Sic
vos non vobis mellificatis apes
— So
d o yo u b e es m a k e h o n e y , n o t f o r yo u r se lv e s .
Virgil
2019 Newsletter of the Signet Society of Harvard College 4 6 D u n s t e r S t r e e t , C a m b r i d g e , M a ss a c h u s e t t s 0 2 1 3 8 • 6 1 7 - 5 4 7 - 0 5 2 6 • S i g n e t S o c i e t y . o r g
Hooray—We’re 150 Years Old! To The Society! In 1870, a small group of Harvard undergraduates, unsatisfied with the fraternities and other social clubs on campus, banded together and decided to form a new society. We wonder whether the first members of the Signet, the class of 1871, had any idea what the Society would look like a century and a half later. As far as we know, the members of the Signet as early as 1881 met on Friday evenings “for a cup of chocolate and an hour or two of conversation,” and elected undergraduates who distinguished themselves by their academic achievement. It would be decades before the Signet became known as a home for literary-minded undergraduates and faculty to come together in conversation over food, but by December of 1970, the Crimson described the Signet in print as “a luncheon club where faculty and students meet to discuss the fine arts and humanities.” (The newsworthy event? “Signet Society’s Barriers Opened To Admit Women,” a change that was officially voted upon just months after our Centennial Dinner that April—and just late enough that the women who had been provisionally elected by the undergraduates beginning in 1965 went unlisted and unmentioned in the centennial catalogue of members, and in the otherwise obsessively detailed “Short History of the Signet Society.”) Since 1870 and then 1970, the Signet has reinvented itself dozens of times over. Our undergraduates tend to elect new members who create art as well as discuss it, who write poetry as well as dissect it, and who direct plays as well as attend them. They
drink more coffee than hot chocolate. They are as likely to host Open Mic Nights that expand the Society’s passion for the arts to the wider Harvard community as they are to invite distinguished literary talents to speak at Library Dinner – which is to say, they do both, frequently and excellently. They create art and live it—like we all have, and may still now! Our Annual Dinner on April 25th, 2020, will be a celebration of the arts, the writing, and the conversation that connects our community across the generations. We are thrilled to be presenting the Signet Medal to Nicholas Britell ’03, Agnes Chu ’02, and Natalie Portman ’03—a generation of Signet brilliance. We’re doing so in the rooftop ballroom of Boston’s historic Omni Parker House, thinking that this year more of us might want to celebrate. The Parker House was founded in 1855, so they know the actual names of sesquicentenary events. Alas, no guarantees of a rooftop skyline sunset, but we are promised a healthy dose of Bostonian literary, artistic, and historic gravitas. Longfellow, Emerson, and Whittier held a weekly salon there, Dickens wrote and performed A Christmas Carol there, Judy Garland sang, JFK courted Jackie, Ho Chi Minh bused tables, Malcolm X cooked, Mayor Curley had his own table, and now we’ll all be there! If you can’t join us in April, check the back page of this newsletter for a list of events that Signet grads are hosting in cities across the country. We’d love to see you there or here in Cambridge. Our next 150 years is starting soon.
In Our Own Words The Signet wouldn’t be turning 150 if each generation hadn’t carried on a belief in the importance of literature and the arts. Our alumni have a tendency to speak quite beautifully about their time in the Signet once they are looking back at it from their post-graduate lives. We’ve gathered a few of their words here, and many more in the Fifth Catalogue of the Signet Society. Come pick up your copy at Annual Dinner this April, and join us as we toast the Society!
In those days we had lunch every day and we had whatever we wanted to drink. This was the early 1950s and we drank gin. —Jim Storey ’53 The conversations over lunch opened me up. I learned not to limit creativity to the useless arts: it’s fundamental to engineering, social science, and mathematics. And I learned that asking people about what they’re working on is always more exciting than talking about your own projects.
—Amy Brenneman ’86 It was and still is a perfect place to connect. —Liz Walker ’11 Each time I strode into the old, yellow, lopsided Signet with its
Signet Trivia! a. Who was the Speaker at our Centennial Dinner in 1970? b. Who are the four Signet members commemorated on US postage stamps? c. What year did Julia Child serve as Toastmaster at our Christmas Dinner?
—Martha Ritter ’70 Speaking to a group of students, André Gregory once said, “With a few friends, and a tiny room, and time, you can make miracles.” This conceivably odd notion of performing for just a few people in a room that is well-loved and well lived-in does not strike me as odd at all. At the Signet Society, that was what we did every week. We brought our best work to a very small audience, and then we drank and laughed together. —Winsome Brown ’95
d. How much were early undergraduate secretaries fined for not submitting their reports in rhyme?
a. Norman Mailer ’43
—Bruce Boucher ’70
Turns out a life in the arts is so audacious and such a high wire act, it is insane to think of being alone in the endeavor. The creative harrumph, the lost in the woods feeling, the wonder of collaboration, the depths of self-loathing. And through it all, the jewel of staying non-jaded. Of knowing that art can, and will, save our lives over and over and over in ways that we can’t even imagine. How grateful I am that this belief was nurtured in that clapboard building in Cambridge, where so many lovers of art—and Scotch—had come before.
b. Theodore Roosevelt ’81, Robert Frost ’01, Franklin D. Roosevelt ’03, T.S. Eliot ’10
As a member of the class of 1970, I recall a lot of political discussions at lunch and often in the evening. Even so, we managed to enjoy ourselves, and my Signet friends have remained close ever since.
—Tim Reckart ’09
heritage of scribblers and other art souls, I felt immense comfort. I felt understood. Yes, I was against the war. I hated the isms and wanted to fight them all. But I also could crank out words with some dexterity. I could morph into Lysistrata on stage. Amid the bloody mayhem, the guys in the Signet understood that you could be an artist no matter what. We shared a conviction: it was okay to write, to act, to make music while the world fell apart. Being an artist was an unwavering gig.
c. 1976
—Amanda Keidan ’99
Wake up! There’s life after college and more ideas than you can possibly ever discuss! Forget the grade, think of the world you’re studying! And pass the butternut squash soup!
d. Two dollars
I remember feeling well fed both physically and metaphorically, by delicious food, and by the conversations and interests I shared with other members. I also remember feeling challenged. Many of you were on your game. As I remember, talk seemed to match action.
Grad Feature: Our Growing Member Library It is always a delight to hear from our grads who have new books to add to our library. If you publish a book, send us a copy! We love adding Signet authors to our shelves. A few of the books that our Librarians have shelved this year: Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, the Last Trial of Harper Lee by Casey Cep ’07 Hotbox: Inside Catering, the Food World’s Riskiest Business by Matt Lee ’91 & Ted Lee Near, At by Jennifer Soong ’14
Senior Theses from the Signet Class of 2019 Ariana Akbari An Interdisciplinary Dialectic: Creating New Conceptions of Space and Humanity Through Azra Akšamija’s Mosque Manifesto: Propositions for Spaces of Coexistence, 2015 History of Art & Architecture and Comparative Study of Religion Priya Amin There’s A Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow: Disney’s Edutainment and Corporate Sponsorships During the Cold War with animated documentary “Remembering Tomorrowland” Visual and Environment Studies and History and Science Jacob Bindman Surveying Harvard Dining: An Architectural and Mathematical Assessment of University Dining Services and Spaces Applied Math Alexandra Caffrey* Swinging the Swing State: Political Organizing in Florida’s I-4 Corridor Government Marella Gayla† Watching Paint Dry: How Boston Tradesmen Invented Home Renovation Television History & Literature Spencer Glesby “To Build Towers and Sing Hymns”: William Beckford’s Spaces of Identity History of Art and Architecture *Hoopes Prize recipient
†Bowdoin Prize recipient
Minahil Khan Authenticity and the POC Writer: A Creative Exploration via the Wright-Hurston Debate African & African American Studies and History & Literature Grace Li In the Violet: A Collection of Short Stories on Chinese American Girlhood English and Ethnicity, Migration, Rights Molly Nolan “Open Spaces”: Settler Colonialism, Cold War Nuclear Testing, and the Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara of South Australia History & Literature Sarah Rossman Musings on Madness: An Exploration of the Ethical and Technique-Related Parameters of Portrayals of Mental Illness From The Actor’s Perspective and A Reflection on Playing Diana Goodman in Next To Normal Theater, Dance, and Media Carla Troconis “El Pueblo Dividido Jamas Sera Vencido”: The Connection Between Integration and Opposition Participation in the Venezuelan Diaspora of South Florida Government Nicholas Whittaker On Black Screaming as An Ontological Possibility (At the End of the World): A Phenomenological Definition of the Black Horror Aesthetic Philosophy
From Coat Closet to Membership Office If you’ve stopped by the Hive any time in the last ten years, you might have glimpsed the old coat room, converted to an odd storage office with dirty pink walls, bad lighting and way too much stuff. This summer, inspired by the impact that our new foyer had on our spirits, we rolled up our sleeves and gave this southwest corner of the Hive a little love. Now, the walls glow a warm golden yellow, the sills and moulding are cream-colored and succulent-laden, and the shelves look better than they have in a decade—aesthetically and organizationally! The new light fixture pendants and a period wall-mounted fan coordinate with planters, window blinds, and bulletin boards. If you have been thinking about re-organizing your workspace or your studio, we cannot recommend highly enough that you take every item out, clean thoroughly, paint the place, throw 2/3 of the stuff out, and then replace things one by one, only as needed. Then add two happy occupants, and you’ve got a Membership Office!
Toast the Signet’s 150th at an Event Near You! Whether or not you think you’ll make it back here in April, we hope you’ll stop by a Signet reunion event in your area. These events are not ticketed, nor are they fundraisers—just RSVP, so we know how many hors d’oeuvres to make, and then show up to celebrate. New York, NY: November 11th, 2019 San Francisco, CA: December 5th, 2019 London, England: January 2020 Los Angeles, CA: January 31st, 2020 Washington, D.C.: February 6th, 2020 Philadelphia, PA: early 2020 We’ll be emailing invitations to these local reunions based on your mailing address. If you don’t have an email address on file with us, if you’re moving, or if you’d like to hear about events in other cities, please let us know at office@signetsociety.org. We can’t wait to see you! Postal invitations to the annual dinner weekend will be mailed in January, and the website www.AnnualDinner.org will go live then, as well.
S A V E T H E D A T E ! S AT U R D A Y A P R I L 2 5 2 0 2 0 SIGNET ANNUAL DINNER OMNI PARKER HOUSE
Executive Committee Prof. Thomas Forrest Kelly, President Bryan Eric Simmons ’83, Vice-President Thomas F. Moore ’98, Treasurer John H. Finley IV ’92, Clerk Matthew C. Lee ’91, At Large Finance Committee Thomas F. Moore ’98, Chair Christopher Laconi Winthrop G. Minot ’71 Geoffrey H. Movius ’62 House Committee Bryan Eric Simmons ’83, Chair Stephen Coit ’71 Steve Ekert ’20 Mark S. Hruby ’78 Prof. John Stilgoe Kat Zhou ’17 Board of Associates Jill Abramson ’76 Susan Stevenson Borowitz ’81 Mimi Brown ’97 Stephen Coit ’71 Prof. Diana Eck John W. Gillespie, Jr. ’76 Sam Hagen ’18 Joel Henning ’61 Kenneth M. Kaufman ’69 Amanda Keidan ’99 Prof. Thomas Forrest Kelly Daniel Kim ’97 Christopher Laconi Matthew C. Lee ’91 Winthrop G. Minot ’71 Thomas F. Moore ’98 Geoffrey H. Movius ’62 Philip Munger ’95 Patrick O’Donnell ’67 Bryan Eric Simmons ’83 Prof. John Stilgoe Artist-in-Residence Kathleen Zhou ’17 Membership Coordinator Julia Steigerwald Schnall ’18 Chef Donna Coppola Secretary Mark Hruby ’78