Sic
vos non vobis mellificatis apes
— So
d o yo u b e e s m a k e ho n e y , n o t f o r yo u rs e lv e s .
Virgil
2021 Newsletter of the Signet Society of Harvard College 46 Dunster Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 • 617-547-0526 • SignetSociet y.org
A h , the H appy S ound of Lunchtime Laughter
S
ay, this is more like it! The Signet reopened on the first of September with 17 returning members (usually 35-40), most of whom had only been drones for a mere three weeks in March of 2020 before the pandemic forced them home and the Hive into a quiet, lonely hibernation. There was much to do. Our plucky band of restarters swiftly set about their main task of repopulating the Signet. In five short weeks of our open-admissions process, they inducted 26 new electees from our largestever pool of 119 applicants—just 21.8%, which might well be the highest selectivity of any Harvard undergraduate organization. Their standards are high. Our membership now includes practictioners of so many of the arts and letters—poets, writers of fiction, philosophers, filmmakers, actors, a drummer/ composer, a cellist/conductor, a graphic designer, comedy writers & performers, painters, photographers, a sculptor, and a professional actress & model. We are again a home for the arts at Harvard. To all our donors who supported us through the past 18 lean months: thank you! And if you’ve thought about giving, this year is a great time. Please donate! {
Returning to Harvard After 45 Years
W
hen Ruth Streeter ’76 arrived on campus in 1972, she joined the first class of Radcliffe women who were allowed to live in Harvard Yard. 200 women and 1,000 men lived in the Yard that first year, and all the men had read up on each of the women: years later, when Streeter met the man from the Class of 1976 who would become her second husband, he knew exactly who she was. (She didn’t remember him.)
Now, after more than 35 years producing 60 Minutes, Ruth has returned to Harvard as a Fellow at the Advanced Leadership Initiative. The ALI prepares an interdisciplinary cohort of leaders to spend the next phase of their careers working to address social issues—perhaps climate change, democracy, or public health. “Of course,” says Ruth, “there’s a lot to learn at Harvard from the Ruth Streeter, Class of 1976 very accomplished experts who are giving the lectures—but you want space to learn from each other, too.” One way Ruth has been finding that space: slipping back into undergraduate classrooms, thesis film screenings, and rehearsals. “I do miss the creative joy of being in the editing room, working with visual images to tell these stories.” So she wrote to every member of the Harvard film department. “I told them I needed to get my hands on some film!” Ruth has also found it meaningful to watch the way current students move through these hallowed halls. “Four of the kids in my medieval studies class introduced themselves as freshmen women. I was already amazed at that, that freshmen got themselves into this class, and then in the first week of class they were raising their hands! We never would have felt like we could do that, maybe not any time in our first semester here. It’s their confidence,” she says, that’s most surprising. “It’s strange to be back at Harvard, looking around and seeing all these past layers of yourself. When I was here, we felt so overwhelmed,