from documentary and fashion photographs to caricatures and music videos. It’s like a free pass to a contemporary African art museum right at your fingertips. Visit africandigitalart.com to learn more.
The Nominating Committee has prepared a slate for election to the committees of the Alumnae Association. The slate will be voted on at the May 18 annual meeting on campus. Alumnae may submit additional nominations as outlined in the Association’s bylaws on our website. Read about the nominees at alumnae.mthoyoke.edu/2013nominees, or request a printed copy by calling 413-538-2300.
Alison Lynch ’10 Co-Creator of Viral Meme Les Fiscal Misérables Along with two friends, Alison Lynch ’10 recently created a unique, hilarious, and hugely popular tumblr called Les Fiscal Misérables (lesfiscalmiserables.tumblr. com), which combines current political debates with lyrics from the musical Les Misérables.
Initially, the three women made it as a joke, combining their love of both theater and politics. Yet, since its creation it has gone viral—extremely viral. Media outlets such as MSNBC’s Hardball, Buzzfeed. com, the New York Daily News, the UK Daily Mail, and Politico, among others, have featured the meme. Comedy Central even provided an “endorsement,” linking to it from their website. The Huffington Post described Les Fiscal Misérables as “the perfect mash-up of the iconic Broadway musical-turnedHollywood-phenomenon and the politicians ‘working’ to ‘try to solve’ the fiscal cliff economic crisis.” When not creating sidesplitting mash-ups, Lynch is a third-year law student in New York City.
Mary Lyon, meet Mary Lion In 1874 Chicago and other points west, including Seattle and Portland, were all part of the Mount Holyoke Club of the Northwest. In 1877 the Chicago Club split off from the Northwest Club and became its own entity, and the Puget Sound Club followed suit in 1911. In honor of the College’s 175th anniversary, the Puget Sound, Portland, and Chicago clubs have rekindled their connection and have challenged each other to become actively involved with both the College and their surrounding communities. The Portland Club had previously adopted a lion from their local zoo for the College’s sesquicentennial. This year all three clubs have adopted lions from their local zoos, aptly naming them “Mary Lion” in honor of the College’s founder.
The Lincoln Zoo’s “Mary Lion” was adopted by the MHC Club of Chicago.
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All About You: Alumnae Voices Online In each Alumnae Quarterly we would love to profile all of the amazing things that MHC alumnae are doing, but, well…there simply isn’t enough space! We’d have to produce a dictionary-sized magazine to highlight everything we thought worthy of mention. That’s why we’ve created an “Alumnae Voices” section of our website where you can find articles that range from cool alum blogs to showcases of alumnae art. Visit alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/alumnaevoices to see what your sisters are up to.
Alumnae Blog: Tech Savvy Mama As a professional writer for publications such as Parents.com and the Washington Post, a social-media strategist for a multitude of companies including Scholastic, PBS Teachers, and UPS, an experienced speaker presenting at numerous conferences around the country— and oh, yes, a mother of two—Leticia Barr ’96 has her hands full. But not full enough to stop her from writing an in-depth blog called Tech Savvy Mama (techsavvymama.com), which helps parents navigate the ever-changing world of technology.
Indelible Images: Art by Patricia Swain ’73 When Pat Swain ’73 learned that there were approximately 200,000 chickens and only 100,000 people on the island of Maui, she was fascinated. She began photographing the chickens—which, she said, made her feel just a little silly. But her interest continued, and when she visited a friend in the wild and dramatic landscape of Cappadocia, Turkey, she set the photographed chickens against the prehistoric-looking backdrop of the region, creating images she calls a “chicken opera.” See more at patswainphotography.com. Swain’s “Worms Are Good To Eat”
Alumnae Profile: Ayesha Mustafa ’02
P at S wa i n ’ 7 3
Ayesha Mustafa ’02 (above) certainly has a creative spark: she was able to combine two passions not often associated with one another—fashion and social development. In 2010 she founded the company Fashion Compassion (fashioncompassion.co.uk), which seeks to provide opportunities to marginalized communities around the world by showcasing distinctive, handmade, high-quality accessories and women’s wear crafted by skilled artisans in the developing world.
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Poet Virginia Hamilton Adair ’33 Featured in Oliver Sacks’s New Book
The Nominating Committee has begun its triennial task of selecting the next president to lead the Alumnae Association. The committee strongly encourages alumnae to participate by recommending qualified candidates. The president’s responsibilities include setting priorities for programs and the budget, representing the Association on the College’s Board of Trustees, communicating with College President Lynn Pasquerella ’80 and senior staff, overseeing the policy function of the Association board, evaluating the executive director, serving as a role model for students and alumnae, and maintaining a strong Alumnae Association with an increasingly global reach. The Nominating Committee asks that alumnae submit candidates’ names—with details about their qualifications—by email (radleyemes@gmail.com), by phone (202-6698533), or by mail (Radley Emes, 1441 Q St. N.W., Washington, DC 20009).
Virginia Hamilton Adair ’33 wrote her first poem at the age of two, yet didn’t publish her first book of poetry until she was eighty-three and blind, seven years before her death. The New York Review of Books described Ants on the Melon: A Collection of Poems as “extraordinarily moving,” and critics compared Adair to Eliot and Frost, one going so far as to exclaim that she was “the best American poet since Wallace Stevens.” Last year, best-selling author and professor of neurology Oliver Sacks published the book Hallucinations (Knopf ), in which he relates stories of both his patients’ and his own visions in order to illuminate the inner workings of the mind. Adair features prominently in the book, as late in life she developed Charles Bonnet syndrome, a condition that causes patients with visual loss to have complex hallucinations. Dictating her visions, which were recorded in a journal, she describes being “treated to stabs of sapphire, bags of rubies scattering across the night, a legless vaquero in a checked shirt stuck on the back of a small steer, bucking, the orange velvet head of a bear decapitated, poor thing, by the guard of the Yellowstone Hotel garbage pit.”
alumnaematters
Association President Nominations Sought
Mount Holyoke European Alumnae Symposium September 20-22, 2013 Join us as we explore cultural, religious, and political topics with our presenters including special guests President Lynn Pasquerella ’80 and Professor Stephen Jones, chair of Russian and Eurasian studies. Visit alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/warsaw for more information and to register.
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offtheshelf
Words Worth a Second Look Fiction A Borgia Daughter Dies By Maryann Philip
(Real History Mystery Press) Against the backdrop of opulent Renaissance Italy, the lives of the famous Borgia family, the young Machiavelli, and Leonardo da Vinci intertwine as Machiavelli’s illegitimate daughter and bewitching ex-mistress work together to solve three murders. Mary Ann Bernard ’75, aka Maryann Philip, spent time in Italy while obtaining her degree in Renaissance studies from Stanford.
Nonfiction Ethics By Julie C. Van Camp
(Cengage Learning) Van Camp has created an engaging, step-by-step textbook for ethics theory and contemporary ethical issues, which includes several different methods for learning and teaching, such as online components, tear-out review cards, and a guide for students to explore in depth an issue that is important to them. Julie C. Van Camp ’69 is professor emerita of philosophy at California State University–Long Beach. She has published several other texts on ethics.
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Coming to Life: Philosophies of Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Mothering Edited by Sarah LaChance Adams and Caroline R. Lundquist
(Fordham University Press) Among the slew of books about mothers and mothering comes something completely different—a philosophical approach to the many beliefs and norms that influence and inform what it means to be a woman, mother or not. By engaging the myriad issues around mothering, the book throws into relief the many shortcomings of conventional philosophy in regard to women’s experiences. Sarah LaChance Adams ’99 graduated with a degree in critical social thought and is an assistant professor of philosophy at the University of Wisconsin–Superior. This is her first book.
Cold War Progressives: Women’s Interracial Organizing for Peace and Freedom By Jacqueline Castledine
(University of Illinois Press) Postwar women progressives and their allies promoted the rights of workers, women, and African Americans under the banner of peace, even while the Cold War indelibly shaped the contours of their activism. Mini-biographies of more than a dozen key activists bring these women to life. Jacqueline Castledine FP’99 is a faculty member in the University Without Walls Program at the University of Massachusetts–Amherst. She coedited Breaking the Wave: Women, Their Organizations, and Feminism.
E.B. White on Dogs By E.B. White; edited by Martha White
(Tilbury House Publishers) E.B. White is best known for his children’s books (Charlotte’s Web, Stuart Little) and English students’ bible The Elements of Style. But what you may not know is that White had several well-loved canine companions throughout his life, and he often wrote
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More Books
For descriptions of these books, go to alumnae.mtholyoke.edu morebooks_sp13.
offtheshelf
Food Allergies: A Recipe for Success at School By Janet Clement Hanson ’78 (Authorhouse) A Roller Coaster Down By Mary Lash ’71 and Vasant Garcia (CreateSpace/Grist Mill Press)
Cameron Can Too Written and illustrated by Allie Brooke (Allison B. Turner ’09) (CreateSpace)
about them as well. Edited by his daughter Martha, this anthology reveals these funny and insightful essays, poems, letters, and sketches. Martha White ’77 has been a full-time, freelance journalist since 1987. Her other publications include Traditional Home Remedies: Time-Tested Methods for Staying Well— The Natural Way.
Women, Sex, Power, and
Pleasure: Getting the Life (and Sex) You Want
Paris in Love
By Evelyn Resh
Alison Harris
(Hay House) Resh takes an innovative and often humorous approach to helping women create the lives—including the sex lives— they desire. She identifies six necessary elements that women must have to access fully life’s pleasures, explaining that if even one of these elements is off kilter, a woman’s emotional well-being is at risk. Evelyn Resh FP ’90 is a certified sexuality counselor and nurse-midwife. She lectures frequently across the country to professional and lay audiences about women’s health and sexual satisfaction.
(Parigramme) Harris, a Paris-based photographer, takes us on a beautifully photographed tour of the many relics of love in Paris, such as secret gardens, graffiti love poems, and heartadorned padlocks fastened to bridges over the Seine. Photography by Alison Harris ’79 has been featured in exhibits and museums around the world, and in the travel books on which she and her husband, David Downie, have collaborated, such as Quiet Corners of Rome and Paris, Paris—Journey into the City of Light.
Photographs by
Getting Away with Torture: Secret Government, War Crimes, and the Rule of Law By Christopher H. Pyle; Arabic translation by Mohammed Jiyad
(The Center for Arab Unity Studies) MHC Professor of Politics Christopher Pyle’s 2009 book has now been translated into Arabic by Mohammed M. Jiyad, Five College senior lecturer emeritus in Arabic. The book asks why America was
shocked by news of torture, but the US government has not yet been brought to justice for the crimes committed during the Iraq war. Pyle asserts that the very foundations of America’s constitutional government, not to mention its moral standing, are threatened by its willingness to grant amnesty to all those responsible. Both Jiyad and Pyle have published numerous articles and books. Shock of the News By Judith Brodie with Sarah Boxer, Janine Mileaf, Christine Poggi, and Matthew Witkovsky
(Ashgate Publishing) With 102 color illustrations and thirty more in black and white, Shock of the News chronicles a century of how artists have dealt with the rise and decline of the powerful newspaper industry. The book was published in conjunction with an exhibit at the National Gallery of Art. Judith A. Brodie ’74 is the curator and head of modern prints and drawings at the National Gallery of Art. She has published several other works.
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A Closer Look
Holly Hughes ’75 Dishes on the Best Food Writing Since its inception in 2000, Holly Hughes has been editing the Best Food Writing series, which highlights culinary trends through epicurean-inspired stories and essays. With titles like “Still Life with Mayonnaise” and “Truffle in Paradise,” the Best Food Writing of 2012 examines food from the everyday to the exotic. Prior to editing the series, Hughes was a magazine writer and executive editor of Fodor’s travel guides. She lives in New York City with her husband and three children. —Taylor Scott
What are the trends in the world of food that you’ve noticed with this last edition? There has been a gradual deepening of food journal-
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ism in the past few years dealing with the politics of food. Beyond that, however, particular topics ebb and flow. Vegetarians grabbed a lot of press for a couple of years, and then there was a backlash of meat-eating articles, for example. This year we had a lot of male writers describing this sort of macho vision of grilling and barbecuing, which I set up in a section titled “Dude Food.” I suspect that’s a backlash against too many dainty cupcake features. Is there an essay that has particularly resonated with you over the last thirteen years? Shortly after 9/11, Brett Anderson of the New Orleans Times-Picayune wrote a lovely, poignant piece about dining out the night he learned that one of his best friends had died in the World Trade Center. That moved me deeply. Brett did it again in 2006 with a piece about his last dinner before Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. Those were perfect examples of how food writing can be about something so much more than “just” food.
Holly Hughes ’75 edits the Best Food Writing series.
Describe your perfect “last meal.” I prefer not to think about that! What was your experience like at Mount Holyoke? Did it have any influence on your love of food writing? The early ’70s was still kind of a hippie era, so occasionally we’d have small dinner parties where we baked our
own bread or made pots of lentil stew on a hot plate (seriously!). But Mount Holyoke did give me a deep sense of shared meals as a bonding experience. Back then, every dorm had its own dining hall, and most meals were spent with the same people. Dinner was served by waitresses, not buffet-style. It was a comforting way to gather every evening.
K a r a F lann e r y
I read an interview in which you said, “I love for people to know I’m not a food writer myself; I’m actually not a very good cook.” How did you become interested in food writing? It was a gradual immersion —one might even call it a “slippery slope.” When I was still editing travel guides for Fodor’s and Frommer’s, and hiring food writers to write our restaurant sections, I realized that I enjoyed reading descriptions of meals and food memories even if I had no intention of ever dining at that restaurant or cooking that meal. I like to think of Best Food Writing as a book you’ll find on the bedside table rather than on the kitchen counter—it’s for reading and musing over, not for cooking from. And by the way, I do enjoy cooking, especially now that my children are older and no longer stuck in a repertoire of chicken fingers and mac ’n’ cheese.
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Giving Never Goes Out of Style Support the Founder’s Fund today
Photo: MHC Archives
Mary Lyon traveled thousands of miles to collect funds in her green velvet bag for what would become Mount Holyoke College. Your gift to the Founder’s Fund—the Alumnae Association’s endowment—helps us support the activities of alumnae around the world. Visit alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/ff or send a check, payable to Alumnae Association Founder’s Fund, to Mount Holyoke College, 50 College St., South Hadley, MA 01075-1486.
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bulletinboard M H C A r chi v e s and S p e cial C oll e ctions
Outing Club members standing in front of the Outing Club Lodge, circa 1920s
Forthcoming Outing Club Newsletter Were you part of the Mount Holyoke Outing Club? Are you interested in what MHOC is up to in 2012? Do you miss the bonding experiences you had with outdoors-minded women when you were at Mount Holyoke? The Outing Club is starting a biannual newsletter to update alumnae on trips and current events in the club, complete with pictures from Mountain Day and more. To receive the newsletter, email Sarah Copelas ’13 (copel20s@mtholyoke.edu) with “MHOC Alumnae” in the subject line. We look forward to hearing from you.
Join the MHC Career Network The Career Network allows Mount Holyoke alumnae and students to find one another and stay connected through all life’s transitions. To join, visit alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/career/career-network. You can also join our LinkedIn group (alumn.ae/LinkedIn), where career-related conversations happen all the time.
Mathematics Leadership Programs: 2013 Summer Institutes at MHC Our weeklong Developing Mathematical Ideas (DMI) Institutes ( July 8–12) are designed for teachers and teacher leaders to deepen their mathematical understanding through interactive and engaging activities. The Leadership Institutes ( July 15–19) are designed for math coaches and administrators who wish to support the improvement of math instruction in their schools, as well as for teacher leaders who want to facilitate DMI modules at their own sites. For more information on the summer institutes, visit mathleadership.org.
Alcohol and Drug Awareness Project The Alcohol and Drug Awareness Project sponsors a network that joins recovering alumnae who provide support and serve as contacts for members of the College community exploring issues related to chemical dependency. It also brings together alumnae with professional interest in alcohol and drug abuse who act as resources for the project. If you are willing to share your recovery or professional expertise, please contact Susan McCarthy, Alcohol and Drug Awareness Project, Room 110 College Health Center, 50 College St., South Hadley, MA 010751437, smccarth@mtholyoke.edu. All information will be kept confidential.
Mou n t Ho lyo k e Al u m na e Qua r t e r ly
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travelopportunities Wildlife and Adventures Abound on Trip to Galรกpagos Islands
Judy Byrns Reeves, Eloise Graham Brooks, Eileen Sypher (l. to r., all class of 1968)
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A L L P H O T O S T H I S P A G E J an e E . Z acha r y
Above: Textiles at Otavlo; Sea lion and pup. Right: Sally Lightfoot crabs and marine iguana
In mid-January, four Mount Holyoke alumnae and their traveling companions, as well as the executive director of the Alumnae Association, Jane E. Zachary, embarked on a travel expedition to Ecuador with thirty alumnae from Johns Hopkins University and Washington University. The travelers, who ranged in age from ten to eighty-eight, forged new friendships and rekindled old ones. On the nine-day trip, they learned about the history, economics, and culture of the Ecuadorian Andes, and had the opportunity to see native textiles and products, as well as the craftspeople who created them. They stood at the equator with one foot in each hemisphere, while viewing snow-capped mountains in the distance. They then headed to the Galรกpagos Islands, where they participated in daily excursions that took them to six strikingly diverse islands, where they learned about local flora and fauna on walks both easy and ambitious. They also snorkeled with parrot fish, an entire school of manta rays, and even a hammerhead shark. The uninhibited nature of the animals was amazing, and travelers were advised to keep about six feet away from them. But with the abundance of playful sea lions, marine iguanas, Sally Lightfoot crabs, and other animals lounging or scrounging on the beaches, keeping a distance proved challenging at times.
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Dalmatian Coast trip
September 24–October 2, 2013 Life in Ancient Greece and Turkey Join us for this exclusive nine-day odyssey to Greece’s ancient islands and Turkey’s fabled coast. Cruise from Athens to Istanbul aboard the exclusively chartered, deluxe small ship MS L’Austral. Meet local residents during a specially arranged village forum for a personal perspective on the true character of the Aegean Sea’s maritime culture. Carefully designed, Ancient Greece and Turkey trip
June 20–28, 2013 Coastal Life Cruising Along the Dalmatian Coast Explore the Adriatic Sea’s stunning, island-dappled Dalmatian Coast on this seven-night cruise aboard the exclusively chartered, deluxe small ship MS L’Austral. Visit four countries and seven UNESCOworld heritage sites with this comprehensive itinerary, including Diocletian’s palace in Split, Croatia; the medieval fortifications of Kotor in Montenegro; Dubrovnik’s perfectly restored Gothic and Romanesque quarters; and the Stari Most bridge in Mostar. To further enhance your cruise, enjoy an exclusive village forum with local residents, a folk-music performance on board, and a specially arranged lecture on the restoration of Dubrovnik. Experience the art and romance of Venice on the two-night, precruise option. Prices start at $3,795, plus air. For more information, or to make reservations, call Gohagan & Company at 800-922-3088.
expert-led excursions are highlighted by the UNESCO world heritage sites of the classical ruins of Delos, the old town of Rhodes, the Monastery of St. John on Patmos, and legendary Troy. Extend your voyage with the Athens precruise option and the Istanbul or Cappadocia postcruise option. Ninety-five percent of the deluxe and air-conditioned outside staterooms and suites feature private balconies. The ship company has been noted for its commitment to energy efficiency and environmental protection of marine ecosystems. Prices start at $3,595, plus air. For more information, or to make reservations, call Gohagan & Company at 800-922-3088.
Interested? To download a brochure for either of these trips, visit alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/travelprograms. For additional information, call the travel company sponsoring the trip at 800-922-3088.
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myvoice Must I Be Uncommon? By Olivia Lammel ’14
I am a junio r now. And when I look out at the real world on the horizon, it’s decorated with ominous clouds. You see, this is the first time on this trip through life that I haven’t had a map to follow. So far, I’ve just had to pass my classes. First grade led to second, and high school graduation led to college convocation. But where will college graduation lead? My dad often asks, “How’s that internship hunt going?” My friends innocently ask, “What are your summer plans?” These questions, inserted into conversations as friendly filler, are starting to give me a constant case of clammy hands and panicky gut. I dream of becoming a respected journalist, but I’m in serious need of directions. I have no idea what my next step is, but I have a hunch it’s supposed to be remarkable. The source of this feeling must be something in the water at Mount Holyoke, the result of a steady drizzle of pioneer propaganda. The mantra of greatness reverberates through my professors, peers, admission pamphlets, and even President Pasquerella. My writing professors believe that words can change the world. My adviser calls journalists “professors to the people,” making knowledge accessible to the masses. These truths are her religion, and I am a convert. Scanning the state of today’s media, how could I not go into journalism? So, as I contemplate deadlines for internships with NPR, the New York Times, the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, the New Yorker, and Ms. magazine, I panic. “Maybe I’ll just go to
bartending school after college,” I muse, half-kidding. “Hanging out at the bar worked for Hemingway, right?” The idea makes my dad nervous and confuses my friends. My dad is comforted by my econ major: “You could always go into business, sweetie. My company values good writers,” he tells me. This idea bores me to death. A career in the corporate world seems so unremarkable, so common. Doesn’t he know Mount Holyoke women must be uncommon? An English major is supposed to be an awardwinning novelist, the voice of her generation. A film major will be a fearless documentarian. A biology major will work for Doctors without Borders…or cure cancer. But what if a student wants to go into PR, international business, or privatepractice medicine? What if she wants to be a parent or a volunteer? I get the impression that my dear, soon-to-be alma mater is nurturing me to bloom in the direction of distinction, but the job market for writers is bleak. If by some miracle I do become a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist, I will be published and applauded. But what if I fail? At times, this feels so frightening that I can’t even write a cover letter, fill out an application, or work on my résumé. Yet, I am slowly learning to accept this expectation to accomplish great things. Although it stresses me out, the pressure also inspires me. In a year and a half, I will be catapulted out of this ornate academic bubble. The bill-paying, food-on-the-table demands of the real world may initially knock me flat on my back, but I’m going to get up and do everything I can to save the world.
To submit your own essay for consideration, please email a draft of no more than 500 words to quarterly@mtholyoke.edu.
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T a y lo r S cott
Illustration by Juliette Borda
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Your Virtual MoHome. Reinvented. alumnae.mtholyoke.edu
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