Io Triumphe! Fall-Winter 2013-14

Io Triumphe!

THE MAGAZINE FOR ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF ALBION COLLEGE

PROTECTING HUMAN RIGHTS The ‘new wars’ bring heightened threats to freedom and human dignity

INSIDE 14 The Intrepid, Peripatetic Gwen Dew, ’24 18 Alumni Food Ventures Create a Stir 22 Stargazing Still Thrills

VOL. LXXVIII, NO. 2

FALL-WINTER 2013-14

D. LAWRENCE PHOTO

Contents

FALL-WINTER 2013-14

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Features A MATTER OF CONSCIENCE How do we protect human rights as the ‘new wars’ reshape armed conflict?

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‘MY GOD, A WOMAN’ Gwen Dew, ’24, ‘wanted to be first in many things.’

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RIDING THE WAVE Albion alumni are capitalizing on the latest trends in the food and beverage biz.

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STARRY, STARRY NIGHT After 130 years, Albion’s historic observatory still offers heavenly views.

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Departments BRITON BITS ALUMNI ASSOCIATION NEWS

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ALBIONOTES 26

18 ABOUT THE COVER: This image illustrates that all people share human rights—no matter the color of their skin, age, gender, or country of citizenship.

In the face of widespread armed conflict today, protecting those rights has new urgency.

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14

BRITON BITS

Farm to Fork At Albion, that’s a short distance.

Grab a bite at Lower Baldwin Dining Hall, and there’s a good chance what’s on your plate has come right from Albion College’s Student Farm. “Right now, we’re serving potatoes and squash grown on the Student Farm,” notes Bon Appétit general manager David Lauffer. “We’re happy to support what they do.”

“The farm was started to raise awareness among students about what we’re eating,” says Noelle Scelina, Student Farm past president. “Now it’s supplying us with good food, and it’s a place where we can experiment with farming.”

Student Farm interns Robyn Anes and Jon Davis spent this past summer cultivating crops at the farm’s Good Soil Growhouse (a 3,000-square-foot hoop house) and an outdoor plot at Whitehouse Nature Center—and doing battle with pesky weeds and dodgy hornworms. The farm’s 2013 production included peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes, onions, lettuce, kale, and squash, some of which were sold at this fall’s farmer’s market on campus, part of the College’s Year of Sustainability. The bulk of the produce, however, is sold to Bon Appétit.

“Honestly, I didn’t think we’d work four hours every day and still have things left to do,” Anes says with a laugh. “I thought we’d have extra time, but really, we didn’t have enough.”

With the support of a Calhoun County Conservation grant, Anes and Davis also assisted community gardens based at a local youth center and elementary school. “Mostly, we built raised beds for them,” Anes explains.

“But the kids looked up to us too—they could see gardening isn’t just what older people do.”

The Student Farm also helped another local group become a Bon Appétit vendor. The Wildcat Gardens project was started several years ago by women’s and gender studies professor Trisha Franzen, as part of a summer program for girls in Albion. This year, the Wildcat Gardens sold fruit, vegetables, and herbs to Bon Appétit. “This experience helps the young students find out about food and nutrition, as well as cooking and marketing,” Franzen says. “They are becoming pretty competent garden problem-solvers. And they love earning money. It’s a big motivation to weed.”

Along with introduction of the Good Soil Growhouse and fencing this year, the Student Farm crew added a small orchard and is working with Bon Appétit on a composting system. Earlier this fall, students living in the Environmental House planted more crops at the growhouse, destined for student plates through the end of the semester. The farm students are working with Gerstacker Institute students to develop a plan for

K. MONROE PHOTOS

The partnership with Bon Appétit, the College’s dining services provider, is a fruitful one—it fulfills the company’s goal of using fresh, locally grown products, and it shows the student farmers what it takes to put healthy food on our tables every day.

economic self-sufficiency. “We’re really excited to see what we can do,” says Student Farm president Heidi Keller.

In the end, Noelle Scelina says, the Student Farm is about a lot more than farming. “It’s about organization and people skills and communicating. It’s also great to just go out to the farm—it’s really stress-relieving.”

Fall-Winter 2013-14 | 3

BRITON BITS

Albion 24/7

732

Number of samples Tori Malus, ’15, took from 69 cattle teeth and 60 sheep and goat teeth (along with a handful of wild animal teeth) found at 4 archaeological sites spanning a period of 2000 years or so. She was on location in India, assisting Albion anthropology professor Brad Chase in his research on the agricultural practices of Bronze Age people of the Indus Civilization. See the full story at: www.albion.edu/news.

750 homemade cookies had the British Eighth marching band cheering in the stands even more than usual during this year’s football season. The cookies, made for each home game by Sharon Frandsen, wife of Interim President Mike Frandsen, prompted the band to serenade her with a rendition of “Hey! Sharon” (to the tune of Bruce Channel’s “Hey! Baby.”).

4 | Albion College Io Triumphe!

Number of years Albion College has sponsored a Common Reading Experience (CRE) for first-year students. This year’s selection, The Good Food Revolution: Growing Healthy Food, People, and Communities, gives a nod to the College’s Year of Sustainability, the theme for 2013-14. To see the entire list of CRE titles, go to: www.albion. edu/common-reading.

$500,000 The recent gift that has given new impetus to Albion College’s fund drive for Phase II of the planned improvements in its outdoor athletic facilities, expected to cost $3 million.

The gift, which came in August from anonymous donors, will support the construction of a new soccer/lacrosse complex.

34

th

Albion College’s ranking in the 2013 Washington Monthly

“Best Bang for the Buck”

list. These colleges “do the best job of helping students attain marketable degrees at affordable prices.”

Overheard

“My shoes melted—

I don’t think they were necessarily made for lava hiking,” said Hannah Pankratz, ’14. The unexpected event occurred during a visit to Volcanoes National Park (pictured) while she was on a geology field trip to Hawaii this past spring.

T. WILCH PHOTO

Some 37 dozen

Pounds of food donated to the Albion community’s food bank during September’s Community Day. The day’s other events included a cleanup performed by students at the city’s Victory Park playground, a kids’ carnival, youth football contests, and a Briton football matchup vs. Defiance, the first game to be played under the new lights at Sprankle-Sprandel Stadium.

(The score: 32-29, Britons.)

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IN THE BAG The backpack holds all of life’s essentials with a MacBook topping the list.

SMART SENSE The moleskin notebook keeps the tasks on track.

FORECAST: CLOUD-Y Thanks to earbuds and a smartphone, Spotify playlists can brighten the darkest days.

ALBION TIME The wristwatch—now more than a timepiece— makes a comeback as a fashion statement.

CALCULATED COOL

The right accoutrements for navigating today’s world.

From the moment the cell phone alarm goes off in the morning to the sign-off on the iPad at night, Albion students are ready for whatever the day brings. They’re Tweeting, texting,

downloading, surfing (when they’re not studying, experimenting, creating, competing) . . . and doing it with style.

High-tech or high-fashion—it’s all here.

Fall-Winter 2013-14 | 5

Nooks and Crannies Remember your special getaway place on campus where you would go to study, meet up with friends, or just find some “down time”? Io Triumphe! recently queried some current students and alumni about their favorite spots, and here’s what they had to say.

THEN...

I spent countless hours in the Music Department lounge studying, socializing, and most importantly, laughing! The lounge downstairs in Goodrich Chapel was the cozy cave underneath the hubbub of the bustling campus. It was the perfect place to analyze a piece for theory class with classmates, run into a professor to talk over the last lesson you had, or make plans for upcoming Phi Mu Alpha meetings (and Cascarelli’s outings). My trips back to campus since graduation have shown me the tradition continues with new generations of music majors.

—Herb Lentz, ’00

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The favorite study place for residents of the Gerstacker International House when I lived there was in the basement. There, the language students once had “closets” for listening to language tapes. Those booths (which one student nicknamed the “space death cubicles”) were the absolute best for studying and writing term papers. They were soundproof, and had room to spread out all your materials (including your state-of-theart word-processor that allowed you to type a whole line and proofread it before it was actually printed on paper).

—Barbara Weidendorf, ’83

On the first floor of Whitehouse was a little room known in the early ’70s as “the Switchboard Office.” This was a room where I easily spent parts of at least three nights per week (often approaching midnight). It was in that room that papers were written, chapters read, and problems solved. Why was I there so often? To spend time with the girl who became my wife, Deb. It turns out between our schedules this was one of the few places for quality time.

—Mark Lindemood, ’75

P. SPEARS PHOTO

BRITON BITS

My favorite spot was the lounge overlooking the quad from the fourth floor of the Kellogg Center. The historical aesthetics along with modern amenities made this a special place to study. I recall that during any season I could be reading or reviewing projects while seeing people, squirrels, or nature at its finest throughout the day.

—Mark Stevenson, ’12 I always enjoyed studying at the Stockwell Library, first in the large reading rooms and later in the study carrels back in the stacks.

This was a great place for quiet study and reflection.

Second, who can forget the stimulating conversations with professors like Julian Rammelkamp in the always grungy and smoke-filled Eat Shop [on Cass Street]. Finally, some of my best, sometimes intellectual, discussions took place on the third floor of the old TKE house. It was in these discussions that we began to articulate our personal, religious, philosophical, and political views.

—Bob Maxfield, ’63 ...AND NOW If you are looking for me on campus, my couch is a good place to start. I have unofficially claimed the couch in the sun lounge (between Putnam and Kresge in the science complex) as my own, and it is one of my favorite places. When on campus, I enjoy yogurt and tea there every morning, and do the majority of my studying there as well.

—Stephanie Sanders, ’15

My favorite place on campus to study is on the bridge in the library. No matter the time, it always appears as though it is the middle of the day with the bright lighting and the many students around. Plus I can go over and grab a cup of coffee at Read Between the Grinds. I love the atmosphere and the amenities.

—Mitchell Jeffery, ’14 When I want to finish a paper that’s due the next day, you’ll find me in the Ferguson computer lab at night. This is the spot to just relax, think, and create an A+ masterpiece with few interruptions. During my last visit, I was working alongside a group of guys who were playing video games and listening to neo-soul R&B. The perfect atmosphere to just chill and escape to my own world while writing a paper!

—Wynter Pitts, ’14 My favorite nook on campus is the bench under the tree near the Mudd Library entrance. I’ve sat there many times to study, meet friends, call home, or just relax and reflect. However, my favorite memory of that bench is from freshman year. My grandparents, who are from England and haven’t had much exposure to American colleges, were on campus visiting. We were sitting on that bench, looking at Kresge Gym. We began to have a conversation about graduation and what it would be like for them to sit in the audience, perhaps near that bench, and watch me cross in front of Kresge to receive my diploma. It’s a memory I’ve turned to during moments of weakness or struggles to remind me of the people who have supported me in my decision to attend Albion.

—Dannie Fountain, ’14

Strictly Strickler

Longtime Albion choir director Dave Strickler used to joke, “Our choir tours ran coast-to-coast—Lake Michigan to Lake Huron!” Those tours, and the choir’s on-campus performances and chapel appearances, often featured Strickler’s own arrangements of well-loved hymns as well as traditional favorites in popular music. Perhaps his best-known arrangement is his stunning setting of “Silent Night,” which is still performed each December during the College’s Festival of Lessons and Carols.

Now a collection of over 80 Strickler arrangements and compositions has been cataloged and made available to the public, thanks to the intensive efforts of former choir member JoAnn Tiedemann, ’79. In August 2012, Tiedemann volunteered in the Albion College archives, organizing the scores—many of them handwritten—and providing a detailed index for users. She also includes some historical notes and reminiscences by Strickler as part of the index.

“I arrived on campus as a freshman just in time for ‘Mr. Dave’s’ final year,” Tiedemann says. “He programmed several of his favorites from his own works that year, introducing me to his professional dedication to choral music, the College, and his faith. The 1992 choir reunion in celebration of his 80th birthday expanded that awareness. As a librarian, I appreciate the Music Department’s and College archives’ support that allowed me to give back some of my own professional expertise to honor Mr. Dave and the Albion College Choir.”

Among the archive’s other selections which will be remembered by former choir and audience members alike are Strickler’s arrangements of compositions by Louis Rowland including “Everywhere, Everywhere, Christmas Tonight.” Rowland served on the music faculty from 1926 to 1953 and was the composer for our College hymn, “Albion, Dear Albion.” Strickler’s legendary sense of humor comes through in his rendering of “Old MacDonald Had a Farm,” also part of the collection. In many cases, the scores for instrumental accompaniment are included with the four-part vocal music.

David Strickler joined Albion’s music faculty in 1943 and retired in 1976.

In the 1960s, a number of his hymn arrangements were published by Abingdon Press, Oxford University Press, and H.W. Gray Co. Strickler passed away in 2001.

For more information on the Strickler collection and to obtain copies of the musical scores, contact Nicole Garrett Smeltekop, College archivist, at ngarrett@albion.edu or 517/629-0487.

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BRITON BITS

SAILING AWAY Zane Havens, ’12, studied geology as an earth science major at Albion College, but he was always close to the water.

letters

Zane Havens, shown manning the sweep (tiller), recently completed a 1,000-mile trip around Hawaii aboard a traditional Polynesian voyaging canoe.

I wanted to send a quick note to say how much I enjoy the new format for Io Triumphe! [springsummer 2013 edition]. The design, photography, and layout are very beautiful! Congratulations to the design, writing, editing, and production team on the fresh approach.

— Amanda Szot, ’96 It was a pleasure to read the spring-summer Io Triumphe! articles about incredible people who are involved at Albion. The photography, the layout, and the content were impressive. I have only one request to improve the next editions. Please reduce the thick pages to much thinner pages! It will not only save on paper, but it will make it easier to read. I recycle and think that any little bit we can do helps.

A former Briton varsity swimmer who also competes in whitewater canoeing, Havens is now combining his love for the water, the environment, and adventure while serving as a quartermaster for the Hikianalia, a double-hulled Polynesian voyaging canoe.

Along with its sister vessel the Hokule’a, the canoe recently completed a 1,000-mile trip around Hawaii before departing for Tahiti next year as part of a worldwide educational voyage that will emphasize sustainable lifestyles.

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While Havens’ main responsibilities on board have included inventorying and keeping track of food and water, he has also assisted with sailing duties during four-hour watches.

I received the new Io Triumphe! and immediately missed the old one. While I appreciate the new format and layout, the pages are stiff and difficult to turn.

But mostly, in this day and age of green energy, conservation, and environmental awareness, it seems that Albion College is moving backwards by consuming more paper with heavyweight pages, and increasing its carbon footprint to physically deliver the publication in the process.

As an alumna, I am fully aware of the value of the education I received and appreciate the quality standards of Albion College. Rolling out a weighty publication does not impress me; it only detracts from what I believe the institution should promote, which includes sustainability.

—Cindy Larkin Kazee, ’88

— Mary Davis Mackow, ’65

While the Hikianalia has a time-honored design, it has been outfitted with solarpowered GPS navigation and radio communication devices as well as modern research equipment. However, Havens points out that the more traditionally rigged Hokule’a has been successfully navigated using only ancient methods many times.

“My favorite experience has been just listening to the legends who have been with the Hokule’a from the very beginning talk and share their stories,” Havens said.

“This experience really has been one of the best of my life so far,” he added. “It is far from being over, but I feel that I have learned so much in the few months that I have been here, and I am sure to learn more. Seeing the world while contributing to such a noble cause was an easy choice for me.”

To learn what else is new in the world of Briton sports, check out: gobrits.com.

Editor’s Note: The change in format introduced with the springsummer 2013 edition was prompted in part by requests from alumni to have more information about the good things happening at Albion. By expanding the pages devoted to feature stories and enhancing the design, we wanted to provide the content that people had been looking for and do so in the most engaging manner possible.

With regard to the production details, the new paper, which is only slightly heavier than the previous stock, is certified both by the Forest Stewardship Council and the Rainforest Alliance, signifying it was produced responsibly.

Readers who would prefer not to receive Io Triumphe! in print format can view it online at: www.albion.edu/ iotriumphe. Just e-mail communications@albion.edu to let us know that is your preference, and we will no longer send the print version.

Letters to the editor may be sent to: Office of Marketing and Communications, Albion College, 611 E. Porter St., Albion, MI 49224. E-mail: communications@albion.edu. Submissions may be edited for length, style, and clarity.

Two Minutes with . . .

JOCELYN McWHIRTER

Jocelyn McWhirter is an associate professor of religious studies at Albion and a New Testament scholar.

Io Triumphe!: Some of your students assume they’re already experts on the course material; others may be almost afraid of what they might learn. How do you address these different presumptions?

McWhirter: Students who think they already know a lot invariably find there’s a lot to learn. There’s a huge difference between asking “What is God saying?” and studying religious traditions and what the authors were trying to communicate to their particular audiences. We’re not thinking so much about what God is saying, but about what Mark or Matthew was saying. Students usually find that learning about the Bible is really fun and interesting.

Really? You’re saying that this isn’t about personal belief or bias?

Bible scholarship is about going beyond personal bias—discovering different ways to understand the material. In the Old Testament class, students get hooked when we analyze character development in the Joseph stories; in the New Testament class, it’s when we talk about how the first Christians used the Old Testament to understand a crucified messiah. Regardless

of their background, students are fascinated by the Bible’s historical context and literary artistry.

You’ve just completed a book analyzing Luke and Acts, two New Testament texts written by the same author. You say Luke intentionally described people and events to reflect Bible stories and prophecies that were familiar to his readers.

Luke is writing to an audience in about 85-90 CE, trying to convince them that although their present day is nothing like the expected messianic age, it’s very much like the time of the prophets.

For example, if you’re an early Christian, it’s heartbreaking when family members and friends don’t believe. Luke specifically compares Jesus and the apostles to Moses, who also dealt with nonbelievers. If Christians are wondering why Gentiles believe in a Jewish messiah, Luke points out that Elijah ministered to Gentiles.

If Christians are wondering why God allowed the Jerusalem temple to be destroyed, Luke points out that the temple was also destroyed in Jeremiah’s time. For Luke, Jesus and the apostles are just like the prophets, and God is doing what God has always done.

How do you reconcile scholarship with belief?

Studying religion is a personal risk—there are huge rewards, but you can’t get away from personal examination. In class, I make a careful distinction about conclusions we reach from evidence and reasoning, and conclusions that can only be reached by a leap of faith.

Sometimes our reasoned conclusions enrich our faith.

Sometimes they challenge our faith. But just as “God says so” makes for a poor academic argument, so academic argument makes a poor substitute for what God may or may not be saying.

You’ve been involved for several years in the College’s Holocaust Studies Service Learning Project, taking students to Poland to do restoration work in a Jewish cemetery. Why is it important for Albion students to have this experience?

To do this work and go to Auschwitz—all of us are changed forever. In many ways, our service is coming out of what’s best about human nature, but doing that service puts us in touch quite literally with what’s worst in human

In spring 2012, Jocelyn McWhirter spent two weeks traveling in the Eastern Mediterranean. In addition to taking her to iconic locations such as the Acropolis in Athens, the trip allowed her to visit the streets, marketplaces, and homes where the New Testament’s authors lived.

nature. We do it for the dead people whose graves are overgrown and forgotten; for their murdered relatives; for their living relatives, scattered all over the world; for the small Jewish community of Wrocław. We play a small part in the international effort to repair, as much as possible, what the Holocaust has destroyed.

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Albion political scientist Carrie Booth Walling explores the challenge of protecting human rights as the ‘new wars’ reshape armed conflict.

Human rights concerns are never far from our consciousness today. However, this increased awareness is a relatively new global phenomenon, shaped by the 20th century’s individual rights movements and the witnessing of genocide on an unprecedented scale. In response to calls for increased protections, human rights language was included in the United Nations charter, and these rights were defined in the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted in 1948. Today, with the emergence of “new wars” that often defy convention and brutally target civilians, ensuring human rights has taken on a new urgency. In this interview with Carrie Booth Walling, assistant professor of political science at Albion, we explore the intimate connection between armed conflict and human rights and how the world community is responding to the continuing threats to freedom and human dignity.

Io Triumphe!: What specifically makes today’s wars different from past ones, and how do these “new wars” impact our thinking on human rights?

Carrie Booth Walling: When we think about the wars in the first half of the 20th century, these were large-scale conventional wars fought between states.

The conflicts since the end of the Cold War have generally been different in terms

of their goals, methods, and financing.

Most contemporary wars have been about issues of identity—killing or displacing certain groups of people is the purpose of the fighting. In terms of methods, what’s really different is the broader use of guerilla tactics and the proliferation of small arms. In terms of financing, these smaller-scale and localized conflicts have been funded through plunder and the exploitation of natural resources such as diamonds and rare metals. The rules of war increasingly are being violated in these conflicts.

What are the most common human rights violations that occur during these “new wars”?

The main tactic is deliberately targeting civilians for violence. The fighting in Syria today exemplifies this reality. The Syrian government’s use of chemical weapons against its own civilian population has been independently confirmed and widely condemned. Yet, more deaths in Syria have been caused by conventional means (artillery shells, small arms fire, bombs) indiscriminately but deliberately used against civilian populations. Children make up a significant proportion of civilian casualties. The Syrian regime not only targets the civilian population as a tactic of the war but it also attacks medical personnel who seek to assist the wounded. It has engaged in massacres of civilians and the torture and summary

execution of political detainees on the basis of their opposition to the regime.

Opposition forces also have engaged in unlawful killing and systematic torture of their detainees and the civilian population. Latest estimates are that more than 200,000 people have died and up to 7 million are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance—2 million of those have crossed the border as refugees and 5 million have been internally displaced by the fighting.

Among the other grievous human rights violations we see today are rape and other sexual violence used as a weapon of war and the conscription of child soldiers who are then put on the front lines in order to protect the adult soldiers behind them.

The use of sexual violence first came to international attention in Bosnia. It was also one of the chief tactics in the Rwanda genocide. Currently, widespread sexual violence is occurring in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. We have seen the use of child soldiers in Uganda and Sierra Leone, and by the Taliban in Afghanistan.

What standards are there for deciding when intervention is necessary to protect or defend human rights during an armed conflict?

Legally, there are only two circumstances where war is permitted. The first is selfdefense—if a state is attacked it has the right to self-defense. The second, which

Fall-Winter 2013-14 | 11

U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan, 2009-2013 Source: New America Foundation

Detainees remain at Guántanamo, August 2013 Source: The New York Times

has been in place since the founding of the United Nations, is when it is authorized by the UN Security Council. All other use of military force is considered illegal. Since the mid1990s, the Security Council has been willing to authorize humanitarian intervention, but only in the most extreme circumstances— where the crimes are so grave that they are reaching the level of crimes against humanity such as genocide. The problem is that the members of the Security Council don’t always agree with each other about whether extreme human rights violations are indeed happening or when the Council should or should not intervene.

Even though the use of military force without Security Council approval is illegal, humanitarian intervention is increasingly considered legitimate if it is undertaken by a group of states, and not just one state, if it is to stop mass slaughter, and if there have been calls for help from the region or from the people themselves. Humanitarian intervention without UN approval is extremely controversial and very rare.

The Security Council has followed a new standard since 2005, and that is the “responsibility to protect.” The idea is that states have a responsibility to protect their own population from grave human rights violations such as genocide or ethnic cleansing. If states are unwilling or unable to protect their own population, the international community, acting through the Security Council, also has a responsibility to protect that population.

For the UN to intervene in a state, the action has to be primarily about saving lives, not about protecting broader human rights per se.

UN-authorized intervention is viewed as a last resort, and there must be confidence that the intervention will in fact succeed in stopping the violence.

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The United States is often viewed as the world’s peacekeeper and international defender of human rights. What do you believe is the proper role of the U.S. in addressing armed conflicts abroad and at what level?

It is imperative that the United States continues to provide diplomatic, political, and legal support to individuals, organizations, and sometimes even governments that are trying to protect human rights in their own communities.

If we take human rights seriously, then I think that means honoring and respecting the dignity of the people who want help—empowering them to define their human rights and helping them fight for the rights that they want.

In situations of extreme human rights violations, I do think the U.S. has a role. In general, the U.S. should try to use military force when it is consistent with international law, when there’s widespread international support, and when there are clear cries for help from the people who are most affected. When mass killing is happening, and no political solution is possible, there is a moral imperative to at least stop the killing. However, the U.S. should be very hesitant to use military force, and when it does, it should be as a part of a group of states who intervene.

We see the greatest violations of human rights during armed conflict, and so military action, in itself, is not really a human rights tool.

Human rights advocates argue that the United States has fallen short with respect to the rights of the Guantánamo detainees, and more recently, in our use of drone attacks in locations other than war zones.

The UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that all people are considered persons before the law, that there’s no place on

Funding requested for unmanned aerial systems in the U.S. president’s 2013 budget Source: CNN.com

earth where the law is absent, and finally that all people are entitled to free and fair trials. It includes an absolute prohibition on torture and on inhumane and degrading treatment of any kind. A prohibition on torture is part of U.S. law as well, and in 1994 the U.S. Senate ratified the UN’s Convention against Torture.

Our failure to honor domestic and international laws with regard to the treatment of the detainees at Guantánamo has caused the U.S. to lose much of its standing as a human rights defender in the eyes of the world. Many people around the world still look to the U.S. for protection and also with admiration for our values, but others think the U.S. has become just another state that violates human rights when it suits its national interests. Human rights advocates in the U.S. are working to ensure that we follow domestic laws and international standards so the U.S. can again be viewed as a human rights defender.

The drone attacks in Pakistan and Yemen also leave us open to criticism. According to human rights law, targeted killings, such as those occurring in the drone attacks, are never permissible or justifiable. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights protects the life, liberty, and security of each person, and all people around the world are considered equal and entitled to equal protection under the law.

From a human rights perspective, then, drone killings—or what are termed extrajudicial killings—are illegal and have really tarnished our reputation abroad.

However, there is another perspective which justifies these drone attacks. When the U.S. government says it has evidence that the individuals targeted in the drone attacks have committed human rights violations—through acts of terrorism, for example—then the government is acting to prevent future loss of life. In other words, more lives are saved than

Countries had unlawful killings by security forces in 2012 Source: Amnesty International

those taken in such actions, by preventing future terrorist attacks. There is an ethical argument to be made for saving lives based on this utilitarian calculation.

On the one hand, international law takes a principled, rule-based approach because these rules have been determined to produce the best outcomes over time. The protection of human rights requires protecting the fundamental rights of all peoples, regardless of circumstance. On the other hand, the utilitarian approach looks at the situation, weighs the costs and benefits in any particular circumstance, and then determines the action that will yield the best outcome.

How does the blurring of national boundaries due to globalization complicate the decision-making on when to take action against human rights violations?

Just as globalization might make it easier for terrorist groups to organize, globalization also makes it easier for states to cooperate and organize—and for individuals and nongovernmental organizations to work across national borders as well. One argument that’s made to justify action is that if you’re fighting against people who don’t follow the rules, then you shouldn’t follow the rules either. In this view, our old conventions of war aren’t suited for today’s world. The counter argument is that it is exactly those rules that distinguish legitimate governing authorities from those that are illegitimate, and the fact that an individual or a state violates the principles that we believe are fundamental to our common humanity does not justify the violating of these principles by us against the other side.

A deep tension exists within the human rights movement on the relationship between national security and human rights. That’s because historically many states violated

Countries tortured their citizens in 2012 Source: Amnesty International

human rights domestically or internationally in the name of national security. I don’t think human rights advocates can only give states a list of things they cannot do, but should be working with them to figure out the things they can do to fulfill human rights obligations and still protect the security of their citizens.

Individuals are frightened and want their life and security protected, and we need to take that desire seriously. That can be achieved while still honoring the principles of the Universal Declaration.

That’s what makes democracies different—we do honor these values and principles; we do protect freedom.

What do you personally hope to achieve with your students through your teaching on human rights?

First, whether or not policymakers agree that human rights should be subordinated to other national or foreign policy goals, they can no longer ignore human rights.

They are a reality of international politics.

Secondly, it’s important for students to know that states are no longer the sole actors in international politics, and the growing strength of international human rights organizations and movements demonstrates that. All of these factors interact and shape our lives. What’s most important is that I want students to appreciate and respect the equality and human dignity of every human being, regardless of country of citizenship. All people share human rights—it’s that commonality that connects us to the rest of the world.

Countries forcibly evicted men, women, and children in 2012 Source: Amnesty International

Carrie Booth Walling teaches courses in international politics and human rights at Albion. Her research focuses on international responses to mass atrocity crimes including military humanitarian intervention and human rights trials, and how human rights norms are reshaping the meaning of state sovereignty at the United Nations. She is the author of All Necessary Measures: The United Nations and Humanitarian Intervention, Pennsylvania Studies in Human Rights (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013), which examines how the issue of human rights has emerged as an appropriate oversight for the UN Security Council. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota.

To learn more about human rights issues and advocacy today, check out the following websites: United Nations Human Rights Council www.un.org/en/rights/ Amnesty International www.amnesty.org Human Rights Watch www.hrw.org Physicians for Human Rights www.physiciansforhumanrights.org Human Rights First www.humanrightsfirst.org For an historical perspective on the human rights movement, go to this site co-authored by Carrie Booth Walling: www.humanrightshistory.umich.edu

Fall-Winter 2013-14 | 13

Gwen Dew convinced her editor at the Detroit News to send her on an around-the-world tour in 193637. In her first article, she wrote, “I am heading into adventure, romance—and, perhaps trouble— who knows?” She posted stories and photos from Asia to Europe, and is pictured on her return to the U.S. in July 1937.

14 | Albion College Io Triumphe!

‘My God, a Woman!’

PHOTO COURTESY OF REUTHER LIBRARY, WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY

Gwen Dew, ’24, ‘wanted to be first in many things.’

The fact that she learned to fly in 1925 (at the age of 22) unheated quarters, malnourishment, and dengue fever and became one of the first women in the United States until her release on June 30, 1942. When Dew returned to obtain a pilot’s license should have been a clue: Gwen to Japan in 1946 shortly after the war ended, she was, Dew, ’24, was never going to be tethered in one spot as she noted, “the only woman reporter among thirtyfor long. An Albion native, Dew attended Albion College three male reporters.” She continued to work as a for three years before earning a journalism degree from foreign correspondent and eventually settled in Arizona the University of Michigan. in retirement. Dew passed She later started the public away June 17, 1993, one relations department for the day before her ninetieth florist delivery company, birthday. At the time of her FTD, and designed its death, she was working Running Mercury logo, still on her memoir, My God, A in use today.

Woman!

However, she is probably Gwen Dew’s courage best known for her work was matched by her as a reporter for the Detroit compassion. Her accounts News. At the News, she of the devastation in Japan Two years after earning her journalism degree, Gwen Dew started persuaded her editor to send after the war reveal her the public relations department for FTD and designed its iconic her on an around-the-world concern about the often Running Mercury logo. Her original concept for the logo is housed at the Smithsonian Institution. tour—in 1936-37—and she desperate living conditions ultimately filed stories and she witnessed in Japan photos from Japan and across East Asia to Italy. Among and her love of humanity in spite of the difficulties she them was an exclusive interview in China with Madame endured during her earlier internment. Excerpts of her Chiang Kai-shek. reflections on post-war Japan from her book, MacArthur’s

Japan, appear on the following pages and demonstrate Ever the intrepid reporter, Dew insisted on returning to her reporter’s eye for detail as well as her ability to get Asia in 1941, knowing that war was looming across the beyond facts and figures and capture the impact of events region. She was the only woman foreign correspondent on individual human lives. in East Asia at the time of the Japanese attacks on December 7, 1941. Held as a prisoner of war in a Japanese Io Triumphe! wishes to acknowledge the assistance of local historian Frank Passic, Nathaniel Arndts, ’14, and College Archivist internment camp near Hong Kong, she suffered through Nicole Garrett Smeltekop in the preparation of this article.

Fall-Winter 2013-14 | 15

World War and Its Aftermath Reflections from Gwen Dew’s book, MacArthur’s Japan

A Nation Transformed by War

. . . I knew Japan first [in 1936] as a lovely country as God made it, where travelers were made most welcome by one of the most highlyorganized and successful tourist bureaus in the world; where I was initiated into the delights of tea ceremonies, flower arrangements , Mt. Fujiviewing, Ginza-shopping.

My return in 1941, six months previous to the war’s explosion, was a revelation of what the power of a military propaganda campaign can accomplish against a democracy. In five short years the Japanese, who had loved all things American, and were very friendly towards the Americans themselves, turned against them until nothing good was left.

My grandstand seat as a photographer and reporter during the siege of Hong Kong brought proof of the completeness and scope of Nippon plans. My ringside seat as a prisoner the first year of the war presented evidence of the sadism and cruelty, as well as the whimsical meanderings into bits of generosity, that marked most Japanese soldiers. Bloody bayonets would hardly be wiped dry, before a young Nipponese would be on his knees beside a flower, or would be carefully carrying a baby of the enemy in his arms. . . .

[By the war’s end,] there was an almost completely wrecked Japan, cut off from the rest of the world, slowly being starved out, and rapidly depleting its military stockpile.

Still the people within Japan would never have surrendered, but for the voice of one small man, Emperor Hirohito. His command to surrender came as a shock to most Japanese, who expected to be told to dig in for the invasion, to be ready to fight with bamboo staves, as human torpedoes, and from hidden caves and underground military control centers. . . .

But the time came when the Emperor ordered his people to lay down their arms, and to make welcome their enemies. The word of the divine Hirohito had always been obeyed. It was this time, and it still is. . . .

The event also opened the road for the return [in 1946] of this former prisoner of Japan. . . .

And it rounded out the turn of the decade by letting me feast again on the beauties of cherry blossom time in Nippon, while watching the shaping of MacArthur’s Japan.

Arrival in Yokohama

[The dock workers] were little hungry-looking men. Their feet were bare in wooden clogs, although it was very cold. Their coats were ragged. They were beaten men, and symbols of a nation defeated, devastated, occupied.

16 | Albion College Io Triumphe!

With that moment, my hatred for any individual Japanese vanished, never to return.

During the war I could hate every Japanese with deep intense feeling, created out of memories of rape, terrors, torture, destruction, hunger, and starvation.

But it is difficult to hate any one person who faces you, if he himself has not done anything to you, and as far as you know may have hated war as much as you did. . . .

Perhaps this is best. Or perhaps it is a sign of the “softness” of which our nation has so often been accused. But whatever it is, it is the American way.

The Devastation of Tokyo

Miles of brown rubble. Thousands of homes resolved into masses of debris. The flaming pyre of 150,000 men, women, and children who burned to death in one night in Tokyo. . . .

Nothing I had read or heard really prepared me for mile after mile of ugly skeletons, stripped of the things which had been living, humans or animals, of homes, shops, factories, farms.

Try as we may, we in America can never actually picture what war is like. Outside of the comparatively few bombs on Pearl Harbor, we have lived untouched by actual closeness of devastation. But there will never again be such a war, and so perhaps it is well today to know what will happen in the United States if the fires of another war are ever lighted.

Tokyo’s Orphaned Children

Most of these children lost their parents and homes through the B-29 bombings, and many have no recollection of any family ties. They have to eat some way, so they steal. They have to sleep someplace, so they find doorways, underground tunnels, or bits of space in bombed buildings.

The youngsters, with expressions as ancient as time, huddle in groups on the curbs or against station walls, where they finally stretch out in their filthy rags to sleep a few restless hours.

Sometimes they remain motionless for a day, so near death by starvation they cannot make a gesture. No one knows—or cares.

A Memorable Ride with Emperor Hirohito

The day I rode the Imperial train with the Emperor was a highlight in Japanese-American relations, as far as I am concerned.

The correspondents had been invited to accompany Hirohito on one of his “inspection tours” of Japan, which really amounted to a political junket to popularize him with the millions. Their train was to precede the Imperial train by ten minutes—whether for the purpose of clearing the line of any stray bombs or not is a matter of conjecture.

I managed to be late. In fact, I managed to arrive at precisely the second the Emperor boarded his train. . . .

Without ceremony, and before the incredulous eyes of the Japanese police, I got on [Hirohito’s] train just as it began to move. . . .

I entered the car where most of the Imperial staff was sitting in solemn contemplation of their swords and threadbare uniforms. A

PHOTOS COURTESY OF F. PASSIC, ALBION HISTORIAN

In all Tokyo, there is actually orphanage space for only 1,200 children, with tens of thousands needing homes. . . .

A visit to the reeking backwash of Ueno station at night is heartbreaking, if you have any feeling about suffering children. Here congregate hundreds of these lost souls, leading a squalid existence that leaves one nauseated and rebellious that this should happen to tiny boys and girls of any nationality. . . .

The sole woman reporter in Japan in the months after World War II ended, Dew managed to secure a seat on a train carrying Emperor Hirohito (at right) across the Japanese countryside. She recalled, “Without ceremony, and before the incredulous eyes of the Japanese police, I got on [Hirohito’s] train just as it began to move. . . .” stunned silence followed, but as there was an empty seat, I sat down.

When I remembered that a mere ten years ago, there would probably have been a death penalty for a foreigner looking at the Emperor uninvited, I felt icy ghost fingers run up and down my spine!

As we continued through the countryside, everywhere there were miles of Japanese standing at attention. They stopped in their rice paddies, lifted their hands from the deep wet mud, and bowed as the train passed.

Hiroshima One Year Later

Flying down to Hiroshima from Tokyo was physically only a matter of a few hours and 600 miles, but in history it was a journey from the pre-atomic age to the end of the world. . . .

Devastation in Tokyo was a matter of incendiary bombs, thousands of planes, night after night after night of destruction. Annihilation in Hiroshima was a matter of one bomb, one plane, one second—and 66,000 lives.

In Hiroshima, Americans unleashed a force which will never leave this earth again, a dreadful frightening threat to life itself. . . .

Upon arrival in Hiroshima, on the first anniversary of the dropping of the first atomic

bomb, it seemed to me that the inhabitants walked and talked, ate and slept like other people, but somehow they were not completely human beings. They were going about their work, but yet they were not quite a part of this living world. . . .

Something had happened to these Japanese that was too big for their minds to grasp, too stupendous for any normal person to live through and still remain quite as other people.

Gwen Dew reflects back on her life and career in the foreword to her memoir, My God, A Woman, with these words:

What you will get in this book is the story of a girl who wanted to be first in many things, of a young woman in a man’s world, of a reporter who wrote the longest series of fullpage articles ever run in any newspaper, and who became a prisoner of the Japanese—thus learning a lot about herself and the rest of the world, good and bad.

I never had to find out who I was, as so many young people do today. I knew I was Gwen Dew, and that I wanted to do interesting things in my lifetime.

Characteristically, she ends with this challenge to her reader: Why not go and do likewise?

Fall-Winter 2013-14 | 17

Chris and Aubrey Thornton Martinson, both ’01, at Chelsea Alehouse Brewery.

The art and science of craft brewing

18 | Albion College Io Triumphe!

the

Riding Wave Albion alumni are capitalizing on the latest trends in the food and beverage biz.

By Michelle Mueller It all started when Ken Shenstone, ’84, showed Chris Martinson how to brew homemade beer in a soup kettle on a stove at Shenstone’s home in Albion. Today, Chris and his wife, Aubrey Thornton Martinson, both Class of ’01, create beer on a considerably larger scale at their Chelsea (Mich.) Alehouse Brewery.

Open since January, their establishment is now featuring a rotation of 10 of their handcrafted beers on tap, all made in their stainless steel, seven-barrel system. The beers are all cleverly named, not the least of which is the 402 East Porter, named for the Goodrich Club’s Albion address, where Chris lived for three years as a student.

Ironically, Chelsea was the site of Michigan’s very first brewpub, but in the early 1980s there was no built-in market, and that operation quickly failed. Thirty years later there are now 100-plus craft breweries in the state.

D. LAWRENCE AND M. MUELLER PHOTOS

Before launching their business, Chris, a biology major, was working in the biotech industry, and Aubrey had parlayed an art major into a non-profit management position with the Chelsea Center for the Arts. Chris had been a home-brewing beer hobbyist since graduation, and followed the growing market for craft beers. After discussing the prospects with several people in the Chelsea area, they decided the time was right to open their brewpub, and quit their jobs.

“It truly has been a ‘liberal arts’ experience,” Chris says. “From making presentations to potential investors, designing the space, hiring staff, and, of course, brewing beer, there are many different facets to opening and operating a business. Also, many of the friends who

helped with the project have Albion College ties, so the connections made at Albion were crucial in launching the business.”

The 120-seat Alehouse is in a reclaimed industrial space, with recycled factory windows, which were rehabilitated and installed by Robin Adair, ’00, showing off the shiny brewing tanks.

There is also an outdoor beer garden with room for 40. The small deli kitchen puts out a menu of salads, sandwiches, soups, locally made pretzels and cheese dip, and meat and cheese plates.

The pub-style service—guests come to the bar to order their food, which is then delivered to the table—keeps people mingling and enhances the feeling of community. The couple has made sure their operation is family-friendly, stocking games for the kids.

Friends and fellow grads helped brainstorm elements of the business, and Shenstone played several key roles in its development. He and a close friend, architect Craig Hoernschemeyer, ’71 (also a former art professor at Albion), designed the bar, which was built by Shenstone out of repurposed school bleachers.

Shenstone was also commissioned by the Martinsons to create 1,000 ceramic mugs for their Mug Club. Embossed with the brewpub’s logo, the one-of-a-kind glazed mugs were crafted and fired

by Shenstone and ceramicist Anne Beyer, ’10, in his wood-fired kiln on the outskirts of Albion.

Even before their opening, public interest had been strong, and the Martinsons rapidly sold over 800 annual founder’s memberships that provided beer to take home, a T-shirt, and one of the ceramic mugs. In August, the Mug Club was once again opened to prospective members.

Starting a new business is always challenging, but raising two young children, Lily and Iver,

at the same time made it even more so. The couple spent three years on the planning, found five silent business partners, and took out a Small Business Association-backed bank loan in order to launch the Chelsea Alehouse.

The Martinsons each bring their own set of skills to the operation. In addition to being the head brewer, Chris also manages the staff and the business operation. Aubrey is in charge of the bookkeeping and financials, and assists with marketing, design, and the website (www.chelseaalehouse.com).

“Aubrey’s experience managing a non-profit organization has been crucial to our current success,” Chris explains. “It was almost like grad school for business.”

Through September, the Chelsea Alehouse brewed 238 barrels of beer (a beer barrel is defined as 31 gallons, so that’s 7,378 gallons of beer). Martinson says they are on track to meet their goal of brewing 350 barrels this year.

Because their state microbrew license allows Martinson to serve beer at the brewery as well as off-site, he will soon begin distributing beer for restaurants and bars, and has set a goal to brew 500 barrels in 2014.

“We not only wanted to bring craft beer to Chelsea, but open the kind of community-focused business we wanted to see,” says Aubrey. The Alehouse has already hosted several successful fundraising events, and has formed a partnership with the Chelsea District Library to provide a home to the library’s off-site programming.

The Alehouse is also a music venue, having hosted several Chelsea musicians as well as acts from the Ann Arbor and Detroit areas.

“We see it as a work in progress, and it keeps growing, ‘slow and steady,’” Chris says.

Fall-Winter 2013-14 | 19

By Michelle Mueller Inspired by the fromageries, bakeries, and butcher shops experienced during his year of study abroad, upon his 1998 graduation Michael Graham snagged a job with Ari Weinzweig of Zingerman’s Deli in Ann Arbor.

There, Michael says, he learned the business side of being a gourmet food purveyor at the knee of a master.

Michael, ’98, and Kathryn Graham at C’est Cheese

Now, almost 10 years after opening C’est Cheese—a small, family-run cheese shop—in Santa Barbara, California, Michael and his wife, Kathryn, are completing construction that will quadruple the space for their very successful business.

The couple met in Heidelberg, Germany, when both were studying abroad. Michael, an economics and management major at Albion, also spent a semester in Grenoble, France. After spending two years working in Ann Arbor, then moving on to—as they call it—unfulfilling stints in the corporate world of New York City, the pair wanted to open their own business.

Kathryn was also “itching to come back” to her hometown of Santa Barbara.

THE ABC’S OF CHEESE

In Europe, the Grahams had gained appreciation for small downtown specialty markets. “The cheese shop next to the butcher, next to the bakery, next to the pastry shop— that was heaven to us,” Kathryn says. “Back in the States, it was a source of continuing frustration trying to seek out little havens of great food.” When they took a hard look at the gorgeous coastal city of Santa Barbara, they found that it had its share of great restaurants and wine, but, in their view, it lacked their natural counterpart: cheese.

They chose a location for their C’est Cheese shop near downtown, with an artisan bakery right next door that could supply their bread needs. The store and lunch café opened in December 2003, and by keeping their overhead low (i.e., staffing it themselves), the couple met or exceeded the sales expectations in their business plan, and have kept the operation in the black ever since.

C’est Cheese stocks about 120 different types of cheese and over two dozen cured meats, as well as domestic and imported wines and beers, patés, regional olives, oils and vinegars, chocolate truffles and other sweets, crackers, teas, honeys, and more. They prepare gift boxes and offer a cheese-of-the-month club.

20 | Albion College Io Triumphe!

PHOTOS COURTESY OF M. GRAHAM

Reviews have been nothing but positive since their opening. Food & Wine magazine says that C’est Cheese is “one of the best cheese shops in California.” Actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus singled out their truffle salt in an online piece on her favorite indulgences. A New York Times reviewer loves their Pasolivo tangerine-infused olive oil and “fragrant” truffled grilled cheese sandwich. About C’est Cheese, one online fan says, “It’s like an ice creamery in the sense that you get to taste whatever you want before you commit to a cheese.”

C’est Cheese staff prepare picnic packs for hikers, beachgoers, or those heading to outdoor concerts, create custom cheese platters for reception catering, and they offer a twice-monthly Cheese School to help build customer loyalty. With close to 300 fresh artisanal cheeses from 10 different countries available to order, their cheese list is so big, it’s on an Excel spreadsheet on their website, www.cestcheese.com.

The business does no advertising, depending on word-of-mouth marketing. The mailing list for their regular e-newsletter now contains over 4,000 addresses. There are 11 restaurants in Santa Barbara that offer items from C’est Cheese for their cheese plate selections, and eight wineries and wine stores in the area that serve C’est Cheese products at their wine-tasting events.

When the adjacent bakery closed, the Grahams decided the time was right for expansion.

Their café will now have 70 seats, and they’re increasing their sales space as well. And, says Michael, their staff will grow from its present 10 to 30. “That’s the thing that scares me most,” he confesses.

“We will be expanding our current lunch offerings into a full-service breakfast and lunch café,” Michael adds, “and within a year will be open as a wine bar at night.” Baked goods will be made on site daily.

Michael credits his economics and management major—and two years of accounting classes— with helping him make a success of managing the business, ranking that education equally important to his love of cheese in the venture’s success. For their cheese education, Michael says he and Kathryn “read all the books, ate a lot of cheese, and talked to a lot of people.”

They took a trip through California before they opened the shop in order to visit places where they could observe artisan cheese being created.

Suffice it to say, they know their cheese!

And we’ve got more.

Albion alumni clearly have an affinity for food—and the business sense to go with it. Here’s a sampling of some of our other alumni food and beverage purveyors who have found their niche in the marketplace. Check out their websites and feast your eyes on menus ranging from haute gourmet to down home cooking as well as offerings of specialty and organic foods.

Jason Branham, ’98 Maíz Mexican Cantina Ann Arbor, Michigan www.maizmexican.com

James Mantone, ’94 Syncline Wine Cellars Lyle, Washington www.synclinewine.com

Scotty Bruce, ’08 Mi Farm Market Ellsworth, Michigan mifarmmarket.com

Sherri Pirie, ’85 Great Lakes Ice Cream Company Midland, Michigan www.greatlakesicecreamcompany.com

Peter Gurney, ’96, and Katie Gurney Reskevics, ’99 Gurney’s Harbor Bottle Shop Harbor Springs, Michigan

Gina Pritchard, ’85 Gina’s Pizza and Deli Albion, Michigan ginaspizzadeli.com

Jill Johnson, ’85 Crane Dance Farm Middleville, Michigan www.cranedancefarm.com

B.J. Stone, ’75 Stone’s Cove KitBar Owings Mills, Maryland Herndon, Virginia www.stonescove.com

Matthew Jonna, ’94 Plum Market Chicago, Illinois Ann Arbor and Bloomfield, Michigan www.plummarket.com

Kelly Kobus Toland, ’07 A Piece O’ Cake! and Le Bon Macaron East Lansing, Michigan www.apieceocake.com

Nicole Haas Kollock, ’99 Savory Pear Boutique Catering San Franciso, California www.savorypear.com

Kirk Warner, ’94 Kirk’s Traveling Kitchen St. Louis, Missouri www.travelingkitchen.com

Abe Loper, ’01 The White Hart & Blackwater Coffee Company Lynchburg, Virginia www.thewhitehartcoffee.com

Fall-Winter 2013-14 | 21

Starry Starry Night

22 | Albion College Io Triumphe!

After 130 years, Albion’s historic observatory still offers heavenly views.

Samuel Dickie would have felt right at home.

Dickie, the Albion astronomy professor who spearheaded the construction of the observatory on the Quad in 1883 and later became the College’s president, would have appreciated the enthusiasm for stargazing shown by guests who came to celebrate the observatory’s 130th anniversary during Homecoming, Oct. 11-12. Some of the visitors, members of southeast Michigan “steampunk” groups, also honored the occasion by donning top hats and other Victorian garb.

“The observatory is one of the few original surviving examples of 19th-century astronomical buildings and instruments in the U.S.—and the only one in Michigan,” says Albion physics professor Nicolle Zellner.

Zellner, who teaches the College’s astronomy courses and is an active researcher in the field, opens the historic observatory for public observing events several times each year, in addition to the observing she and her students do at the College’s modern Baird Observatory atop Palenske Hall.

The centerpiece of the old observatory is the 8-inch Alvan Clark & Sons refracting telescope.

The building’s equipment also includes the original Fauth and Company sidereal clock, transit telescope, and chronograph. The dome still rotates to provide a 360-degree view of the heavens. Alvan Clark was the premier builder of telescopes in America at the end of the 19th century, and it is possible that he personally worked on Albion’s telescope.

“The optics on this telescope are perfect,” Zellner says. “I especially enjoy using it to look at the moon and planets.”

Samuel Dickie’s plan to build an observatory reflected the increased priority for science instruction that was emerging in American higher education at the time. In his December 1882 proposal to the College’s Board of Trustees, he wrote that “the erection and equipment of an astronomical observatory . . . would be of great value to us (1) by materially increasing our facilities for instruction and (2) by adding dignity and reputation to the College.” He asked for the authority “to solicit a sum of not less than $10,000 from not more than one hundred persons or firms” to make his project a reality, and with the board’s approval he raised the funds needed so that construction could begin in late 1883. The new addition to the Quad was dedicated in June 1884.

In addition to its retractable dome, the observatory structure included a classroom, offices, and an astronomical observation room on the second floor. The masonry base for the Clark telescope is actually independent of the building and is anchored in the bedrock three stories below to minimize vibration.

Numerous efforts have been made to restore the telescope and keep it in working order over the years. In 1936,

Marvin Vann, ’40, persuaded President John Seaton to refurbish the telescope.

Additional work, much of it driven by students, was done in 1965 and again from the 1990s to the 2000s. The observatory was dedicated as a Michigan historic site May 3, 1985, at the time of Albion College’s sesquicentennial celebration.

Over the years, the observatory’s main floor has served variously as a classroom, World War I barracks, cooperative bookstore, departmental office, and repository for the College archives. It is now the home for the Prentiss M. Brown Honors Institute.

“Science should not be isolated from history,” Zellner observes. “We learn from our past and build on the accomplishments and discoveries of others. With working historical instruments, we gain a greater appreciation of how science has been done across the centuries.”

Historical information for this article was provided by Nicolle Zellner, associate professor of physics, and Nicole Garrett Smeltekop, College archivist, as well as a history of the observatory by Bruce Annett, ’74.

The Physics Department and Astronomy Club have planned several public events during 2013-14, including a public lecture in the spring to celebrate the 210th anniversary of the birth of Alvan Clark. Check www. albion.edu/physics for more information.

Fall-Winter 2013-14 | 23

ALUMNI ASSOCIATION NEWS Stephanie Ferguson Master, ’90, was just one of many alumni who brought their families along for the Detroit Tigers game vs. the Chicago White Sox at Comerica Park July 9. Class years from 1956 to 2016 were represented among the 75 current students, alumni, parents, and friends in attendance.

Diamond Days

Count the ways ...you can assist as an admission volunteer 1. Represent Albion at a college fair 2. Host an admission event 3. Attend an admission event 4. Assist at a local high school information session 5. Provide information about high schools in your area The Admission Office welcomes your support in bringing talented students to Albion. Find more information and indicate your interest in volunteering at: www.albion.edu/admission/volunteer.

24 | Albion College Io Triumphe!

Over 40 Denver area alumni and friends joined Hal Roth, ’72 (to left of flag), executive vice president of the Colorado Rockies, at Coors Field for the Rockies’ game vs. the St. Louis Cardinals Sept. 16. Other special guests included Brook McClintic Griese, ’97 (to right of flag), and her husband, former NFL quarterback Brian Griese (back row, center).

Getting on the Right Path

Albion alumni and friends, including Barrett Henson, ’07, and Glenn Corliss, ’61, made their presence known at Target Field in Minneapolis as the Twins took on the Detroit Tigers on a picture-perfect evening June 14. The Tigers’ fans went home happy with a 4-0 win.

First-year student Paul Johnson discussed international business careers with Keith Roberts, ’81, during the Briton Career Connections fair Oct. 11. Twenty-three alumni and parents representing careers in health care, science and engineering, law, accounting, business management, and education served as resource people for the event. Learn how you can become involved as an alumni mentor at: www.albion.edu/careerdev.

What a weekend!

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From Friday’s Distinguished Alumni Awards and Hall of Fame inductions to a warm and sunny Saturday of reuniting, reminiscing, and reveling in the parade, the picnic on the Quad, and the football team’s 41-27 victory over Trine (not to mention the many other activities), Homecoming 2013 was truly one for the books.

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3

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1 - Pictured with Interim President Mike Frandsen (center) are the 2013 Distinguished Alumni Award recipients: Dennis Wahr, ’74, Doug Armstrong, ’88, Doug Parker, ’84, Norma Taber, ’78, Marty Nesbitt, ’85, and Joe Serra, ’82. To learn more about this year’s winners, go to: www.albion.edu/homecoming.

D. LAWRENCE PHOTOS

5 5 - Returning for the 50th reunion of the Class of 1963 were: (front row, left to right) Meredith Woods, Karen Evans, Janet Hover Preston, Judy Case Kingsley, Judy Maschmeyer Poole, Karen Appelt Horlings, Ellen Oswald Force, Mary Jane McDonald Williams, Jan Parmelee Taylor, Pat Hamilton Duguid, Louann Pirtle Pearson, Ruth Eppler Wills, Donna Derwick Harms, Margie Uhrie Higgins, Tamara Transue Royle, Karen Greenwood Russell, Lori Carney Konecki, Sue Miller Redfield, Tom Lutz, Bill Harrison. (Second row) Phil Willis, Jack Long, Nancy Patton Scott, Helen Scott Crandall, Stephen Jones, Jane Conklin Eaton, Linda LoPrete Carlson, Barbara Purdo Terrell, Deborah Hutchings Martens, Nancy Parsons Smith, Marty Stiff Wallace, Sue Wagoner Clay, Joanne Hulbert Dewey. (Third row) Douglas Nott, ’64, George Ransford, Bruce Taylor, Ron Parker, Kay Evans Bruns, Cathy Noble Downs, Karen Munro Vournakis, ’66, Joyce Livak Benjamins, Marcia Black Bamber. (Fourth row) David Keefer, Kathreen Zinnecker Iseler, Joanna Norris Burton, Louise Starr Kleinsmith, Gail Sedrick Reed, Marcia Tjossem Muller. (Fifth row) Bruce Martens, Bill Shoskey, Mark Hector, Jerry Heiman, Mary Maynard Place, Barbara Schreiber FitzPatrick, Judy Schnell Stone, Joan Scott Judd, Pat Cattell Coe, Mary Ann Lyons McNamar. (Sixth row) Bill Goudie, James Catto, Steve Kinsley, George Elsener, William Bremer, Bob Place, Margaret Chapman Lyons, Nancy Lenz Bedell, Jim Royle.

(Seventh row, right-hand steps) Jim Kingsley, Paul Haight, Jim Russell, Bob Maxfield, Ed Coe, John Porter.

2 - Tom Long (left) led his Class of 1968 to the highest total giving for a reunion class in the inaugural year of the Race for the Shield competition. Honors for the highest giving participation went to the Class of 1963 under giving leaders Jim and Tamara Transue Royle, Louise Starr Kleinsmith, and Gail Sedrick Reed.

To see all of the reunion class results, go to: www.albion.edu/reuniongiving.

3 - The Homecoming parade featured the British Eighth, student organization entries, and the weekend’s alumni honorees including Hall of Fame inductee Jeff Brooks, ’94, pictured with his wife, Elena, and their children, Mark and Mary.

For information on all of the 2013 Hall of Famers, see www.albion.edu/hof.

4 - The Quad was “Homecoming Central” with activities for the whole family.

Fall-Winter 2013-14 | 25

Io Triumphe!

VICE PRESIDENT FOR INSTITUTIONAL ADVANCEMENT Joshua Merchant EDITOR Sarah Briggs CONTRIBUTING WRITERS David Lawrence, Bobby Lee, Michelle Mueller, Jake Weber CLASS NOTES WRITERS Luann Shepherd, James Fiorvento, Matthew Kleinow DESIGNER Katherine Mueting Hibbs MARKETING/COMMUNICATIONS John Thompson, John Perney, David Lawrence Io Triumphe! is published twice annually by the Office of Marketing and Communications.It is distributed free to alumni and friends of the College.

Letters to the editor may be sent to: Office of Marketing and Communications Albion College 611 E. Porter Street Albion, MI 49224 communications@albion.edu www.albion.edu ABOUT OUR NAME The unusual name for this publication comes from a yell written by members of the Class of 1900. The beginning words of the yell, “Io Triumphe!,” were probably borrowed from the poems of the Roman writer, Horace.

In 1936, the alumni of Albion College voted to name their magazine after the yell which by then had become a College tradition.

For years, Albion’s incoming students have learned these lines by heart: Io Triumphe! Io Triumphe!

Haben swaben rebecca le animor Whoop te whoop te sheller de-vere De-boom de ral de-i de-pa— Hooneka henaka whack a whack A-hob dob balde bora bolde bara Con slomade hob dob rah!

Al-bi-on Rah! FIND MORE ONLINE: www.albion.edu

Connect with students, faculty, staff, and alumni through Albion College’s social media channels.

Office of Marketing and Communications 611 East Porter Street Albion, MI 49224

On State Street, that great street…

D. LAWRENCE PHOTO

A Career Visions trip to Chicago gave these students a taste of careers ranging from broadcast media and advertising to event planning and finance. Albion alumni, including Danni Wysocki, ’10 (far left), a producer at Comcast SportsNet Chicago, advised the students on how best to prepare for a career in their field. The trip also opened doors to future internship opportunities. Troy Kase (far right), director of Albion’s Career and Internship Center, has connected students with alumni through programs on campus as well.