FALL 2020
BOLD. STRONG. TOGETHER.
Alumnae healthcare workers tell their stories from the frontlines CRISIS AND RESILIENCE
REEXAMINING THE 19TH AMENDMENT
A LAST WORD ON PROTEST
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Sketchbook:
A Conversation With Ceramicist Lilian Wu Finckel ’16
by Nicole Anderson ’12JRN
The mixed-media artist, teacher, and program director at Chinatown Soup fills us in on her inspirations and creative process.
Features
Departments 2 Letters
3 From President Beilock 4 From the Editor 5 Dispatches Headlines Quaranzines; Women Leaders; the Class of 2024 First Person Symposium: Writing by Barnard alumnae Wit & Whimsy If Famous Writers Wrote Class Notes
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Cover Story: Barnard’s Faces of the Frontlines by Laura Raskin ’10JRN Alumnae healthcare workers offer courage and compassion during the pandemic
15 Discourses Arts & Letters Growing Up, in Dog Years
History Lesson
Suffrage at 100: A History Reexamined; Mabel Ping-Hua Lee ’1916: A Pioneer of the Suffrage Movement
Bookshelf
Books by Barnard authors
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Lessons in Resilience by Mary Cunningham Barnard alumnae share how they learned to cope and forge ahead in times of crisis
39 Noteworthy Alumnae Adventures Posted Overseas Q&Author Nina Ansary ’89 AABC Pages Blue & Bold Society; Job Search During a Crisis; From the AABC President Class Notes Sources Supporting Barnard Women in the Visual Arts
Alumna Profiles
Momoko Nakamura ’04; Andrea Shepard ’77 Virtual Roundup Obituaries Madeline Kripke ’65; Lila Fenwick ’53 In Memoriam Last Word by Naomi André ’89 Crossword
Letters at a certain level; I do the New York Times puzzles seven days a week, and the simpler ones in The Week magazine. As a former class correspondent, I want to send kudos to you and all your staff! —Alice Alekman ’62
THE SPRING ISSUE On a warm Memorial Day in lockdown, I didn’t know what to read — the news too anxiety-inducing, my current novel not calling my name. I picked up my Spring issue, and wow, was it a pick-me-up! The beautiful layout and travel photos, the reminders of the women who have shaped my life, and a thread through everything of Barnard pride. Just what I needed in these strange times. I promptly picked up the phone and called two Barnard friends. Thanks to everyone who put hard work into the issue! —Beth Napleton ’00 I immediately was jolted by the magazine’s content. I knew something was different and compelling, and now I know exactly why — your redesign and the new exciting content. My 30 years at Gourmet magazine (the last as executive editor) has made me very sensitive to shifts and points of view in magazines, and I congratulate you. —Alice Rubinstein Gochman ’66 Really loved the new magazine! Thank you for having pictures of varied races and colors. That made me feel more welcomed. The articles were excellent, informative, and enjoyable. As much as I enjoy having the magazine in my hand, I do respect the earth, and I am willing to receive it digitally. (We need to save the trees.) Thanks again for your forward thinking. —Xiomara Cortés-Metcalfe ’71 It came today! Looks fabulous! A crossword puzzle? I guess I’ll tackle it — I assume it’s 2
The Spring 2020 issue is so stocked with engaging material that I am still savoring it. Among many other things in that issue, I really loved the crossword puzzle. That was fun! I do hope you will continue to run “The Last Image” to highlight visual art by Barnard artists, like how you feature books by Barnard authors in Bookshelf. Looking forward to your future Barnard Magazine issues. —Ronda Small ’72 This issue is the best ever — terrific and very interesting. Congratulations. —Marjorie Bair ’58 Just wanted to say congrats on the new [Summer] issue — it can’t have been easy to go from the new, exciting print version to confining oneself to online, but it is totally understandable. I hope the Magazine can get back on its printed feet soon! —Rona Wilk ’91 SHORTS-TERM MEMORY I remember well “The Bermuda Shorts Affair” [Spring 2020]. I was chair of Greek Games that year, and we put up signs in the bathroom stalls saying something to the effect of “Drop What You Are Doing and Enjoy Greek Games!” I was summoned by a dean and asked to take down all the posters because they were “in poor taste.” My, how times have changed! —Ruth Nemzoff ’62 CORRECTIONS The feature story in the Spring 2020 issue misstated Aliza Goldberg’s class year. She graduated in 2014, not 2013. In the same issue, we misspelled the name of the alumnae artist in our “Sketchbook” feature. She is Suze Myers ’16, not Suze Meyers ’16.
EDITORIAL EDITOR Nicole Anderson ’12JRN CREATIVE DIRECTOR David Hopson COPY EDITOR Molly Frances PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Lisa Buonaiuto WRITER Veronica Suchodolski ’19 STUDENT INTERNS Brigid Cromwell, Solby Lim ’22, Isabella Pechaty ’23, Stefani Shoreibah ’21, Danielle Slepyan ’22 ALUMNAE ASSOCIATION OF BARNARD COLLEGE
PRESIDENT & ALUMNAE TRUSTEE Amy
Veltman ’89
ALUMNAE RELATIONS Karen A. Sendler
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
ENROLLMENT AND COMMUNICATIONS
VICE PRESIDENT FOR ENROLLMENT AND COMMUNICATIONS
Jennifer G. Fondiller ’88, P’19
DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS AND SPECIAL PROJECTS
Quenta P. Vettel, APR DEVELOPMENT
VICE PRESIDENT, DEVELOPMENT AND ALUMNAE RELATIONS
Lisa Yeh
PRESIDENT, BARNARD COLLEGE Sian Leah Beilock Fall 2020, Vol. CIX, No. 4 Barnard Magazine (USPS 875-280, ISSN 1071-6513) is published quarterly by the Communications Department of Barnard College. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY, and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send change of address form to: Alumnae Records, Barnard College, Box AS, 3009 Broadway, New York, NY 10027-6598 EDITORIAL OFFICE Vagelos Alumnae Center, Barnard College, 3009 Broadway, New York, NY 10027-6598 Phone: 212-854-0085 Email: magazine@barnard.edu Opinions expressed are those of contributors or the editor and do not represent official positions of Barnard College or the Alumnae Association of Barnard College. Letters to the editor (200 words maximum), submissions for Symposium (400 words maximum), and unsolicited articles and/or photographs will be published at the discretion of the editor and will be edited for length and clarity. The contact information listed in Class Notes is for the exclusive purpose of providing information for the Magazine and may not be used for any other purpose. For alumnae-related inquiries, call Alumnae Relations at 212-854-2005 or email alumnaerelations@barnard.edu. To change your address, write to: Alumnae Records, Barnard College, Box AS, 3009 Broadway, New York, NY 10027-6598 Phone: 646-745-8344 Email: alumrecords@barnard.edu
From President Sian Leah Beilock
PHOTO BY DOROTHY HONG
Empathy in Action Three years ago, I had the great privilege of experiencing my first Barnard Convocation. It was — as I described in my letter then — a “watershed moment” because it brought into focus the very essence of what Barnard is about: a community defined by intellectual curiosity, the lively exchange of ideas, and the drive to make a positive impact on the world. While this year’s virtual Convocation looked quite different, I felt equally inspired as I listened to alumnae, colleagues, and students give a warm welcome to the newest members of our student body. As I addressed the College from Futter Field, I was reminded of Barnard’s strength and resilience. Even in the face of this year’s historic challenges, we came together to carry on this powerful tradition — energized and ready to usher in the College’s 131st academic year. Joining us as keynote speaker was investigative journalist and award-winning author Suki Kim ’92, who shared her insights and personal experiences to help frame this unique moment in time. In her writing, she exposes inequities and uncovers injustices. Activism is at the heart of her work. But in her remarks, she touched on something that’s also essential, especially now: empathy. Her message was clear and straightforward: “Empathy means embracing love as the starting point of facing your challenge,” she said. Over the past nine months, I’ve seen how empathy and activism go hand in hand. As we grapple with a global pandemic, economic hardships, and the pains caused by systemic racism, there have been countless stories of how Barnard women have stepped up to help and serve their communities. In this issue’s “Barnard’s Faces of the Frontlines,” you’ll read about Ivy Vega ’15, an occupational therapist, whose daily routine changed when the coronavirus peaked in New York City: She had to quickly pivot from providing long-term treatment to assisting colleagues caring for COVID-19 patients in critical condition. The work was demanding, but her time at Barnard, she said, gave her the tools to adapt nimbly to unforeseen circumstances. The students in our incoming Class of 2024 have demonstrated the same enterprising spirit. Audrey McNeal ’24, for instance, made history in Georgia as the youngest person from her district to become a delegate for the Democratic National Convention. McNeal’s passion for the political process mobilized her to do her part in one of the most significant elections of our time. Our faculty has also been incredibly thoughtful in creating a curriculum that probes the global and national crises we face today while inviting students to be active participants in tackling these challenges within their communities. In Professor Premilla Nadasen’s seminar COVID-19 and Care Work: An Oral History Approach, students will conduct oral histories of essential workers and learn about who they are, what their experiences have been like, and the risks they shoulder. When COVID-19 forced us to social distance this past spring, many of our own staff, from custodians to IT specialists, continued to come to campus to do their jobs. Thanks to their dedication and hard work, the College was able to thrive as we transitioned to remote learning. These members of Barnard — like so many of you — have shown a keen ability to employ their talents to lead and care for others, calling to mind these words of the late Supreme Court justice and feminist icon Ruth Bader Ginsburg, CLS ’59: “If you want to be a true professional, you will do something outside yourself.” At Barnard, each day, I am fortunate to witness a community of true professionals in action. B FALL 2020 | BARNARD MAGAZINE 3
From the Editor
A Legacy of Service A few months ago, while we were planning for the Fall issue, I went down a rabbit hole and found myself deep in the digital collections of Barnard’s archives. I was entranced. On my computer, I flipped through the old issues of the Barnard Bulletin and the Magazine. And then I landed on the Class of 1920’s Mortarboard yearbook. It is a fascinating trove of photographs, stories, and memories, revealing snapshots of Barnard during this historic period. These students, during their four years, lived through World War I, the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic, the first Red Scare, and riots. I learned that in the fall of 1919, one-half of the undergraduate body was registered to do Red Cross Work; 55 students signed up for emergency war work; and 32 alumnae volunteered to do war service abroad. These students and alums faced much adversity, but what comes through in these pages is how they persevered and came together to support each other and serve their country. A century later, we find ourselves in similarly extraordinary times, and like these women, so many of you have exhibited the same fortitude and generosity of spirit, which brings me to the Fall issue. When we first started to conceptualize the content for the magazine, we asked ourselves a series of questions: What stories need to be told, who should tell them, and how? Immediately, we knew that we wanted to highlight Barnard’s alumnae healthcare workers who’ve served on the frontlines of the pandemic. In this feature, five Barnard grads graciously share their experiences: They tell us about the physically and emotionally challenging moments, the inequities laid bare before their very eyes by the COVID-19 crisis, and how Barnard prepared them for this difficult work. In these profiles, service takes many forms, from providing support and care packages to other medical professionals to helping the most vulnerable populations get treatment and meals, just as nurse practitioner Susanne Johnson ’07 did as the associate medical director of a community health center in Camden, N.J. Whether an emergency room doctor caring for patients or a student processing the pandemic through zine-making (page 6), members of the Barnard community have demonstrated an ability to recover and adapt to changing circumstances. In our feature “Lessons in Resilience,” you’ll read about how Barnard women, across generations, learned to cope with hardship during their lifetimes. Through support networks and routine, humor and activism, they were able to overcome the stresses and pains of traumatic events, including world wars and global health crises. As you leaf through this issue, I hope you have the same sense of discovery as I did when I was digging into the archives and that you also find some reassurance in knowing you’re part of a community with a long-standing tradition of meeting challenges with bravery and kindness. These stories, like those that appear in the Class of 1920’s Mortarboard, are not only a window into Barnard’s legacy of service but also a record of its resilience. B
Nicole Anderson ’12JRN, Editor
Dispatches News. Musings. Insights.
6 Headlines 10 First Person 13 Wit & Whimsy
A close-up of the stained-glass window in Milbank Hall. FALL 2020 | BARNARD MAGAZINE 5
Headlines
Barnard Library Collects ‘Quaranzines’ During the COVID-19 Pandemic by Anna Fixsen ’13JRN
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Being on campus during quarantine has been a strange experience. Especially the first few months, when the halls, the buildings, the streets were all totally empty — very sci-fi. But like everyone else who’s been here throughout it, I’ve had a job to do, and I’ve been very fortunate to be able to come in and take care of the greenhouse. It’s a privilege to have that responsibility, and in return it’s given me something to focus on and to look forward to. I can’t wait for everyone to be back, and I hope it raises their spirits to see that everything is just as they left it. —Nick Gershberg, Administrator, Arthur Ross Greenhouse
STARS Aligned This fall, Barnard received a STARS Silver rating in recognition of its sustainability achievements from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE). STARS — the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System — measures and encourages sustainability in all aspects of higher education. The College has an established history of prioritizing campus sustainability. In 2019, Barnard released its Climate Action Vision, a living document that outlines a 360-degree approach to elevate the role of women, people of color, and low-income communities in defining new paradigms for climate leadership.
QUARANZINE PHOTOS COURTESY OF MIAROSA CIALLELLA
As the coronavirus pandemic swept across the globe earlier this year, with stay-at-home orders hot on its heels, people found their own ways to self-soothe amid feelings of uncertainty, loss, and just plain boredom. Some sought relief in creature comforts like Cap’n Crunch and Netflix. Others found solace in more creative outlets. Enter the “quaranzine,” 2020-speak for handmade, self-published booklets created during life under lockdown. These ephemeral, small-batch publications (a riff on the zine format that became hallmarks of riot grrrl, punk, and “do-it-yourself” subcultures) provide a glimpse into both daily and inner life over the pandemic’s course, often through essays, comics, found images, and collage. Barnard Library, recognizing the importance of these items as artistic and historical artifacts, is actively collecting quaranzines as a part of its permanent collection of some 11,000 zines. “I thought the zine DIY ethos fit perfectly with the concept of people creating their own history of this strange time,” explains Jenna Freedman, curator of the Barnard Zine Library. Though zines are traditionally analog products, quaranzine making gained traction online as artists disseminated their work on social media as part of an independent, virtual #quaranzinefest in early April (tagline: “Inoculate against boredom”). Freedman — after noticing the quaranzines propagate online and the efforts of Barnard media specialist Karl-Mary Akre to document students’ experiences through audio and video — offered to purchase them for the Zine Library’s collection, with a special emphasis on the experiences of women and nonbinary people. “I called the request for zines, ‘Who Better to Document This Experience Than Everyone?’” Freedman says. To date, the Zine Library has amassed 200 quaranzines from artists around the world, including those in the Barnard community. Gabi Levy ’22’s contribution, “Empty Chairs at Empty Continued on page 82
President Beilock in Conversation with Inspiring Women Leaders By Veronica Suchodolski ’19 The “Insights: Powered by Barnard” series was created in response to the evident need for both guidance and community in light of the uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Each month, the series — which is presented by Beyond Barnard — brings major industry leaders to the Barnard community through exclusive online events that reaffirm the College’s commitment to providing a high-caliber, lifelong education to its students and alumnae.
“The Insights series gives our students and alumnae the opportunity to learn firsthand from top women leaders across industries. I look forward to what future innovative Insights speakers will contribute to our vibrant intellectual community.”
Below, find highlights from the summer’s Insights guests. The full stories can be read on barnard.edu.
—President Sian Leah Beilock
Vernā Myers ’82, founder of the Vernā Myers Company and vice president of inclusion strategy at Netflix: “Here’s how we’re going to keep [the Black Lives Matter movement] going: Every one of us is going to commit to keep it going. It’s not that magical. ... There are things that are happening, and they’re happening because each person is asking themselves, ‘What should I do? And how can I make a difference?’”
Stacey Abrams, founder of Fair Fight Action: “If your vote didn’t matter, they wouldn’t be working so hard to stop people from voting. … We have to remember that everything in our society is determined by a representative democracy, and if we aren’t represented, our democracy doesn’t see us.”
Maria Hinojosa ’84, founding anchor and executive producer of NPR’s Latino USA: “You have got to convince yourself that you are [all] that. Everybody is insecure, so you’re not the only one. I think the message from my book is I hope you realize that we don’t have time for the imposter syndrome anymore. We need you.”
Martha Stewart ’63, P’87, founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia: “One of my favorite mottos is, ‘When you’re through changing, you’re through.’ Change is good, change might be frightening, it might be difficult, but it’s really good in the long run if you have that entrepreneurial spirit and you’re a real hard worker.”
Dara RichardsonHeron, M.D., ’85, chief patient officer of Pfizer Inc.: “I ground myself in knowing that there is a reason why I am in the room, so I need to make it count. … So if you know what your passion is, you gotta go after it with a vengeance because you can’t wait for someone to serve it up on a platter for you.”
FALL 2020 | BARNARD MAGAZINE 7
Barnard Welcomes the Class of 2024!
Meet the phenomenal first-years who make up the College’s most diverse class ever.
Barnard’s newest additions are arriving from all over the world, with 12% of students representing 27 different countries — Brazil, India, Mexico, Spain, and Turkey among them — and 42 U.S. states, as well as Washington, D.C. 8
This year, Barnard once again received an increased number of applications — 9,411, up from 9,320 last year — and selected 13% of these exceptional students. Of the 1,223 young women admitted this year, 58% chose to enroll.
Like the record-breaking diversity of the Class of 2023, this one boasts incredible heterogeneity (with 48% of students identifying as people of color), supporting a vibrant culture within the College’s expanding community and the rich New York City tapestry.
ILLUSTRATION BY MONIQUE WRAY
The community will welcome about six dozen students who will follow 26 mothers, 18 cousins, 17 grandmothers, 16 sisters, 13 aunts, and three greatgrandmothers to become Barnard students.
The “A” Team Ten recruited athletes are joining the ColumbiaBarnard Athletic Consortium, alongside athletes in sports without collegiate teams. New Columbia Lions will join teams such as archery, basketball, and track and field. Our new athletes include fencer Mina Yamanaka, who won a silver medal in women’s épée at the 2020 Junior Olympics, and figure skater Amy Liu.
Outside the Box The Class of 2024 is made up of talented musicians, essential workers, and more, such as Maria Shaughnessy, the principal harpist of the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra; Liliana Seoror, who saves lives as a licensed EMT in New Jersey; and historical coin collector Amanda Arruda from Brazil.
STEMinists Some members are arriving at Barnard with impressive experience in the STEM field. Meet a few of our incoming STEMinists: Anahita Subramanya, a four-time Science Olympiad team captain, who created a robotics team at her school; and Rosie Pipada, who founded 20/20 Vision for All, which provides glasses and vision care for students in need.
World Changers Leadership begins well before students join Barnard, and many incoming students have already changed the world for the better. Case in point: Incoming freshman Sarina Fard, the youth director for the National Iranian American Council, who led pro-peace Iran meetings with U.S. senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand and lobbied against the Anti-Muslim Bill.
FALL 2020 | BARNARD MAGAZINE 9
First Person
Impressions, digressions, and your point of view
Photographic Memory by Rochelle F. Singer ’73 Outdoors, the smell of spring, the sound and color of it, are like never before. With no car exhaust, no screeching children in the playgrounds, spring is flaunting its beauty. But danger lurks. Limp latex gloves and faceless doctor’s masks litter the ground among the pinks of fallen bougainvillea. Sirens wail over birdsong and insect buzz. Indoors, alone, you search for a project to defeat what has become your biggest enemy: time. The one thing you’ve always run out of now threatens to vanquish you with its excess. You’ve swept and scrubbed, taken apart your oven, cooked too much, baked too much, and frozen so much that your freezer is choked; you’ve put yourself at the beck and call of WhatsApp, FaceTime, Zoom, and Netflix. You eye the cabinet in your living room, bursting with orange Kodak envelopes, many unlabeled. You settle down on the rug, pull out one after another, and spread them around you like a wreath. You reach for photos of your honeymoon in 1974, a cross-country trip. You recall the VW minibus that you and your husband turned into a camper, the vast landscapes, parks and canyons, the small towns, the sprawling cities. To your dismay, most of the photos 10
have faded. You find one taken of you at Lake Powell on the Colorado River — your head and shoulders etched against the sky. Your yellow bikini is an ugly beige, but the look on your face makes you catch your breath. It brims with the pride and happiness of knowing you’re loved. You wonder how all that joy disappeared. How all that love could have ended in divorce. Envelope after envelope, you relive the years gone by. Your first pregnancy, wearing a lilac top with delicate pleats over your breasts that made you feel so feminine. The birth of your first son. Here is the spread-eagle photograph that your husband took, the umbilical cord still hanging. Days after, you showed this photo to anyone who would look. Only a week later did you realize how private it was. You linger over a photo of you after a vigorous swim in the lake, cupping your belly, a day before your second son was born. You chuckle seeing your boys coax your dog down a slide on his backside. You leaf through pictures of birthday parties, graduations, your
sons dressed in Purim costumes, and bittersweet army inductions. You open envelopes with pictures of old boyfriends who came and went with a frequency that now bothers you. Did you refuse to settle, were you unaware of who and what you wanted from a partner, or were you so content with your threesome that you refused to turn it into a foursome? When you come across pictures of your loved traveling companion, you mourn her absence as if she has just passed away, though it’s been five years. Memories of the exotic places you visited are a blur. But your shared experiences flood you with longing. How you both reveled in planning itineraries, sought the personal ambience of guest houses, and squabbled over who held the map as you explored cities and countryside. Pictures of your parents are scattered over the years. One of your father catches your eye. He’s crouching in front of your firstborn, his face shining. Now you reach for one of him in his last days. You freeze. You look away. For the briefest of moments, you manage to call him back: the exuberance of his voice, the tenderness of his touch. But in the same instant he’s gone. You experience such deep loss that your eyes sting with tears. What have you done? Instead of conquering time, you’ve been hijacked by it. You step outside the wreath you’ve laid, seeking fresh air. You let spring in. Its sounds, smells, and colors wash over you. You strive to stay in the moment where time can’t touch you. Rochelle F. Singer is a technical and marketing writer by vocation and a fiction and personal story writer at heart. She lives in Tel Aviv and bikes throughout the city to its beaches and cultural events. Her years at Barnard as an English major remain a vibrant memory.
Train of Thought ILLUSTRATIONS BY ROWAN WU ’18
by Terrie Erlish Polovsky ’63 Daniela Lebron’s wonderful article in Barnard Magazine’s Spring issue reminded me of my own daily commute to Barnard from Parkchester in the Bronx many years ago — and how what could have been a terrible ordeal became an enriching experience that changed my life forever. I was a Spanish major and adored my classes
and professors at Barnard, especially those that I took with Professor Amelia del Río, who served as the head of the Spanish Department for over 20 years. While there, I recognized the need to acquire better conversation skills but was faced with the impossibility of traveling abroad because I had to work during the summers. Analyzing what my daily activities might be like in Spain and how I might replicate those experiences in New York, I came up with a simple solution: the subway. Every day I spent a total of three hours commuting to Barnard in subway trains filled with Spanishspeaking passengers. I developed a plan of action. After classes, I would enter the downtown #1 train and search for any woman reading El Diario. In Spanish, I would ask her the time, leading to a conversation. Many of the women were Cuban exiles returning from a day in the factory, and they appeared to enjoy the conversation, eagerly discussing with me the reasons they were forced to leave their homeland. I improved my communication skills while learning about the situation in Cuba (this was the ’60s) and developed a passion for Cubans and Cuban culture that has shaped me to this day. It became so much a part of my identity that Cubans still ask me how old I was when I left Cuba. The women were kind, patient, warm, and supportive of my efforts. Eventually, I became bilingual and discovered that my true self is better expressed in Spanish. When I chose a thesis topic at Columbia for my master’s degree in Spanish (what else?), I selected Jorge Mañach, a Cuban writer. After graduating from Barnard, I became a teacher FALL 2020 | BARNARD MAGAZINE 11
and worked with immigrant teenagers in the Bronx. With the federal funding I received from a proposal I wrote, I developed Project PALS, offering daily instruction for the parents of the children in our school district. One hundred fifty parents participated in daily ESL classes and weekly trips to educational and historical sights. The project lasted until I retired. Imagine my delight when after we named our program’s adult library for Professor Amelia del Río, she visited my class to speak of her childhood in Puerto Rico! And all because I asked, “¿Qué hora es?” Terrie Erlish Polovsky was a bilingual coordinator at Herman Ridder Junior High School in the Bronx, directing the bilingual program for Latin American students. She also served as the director of Project PALS and later became a researcher in educational policy at Rutgers Graduate School of Education. She has two sons and two granddaughters.
Turning the Page by Lois W. Stern ’58 I rarely think about my age. Somehow I still envision myself more as that plaid skirted coed dashing up the steps at Millbank Hall than as that woman of a certain age — the one I am today. Suffice it to say, I continue to be energized by new challenges even now, without the pressure of producing an end-ofyear positive balance sheet. But it wasn’t always like that for me. My backstory is quite different. After 21 years as an active educator, I retired from that career. I continued to pursue my love of writing, volunteering my time with a popular Long Island webzine, where I launched my own column, “Ordinary People, Extraordinary Lives.” But even when the webzine closed down, my urge to write did not. It was time to get serious. After five years of intense labor and equal amounts of emotional toil, I wrote my first book, Sex, Lies and Cosmetic Surgery. I conducted over 100 interviews with 12
patients, nurses, and physicians in the field about some of the most intimate aspects of their lives. Score one: I landed a contract with a reputable NYC agent, who was sure this book would take off and fly. Score two: Dr. David Sarwer, an esteemed professor of psychology and psychiatry then at the University of Pennsylvania, agreed to edit the research portions of my manuscript and wrote a glowing foreword for the book. I had begun to see dollar signs before my eyes, envisioning my name emblazoned in lights. I held my breath as my agent submitted my manuscript to several publishing houses. One by one, the rejections came flooding in. “She doesn’t have a strong enough author platform,” they said. At the time, I didn’t even know what the term “platform” meant, but what I did know was that my bubble dream of earning some serious money as a famous published author had popped. So I took an alternative route: I paid a print-ondemand company to publish the book, as well as a second one on less invasive forms of aesthetics. But the sting of rejection still smarted. Was it money I really wanted — or something else? It took me some time to sort that out. All the while, I was penning what I call “inner beauty stories,” stories to touch the heart and soul. And then it struck me. There must be many other talented writers out there whose manuscripts have met the same fate as mine. What if I initiated an “authors helping authors” project to help talented writers build solid author platforms? What if I could establish an annual contest that would provide opportunities for those with promise to refine their skills? No fees involved. I would do it simply for the joy of helping other authors hone their skills and publish the best of the best in short story anthologies. And that’s how Tales2Inspire® began — as a sharing of inspirational true stories, including some of my own, written by authors from across the globe. I never dreamed it would grow in such strength and numbers as it has. I never charge for my services. So instead of putting more money in the bank, each year my savings account shrinks a bit more. But this project has given me something else in return: It has opened a whole new chapter in my life. B Lois W. Stern has been married to her college sweetheart, Ken Stern (Columbia ’58), for over 60 years. They raised two sons and are the proud grandparents of two granddaughters and two grandsons. To receive a free e-book of Tales2Inspire stories, visit www.tales2inspire. com/gifts.
Wit & Whimsy
If Famous Writers Wrote Class Notes by JiJi Lee ’01 Agatha Christie looks forward to welcoming classmates to her beautiful guest home, which is located on an island off the coast of Devon. The house is cut off from the mainland and has no internet service — how cozy! She writes to us: “Please do not bring your work or any electronic devices that may have geolocation capabilities. This weekend is all about reconnecting with old friends, communing with nature, and feeling like someone is picking us off, one by one. I also ask that classmates bring extra layers in case the sense of impending doom sends chills down your spine.”
ILLUSTRATION BY EMILY FLAKE
Charlotte Brontë recently moved out to the country for a change of pace. She has been nannying for a brooding, tempestuous fellow who did not appreciate her asking about the noises coming from the third floor. Despite this, she found the work to be fun and meaningful and is excited to announce that she is now happily engaged to her employer (long story!). She hopes to hear from classmates who may have housing leads in the area because the couple’s former residence is unavailable, due to the fiancé’s first wife burning it to the ground.
Lorraine Hansberry sent us a note to announce that she wants to fly! She wants to touch the sun! But first she has to answer that age-old question that all recent college grads wrestle with: Should I go to grad school?
Jane Austen has been keeping busy attending lots of weddings, playing matchmaker, and dancing with suitors who may only be interested in her family’s inheritance, as well as playing piano for family, playing piano for friends, and playing piano for friends of her family. She will be attending law school in the fall with the hope that she can finally figure out how to get her name on her family’s lease agreement.
Virginia Woolf is keeping busy buying the flowers herself.
Isabel Allende has been spending her summer in the lush, enchanted region of Bushwick, where every night, she escapes into the exquisite landscape that is her fire escape. It is the only place she can find solace from her noisy roommates, who keep fighting over the remote control or practicing the ukulele. She looks forward to hosting big, convivial dinners, where the air is thick with the fragrance of herbs and oil, and stories are passed and shared, and she can open her doors to her family, both alive and phantasmal, as long as they don’t mind listening to that one guy practice his ukelele all night.
Louisa May Alcott is residing in Concord, Massachusetts, where she spends her days writing, walking, and listening to her favorite podcasts about transcendentalism.
Zora Neale Hurston dropped a line to say that there are years that ask questions, and years that answer, and then there are years that must answer the question “Do all these anthropology books in my house still spark joy?”
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley writes to say that “we shall be monsters, cut off from all the world; but on that account we shall be more attached to one another, so please do connect with me on LinkedIn.” Emily Dickinson is delighted to welcome a beautiful baby poem. B FALL 2020 | BARNARD MAGAZINE 13
GO PAPERLESS Opt out of the print edition of Barnard Magazine and help us conserve resources. We’ll update you by email whenever a new issue is published online — so you’ll never miss the latest news, stories, and Class Notes. With our digital edition, you’ll have full access to the magazine content. All articles (other than Class Notes) will be published at barnard.edu/magazine, and the complete issue (including Class Notes) will be available in a digital flipbook for alumnae behind a passwordprotected login at our.barnard.edu/classnotes. Please visit our.barnard.edu/print-mag to inform Barnard if you’d like to stop receiving the print edition.
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Discourses Ideas. Perspectives. A closer look.
16 Arts & Letters 18 History Lesson 20 Bookshelf
Mary Garrity’s portrait of Ida B. Wells — the investigative journalist, civil rights advocate, and leading suffragist — who founded the Alpha Suffrage Club, the first club in Chicago devoted to the enfranchisement of Black women.
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Arts & Letters
Growing Up, in Dog Years
Author, Barnard professor, and transgender activist Jennifer Finney Boylan discusses her latest memoir and what our canine companions can teach us about ourselves and love by Brigid Cromwell If you follow the life and work of Jennifer Finney Boylan — through her courses at Barnard, her bestselling books, her columns in The New York Times, or her appearances on programs like The Oprah Winfrey Show and I Am Cait — you’ll know that she is a tireless crusader for LGBTQ rights, a prolific writer, and an ardent dog lover. Canines, in fact, are a central theme in Boylan’s latest memoir, Good Boy: A Life in Seven Dogs (Celadon Books), which chronicles her life pre- and post-transition via the family dogs that bound (or waddle) in and out of the scene. These pets — from a portly Dalmatian nicknamed Sausage to a randy mutt named Matt — are constant presences in Boylan’s life as she grows up and struggles to reconcile with her identity. Throughout the book, Boylan moves characteristically between humor, heartbreak, and
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pointed critique, revealing a tender portrait of the young boy she was and the woman she became. We caught up with Boylan to discuss Good Boy, the value of examining our former selves, and what animals can teach us about being human. You wrote about your relationship with your dog Indigo in your opinion column for The New York Times in 2017. Did that piece plant the seed for Good Boy? Jennifer Finney Boylan: What’s funny is that I’ve been a newspaper columnist for a long time, and at one of my first jobs, the editor told me you can write about anything you want, just don’t ever write a dead dog column, which I guess is a cliché. And that’s just what I did with that New York Times column. And it hit a nerve with a lot of people. I think what struck me about writing about dogs is that it’s impossible to talk about dogs without talking about love. But love is something that we’re actually not that good at talking about. It makes people roll their eyes; it makes people squirm. And yet when you talk about dogs, it’s as if things that are awkward come more easily. For a transgender woman, looking back at the boy that I used to be can also be really awkward. I know a lot of transgender women don’t speak of their younger lives this way, and I respect that, but I certainly do, and the dogs were a big part of that life. It was also a way of reconnecting with that boy I used to be — a boy who now exists only in memories but who still feels very real to me. How has writing this memoir helped you explore your own identity and transformation? You don’t have to be an
Dogs help us express love that we’re too awkward to express. Maybe we learn something about how to love each other in modeling the love that we see in dogs.
old person to feel a sense of disconnection from your own history. There’s not a Barnard student who hasn’t looked in the mirror and seen the face of someone who they might not immediately recognize. And in some ways, we want that out of a Barnard education. But at the same time, it can be very unsettling to not have a sense of continuity with your own history. And transgender people do have a kind of before and after. Writing is one way to make that connection between who you are and who you’ve been. Good Boy is about the dogs I’ve had pre-transition, but it’s also about the good boy I was. There’s the dog of my childhood when I was really a little boy; there’s the dog when I was a teenager; there’s a dog for when I was in college; there’s a dog for my early 20s; there’s the dog for being a boyfriend, a husband, and a father. All of those are male identities that I experienced before transition, and, in a way, it’s very healing to make peace with that person and to forgive him for all the ways he messed things up. The dogs were a device I used to get at this bigger truth. The dogs were a source of strength, constancy, and inspiration but also a source of comedy. A lot of these dogs were terrible dogs: I had a dog who stole the Thanksgiving turkey off the table when our backs were turned; I had a dog who would bite people; I had a dog who would chase after cars.
You’ve written several novels and memoirs, including your bestseller She’s Not There: A Life in Two Genders. Did this one feel different to write? And if so, how? When I wrote She’s Not There, almost 20 years ago now, I thought I’d publish this one book, then go back to writing fiction. I was trained as a novelist and still consider myself a novelist mostly, yet what I’ve become known for is memoir about the transgender experience and also the column I publish in The New York Times. Yes, I have written fiction since my transition, but it feels a little different, a little closer to the edge. It’s also true that there’s as much invention in memoir and as much truth in fiction as there is in any other genre. But this book felt different because I was revisiting a part of my life I don’t think about that much, a time before transition. It gave me a chance to think about my family and to write about a wonderful cast of characters, because I really was raised by a series of eccentrics. And then all these dogs. I feel sometimes that I grew up in a Charles Dickens novel. In a way, this memoir is less about me than it is about the people around me and the dogs that we all loved. What do you think piqued your interest in writing more nonfiction? Is there a connection to what was continued on page 82 FALL 2020 | BARNARD MAGAZINE 17
History Lesson president for inclusion, diversity, and equal opportunity at Case Western Reserve University. Last spring, Mobley returned to Barnard to present a lecture, “The Difference Intersectionality Makes: Teaching the Suffrage Movement Today.” She highlighted figures who were crucial to the fight but have been largely overlooked in history books. While our country celebrates 100 years of women’s right to vote, Mobley urges us to also take a hard look at how the traditional narrative excluded women of color even as they played a vital role in the movement.
In her teaching of women’s suffrage, scholar Marilyn Sanders Mobley ’74 brings the critical contributions of women of color into view by Lois Elfman ’80 This year marks the centennial of women’s suffrage. For decades, women campaigned tirelessly for the right to vote, and yet the ratification of the 19th Amendment, prohibiting states from denying individuals this right on the basis of sex, was not guaranteed for all women. Women of color continued to face obstacles whenever they tried to cast their ballots until the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which outlawed discriminatory practices in the voting process, securing the right to vote for Black Americans and other marginalized groups. As this anniversary is commemorated, scholars and activists are reexamining the legacy of the movement and speaking out to tell a more inclusive story about the diverse suffragists who were engaged in the battle for enfranchisement. Among the scholars leading this conversation is Marilyn Sanders Mobley ’74, a professor of English and African American Studies and the inaugural vice 18
THE PATH FORWARD The conversation is changing, Mobley says, thanks to the work of contemporary scholars such as Beverly Guy-Sheftall, Kimberlé Crenshaw, and Paula Giddings, whose book, When and Where I Enter: The Impact of Black Women on Race and Sex in America, used primary source material to show how the contributions of Black activists profoundly shaped women’s movements. “When you’re designing a syllabus, they need to be on it,” Mobley said. “The goal is to get a new generation of scholars who will represent the story more truthfully.” B
PHOTO BY JONATHAN KING
Suffrage at 100: A History Reexamined
REFRAMING THE NARRATIVE For decades, the story of women’s suffrage has centered largely on Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Lucy Stone. The passage of the 19th Amendment, however, can be traced to the pioneering efforts of a diverse coalition of women. An important step, Mobley says, is to “reframe the narrative and give the counter narrative” by including the names of women who were, all too often, marginalized in the movement. And this begins with Sojourner Truth, the leading abolitionist and women’s right advocate, whose powerful speech, known as “Ain’t I a Woman?” at the Woman’s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio, in 1851, addresses the intersectionality of her experience, illuminating what Mobley explains as the “multiple oppressions” of racism and sexism. Influential figures such as Anna Julia Cooper, Ida B. Wells, and Mary Church Terrell, who helped found the National Association of Colored Women in 1896, are essential to understanding the roots of women’s suffrage. The fight for equality and voting rights continued into the 1970s with civil rights activists like Rosa Parks and Representative Shirley Chisholm — who in 1972 was the first Black woman to run for a major party’s nomination for president — leading the way.
Mabel Ping-Hua Lee ’1916: A Pioneer of the Suffrage Movement
PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE BARNARD ARCHIVES
by Lois Elfman ’80 In the early evening of May 4, 1912, as shadows fell across Washington Square Park, 16-yearold Mabel Ping-Hua Lee rode her white horse to the front of the honor guard leading 10,000 marchers in the suffrage parade up New York City’s Fifth Avenue. Lee, like many of her fellow suffragists, donned “a tri-cornered black hat, with the green, purple, and white cockade of the Woman’s Political Union,” reported the New-York Tribune. At the time, she was a student at Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn and had just been accepted to Barnard. The parade was only the beginning of her career as an activist fighting for women’s suffrage and gender equality. But Lee — who was a young child when her father, a Baptist minister and missionary, moved his family to the U.S. to lead Chinatown’s Morningside Mission — would not be able to vote until 1943 as a result of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which prevented Chinese immigrants from becoming U.S. citizens. (It is not known whether Lee ever became a citizen or voted in the United States.) As women in the U.S. battled for the right to vote, the Chinese Revolution of 1911 gave way to women’s enfranchisement in China. American leaders of the suffrage movement took an interest in meeting with the Chinatown community, explains Cathleen D. Cahill, associate professor of history at Penn State University and author of Recasting the Vote: How Women of Color Transformed the Suffrage Movement. “White suffragists in New York invited Mabel Lee, her mother, and a couple of other women to meet with them and explain what was going on in China,” says Cahill. “Over the next few years, Mabel really educated New York suffragists on this larger international movement.” And in turn, Lee used this interest as an opportunity to dispel stereotypes and advocate for New York’s Chinese community, including the need for better public education. At Barnard, Lee joined the debate club and the Barnard/Columbia Chinese students’ association, where she combined women’s activism with discussions about the political frontier in China. “Her ideas about feminism were really large, and the vote is one important part,” says Cahill. Lee went on to earn a Ph.D. in economics at Columbia University, becoming the first Chinese woman in the United States to earn a doctorate. In 1921, she published her research in a book, The Economic History of China. Following her father’s death, Lee took over his mission and built the First Chinese Baptist Church and the Chinese Community Center, which she led until her death in 1966. Nearly two years ago, the post office at 6 Doyers Street in Chinatown was officially renamed the Mabel Lee Memorial Post Office — a designation that’s all the more meaningful as voters get ready to mail in their ballots this fall. B FALL 2020 | BARNARD MAGAZINE 19
Bookshelf
Books by Barnard Authors by Stefani Shoreibah ’21 FICTION Half by Sharon Harrigan ’89 A finalist for the Association for Writers and Writing Programs Award, Harrigan’s novel challenges the meaning of family loyalty, trust, and betrayal. For identical twins Artis and Paula, family drama becomes unearthed at their father’s funeral following years of estrangement from one another. In a risky attempt to reconnect, they recollect the lives of their younger selves, only to endanger their trust in family and each other. Death in Her Hands by Ottessa Moshfegh ’02 The bestselling novelist returns with the story of an aging widow who, while walking her dog through the woods, stumbles upon an ominous note that pulls her into a murder mystery. As she entangles herself more and more into the investigation, she gradually slips into a fatal obsession to find answers. Intertwining horror and Hitchcockian suspense, Moshfegh’s novel will have readers hooked until the last page. What Are You Going Through by Sigrid Nunez ’72 In her latest novel, Nunez — winner of the 2018 National Book Award for Fiction — ties together the human experiences of friendship, love, and death. With advance praise from Literary Hub, Booklist, and Publisher’s Weekly, Nunez’s book takes a look 20
at how we find and cultivate fulfillment in our lives. Truthtelling: Stories, Fables, Glimpses by Lynne Sharon Schwartz ’59 The author shares a new collection of short stories about New Yorkers grappling with marriage, family, and aging. Schwartz’s stories probe the complexities of human relationships and empathy. Murder in the Wings by Laura Shea ’74 Following the death of a college student from a mysterious bee sting, sleuth Erica Duncan becomes determined to find out who brought this upon the student — and how. A companion to Murder at the People’s Theatre, this installment of the Erica Duncan Mystery series effectively cross-pollinates the art of beekeeping and the world of the theatre. Good Night, Baby Baby by Cindy Similien ’07 Similien draws on her Haitian-American heritage in her newest children’s book, featuring illustrations by Filipino artist Jeric Tan. With biracial characters and multiculturalism as a central theme, Similien’s book inspires children to embrace diversity and choose love. Going Too Fast: Stories by Lynne Spigelmire Viti ’69 This debut collection of short stories by Viti, a senior lecturer emerita of Wellesley College’s Writing Program, tells of family, love, friendship, heartache, and coming of age through interconnected characters on the verge of adulthood. NONFICTION The Spanish Element in Our Nationality by M. Elizabeth Boone ’83 Boone investigates the ways in which Spain has influenced U.S. history, culture,
and identity. In her book, she focuses on the creation and ubiquity of Spanish art in the U.S., while also shedding light on the importance of lesser-known parts of history — and its scholarship — that are often left out of mainstream narratives. This Is What Democracy Looked Like: A Visual History of the Printed Ballot by Alicia Yin Cheng ’92 This colorful book examines the evolution of U.S. ballot design in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Unregulated, elaborate, and often absurd (15 exclamation points?), these ballots offer a window into a time when they were used as a form of political advertising and illuminate the electoral fraud and chicanery embodied by such schemes as the tapeworm ballot and the Tasmanian Dodge.
on the South Side of Chicago. Through her own personal lens and work in the field, Hinojosa examines the media’s negative characterization of immigrant communities in the U.S., resulting in misinformation and the controversial immigration policies that have led to the crisis we’re in today. Finding Latinx by Paola Ramos ’09 The activist delves into what it means to be a Latinx individual living in the United States with the hope of better understanding and expanding these definitions. Through extensive fieldwork and research, Ramos discovers how different communities across the U.S. reckon with the term “Latinx,” with some embracing its empowerment and others acknowledging its controversy. Shakespeare, Technicity, Theatre by W. B. Worthen, Alice Brady Pels Professor in the Arts; chair, Department of Theatre Worthen explores contemporary Shakespeare performance to bring a sense of theatre as technology into view. Examining live, mediated, and digitally inflected performances, this study will appeal to scholars and students of Shakespeare and theatre.
Gender and Succession in Medieval and Early Modern Islam by Alyssa Gabbay ’85 Gabbay, an Islamic studies historian and associate professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, explores gender relations in medieval and premodern Islamic societies. Gabbay challenges patriarchal views and preexisting ideas of genealogy and lineage, offering a new way to understand gender roles and how they have evolved. Once I Was You by Maria Hinojosa ’84 With glowing praise from Gloria Steinem and Lin-Manuel Miranda, celebrated journalist Maria Hinojosa’s new memoir recounts her experiences growing up as a Mexican-American
POETRY Snake Pit by Joanna Wynne Barnett ’14 Barnett reveals personal histories through her poetry collection chronicling living with a physical disability, being a woman, and her mastery of board games and Trivial Pursuit. Barnett’s poems dismantle preconceived notions about being disabled and draw attention to how facing adversity has made her the empowered woman she is. FALL 2020 | BARNARD MAGAZINE 21
ALUMNAE HEALTHCARE WORKERS OFFER COURAGE AND COMPASSION DURING THE PANDEMIC by Laura Raskin ’10JRN Illustrations by Daryn Ray
When COVID-19 peaked in much of the United States this spring and summer, healthcare workers were thrust onto the frontlines of a pandemic with too few answers and tools at their disposal. Doctors, nurses, X-ray technicians, social workers — plus janitorial staff and administrators — put in long days of chaotic triage as waves of critically ill people landed in hospitals and health centers. Operating rooms, lounges, parking lots, and parks were transformed into packed, makeshift ICUs. Many of Barnard’s alumnae were among the first responders. Those who shared their experiences with Barnard Magazine all said that they called on the foundations of equity, 22
curiosity, empathy, and activism that were crystalized at the College. Medical student Sara Lederman ’12 says, “As a doctor, you need to understand the underlying science and approach it as a diagnostician, but Barnard taught me how to listen. And it sounds simple, but it’s at the heart of medicine.” Camaraderie among women has also steered and reinforced many alums’ decisions to work in healthcare. “I’m surrounded by motivated, inspired, and changemaking women,” says Ivy Vega ’15, an occupational therapist. “It’s incredible that we’re the ones who are leading this. We’re doing these difficult things and seeing difficult things.”
Occupational therapist Ivy Vega ’15, PS ’18 used to spend her days helping patients at NewYorkPresbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center get back to their lives after a critical illness, stroke, or surgery. But when COVID-19 cases surged in New York City, Vega joined a “turning team” to help lift and move patients in medically induced comas so that they could be ventilated or X-rayed or to prevent bedsores. Some days, she turned and repositioned up to 60 patients per day — a physically grueling job. “I’d work with a patient one day, and the next day they’d be gone. I’d wonder, ‘Am I really helping?’ Normally, my whole job is rehabilitating people.” By May, patients who were recovering from COVID-19 needed physical and emotional assistance. Many were frightened, delirious, and agitated. Vega would emerge from their rooms drenched in sweat under her PPE and her week-old N95 mask. By the summer, Vega had transitioned back to traditional occupational therapy, helping COVID-19 patients with tracheotomies learn to speak, swallow, and build strength. “Some need three people to help them get safely out of bed, or a mechanical lift. Many of them can’t stand yet. They are too weak to bring a toothbrush to their mouths. The numbers of positive cases have gone down, but the difficulty of recovery isn’t talked about,” says Vega. To get through the days, she runs through a checklist of privileges — her health, employment, and the support of her boyfriend at home. “I’ve seen countless people pass away with no one at their side. I’ve had co-workers become hospitalized. Having that mental checklist helps me.” NewYork-Presbyterian in Washington Heights serves a predominantly young, minority, and economically challenged population. Most of Vega’s patients work low-wage jobs in construction or food service. “I’m seeing the people who weren’t able to stay home and [who] live in multigenerational housing. They continued to work even if they were sick.” Barnard, says Vega, exposed her to the kind of diversity she encounters at the hospital — a “mini snapshot” of the rest of the world. “It prepared me to work with people from all walks of life.”
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Emergency medicine physician and fourth-year resident Dr. Kamini Doobay ’10 saw some of the sickest patients of her career this spring at New York University Langone Medical Center and Bellevue Hospital. “This was an invisible enemy, and people were dying alone,” she says. The native New Yorker — who contracted the virus herself — spent hours on the phone and FaceTime with patients’ family members to discuss care goals and next steps, only to have to deliver horrible news the next day. While she works in a field that emphasizes advanced technology and patient outcomes, the unknowns surrounding COVID-19’s effects on patients and how to treat them meant that Doobay and her colleagues were unable to save a lot of lives. For Doobay, this laid bare the inequality inherent in her field. “We knew COVID-19 would act on an already segregated and flawed healthcare system,” she says. “We don’t think about who makes it to our doors. We have to do better. We have to put patients over profit and take it away from healthcare and pharmaceutical companies.” Doobay, who studied politics and policymaking at Barnard and has a background in clinical research and community organizing, sees her role in the emergency room as one of activism. “The ER is the only place where you can see and treat everyone, from immigrants to the incarcerated, and it’s a special place because of that.” COVID-19 has also reinforced Doobay’s belief in empathy as the foundation of the practice of medicine — something that’s not often emphasized in medical education and that many physicians struggle to provide, especially when uncertainty abounds. “We need to bring back true compassion and humanism to medicine,” she says. “When patients are in the ER department, it’s probably one of the most devastating times of their lives. We have to use our voices to advocate and amplify others’. The Barnard ‘bold voice’ is certainly a loud one if you choose to use it.”
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As COVID-19 took a toll on China and parts of Europe, Sara Lederman ’12 was reminded of her medical school mentors when she saw photos of exhausted and scared healthcare workers in the news. “It felt extremely intimate and recognizable,” says Lederman, who will graduate from the University of Minnesota Medical School in 2022. “The virus will be playing out in my backyard,” she correctly predicted. Lederman had entered her third year of med school — typically a time when students leave the classroom and enter a clinical environment full time. But in March, the university put all clinical experiences on hold and moved classes online. Though she knows it was the right decision, Lederman says her classmates were disappointed not to experience this rite of passage. Instead, she and other students decided to use their free time to help other healthcare and essential workers with childcare and light housework and founded the nonprofit MN COVIDsitters. Lederman and her classmate and friend Sruthi Shankar thought they could convince 20 students to volunteer and were overwhelmed with 100 people eager to help. “As a medical student, you are in an awkward position where you’ve committed to being a helper and the ideals of medicine, but you don’t have skills yet,” says Lederman. “You want to help, but you don’t know how. You don’t have to be on the frontline to make a real impact.” In a few short days, Lederman and her team “went from an amorphous blob of volunteer names to a well-thought-out machine.” They built a website and app and matched pods of students with individual families. A risk mitigation and COVID-19 tracking team was also put into place. By the summer, Lederman had stepped back to assess the larger operational challenges and was working alongside policymakers at the national and state level to ensure that volunteers aren’t the only resource in crises like this one. “The need far outstrips supply. What does this say about the state of our healthcare system?” she asks. “As future doctors who will be inheriting the frontline, what we do on the sideline really matters.” MN COVIDsitters has inspired similar volunteer networks around the world.
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In March, Dr. Gayatri Malhotra-Gupta ’13 was an internal medicine resident putting in 27-hour shifts and shuttling between ICUs at “safety net” hospitals serving a largely immigrant population in Brooklyn and Queens. She saw how the virus was taxing her colleagues and herself. Burnout was rampant. Now a clinical fellow at the Yale School of Medicine, Malhotra-Gupta recalls wanting to support her colleagues’ mental and physical well-being. “They take care of patients who don’t have insurance and are essential workers in their own community,” she points out. Through her work with the nonprofit Global Physicians Network, Malhotra-Gupta had connected healthcare workers with opportunities to volunteer in their communities — addressing health disparities, promoting health literacy in New York’s outer boroughs, and mentoring youth. In the spring, she used the network’s platform to help launch a fundraiser to create wellness bags for healthcare workers in every borough. The cloth bags could be laundered and included healthy snacks, face masks, and water bottles. Companies such as bkr, Innisfree, and L’Occitane donated items for a little luxury and self-care. Friends and co-workers helped Malhotra-Gupta sort and bag nearly 10,000 items among 750 bags and distribute them to residents in 20 hospitals, including Flushing Hospital Medical Center in Queens, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan, Lincoln Medical Center in the Bronx, and Brookdale University Hospital Medical Center in East Brooklyn. Malhotra-Gupta was born and raised in Queens and, until the end of this summer, lived with her mother, Sandhya Malhotra ’82, who helped her with the wellness bags. “Barnard prepares women to be really strong, really resilient, really tough. … Those are all qualities that I’ve used during this time.”
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At the height of the pandemic, Susanne Johnson ’07, a nurse practitioner, bought a KitchenAid stand mixer and made a lot of cookies. “If this is how we’re all gonna go, I’m getting a mixer!” she recalls. Her humor is hard-won. In December, Johnson had started a new role as the associate medical director of Project H.O.P.E., a community health center in Camden, New Jersey. Johnson has worked at the health center since 2016 and spent five years as a bedside nurse in a large tertiary care setting before that. “I wanted something more communitybased, with more autonomy, and the ability to build relationships with patients.” Project H.O.P.E serves the medical and social needs of the unhoused population in Camden, one of the most economically depressed cities in the United States. “I’m particularly fortunate to be at this organization and [in] this role, because I felt like I was able to take initiative as a leader,” says Johnson. As is now devastatingly clear, COVID-19 hit marginalized communities the hardest. “It reinforced my desire to be an activist in healthcare.” Johnson quickly changed the ways in which Project H.O.P.E. had previously operated — on the second floor of a building with elevator access only — by setting up a mobile health van in the office parking lot and sourcing tablets and burner phones so that patients could do telehealth appointments. After the initial test shortage, Project H.O.P.E. was able to scale up and provide walk-up testing five days per week with no exclusionary criteria. One night, Johnson assisted with administering 140 COVID-19 tests in three hours at a homeless shelter. Working with local community agencies, she connected patients who tested positive for the virus with quarantine housing where meals and medical services were provided. “One thing I go back to,” says Johnson, “is that Barnard teaches really great critical thinking skills. You come out with this ability to view the world with a variety of lenses. We’re asked to engage with our environment and to question anything we come up against.” B
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Illustrations by Eleanor Shakespeare
by Mary Cunningham
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ore than nine months after the first reported case in the U.S., COVID-19 is still present, dictating our movements and altering our everyday routines. It has upended our lives in ways unimaginable to us just last year. While the pandemic is certainly unique compared with other crises we have faced in our lifetimes, it’s made us wonder how Barnard women and others who came before us have grappled with traumatic events. Barnard alumnae have navigated some of history’s most challenging moments, from world wars and the Great Depression to the polio epidemic and September 9/11 attacks. How did those generations of women persevere despite enduring so much hardship? “Finding a way to survive, make do, and make our way through — that certainly seems like a central aspect of human functioning,” explains Colin Wayne Leach, a psychology and Africana studies professor at Barnard and Columbia, who recently co-authored the chapter “Sentiments of the Dispossessed: Emotions of Resilience and Resistance” in the forthcoming book Routledge Handbook of Prejudice, Stereotyping and Discrimination (December 2020). Leach notes that we all experience difficulty in some form or another throughout life, but the way in which we cope is not uniform. For some people, a life-altering experience may become central to who they are, while others may never want to talk about it again. “There is no one good way to cope,” Leach says. Whether we identify our own form of coping as resilience, survival, or something else all together, it is clear that the ability to forge ahead is central to our existence as human beings. “We’re incredibly resilient and adaptable creatures,” says Leach. Barnard alumnae are no exception — they have demonstrated incredible fortitude and resilience, deploying various coping mechanisms to confront adversity head-on. NORMALCY THROUGH ROUTINE From transitioning to remote work to adjusting to new health and safety measures, the COVID-19 pandemic has dismantled the structure that undergirds our daily lives. Establishing routines, Leach says, is essential in creating a sense of normalcy. “So many of us are out of routine. We don’t have a set time to get up. Many of us don’t deal well with that. We need a little structure. [We need to] give ourselves a routine to replace the one that we lost in the daily rhythms of life.” For many Barnard alumnae, like Heather Ohaneson ’03, having a routine has been essential to managing life’s upheavals. Ohaneson was a junior at Barnard on the morning of September 11, 2001, when the planes crashed into the World Trade Center towers. She has somewhat nebulous recollections of that day and the days that followed. “I was supposed to give my first campus tour that morning. I went into the office in Milbank, and I was with people in the office as we were watching TV and everything was unfolding.” In response to the tragedy, classes were canceled for the day. An assembly was held on Lehman Lawn (now Futter Field) in addition to an ecumenical prayer service at St. Paul’s Chapel on Columbia’s campus. The community also came together for candlelight vigils and other small gatherings in residence halls and classrooms. The College decided to resume classes the following day, with the understanding that not all students would be prepared to return. Judith Shapiro, Barnard’s president at the time, wrote an email to Barnard families to explain the College’s reasoning: “We have resumed classes today at the College to provide a helpful structure to the day.” Ohaneson says that while some of her assignments felt pointless at the time, the
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prompt return to classes was a healthy and wise decision made by the College. “[Classes are] what anchor the community. It’s an educational institution, so you’re supposed to have the courses and provide that ongoing stability. I think [resuming courses was] maybe the best thing the College could have done.” During the HIV/AIDS crisis, routine was also fundamental for Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum ’81 and the congregation she has led for nearly three decades, New York City’s Congregation Beit Simchat Torah (CBST), the largest LGBTQ congregation in the world. She arrived at CBST to serve as the synagogue’s first rabbi and staff member at the height of the epidemic in 1992. Kleinbaum says the congregation lost 40% of its members to AIDS between 1981 and 1998. “It was a devastating epidemic that decimated the gay community in all of the cities in the United States, and around the world of course.” Amid much tragic loss, Kleinbaum made a serious effort to maintain a sense of joy and normalcy by planning set events that the congregation could look forward to. “On Friday nights, we would gather for our main service every week, and there
Whether we identify our own form of coping as resilience, survival, or something else all together, it is clear that the ability to forge ahead is central to our existence as human beings. “We’re incredibly resilient and adaptable creatures,” says Leach. Barnard alumnae are no exception — they have demonstrated incredible fortitude and resilience, deploying various coping mechanisms to confront adversity head-on.
was a commitment in the space and the heart of the synagogue to not turn every time we gathered into a memorial service,” she says. “It was really important that we would still sing, and have joy, and laugh, and create culture, and enjoy the arts.” SUPPORT AND SOLIDARITY Human connection can be a powerful tool to combat life’s biggest challenges. Even the support of strangers can help lighten the burden we’re collectively carrying — look no further than the 7 p.m. clapping and cheering for essential workers that reverberated throughout New York City’s streets each night this past spring. And then there’s the more intimate expression of support between co-workers, friends, and family members that take place in person or, now, during the pandemic, on FaceTime, Zoom, and other digital platforms. This sense of human connection was certainly key for Connie Brown Demb ’63, who lived through the polio epidemic in the late ’40s and early ’50s, before the development of the Salk vaccine. A child at the time, Brown Demb remembers being confined to her family’s apartment, something very familiar to all of us in FALL 2020 | BARNARD MAGAZINE 31
the era of COVID-19. While there was no official mandate to do so, Brown Demb’s parents kept her home one summer as an added measure of caution. “There was a strange sense of having lots of friends, and having fun during the school year, and then suddenly being isolated and reading books,” she says. During this crisis, and others she’s witnessed in history, Brown Demb says she emulated the resilience of her parents, the children of eastern European Jewish immigrants who came to the U.S. just before the First World War. “They always made me feel protected and able to achieve. No matter what was happening in the world, I had that inner strength that I could do something to make the world better. And [the sense] that my own survival was not an issue.” Reflecting now on how the pandemic has affected her, she admits that it can sometimes get her down but says that her family keeps her grounded. “I’m happy that I have my husband here with me. He’s stalwart. He keeps me from getting too depressed. I don’t know how he does it, but he’s a model of resilience.” Rabbi Kleinbaum witnessed firsthand the power of community support when CBST implemented a buddy system for those in the congregation affected by HIV/ AIDS. “Three to five people would ‘adopt’ somebody who was in the sicker stages, the stages of needing more help,” she explains. Those people would help with shopping, medical appointments, and advocate for the affected individual. “[There’s] real power in people showing up for each other. In that period of AIDS, everybody in the community was either sick or dying or taking care of someone who was sick or dying, or mourning someone, or worrying that they were going to get sick. It affected all of us in some deep and profound way,” says Kleinbaum. A strong sense of community could also be felt in the wake of 9/11. Ohaneson recalls walking around New York City and seeing memorials erected in various sections of the streets: “I remember the candles and the makeshift vigils that were set up in front of every firehouse.” There were also posters — designed by Milton Glaser, who’d created the original “I ♥ New York” logo in 1976 — hung up throughout the city that caught Ohaneson’s eye. “I remember these posters that were everywhere that [said] ‘I ♥ New York More Than Ever.’ ... That messaging really mattered to me in some way.” TAKING ACTION One of the keys to coping with crises like the COVID-19 pandemic, Leach contends, is to be brutally honest with ourselves, assess our needs, and take action. He applauds the creative efforts people are currently engaging in to connect with one another, such as virtual dinner hours and book clubs on Zoom. They are an example of “people identifying what they need and then finding some resource, or creating it and then putting it to use to give them the thing that they need,” he says. Throughout history, Barnard women have found strength and purpose in social activism and community service. This very can-do attitude was illustrated during the Spanish flu epidemic when students offered a helping hand by bringing food to those who were ill. In a 1918 Barnard Bulletin article, “Have You An Auto?,” the writer puts out a query to fellow students for vehicles and drivers to help facilitate food delivery to the sick, and calls on peers to get involved: “If you live at Brooks or Furnald offer your services to help carry the broth by hand. If you have not found anything to do yet, here is your chance. ... In this crisis, let there be no Barnard girl wondering about asking, ‘What can I do?’” Time and again, Barnard alumnae have been responsive in moments of need. 32
They’ve learned that it is important to move forward and to push back when necessary. “I guess you’d say I was raised and Barnard reinforced the idea that you can do something,” says Brown Demb. “You don’t have to sit back and take it. Or turn your back on suffering or problems.” Similar to Brown Demb, Rabbi Kleinbaum believes that we should not let today’s circumstances deter us from being proactive. “Suffering does not necessarily defeat us. It did not defeat our ancestors, and it doesn’t have to defeat us,” she says. “Of course we’re going to get knocked down. The question is how long until you get back up again.” B
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by Nicole Anderson ’12JRN
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Lilian Wu Finckel ’16 — a ceramicist, photographer, and mixed media artist — is the program director and an artist-in-residence at Chinatown Soup and a pottery teacher at Clayhouse, a ceramics studio in Brooklyn. When she isn’t at the pottery wheel, she’s sketching forms, researching Japanese teaware, and running workshops at the zine shop she founded. Finckel chatted with us about the freedom of hand-building objects and making art at the Barnard Clay Collective. Where do you draw inspiration from? I draw inspiration from many things, but in my current works I’m finding it in hand-built vessel shapes that remind me of natural forms: trees, fruits, bodies, organs. Recently I have also loved: art/design catalogs such as Apartamento or Cereal; old images of architectural homes and studios (Xavier Corberó, Anna Maria Maiolino, Isamu Noguchi, Gonzalo Fonseca); 19th-century Shaker furniture; Edo-period Japanese teaware. There are also so many incredible makers and designers that I find scrolling on Instagram. Which classes at Barnard have most informed your work? My classes were always informative in the Art History/Visual Arts department but, specifically, my thesis seminar with Joan Snitzer and Lara Saget, Freestyle with Leslie Hewitt, and Body Politics Since 1945 with Jack McGrath. What is your creative process like? I like to incorporate many elements into my practices, and I don’t always stick to a routine. Sometimes it starts with drawing and sketching. And sometimes I just sit with a ball of clay and make whatever form comes to mind. I usually make one form and then I try to make multiple iterations of it until I find a shape that really feels right. It can take many tries for a form to feel complete — on the wheel, it can often feel like an exercise. When I’m hand-building, there’s a little more flexibility. I also make small book objects that feel very exploratory and help me find forms that I’d like to explore in larger projects. How would you describe your aesthetic (in 3-5 adjectives)? Soft, uncertain, warm. What is your favorite project or piece, and why? This is such a hard question! My favorites change all the time. I started hand-building these organic forms while quarantined, and they definitely feel serial. So I’m interested in continuing this exploration because it’s probably the most unconstrained I’ve felt making pottery. Where would we find you sketching or making artwork on campus? The floor of my dorm room or at the Barnard Clay Collective in Plimpton.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE ARTIST
What do you listen to while at work in your studio? Music or podcasts — recently I’ve been enjoying the Bodies podcast on KCRW. Who is at your dream dinner party? At this time, I’m dreaming of all my friends and family cooking a meal together at home. What artwork was on your dorm wall? Many photographs of family or places I’ve traveled, and small mementos and gifts from friends. What is your idea of perfect happiness? Home-cooked dinner, fresh flowers, finishing a book that I immediately want to read again. FALL 2020 | BARNARD MAGAZINE 35
What’s your guilty pleasure? I’m trying to make an effort not to feel guilty about pleasurable things! But maybe a giant bag of puffy Cheetos. What is your favorite place to see art? I can’t choose a favorite place specifically, but I love to see the work of my friends and peers and places of comfort. Which living person do you most admire? My mother. Is that cheesy? It’s true! What is your greatest extravagance? I’d love to be able to invest in artworks, especially those by my friends and peers. But I don’t consider that an extravagance! Otherwise, any opportunity for extended travel. What is your current state of mind? Restlessness, with a little anxiety, and a little hunger. What do you consider your greatest achievement? I hope I’m still working towards that! But in the past few years, I’ve been so lucky to participate and contribute towards community-centered spaces and events. I helped found a zine shop and programming series at Chinatown Soup, a nonprofit arts space in Manhattan’s Chinatown. I also co-organize the NYC Feminist Zinefest alongside my former Barnard classmate and friend Suze Myers and Jenna Freedman from the Barnard Zine Library! Where would you most like to live? I’m a born and raised New Yorker — it’s hard to imagine another forever home. But I would love to live in Taiwan. What is your most treasured possession? My grandmother’s jade, my little point-and-shoot film camera, and a wood-fired tea bowl from Yakushima, Japan. Who are your heroes in real life? There are so many people who are working and fighting to create more equitable communities. At Barnard specifically, the alumnae who are leading Amplifying Black Barnard: Cinneah El-Amin ’16, Naintara Ramoo-Goodgame ’15, Marquita Amoah ’16, and Kirstin L. Jones ’15. Those who are individually leading collectives of change, empowerment, and care here in New York, such as Nourish NYC, Heart of Dinner, Educated Little Monsters, Earth Arts Center, G.L.I.T.S., and so many others. What is your motto? “Sharing tea with a fascinating stranger is one of life’s true delights.” —Uncle Iroh, Avatar: The Last Airbender What are your tips for staying creative during the COVID-19 pandemic? Having a routine has really helped me — dedicated time and space in my home for creativity. There are really wonderful classes and workshops hosted by various art spaces on Zoom; even though it can feel awkward, I love being pushed to try something new. Also, YouTube is so helpful. I have been watching pit-fire kiln videos and bookbinding tutorials. B 36
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THANK YOU
Giving Day Community Thank you so much for your spirit and dedication to Barnard on Giving Day 2020! Although Giving Day this year looked very different than in years past, alumnae, parents, faculty, staff, students, and friends — some near and many more far — stepped up to donate vital funds that support the College, our students, and the education of women leaders. Gifts to the Barnard Annual Fund on Giving Day, and every day, make a direct, positive impact on students and allow us to create the highest quality education possible and to meet our students’ financial needs. Without your generosity and dedication, especially in these uncertain times, the Barnard experience would not be possible. Thank you to all who participated on this amazing day. We have a lot to celebrate and be proud of as a community — your momentum, enthusiasm, and support have set the tone for the year ahead.
Thank you!
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Noteworthy Connecting alumnae. Celebrating community.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE BARNARD ARCHIVES
Barnard has a long tradition of supporting athletics, as seen in this photograph with students from 1934 participating in an exercise class. In 2019, the College launched Feel Well, Do Well, an initiative designed to promote students’ health and wellness.
40 Alumnae Adventures 42 Q&Author 44 AABC Pages 49 Class Notes 55 Profile: Momoko Nakamura ’04 59 Sources 69 Profile: Andrea Shepard ’77 74 Virtual Roundup 80 Obituaries 81 In Memoriam 83 Last Word 84 Crossword FALL 2020 | BARNARD MAGAZINE 39
Alumnae Adventures
Posted Overseas
Jenna Matecki ’11 captures the spirit of cities via postcard by Veronica Suchodolski ’19 In 2018, Jenna Matecki ’11 put nearly everything she owned into a storage unit in Brooklyn and boarded a flight to Barcelona. Since then, she’s lived in seven cities around the world, from Buenos Aires to Tokyo. She’s danced with friends on a balcony in Barcelona’s El Born neighborhood, learned to play guitar from a mariachi band member in Mexico City, and taken a summer drawing class outdoors on the streets of Berlin. Matecki documents her travels through a project called Postcards From Jenna, a book of stories written in poetic fashion postcard-by-postcard and illustrated by local artists Matecki meets by chance in each city. Anyone who signs up on her website receives limited-edition cards from Matecki in real time as the book is written. “It was always a dream of mine to travel for an extended period,” Matecki says of the inspiration for the project. “My first goal with this, as always, [was] to keep in touch with people I love.” Before leaving for Barcelona, she had gathered addresses from loved ones to stay connected via postcard. She found herself writing much more than she had planned, and when a new friend in Spain, Mariano Pascual, offered to illustrate her writing, something clicked. “I realized that for the next city I could find a local, kindred spirit illustrator like Mariano and work with that person to not only illustrate the stories from that city for the website but also design a limited-edition postcard that would be sent to anyone who wanted 40
Left: Jenna Matecki ’11 Opposite page, top to bottom: Inside Cabiros, the screenprinting studio where Matecki produced her limited-edition postcard from Mexico City. Matecki’s Tokyo postcard bears a hanko (“seal”) made by artist Hideki Arami, who spent 10 days carving it in his shop, Todo Insho, located in a subway tunnel underneath the Shibuya Scramble. Illustrator Toni Copani designed Matecki’s Buenos Aires postcard, which was screen printed by House of Prints.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF JENNA MATECKI
Tokyo, you’re on purpose It’s love at first sight, don’t you know I see you through the brim of my clear umbrella even with the raindrops – I’ll receive you with two hands you’re magic even though you’re trying for perfect - Tokyo #01
one,” Matecki wrote of the process. Since then, she’s collaborated with a number of local print shops and artists, including a third-generation hanko (“seal”) carving artist in Tokyo, an illustrator-cumprintmaker in Mexico City, and a Berlinbased designer and watercolorist. Soon, what had started as a way to keep in touch with friends and family grew into a network of recipients in 46 different countries. Matecki spends about three months in each city, producing 19 illustrated editions. The postcards contain stories that are a cross between poetry and what she calls “epistolary narratives,” capturing spontaneous moments, observations, and experiences informed by her far-flung adventures. Matecki’s peripatetic life is not without its behind-thescenes planning. In 2014, she founded her communications business, Matecki & Co., which enables her to work remotely. She creates brands, content, and messaging for companies like Samsung and Sora, a Japanese landscape architecture firm. “Balance looks like making sure I know which time zone my colleagues are in, and drinking lots of caffeinated tea for the occasional 5 a.m. or 11 p.m. call,” Matecki says. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.” Worldwide travel goes hand in hand with Barnard’s network of more than 36,000 alumnae. “A Barnard friend visited Mexico City while I was there, many Barnard women are on the list for postcards, and during the few times I’ve been back in New York City I’ve always grabbed drinks with my favorite Barnard professor,” Matecki says. “I love Barnard more than I can say. It is such a special community to be a part of.” When her travels were halted by the COVID-19 pandemic in February, Matecki extended her stay in Vancouver. “I don’t know yet precisely how this will impact the project, but I am sure I’ll keep it going, in some form, somehow,” Matecki told Barnard in May. “We’re entering into a new world. And we all can’t forecast what it’s going to look like.” She sent out the Vancouver chapter in mid-August and has recently posted up in Amsterdam, which was the subject of a previous set of poems. As travel advisories continue, Matecki promises that the project isn’t ending, just evolving. For now, anyone can still sign up for the mailing list at postcardsfromjenna.com. Long term, she’s hoping to publish her travel stories alongside the postcard illustrations in a “giant, colorful book.” That said, Matecki adds, “I don’t think [the project will] ever be ‘finished.’ The book is a goal, but this project is quite literally my life.” B FALL 2020 | BARNARD MAGAZINE 41
Q&Author
A Word with Nina Ansary ’89 by Stefani Shoreibah ’21 Throughout history, women have been pioneers in fields ranging from medicine and science to politics and literature. They’ve been inventors and writers, botanical artists and generals. And yet little is known about many of these women and their formidable achievements. Nina Ansary ’89, P’19, Ph.D. ’13 CU — an award-winning author and women’s rights activist — is helping to tell their stories. In her new book, Anonymous Is a Woman: A Global Chronicle of Gender Inequality, she profiles 50 female innovators whose groundbreaking work takes the reader on a 4,000-year historic journey that uncovers the roots of systemic gender discrimination. Ansary’s extensive writing on and advocacy for women’s rights has earned her numerous accolades, including the 2019 Ellis Island Medal of Honor and Barnard’s 2018 Trailblazer Award. We connected with Ansary to discuss her experience researching the book, mentoring young women in STEM, and her advice for emerging historians.
Can you tell us about the inspiration behind the title of the book? The title derives from Virginia Woolf’s renowned assertion: “Indeed, I would venture to guess that Anon, who wrote so many poems without signing them, was often a woman” — frequently misquoted as “For most of history, Anonymous was a woman.” The unfortunate reality is that nearly a century after Woolf penned her infamous words, women worldwide continue to be prevented from realizing their full potential due to society’s formal and unspoken barriers. In many nations, the status of women as second-class citizens has been codified into law. In other countries, discrimination takes a more insidious form, manifesting in stereotypical assumptions that women are less biologically qualified in certain fields. What did you study at Barnard that helped you become a writer and women’s rights activist? As a sociology major at Barnard, I found the study of cross-cultural relations, social structures, ethical issues, interaction, and consequences of human behavior truly fascinating — specifically, exploring the landscape of how action and consciousness 42
PHOTOS COURTESY OF NINA ANSARY
What planted the seed for Anonymous Is a Woman? It was a combination of factors — my participation on university panels and conferences in addition to my advocacy and academic work — that culminated in research exploring the history of systemic gender oppression. Given my work on women in Iran, oftentimes it struck me that there is still a sense [in the Western world] that women “over there” face more daunting challenges but that women “over here” have more or less equal opportunities. The fact is that this isn’t just an “Iran problem” but applicable in varying degrees to the global community at large.
both shape and are shaped by cultural and social structures. My studies in this field combined with the breadth of inspiration that comes from being in an environment committed to building a more equitable path whereby women are encouraged to take risks, to not follow but to lead, and to have the strength of conviction enabled me to forge my own path both as a writer and as a women’s rights activist. In researching the book, what really stood out to you about these women? Their courage and determination to overcome gender-based obstacles were matched only by their spirit, resilience, and the innovative ways in which they were able to push beyond the boundaries, especially given that they were all born prior to 1900, when opportunities were not readily available to women, when females were often barred from educational institutions and from holding certain positions in society, or when their achievements were undervalued. In 2018, you were appointed by U.N. Women to be a Champion for Innovation. What have been some rewarding experiences from holding this position? This was a new initiative launched to advocate, share, and promote U.N. Women’s work and activities that support women’s and girls’ increased participation in innovation, science, technology, and entrepreneurship. Providing guidance and mentorship to young women — who aspire to enter the STEM and entrepreneurial fields but are apprehensive due to the overall bias that permeates these industries — has without a doubt been one of the most rewarding experiences. Women in the U.S. receive approximately 2% of all venture capital funding and comprise less than 25% of the STEM workforce. The objective is to not only address the barriers but to find solutions that would increase VC funding and reduce the gender gap in these fields. How would you advise Barnard students who are aspiring writers or historians? My best advice is to have patience, read widely, and seek out mentors who have navigated the challenges of being a writer and/or a historian. Never discard anything you have written because ultimately you are gathering experiences, and you never know what might be useful in the future. Learn to accept constructive criticism because this is an integral part of your journey and will only lead to improvement. What books are currently on your nightstand? Three Women by Lisa Taddeo, My Daughter’s Army by Greg Hogben, and The Unbearable Lightness of Being: A Novel by Milan Kundera. B All proceeds from Anonymous Is a Woman will be donated, with primary recipients being the Center for Human Rights in Iran and the London School of Economics Centre for Women, Peace, and Security. FALL 2020 | BARNARD MAGAZINE 43
Thank You, FY20 Blue & Bold Society Donors The 2019-20 academic year was extraordinary and challenging for the Barnard community in so many ways. Through it all, Blue & Bold Society donors — alumnae, parents, family members, staff, and friends of Barnard who make leadership-level gifts to the Barnard Annual Fund — continued to show their dedication to our amazing students and to the education of women leaders. Blue & Bold Society donors account for 70% of all Barnard Annual Fund dollars raised, and they set an inspiring example for the rest of the community. Thank you for your generosity and steadfast commitment to Barnard. Anonymous (22) · David Aboodi P’19 · Fran Jeffery Abramowitz ’48 · Constance Lee Adam-Hewitt ’69 · Kathy Adams and Charles Adams P’21 · Sima Saran Ahuja ’96 · Kathy Akashi ’78 · Mary Alhadeff and David Alhadeff P’22 · Anne Salmson Altchek ’79 · Laura Ambroseno ’91 · Julia An ’14 · Nina Ansary ’89 and Ali Saffari P’19 · Marion Appelquist and Thomas Appelquist P’03 · Sophie-Charlotte Archambeau and Eric Archambeau P’22 · Mitra Mogharabi Ardehali and Abbas Ardehali P’18, P’19 · Terri Armstrong and Christopher Armstrong P’20 · Rebecca Arons ’94 · Vera Miller Aryeh ’64 · Jet Joseph Auer de Saram ’83 · Rita Breitbart Auerbach ’65 · Lizette Austin and Phillip Austin P’23 · Aline Avzaradel ’00 · Theo Balcomb ’09 · Karin Johnson Barkhorn ’72 · Elisa Barnes ’74 · Leila Rafizadeh Bassi ’94 · Sian Beilock · Giti Butler Bendheim ’69 and Jack Bendheim P’93, P’04 · Marta Benson and Adam Willner P’22 · Magali Bereket and Ahmet Bereket P’18, P’22 · Rhoda Mermelstein Berley ’57 · Helen Bernstein Berman ’64 · Frances Bernstein ’15 · Marcia Musicant Bernstein ’54 · Nancy Bernstein ’81 · Aya Betensky ’68 · Ayesha Bhattal and Jessie Bhattal P’22 · Katherine Bialo and Kenneth Bialo P’21 · Ellen Bernstein Bildersee ’65 · Gail Alexander Binderman ’62 · Rosemary Ronzoni Bisio ’54 · Joan Beck Bitar ’64 · Bettina Blake ’52 · Lisa Blumenthal and Thomas Blumenthal P’19 · Talya Bock ’06 · Judith Daynard Boies ’59 and Robert Christman P’84 · Shoshana Botnick ’83 · Margot Botsford ’69 · Sabine Bousleiman and Karim Bousleiman P’19, P’21 · Margaret French Bowler ’65 · Alisa Braithwaite ’98 · Margaret McCay Brennan ’64 · Rachel Brody ’87 and Michael Lustig P’20 · Andrea Brown and Joel Brown P’22 · Sara Bucholtz ’91 · Diana Budzanoski ’68 · Kristen Burd and John Burd P’20 · Laura Burwick ’83 · Hijo Byeun ’16 · Diane Fabiny Byrd ’64 · Diane Woolfe Camber ’56 · Deana Camberg and Neil Camberg P’23 · Hilma Ollila Carter ’45 · Katherine Gilweit Cartiglia ’93 · Joan Sacknitz Carver ’53 · Tamara Rippner Casriel ’55 · Marianne Castano ’83 and Luke Clemente P’13 · Marta Cehelsky ’64 · Dale Fitzpatrick Cendali and J F Fitzpatrick P’22 · Carolyn Chaliff ’69 · Bernadette Chan ’80 · Grace Yu Chandler ’90 · Danielle Chang ’94 · Elaine Schlozman Chapnick ’61, P’93 · Deepa Chatterjee ’98 · Yolanda Chavez ’86 · Li Chen and Zhihang Chi P’22 · Teresa Chen and Jone Chen P’17, P’20 · Wanda Chin ’77 · Aelisa Kim Cipriani ’94 · Toni Crowley Coffee ’56 · Harriet Newman Cohen ’52, P’76 · Alison Coit and Rennie Coit P’23 · Thomas Colahan P’88, SP’47 · Patricia Collins and Michael Cohen P’22 · Kimberly Conner ’84 · Georgianna Pimentel Contiguglia ’64 · Stephanie Corrigan and Erik Corrigan P’23 · Marylu Coviello ’70 · Claire Coward-Wilkes ’89 · Elizabeth Cuthrell and Steven Tuttleman P’20 · Norma Damashek ’60 · Eddie Daniel Abdulhaqq ’74 · Daniella Greenbaum Davis ’17 · Lisa Phillips Davis ’76 and Stephen Davis P’07 · Kathleen Dawson and Carl Dawson P’21 · Hilary Dayton-Busch ’89 · Anne Manice De La Haye Jousselin ’73 · Amanda De Pena and Arturo De Pena P’22 · Connie Dempster and Mark Dempster P’23 · Jacqueline Kapelman Barton Dervan ’74 · Jessica Stevenson Desjardins ’10 · Stefanie Zink Dobrin ’47 · Dena Domenicali ’72 · Melissa Goldstein Dormer ’93 · Meira Maierovitz Drazin ’98 · Ina Drew and Howard Drew P’13 · Renee Ducnuigeen and Marc Ducnuigeen P’21 · Carol Neuberger Dupkin ’47 · Rachel Blau DuPlessis ’63 · Melinda Duryea and Alexander Draper P’21 · Toby Sambol Edelman ’68 and Daniel Edelman P’05 · Terri Edersheim ’76 · Karen Edwards ’85 · Mary Egan ’89 · Loubna El Majidi and Mounir El Majidi P’20 · Cinneah El-Amin ’16 · Barbara Izenstein Ellis ’64 · Margaret Holben Ellis ’75 · Jo Ann Engelhardt ’75 · Bonita Erbstein and Howard Erbstein P’23 · Suzanne Everard and James Everard P’23 · Linda Meyers Fahr ’64 · Erika Fanelle and Carmine Fanelle P’23 · Myrna Fishman Fawcett ’70 · Arthur Feder SP’49 · Marjorie Feder ’53 · Diane Droisen Feldman ’64 and David Feldman P’90 · Jan Feldman and Gerald Feldman P’14 · Joy Feng and Eric Zhang P’23 · Linda Rappaport Ferber ’66 · Joan Ferrante ’58 · Anne Ferris P’21, P’17, P’21 · Marie Felber Field ’58 · Rose Spitz Fife ’71 and Kenneth Fife P’01 · Annie Fifer and Eric Fifer P’23 · Max Fink SP’49 · Janet Bersin Finke ’56 · Debra Paris Finkel ’84 · Carol Turobiner Finley ’83 · Deborah Fins ’75 · Stephanie Fins ’72 · Anna Roffwarg Fisch ’86 · Cynthia Fisher and Charles Fisher P’20 · Alan Fishman · Alexa Fleet ’18 · Katherine Fleming ’87 · Viola Fong ’86 and Bennett Chin P’22, P’24 · Amy Murr Forbes and Andrew Murr P’22 · Rebecca Forrester and Robert Forrester P’21 · Mary Beth Forshaw ’84 · Kathleen Foster ’61 · Mary Fowler ’16 · Tamar Frank ’70 and Alan Cooper P’05 · Elizabeth Kopans Frantz ’68 · Barbara Mehren Freeman ’73 · Iris Chuven Freeman ’66 · Joan Sherman Freilich ’63 · Gregor Freund and Cecilia Freund P’20 · Anne Miodownik Fried ’60 · Margaret Giordano Friedberg ’85 · Lisa Schulman Friedlander ’58 · Michelle Friedman ’74 and Benjamin Belfer P’12, P’15 · John Furth · Eva Goldenberg Gans ’62 · Diana Garcia and Ricardo Garcia P’12 · Jodie Rood Garfinkel ’79 and Steven Garfinkel P’13 · Helene Gayle ’76 · Alexis Gelber ’74 · Ann Gerondelis and John Gerondelis P’22 · Risa Loebenberg Gewurz ’93 and Zev Gewurz P’22, P’24 · Roshanak Ghazinouri and Christopher Cooper P’23 · Jane Gilbert ’87 · Jane Kosloff Gilbert ’67 · Louisa Gilbert ’83 · Gayle Friedland Glik ’92 · Andrea Bundonis Glimcher ’92 · Jennifer Goichman and Lawrence Goichman P’96 · Carol Salomon Gold ’55 · Ivonne Goldberg Bicas and Daniel Goldberg P’22 · Nieca Goldberg ’79 · Jo Goldman ’73 · Julianna Goldman ’03 · Stacey Fruen Goldman ’94 · Susan Rosen Goldman ’70 · Lynn Goldowski and Sam Schwartz P’18, P’21 · Caryl Hamburger Goldsmith ’48 · Marcia Zylber Gordon ’77 · Roz Marshack Gordon ’62 · Stephanie Drescher Gorman ’95 · Ruth Levy Gottesman ’52 · Ellen Graff ’76 · Marisa Salamone Greason ’82 · Deborah Green ’74 · Patricia Freiberg Green ’62 · Cheryl Shaffer Greene ’66 · Sarah Griffin and James Griffin P’21 · Lindsay Griffith ’10 · Ellen Gritz ’64 · Esther Gross-Kremer ’96 · Sharon Gurwitz ’68 · Carrie Halpert and Avi Halpert P’23 · Elisabeth Halsted and Daniel Halsted P’21, P’22 · Frances Witty Hamermesh ’65 · Gordana Djordjevic Harris ’82 and Ethan Harris P’15 · Catherine Harrison and Giles Harrison P’16, P’19, P’21 · Berl Mendelson Hartman ’60, P’87, GP’21 · Margaret Harty and Ronan Harty P’21 · Emily Hathaway ’10 · Mary Jane Hawes ’92 · Daisy Helman P’14 · Judith Schoen Hershaft-Adler ’62 · Anne Mette Hertz and Marc Hertz P’21 · Ruth Weinstock Heuman ’66 · Steven Hirsch P’23 · Jane Castleman Hochman ’64 and Steven Hochman P’98 · Laura Vaccaro Hom ’94 P’23 · Eunice Hong ’96 and Nitin Gupta · Ruth Horowitz ’83 · Lauren Oldak Howard ’67 · Andrea Howard and Nigel Howard P’21 · AyWhang Ong Hsia ’67 · GiGi Hu and Danfeng Li P’23 · Jeanne Schmidt Huber ’53 · Bronwyn Hughes ’87 · Aimee Imundo ’85 · Harriet Kaye Inselbuch ’62, P’92 · Lois Jackson ’73 · Claudia Jacobs and Eric Jacobs P’21 · Lois Moonitz Jacobs ’79 · Tikva Jacobs ’94 and Jonathan Jacobs P’24 · Amy Dolgin Jaffe ’71 · Randi Jaffe ’74 · Elaine Jaharis and Steven Jaharis P’19 · Anjli Chopra Jain ’03 · Chau Janowski and Steve Janowski P’23 · Nina Jaroslaw and Mark Tecotzky P’21 · Jane Rosenzweig 44
Jelenko ’70 · Hongxia Ji and Yuejun Feng P’24 · Sharon Doyle Johe ’61 · Judith Schwack Joseph ’56 · Barbara Gaddy Judd ’50 · Dale Krasnow Kahn ’56 · Linda Parnes Kahn ’71 · Marcia Kalin and Stephen Rayport P’15, P’21 · Carole Kaplowitz Kantor ’62 · Barbara Kaplan ’73 · Julia Nidetz Karcher ’86 · Adela Bernard Karliner ’59 · Caryn Karmatz Rudy and Lee Rudy P’23 · Jill Kastner and Steffen Kastner P’21 · Camille Kiely Kelleher ’70 · Regina Dessoff Kessler ’76 · Gopa Khandwala ’85 · Sylvia Khatcherian ’76 · Vajra Kilgour ’71 · Maureen Killackey ’74 · Susan Kim-Haddad ’90 and Robert Haddad P’21 · Barbara Friedman Klarman ’59 · Emily Klein ’78 · Eve Klein and Robert Owens P’22 · Orly Klein ’04 · Roberta Koenigsberg ’79 · Florence Sack Kohn ’52 · Naomi Koltun-Fromm ’86 · Karen Raphaelson Korn ’84 · Carol Stock Kranowitz ’67 · Amy Krassner Psaila and Paul Psaila P’22, P’24 · Sonia Krishna and Arvind Krishna P’23 · Ellen Blanck Kulka ’60 · Josephine Kuo ’88 · Mary La Rocca ’80 · Ka Yan Lam ’19 · Stephanie Lambidakis and John LeSeur P’22 · Judith Lamble ’81 and Andrew Winton P’19 · Patricia Land and James Land P’21 · Carol Murray Lane ’60 and John Lane P’90, P’97 · Peggy Lange ’50 · Lisa Lantz and Brad Lantz P’22 · Melissa Lasker ’10 · Dana Lau ’94 · Nora Leary and Robert Leary P’17 · Linda Lebensold ’65 · Jane Lee ’87 · Lisa Lee P’23 · Cheryl Leggon ’70 · Stephen Lengyel · Olivia Lennon ’19 · Margaret Rood Lenzner ’68 · Taryn Leonard ’96 · Phyllis Levinberg ’73 · Linda Fayne Levinson ’62 · Judith Levitan ’76 · Brett Cohen Levy ’89 · Serena Krouse Levy ’91 and Shawn Levy P’21 · Marina Weitzner Lewin ’80 · Marion Hess Lewin ’60 · Elizabeth Copithorne Lewis ’70 · Marley Lewis ’05 · Susan Merriman Licht ’65 and Arnold Licht P’97 · Tracey Lieberman and David Lieberman P’09 · Terri Ambron Liftin ’90 · Lisa Cohen Liman ’83 and Lewis Liman P’22 · Lisa Lin ’98 · Mia Lindheimer ’19 · Lady Mimi Lloyd Adamson ’55 · Roberta Lobel · Tina Lobel · Eva Woolhiser Loesche ’89 · Mary Ann LoFrumento ’77 · Martha Lopez and Fernando Lopez P’22 · Rachel Lowe ’16 · Lesley Lu and David Chang P’22 · Gail Lyon and Bernard Markowitz P’22, P’24 · Jianping Chen Ma and Hangbiao Chen P’23 · Janet Gertmenian MacFarlane ’60 · Kathleen Madden ’92 · Lisa Maguire and James Maguire P’21 · Meredith Maierson ’93 · Kristen Malan and Jonathan Malan P’23 · Susannah Malen ’99 · Dahlia Malkhi and Yoram Singer P’20 · Patricia Mallon ’63 · Mary Beth Maloney ’98 · Beth Mann ’80 · Lisa Manning and Michael Trach P’20 · Giovanna Marazzi and David Sassoon P’22 · Marion Toman Marchal ’55 · Nancy Maruyama ’79 · Caroline Arfa Massel ’94 · Betty Massie and Charles Massie P’20 · Eileen Matschke and Albert Matschke P’23 · Eva Mayer ’67 · Joan Houston McCulloch ’50 · Rita Gunther McGrath ’81 and John McGrath P’12 · Barbara Crampton McGregor ’67 · Jane Newham McGroarty ’65 and James McGroarty P’06 · Jane Lipsky McIntyre ’68 · Elizabeth McNally ’83 · Judith Zuckerman Medoff ’60 · Stephanie Mendelsohn and David Mendelsohn P’22 · Jyoti Menon ’01 · Saroj Menon and Sreedhar Menon P’01 · Daisy Breuer Merey ’64 and John Merey P’91, GP’18 · Beth Steinberg Mermelstein ’76 · Niamh Mesch and William Mesch P’23 · Emily Altschul Miller ’88 · Lori Miller ’83 · Hollis Mills ’18 · Cheryl Glicker Milstein ’82 and Philip Milstein P’14 · Grace Milstein ’17 · Laura Miraz ’83 · Marcia Mishaan and Richard Mishaan P’20 · Wen Kreinen Modlin ’95 · Sylvia Montero ’72 · Irma Socci Moore ’50 · Sarah Morgenthau ’85 · Leslie Morioka ’68 · Mary Morouse and James Morouse P’23 · Susan Follett Morris ’61 · Mary Morton and Keith Forman P’23 · Anna Moskowitz and Paul Moskowitz P’20 · Stephanie Mudick P’23 · Elizabeth Mumford and Joseph Gitchell P’23 · Leslie MurphyChutorian ’75 · Liza Murrell and Frederick Murrell P’19 · Jacqueline Muss ’86 · Jessica Atlas Muss ’98 and Jason Muss P’24 · Dee Dee Myers and Todd Purdum P’22 · Lisa Nahmanson ’90 · Nalene Nath Nayyar ’86 · Ruth Nemzoff ’62 and Harris Berman P’06 · Lizbeth Neumark ’77 · Diana Newman ’92 · Terry Newman ’79 · Jennifer Ng ’88 · Grace Nickel ’19 · Linda Grueskin Niven ’69 · Phoebe Nobles ’98 · Dahlia Kalter Nordlicht ’93, P’20 · Joyce Nordquist · Murrill Oakes ’13 · Brian Obergfell · Susan Ochshorn ’75 · Holly Lasusa O’Connor ’80 · Mary Ellen Jacobs O’Connor ’68 · Emily Fowler Omura ’60 P’86 · Josephine O’Neil ’17 · Susan and Stephen O’Neil P’17 · Lida Orzeck ’68 · Shu-Fong Ou and Pi-Jung Lin P’21 · Susan Page ’63 · Annie Park ’00 · Grace Park and Charles Park P’19, P’23 · Kira Parks ’13 · Sandra Saget Perlbinder ’64 · Apple Pham P’21 · Daphne Fodor Philipson ’69 · Lisa Piazza ’85 · Doralynn Schlossman Pines ’69 and Jeffrey Pines P’11 · Orah Saltzman Platt ’69 · Loie Plautz ’19 · Jeanine D. Plottel ’54, GP’16 · Tara Polen ’89 · Elisa Pollack ’88 · Philippa Feldman Portnoy ’86 · Charlotte Carroll Prather ’69 · Aileen Mejia Pratt ’77 · Rosalind Pretzfelder ’63 · Katherine Pynoos ’09 · Marina Rabinovich ’82 · Shirin Raiszadeh and Kamshad Raiszadeh P’23 · Monica Ranniger ’85 · Eva Blumenthal Rap P’94 · Jessica Reich ’18 · Laura Ioachim Reichel ’82 and Martin Reichel P’20 · Alise Reicin ’82 · Cynthia Reinhart Richards ’73 · Heidi Crane Rieger ’79 and Richard Rieger P’14 · Nancy Rieger ’83 · Elizabeth Riley ’72 · Elisabeth Weiss Roberts and Scott Roberts P’23 · Gayle Robinson ’75 · Rodney Robinson P’22 · Catherine Rocco and Kieran Goodwin P’23 · Barrie Roman P’20 · Susan Romer ’64 and Donald Ungar P’87 · Michele Rooney ’86 · Cindy Rose ’85 · Dena Warshaw Rose ’52 · Judith Rosenbaum and Lee Rosenbaum P’23 · Merri Rosenberg ’78 · Andrea Machlin Rosenthal ’64 · Ali Ross ’00 · Susan Rosner Rovner ’91 and Robert Rovner P’23 · Adrienne Aaron Rulnick ’67 · Maria Emanuel Ryan ’85 · Laura Sachar ’84 · Ann Weinbaum Sacher ’85 · Tania Saffari ’19 · Padmaja Sai and Rajesh Sai P’22 · Rosemarie Salerni ’64 · Ariella Salimpour ’17 · Rana Sampson ’79 · Catherine Samuels ’69 · Zoe Sanders and Howard Sanders P’21, P’21 · Gretchen Iverson Sandler and James Sandler P’23 · Namita Sarawagi and Sajin Valoth P’19 · Shilpa Saxena and Jayant Saxena P’23 · The Morris and Alma Schapiro Fund · Carol Held Scharff ’55 · Sara Howell Schechter ’65 · Alison Vance Scherer ’94 · Jill Scheuer ’76 and Keith Pattiz P’11 · Naomi Schiff-Myers ’60 · Julianne Bohm Schorr ’68, P’03 · Kathleen Burns Schrader ’72 · Alice Altbach Schreyer ’68 · Kimberly Schroeder and Timothy Schroeder P’16 · Judith Schwartz ’78 · Jane Schuchinski Schwartzberg ’90 · Helen Scott ’70 · Danah Screen ’15 · Anne Seiwerath ’01 · Subarna Sengupta and Chandan Sengupta P’23 · Beth Silver Shalev ’96 · Penny Shane ’85 · Edith Tennenbaum Shapiro ’56 · Judith Basch Shapiro ’59 and Jay Shapiro P’83, ’93 · Pauline Piskin Sherman ’64 · Cynthia Johnson Shilkret ’68 · Frankie Sholem and Barry Sholem P’15 · Robyn Winkler Shoulson ’61 · Terry Shu ’73 · Carol Krongold Silberstein ’69 · Rickie Singer Peaslee ’73 and James Peaslee P’15 · Sally Sloan and Thomas Hentoff P’23 · Benjamin Sloss P’23 · Betty Booth Smith ’45 · Dian Goldston Smith ’68 · Judy Terry Smith ’62 · Marge Smith ’54 · The Sogi Foundation · Steven Solnick and Maeve O’Connor · Catharine Cosover Soros ’87 · Blanche Eisemann Sosland ’58 · Jayne Sosland ’87 and David Swersky P’24 · C Spencer and Randal Spencer P’09 · Caroline Spencer ’09 · Sally Hsu Sperber ’85 · Celina Sprague ’16 · Eliza Staples ’23 · Nancy Staples and David Staples P’23 · Lizbeth Stecher and Joseph Stecher P’23 · Tina Steck ’80 · Jane Wallison Stein ’68 and Hugh Dougan P’98 · Betsy Wolf Stephens ’59 · Wendy Story and Richard Story P’22 · Joyce Gabel Straus ’80 · Jamie Studley ’72 · Randi Kornbluth Sultan ’98 · Nina Sun · Nicole Sundell ’15 · Sumana Sur P’23 · Linda Sweet ’63 · Mori Taheripour ’92 · Hiroko Takada ’92 · Miki Takada ’17 · Benay Taub and Steven Taub P’20 · Janet Carlson Taylor ’67 · Sarah Thieneman ’15 · Merryl Hiat Tisch ’77 · Mariana Titorov ’59 · Sandra Torrielli ’65 · Soching Tsai ’70 · Stella Tsai ’75 · Matthew Urbanek · Ann Koshel van Buren ’81 · Cherith Bailey Velez ’97 · Nicole Lowen Vianna ’81 · Margo Meier Viscusi ’56 and Anthony Viscusi P’82 · Joan Gerbracht Vormbaum ’64 · Eleanor Wagner ’71 · Hannah Waldman ’68 · Mary Walsh-Gorski and Steven Gorski P’22 · Ying Yao Wang ’57 and Chia-Gee Wang P’90 · Qingwei Wang and Fengwei Miao P’24 · Hilary Ward and Joseph Murphy P’22 · Megan Watkins ’97 · Susan Weber ’77 · Gail Weinmann ’72 · Marcia Silfen Weisser ’55 · Doris Hanes Wells ’55 · Kathleen Welsh and Bill Plautz P’19 · Christina Westholm-Schroder and Henrik Schroder P’14, P’18 · Darin White ’98 · Helene White ’76 · Lindrawati Widjojo and Kindarto Kohar P’15 · Debora Williams-Herman and Gary Herman P’21 · Kate R. Williams ’92 · Karen Willis and Martin Collins P’23 · Kerry FitzSimons Wilson ’86 · Jude Giabbai Wilson ’80 · Paul Wilson SP’56 · Marlys Hearst Witte ’55 · Joyce Guior Wolf ’64 · Laura Wolf-Slovin and Karl Slovin P’23 · Lisa Wolfe ’82 · Ellen Shapiro Wolfson ’79 · Janet Armuth Wolkoff ’75 and Neal Wolkoff P’14 · Elly Karp Wong ’97 · Nancy Kung Wong ’62 · Ashley Reed Woodruff ’01 · Amanda Woodward and Andrew Campbell P’22 · Johanna Voolich Wright ’97 · Wei Yuxiao Liu Xiao and Junfeng Liu P’20 · Simmone Yang P’22 · Elaine Frezza Yaniv ’74, P’09 · Lareina Yee ’95 · Peggy Yeo and Chun Cheng Yeo P’23 · Agavni Zambak Yeramyan ’71 and Ara Yeramyan P’98 · Jay Yon Yoon P’21 · Xiaohong Yu and Min Wang P’23 · Lori Zabar ’75 · Janet Levitt Zalkin ’66 · Annie Zhang and Bing Li P’23 · Zhuangyi Zheng and Lijian Chen P’21 · Daniel Zimmermann P’22 · Lynn Zises ’89 · Carrie Zlotnick-Woldenberg ’94 · Felice Zwas ’76 This list reflects all leadership-level gifts made to the Barnard Annual Fund in fiscal year 2020 (July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020). Every effort is made to ensure its accuracy and completeness.
Kindly notify the Office of Development and Alumnae Relations of any errors or omissions at annualgiving@barnard.edu or 212.923.2023. FALL 2020 | BARNARD MAGAZINE 45
Job Search During a Crisis
In
the wake of COVID-19, the U.S. labor force has seen tens of millions of layoffs and furloughs, thousands of small-business closures, and countless dollars of lost income. No matter how you measure it, the fallout will leave a lasting mark on the country’s economy and how people approach their careers. With alumnae across generations out of work, looking to change jobs, or rethinking their trajectory altogether, Beyond Barnard, the College’s onestop shop for career resources for alumnae and students, put together a webinar series for alumnae that built on their virtual job search programs. Throughout the series, Christine Valenza Shin ’84 and Alexa Hammel ’13 of Beyond Barnard’s advising and programs team shared best practices for how to plan and execute an effective job search or career shift during challenging times.
46
“It takes more patience, flexibility, and resilience,” Shin says of searching for a job during a crisis versus times of relative calm. “There will be more applicants, more waiting, and more rejections. Plus, networking is even more essential but can be slower to produce results. It can all be very discouraging.” To engage with alumnae about how they could begin to overcome these hurdles, the webinar series covered topics such as resume building, utilizing LinkedIn, negotiating salary and benefits, and many others. In a sign of the times, demand for the webinar series was high. Approximately 75 alumnae took part in each session, compared with 25 when it was last presented — an increase of 200%. One alumna who found the series especially helpful was Mandy Huang ’80, a technical writer and process analyst who is currently consulting for a hedge fund. “I needed advice from a smart, independent source about how to pivot my skills,” says Huang about why she chose to attend. “Is it worth spending a large amount of money to learn a new skill? Even if I spent the time and money, would a future employer hire me if I am over 55?” Huang appreciated the information she received from the webinars. “When my consulting assignment ends, I will be using the networking techniques I learned. I also have the confidence now to apply for jobs where I may have only 70% of the requirements.” In addition to helping alumnae search for jobs, the series covered pulling off career transitions through extraordinary circumstances. Amanda Ryvkin ’18, a freelance communications and marketing professional for arts and entertainment, is interested in potentially exploring other industries, and she found the sessions on networking, interviewing, and writing cover letters particularly helpful. “The webinars gave me new ways to think about and approach each of these processes,” Ryvkin says, adding that she now feels more prepared than ever if she does decide to switch careers and that Barnard has always guided her along her career trajectory, all the way back to when she was a student. “Barnard helped me write my first résumés and cover letters when I was a freshman, and really equipped me with the skills to go out and start applying for jobs.” Whatever path Barnard students and alumnae are pursuing, Beyond Barnard is here to support and advise on best practices and effective strategies for defining and pursuing your goals, presenting yourself effectively, and building and maintaining a strong network. In fact, Shin asserts that Beyond Barnard’s message since March has been consistent: “Through good times or bad, a holistic job search is always key.” B
The 1, 2, 3 from Beyond Barnard To get you started on your job search or career transition, Beyond Barnard presents these helpful tips. Rewatch the full Job Search in a Crisis webinar series at our.barnard.edu/job-search-crisis. Looking for more advice or career resources? Visit barnard.edu/beyond-barnard
JOB SEARCH 1. Spend time on both the open (posted) and hidden (unposted) markets. 2. Be kind to yourself, and check in with people from your support network. 3. Balance your search with learning new skills, volunteering, hobbies, and other activities.
RÉSUMÉ 1. Review first for formatting and then for strengthening language. 2. Quantify scope and focus on specific accomplishments and results. 3. Create a separate “everything” résumé, where you can store older entries and draft new bullets.
COVER LETTER 1. Don’t rewrite your résumé in paragraph form. 2. Use specific examples and brief stories to demonstrate experience and skills. 3. Add the name of the organization you are applying to in each paragraph.
in
LINKEDIN PROFILE
1. Use the “About” section to frame experience, what you are looking for, and what you will bring. 2. Add as many skills as possible to the “Skills” section. 3. Always include a photo. It needn’t to be a professional headshot. Cell phone shots are fine.
NETWORKING 1. U se LinkedIn and other social media to reconnect with people and search for new contacts. 2. B arnard alumnae are everywhere! Visit the Barnard College “company page” on LinkedIn. 3. K eep your outreach short and specific. Start by asking to connect online.
INTERVIEWING 1. G o in knowing 3 key things you want the employer to know about you by the end. 2. F or virtual: camera angle straight on, lighting in front of you, and look at the camera, not faces. 3. A lways plan several questions to ask.
NEGOTIATING SALARY & BENEFITS 1. U se multiple sources to determine market rate and where your skills and experience put you. 2. A sk the employer or recruiter first, if possible, what salary range they are offering. 3. I f salary is locked, what else can you ask for that would make the job worth taking?
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT 1. W hat parts of your job are you best at, and also love? Bring as much into each day as possible. 2. A lways pursue professional development, even if you are new to a job, happy, or staying put. 3. U se performance review time to check in on your career development.
FALL 2020 | BARNARD MAGAZINE 47
Leading Lexicologist
Madeline Kripke ’65 amassed one of the world’s largest collections of dictionaries by Isabella Pechaty ’23 If afforded the opportunity, many people would choose to collect comics, antiques, or trading cards, but few can claim to have built a collection more essential and instructive than Madeline Kripke ’65, who died in April at the age of 76. Driven by an unrivaled passion for language, she turned her West Village apartment into an indispensable resource — with over 20,000 dictionaries — for the lexicographic community. Born in 1943 in New London, Connecticut, Kripke grew up primarily in Omaha, Nebraska, where her father, Rabbi Myer Kripke, led the Beth El Synagogue, and her mother, Dorothy Kripke, authored Jewish educational children’s books. At a young age, Kripke developed an appreciation and insatiable curiosity for words that began when her parents gave her a Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. It marked a turning point for the burgeoning bibliophile, who found a new, invaluable tool at her disposal. From then on, anytime Kripke came across an unfamiliar word, she dutifully recorded it in a notebook for future reference. At Barnard, she pursued an English degree and contributed to the Barnard Bulletin as a staff member. During this time, she also immersed herself in New York City’s cultural zeitgeist of the 1960s, describing herself as “a cross between a beatnik and hippie” to Daniel Kreiger, who profiled her in 2013 for the media platform Narratively. After graduation, Kripke remained in the city and held a number of jobs, including welfare case worker, teacher, copy editor, and proofreader. Dictionaries, of 80
course, came in handy for professional purposes. But then, she discovered they offered up so much more. “Dictionaries themselves unlock the world for me,” she told Kreiger. When it came to collecting, the dictionaries won out over any desire for personal comfort or convenience. Inside her apartment, books occupied every inch of space save for a small designated sleeping area. In photographs, she always appeared dwarfed among her boxes and stacks of carefully organized and preserved volumes. In the mid-1970s, Kripke decided to focus solely on collecting and dealing dictionaries, obtaining her seller’s license in 1976. Even as a self-taught lexicographer, her extensive collection could satisfy the most obscure craving of any linguistics devotee. Kripke recognized the historical and scholarly significance of all different kinds of printed media, and her personal repository reflected these wide-ranging interests: Alongside her dictionaries, there were advertisements, newspapers, correspondence, and magazines. She also sought out a variety of books that captured the inclusive and dynamic nature of a language, including the lingo of Valley Girls, pickpockets, and soldiers. For Kripke, nothing was too inappropriate or esoteric — she had a particular affinity for material that fused the scholarly with the irreverent. Among the more unusual and rare books in her collection was a Latin dictionary from 1502, in which the text was so small that it required a magnifying glass to read, as well as a prisoner slang glossary written by a San Quentin warden. One of her favorites, Lexical Evidence from Folk Epigraphy in Western North America, investigated the origins of the f-word and cataloged the author’s encounters with bathroom-wall graffiti. At one point, Kripke’s collection reached maximum capacity — filling her apartment and three warehouses — and nearly resulted in an eviction in the 1990s. It was her wish to construct a personal library to house her beloved collection that would be made available to scholars and fellow linguists. Though she never realized this dream, her brother Saul Kripke told The New York Times that he was working with “expert friends” to make sure her trove of books found the right home. B
PHOTO BY EMON HASSAN
Obituaries
A Groundbreaking Protector of Human Rights In pursuing her calling, Lila Fenwick ’53 broke the glass ceiling as Harvard Law School’s first Black female graduate
PHOTO FROM BARNARD MAGAZINE, SPRING 1964
by Solby Lim ’22 Lila Fenwick ’53, who dedicated her career to human rights advocacy, overcame formidable barriers to become the first Black woman to graduate from Harvard Law School in 1956 — only six years after the school began admitting women. Fenwick died on April 4, at the age of 87, due to complications related to COVID-19. She was born in Manhattan on May 24, 1932, to John and Hilda Fenwick, who had emigrated from Trinidad, reported The New York Times. Law beckoned Fenwick from an early age, and she remained steadfast in her commitment to become a lawyer. “It never occurred to me that there were going to be any obstacles,” Fenwick told the Harvard Law Bulletin in 2000. Upon graduating from Barnard in 1953, she entered Harvard Law School, where she was among a small number of women in her class. The environment was hostile, particularly for Fenwick, who experienced “a lot of resistance while there based on race and gender,” explained David Colby Reed, her cousin and legal guardian, to the Harvard Law Bulletin. But even in the face of these challenges, Fenwick flourished and went on to study at the London School of Economics. Soon after completing her education, she joined the United Nations, where she later assumed the role of chief of the Division of Human Rights, specializing in protections
for indigenous populations and the study of racial, gender, and religious discrimination. “Lila Fenwick was an extraordinary leader who devoted her career at the United Nations to protecting the human rights of all people across the globe,” Harvard Law School dean John F. Manning wrote in a press release. “Her leadership, humanity, and wisdom will be sorely missed.” Fenwick’s accomplishments were widely recognized. She was one of 50 trailblazing women graduates of Harvard Law school to be featured in Harvard Law Bulletin’s article “Nifty Fifty,” in celebration of the school’s 50th anniversary of admitting women. And she was in good company: Right below her photograph and bio is Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg CLS ’59. “She just knew how she wanted to live and lived the way she wanted to,” said Reed. And by following her calling, she opened countless doors for Black women in the legal field. Reed told the Harvard Crimson that her wish was to leave her estate to scholarships and academic programming that supports the achievements of Black women in higher education. “She would want to be remembered for that belief in that kind of patronage of and cultivation of a new generation of leaders,” said Reed. B
In Memoriam 1942 Janet Quinn Eichacker 7/23/20 1944 Elizabeth Moran Fuentes 7/17/20 1947 Sarah Ames Ellis 3/9/20 1949 Joan Purves Bertaccini 7/21/20 Joan Melervey McCaffrey 7/22/20 Marguerite Kristeller Ochs 8/1/20 1951 Carol Vogel Towbin 6/6/20 1954 Isabella Bick 9/1/19 Florence Wallach Freed 8/10/20 Carol Criscuolo Gristina 8/11/20 Sally Seidgoff Krieger 4/1/20
1956 Joan Cobb 4/5/20 1958 Judith Batt Katz 5/26/20 Dolores Siegel Rosen 8/2/20 Bliss Rehm Morehead-Zisser 7/20/20 1967 Rayna Jacobs 12/23/19 1969 Francine Johanson Butler 6/23/20 1971 Fay Chew Matsuda 7/24/20 1985 Bettina Gilois 7/5/20 1987 Cecilia Nass Rudzitis 7/8/20 1996 Dorian Matthews 6/8/20
1955 Sonia Kase Berke 8/6/20 FALL 2020 | BARNARD MAGAZINE 81
QUARANZINES continued from page 6 Tables,” features screenshots of found text from pandemic-era emails (“your flight has been cancelled”), recipes (“how to make whipped coffee”), Google searches (the lyrics for the Les Misérables song and zine’s namesake), advertisements (“toilet paper stock update!”) and online messages (“anyone get their severance yet?”). Miarosa Ciallella ’19, meanwhile, splashed her quaranzine with exuberant yet apocalyptic collages of flowers, microbes, celestial objects, and a leering Big Brother-like male figure, all to showcase how the pandemic could connect Americans, even as the government failed them. “Zines act as micro-archives of historical and personal moments,” Ciallella reflects. “[I] wanted to document this moment through my own artistic interpretation of a global pandemic.” B Reporting contributed by Danielle Slepyan ’22.
GROWING UP, IN DOG YEARS continued from page 17 happening in your own life? The big difference in my life was not really going from male to female — the big difference was going from someone who had a secret in the world to being someone who had almost no secrets. If you’re a person who’s living in the world with profound atomic secrets, it takes a big emotional toll on you, and it can really absorb a lot of your energy in life. Your secret goes everywhere with you; it’s like a big invisible slobbering Saint Bernard. Do people know I was wearing a dress right before this? Are there any impressions from the clip-on earrings I was wearing on my earlobes that people can see? Did I get all that mascara off of my eyelids? The thing about coming out as trans — as hard as it was — suddenly I had all this free time. I didn’t have to devote myself to being a secret agent anymore. So, that’s one of the gifts of transition. Like I said, my journey from male to female doesn’t exactly overlap with my journey from fiction to nonfiction, but you could make a pretty 82
good case that it does. What do you think people can learn from animals? It’s very easy to romanticize dogs and other animals and see in them just what we want to see. It’s a very human-centric view to think that an animal’s job is to teach us lessons, and yet the relationship between pets and ourselves is complex in that we do teach each other things. We teach them not to pee on the floor, and they teach us how to love. It seems like a fair trade, doesn’t it? Sometimes when I’m talking about the transgender experience, I show people the American Sign Language sign for it, which is a flower made out of your fingers, facing downward, that you place over your heart. You then bring it outward into the air, turn
it around so that the petals face the sky, and the petals open, and then you put it back in your heart facing the new direction. I learned it since losing so much of my hearing a few years ago. It’s not as much a sign about being trans as it is about the human experience. We all have something in our hearts that we’re afraid to share with other people, and the job of life is to get it out of the place where it’s trapped inside you and bring it out into the sunshine where you can thrive. Dogs can help us do that; dogs help us express love that we’re too awkward to express. Maybe we learn something about how to love each other in modeling the love that we see in dogs. B This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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Last Word
Marching Together?
ILLUSTRATION BY FRANZISKA BARCZYK
by Naomi André ’89 During the fall of my freshman year at Barnard, I confronted a picket line for the first time (which I did not cross), when the clerical workers union at Columbia went on strike. The following semester, a makeshift South African shantytown was constructed along College Walk, an act calling for Columbia to divest from its holdings in South Africa as a protest against apartheid. Though I did not know it then, this world of protests and disrupting the norm would shape me as I found my way into academia, and beyond. Having my privilege intersect social justice is an uncomfortable position that I do not immediately embrace. And yet, as I take a closer look, I am in this situation more frequently than I once thought. I was raised in a wealthy New York City suburb but had very little economic security growing up. I attended a Quaker prep school on scholarships because education was something valued by my single mother, even though no one I knew had ever graduated from college. I was raised in a nearly all-white environment, and I fell in love with classical music. However, I did not understand the vast dissonance this caused people — a young Black person loving classical music. At
Barnard, I studied music and attended the Metropolitan Opera regularly (through inexpensive tickets in Family Circle and in Standing Room). I am now an opera scholar and professor at the University of Michigan, and I have learned that my very presence in the opera house, in the field of musicology, and in most of academia is a disruptive event. In my own research, I have helped shape the discourse around Blackness in opera in a time when Black Lives Matter. As police violence — part of a larger New Jim Crow carceral system — has escalated against Black people, an unlikely space of activism has emerged in which Black composers and librettists are writing operas that illuminate Black experiences: stories from the Middle Passage and the life of Harriet Tubman and Anthony Davis’ 2020 Pulitzer Prize winner, The Central Park Five (with libretto by Richard Wesley). I write this reflection from my new study in a house I bought last December in a lovely, somewhat racially integrated neighborhood in Ann Arbor. In the wake of the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and so many others, my neighbors decided to hold a march for BLM. Excited for this opportunity to meet others, I was surprised that my daughter and I were the only two Black people there. Though new to the area, we recognized some people from my daughter’s school and sports teams. Yet none of these acquaintances spoke to me. I admit, I was taken aback; I really thought they would meet my eye, say hello. But I did not seem to exist to them — even at this march, of all places. Later, a couple of other Black people joined. I had not met them before, but they spoke to me. Finally, I felt a tiny bit visible, but just to a few. Disruption is especially complicated when it refers to our embodied presence, for it digs deep into who we are and how we are perceived. Despite being over 50, I’m still learning that protests always come with pain, even when we march together to show solidarity. B Naomi André is Seattle Opera’s first-ever scholar-in-residence. FALL 2020 | BARNARD MAGAZINE 83
Crossword
by Patrick Blindauer
ACROSS
1. Millieâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s favorite station* 5. Past Sketchbook artist Suze* 10. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s thrown at weddings 14. Penne ___ vodka 15. She coined â&#x20AC;&#x153;radioactivityâ&#x20AC;? 16. â&#x20AC;&#x153;My heavens!â&#x20AC;? 17. Ida B. Wells, for one* 19. Palace address 20. ClichĂŠd 21. Finishes, as cupcakes 22. One of the Brothers Karamazov 23. When the French fry? 24. Trackers on the road 26. Choreographer and activist Alvin 28. Green in hand 29. Enthusiastic assent in Madrid 30. Romantic ideal (2 wds.) 33. Barnardâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lifestyle magazine* 37. List at a dining hall 38. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Reimagining Brooklyn Bridgeâ&#x20AC;? winner Shannon* 39. Emperor known for his interest in music 40. How students often travel (2 wds.) 43. Like awards shows, typically 45. Raiders of the Lost Ark serpents 46. Big name in abstract art 47. Ski slope challenge 49. Karate rank indicator 50. Reheat quickly 53. Handle it as well as one can 54. Saintâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s image 56. Hiker Goldberg â&#x20AC;&#x2122;14* 58. Bi-colored treat 59. Leader during a pandemic 61. Lake Titicacaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s country 62. City thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the subject of a poem by Jenna Matecki â&#x20AC;&#x2122;11* 63. Desertlike 64. â&#x20AC;&#x153;â&#x20AC;&#x2122;Tis a pity!â&#x20AC;? 65. Drinks from a pint glass 66. Peter or Paul, e.g.
DOWN
1. Word before basket or bin 2. Say abruptly, with â&#x20AC;&#x153;outâ&#x20AC;? 3. Title role for Michael and Jude 4. Huck Finnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s craft 5. One-time Elton John label 6. Anime show and trading card game 7. Clapton and Cartman 84
8. Climb the corporate ladder 9. Shoved off (2 wds.) 10. Elasticity 11. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Uncle!â&#x20AC;? (2 wds.) 12. Hall of Fame sportscaster Harry 13. Garden in the Bible 18. Character in King Lear or The Exorcist 25. Opposite of WNW 27. Manhattan, e.g. (Abbr.) 28. Brave 29. Anna of fashion 30. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re oversharingâ&#x20AC;? 31. Mother clucker 32. UK part: Abbr. 33. Commuting option 34. Golf bag item 35. Wrath 36. Give silent assent 38. Some printers, for short 41. Sch. based in Columbus
42. Exalts 43. Wing of a building, perhaps 44. Heavy ___ 46. 1 994 Grammy winner for â&#x20AC;&#x153;Forever in Loveâ&#x20AC;? (2 wds.) 47. Cousin of a truffle 48. A nthony Davisâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; The Central Park Five, for one* 49. First of a set (2 wds.) 50. L ibrarian Jenna Freedmanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s special collection* 51. Luxury Hyundai 52. Potato-peeling implement 53. Club in a Manilow tune 55. â&#x20AC;&#x153;All I Wanna Doâ&#x20AC;? singer 57. Many a BuzzFeed feature 60. Fros partners * Answers to these clues can be found in the pages of this issue. For all answers, see page 82.
The most important reason my husband, David, and I give to Barnard is to support this incredibly special institution and help it thrive. We have made three charitable gift annuities, and this allowed us to make significant donations while also receiving benefits. We received a federal income tax deduction in the year of each gift annuity and will receive payments throughout our lives, a portion of which will be free of income tax. The payments will benefit us as well as our family, and when we pass on, the remaining amount will be used to support Barnard’s mission. —Randi Jaffe ’74
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