winter 2013
emma willard school
Filmmaker's arty aesthetic is making Waves in New York
direct to her future
Watercolor by Patricia Lynne Hardy ’80, who was a successful businesswoman with Deloitte before she had two children and decided to develop her artistic side. In addition to being a watercolorist, Patti also designed and produced beautiful high-end jewelry. When Patti was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2010, she and her husband, John, created a foundation called Patti Strong, which supports the development of women entrepreneurs in developing countries. Patti died in October 2012.
The magazine of Emma Willard School is published by the Communications Office three times each year for alumnae, parents, grandparents, and friends of Emma Willard School. The mission of this magazine is to capture the school’s remarkable history, values, and culture through accurate and objective coverage that adheres to the highest journalistic and literary standards. Gabrielle DeMarco
Director of Communications gdemarco@emmawillard.org
emma willard school winter 2013
features
12 One for the History Books
History comes alive in Trudy Hanmer’s new book about the brilliant, original Emma Hart Willard and the school she founded.
16 Kermani Uncut
With her love of sci-fi and New Wave, her talent as a musician, and her lifelong desire to be a director, this young filmmaker is making a splash in New York.
Kelly A. Finnegan
Director of Alumnae Relations kfinnegan@emmawillard.org Jill Smith
Class Notes Coordinator jsmith@emmawillard.org Lilly Pereira
Designer www.lillypereira.com Trudy E. Hall
Head of School Please forward address changes to: Emma Willard School 285 Pawling Avenue Troy, NY 12180 518.833.1787 alumnae@emmawillard.org or visit www.emmawillard.org/alumnae
22 Women Speak Their Mind
An English class helps girls find their voices and express their opinions for all to hear.
26 My Next Move
The career of dancer Pamela Quinn ’72 came to a halt with a diagnosis of Parkinson’s. Here’s an account of how she got herself, and her career, back into motion again.
departments 02 Headlines Where are the voices of women in the public debate? Head Trudy Hall calls for women to speak out.
On the cover Natasha Kermani ’06 at the Music Building in Manhattan, where she directed the filming of a music video. Photo by Bob Handelman.
34 Connections The emergence of the New Girls Network.
03 Emma Everywhere
36 Class Notes
Students encounter new ideas from activists on and off campus.
40 Memorial List
08 In the Classroom Printed on 100% recycled paper that is manufactured entirely with nonpolluting, wind-generated energy.
10 Click
An old language meets a new technology—friendship develops!
84 Women’s Work Chris Carroll, costumer for Revels, has transformed generations of seniors.
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headlines
By Trudy E. Hall, Head of School
Speaking Your Mind There comes a time in every woman’s life when she “owns” her opinion—when using her voice matters to her. It often happens at the intersection of the right cause and the right level of engagement—a purpose plus passion equation, if you will. When it happens, it is liberating, it is empowering, and it is heady. Suddenly, because she took a stand, her perspective is radically different; she has become an activist. There is no turning back. And that is a good thing for the world. Last year I learned about The OpEd Project (www. theopedproject.org), a “social venture founded to increase the range of voices and quality of ideas we hear in the world.” One of its research projects collects data on the authorship of newspaper opinion pieces. It will disappoint—but most likely not Too often it takes surprise—you to learn that opinion journalism is dominated by men: 83 percent a woman years of Wall Street Journal op-eds are by men; to use men pen 78 percent of New York Times op-eds; and even at the feminist-leaning . But Huffington Post, 64 percent of the op-eds once she does carry a male byline. Ladies, where are there is only one your voices? With the help of Dr. Meredith direction she can Legg, Sara Lee Schupf Family Chair in Instructional Technology and . go— Classroom Innovation, some of our girls embraced the challenge presented by these tough statistics. While you will read their approach to finding their “op-ed” voice later in this issue, right now let’s take a deep dive under the disheartening statistics. One of the primary reasons that women do not put their opinion out for public consumption is that they struggle to “own” their expertise. They often
her voice powerfully
forward
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trivialize the vast experience they bring to a topic, discounting any experience that is nontraditional or gained outside of a professional sphere. Sound familiar to you? Too often it takes a woman years to use her voice powerfully. But once she does there is only one direction she can go—forward. Madame Willard modeled this beautifully generations ago when she set about righting one enormous wrong: our nation’s girls did not have equal access to education. As she exercised her voice and the compelling message caught fire, her school became the beneficiary of her growing reputation as “the expert.” Indeed, her “op-ed” is our mission statement. Just as any woman approaches a big birthday with fresh resolutions to put more of who she is out into the world, Emma Willard School is resolved to be more assured as well. In the months to come, you will notice that we have found our voice. We are making big plans to put our signature on the world. Over the past few months we have engaged in research to re-establish what makes Emma the best school for girls in the land—a fitting project on the eve of our Bicentennial. One thing is clear: Emma Willard School is the embodiment of its founder, a thought leader before the phrase was invented. She was authentic, accepting, independent, innovative, creative, confident, and cosmopolitan. She remains the inspiration for this school and that is why our new logo is modeled after Madame Willard’s own elegant signature. Just as Madame Willard ventured beyond Middlebury years ago, her school will no longer sit humbly in its enlightened corner of the educational world. We are stepping out, and it feels grand.
emma everywhere
Photo: Trevor Coe—Savannah, GA
Write What You Really Want Candy Chang painted on the wall of a run-down house in New Orleans this sentence: Before I die I want to_____. By the next day the blank was filled in with responses that amazed and moved Chang, among them: “I want to find love, be more like my dad, name a star, straddle the International Date Line, live my best life, plant a tree, live off the grid, hold her one more time.” Chang, who spoke on campus as part of the Serving and Shaping Her World Speaker Series, said the project was about expressing what really matters. In a recent TED Talk she explained, “It shows how powerful our public spaces can be, and that thinking about death clarifies your life.”
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4 emma everywhere
Book Launch Wrought With Steadfast Will: A History of Emma Willard School Troy Book Makers, $34.95
Celebrating the Traditions Bicentennial Marks the Moment Emma Willard School is kicking off our Bicentennial this February 2013, which will, over the course of the next year and a half, offer students, alumnae, parents, and friends opportunities to join us in a variety of events, both on campus and off, to celebrate 200 years of women’s education. From L.A. to London and Florida to D.C., Emma alumnae will gather to honor and celebrate being part of Emma Hart Willard’s grand vision of education for girls. That vision has transformed the lives of generations of girls, and they in turn have made their mark in the world. “For two centuries this institution has modeled for every generation the power of educated
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women,” wrote Trudy Hanmer. We begin our Bicentennial with the publication of Hanmer’s new book, Wrought With Steadfast Will: A History of Emma Willard School. Events throughout the year will include lectures and discussion by educators and policy makers and Emma will offer its own version of TED Talks with a series of short presentations, available online, addressing global issues and how Emma girls can have a hand in shaping their world. The Bicentennial will culminate, fittingly, in grand events on the weekend of May 9–11, 2014. The entire Emma Willard community is invited to celebrate our past and kick off the next 200 years of girls’ education.
For the first time ever, the entire story of Emma Willard School is told in a comprehensive, fascinating history, published just in time for the Bicentennial kickoff. From the demands of “republican motherhood,” to the shouts of the suffrage movement, through the riots and tumult of the ’60s, author Trudy Hanmer sheds new light on the life and momentous achievements of Emma Hart Willard and the school she founded. Wrought With Steadfast Will: A History of Emma Willard School draws upon extensive collections of letters, diaries, meeting minutes, reports of principals, and countless school documents from deep in the Emma archives to tell the story of Emma Willard School through the eyes of its students, teachers, patrons, and benefactors through the generations. Alumnae and friends can meet the author, Associate Head Emerita Trudy Hanmer, on her Bicentennial book tour. See the story about Hanmer and the book on page 12. UPCOMING BOOK TOUR DATES New York City, New York Strand Book Store February 26, 2013 Broomfield, Colorado Omni Interlocken Resort March 4, 2013 Shelburne, Vermont Heart of the Village Inn March 13, 2013 Wellesley, Massachusetts Wellesley College Club March 20, 2013 For a full schedule of cities and dates and to order the book go to www.emmawillard.org/bicentennial.
5 emma everywhere
Newsmakers De Shan Lett has been named Director of Cognitive Skills, a new position at the school. Lett will monitor and assist students with learning differences and those in need of guidance in managing class assignments and study skills.
Photo: Times Union, used by permission
Sabra Sanwal was named the Nettie Sweeney and Hugh Thomas Miller Instructor in Language. Prior to joining Emma in 1993, she taught at both Havergal College in Toronto and Skidmore College. Debra Spiro-Allen, director of vocal music and chair of the Arts Department, was named the Julia Howard Bush Instructor in the Arts. Prior to joining Emma in 2002, she taught at the Sayles School of Fine Arts in Schenectady. When senior Katherine Vail was 13 she fractured her vertebrae in a devastating skiing accident. Surgeons told the young horseback rider she would never ride again. Fast-forward to October 2012: Vail placed second in the nation and fifth in the world in her division in two events at the Grand National and World Championship Morgan Horse Show. Her motto? “Never give up,” she said. “I have one of those injuries that never fully gets healed and I have fallen off since, but I keep getting back up.”
Katherine Vail ’13
Setting a Welcoming Table When Pascale Stain ’14 gave a kindergartener named Zabib a backpack filled with school supplies at the conclusion of a volunteer project with young immigrant children, the youngster seemed confused. “This is all for me?” Zabib asked Stain. “She looked truly shocked that someone would be giving her her very own backpack,” Stain said. “She looked so excited; she hugged me.” It is interactions like this that have kept Stain an active volunteer with the Refugee and Immigrant Support Services of Emmaus (RISSE) at Emmaus United Methodist Church in Albany since 8th grade. She was one of the first teenagers to become involved with the group. The mission of RISSE is to help refugees and recent immigrants build sustainable, independent lives by offering language and literacy instruction, support with life skills, and integration into the local community. Stain implemented a comprehensive gardening and cooking project for 12- and 13-year-old refugees. She designed raised garden beds, planted them with RISSE students, then she taught the kids how to cook healthy, nutritious meals with the fresh ingredients they harvested. Her goal was to expose children to the principles of healthy cooking; encourage them to eat a variety of fresh healthy foods; practice cooking “math”—measuring, fractions; and celebrate their diverse cultural heritage through food. But even beyond gardening and cooking, Stain wanted to impart a lasting message to the children. She wanted them to see they, too, can play a role in welcoming newcomers to the country.
Winter 2013
I love being a girl. I can feel what you're feeling as you’re feeling it inside the feeling before. I am an emotional creature. Things do not come to me as intellectual theories or hard-shaped ideas. They pulse through my organs and legs and burn up my ears. I know when your girlfriend's really pissed off even though she appears to give you what you want. I know when a storm is coming. I can feel the invisible stirrings in the air. I can tell you he won't call back. It’s a vibe I share. I am an emotional creature. I love that I do not take things lightly. Everything is intense to me. The way I walk in the street. The way my mother wakes me up. The way I hear bad news. The way it’s unbearable when I lose. I am an emotional creature. I am connected to everything and everyone. I was born like that. Don’t you dare say all negative that it's a teenage thing or it’s only only because I’m a girl. These feelings make me better. They make me ready. They make me present. They make me strong. I am an emotional creature. There is a particular way of knowing. It’s like the older women somehow forgot.
Eve & Emma
I rejoice that it’s still in my body. I know when the coconut's about to fall. I know that we’ve pushed the earth too far. I know my father isn't coming back. That no one’s prepared for the fire. I know that lipstick means more than show. I know that boys feel super-insecure and so-called terrorists are made, not born. I know that one kiss can take away all my decision-making ability and sometimes, you know, it should. This is not extreme. It’s a girl thing. What we would all be if the big door inside us flew open. Don’t tell me not to cry. To calm it down Not to be so extreme To be reasonable. I am an emotional creature. It’s how the earth got made. How the wind continues to pollinate. You don’t tell the Atlantic ocean to behave. I am an emotional creature. Why would you want to shut me down or turn me off? I am your remaining memory. I am connecting you to your source. Nothing’s been diluted. Nothing’s leaked out. I can take you back. I love that I can feel the inside of the feelings in you, even if it stops my life even if it hurts too much
The Linney Theatre on Broadway was filled to the brim with Emma seniors and area alumnae to watch Eve Ensler’s I Am an Emotional Creature: The Secret Life of Girls, a series of monologues and songs performed by an ensemble of young women. Ensler, a Tony Awardwinning playwright, performer, and activist, is also the author of The Vagina Monologues. Following the performance, Ensler and the cast came back on stage and talked with the Emma group about the performance. Tickets were donated by Jane Fonda ’55, a board member of V-Day, a global activist movement to end violence against women and girls, created by Ensler and other women’s rights activists. Generous alumnae Vicky Thompson Winterer ’61 and Dr. Anne Collins ’56 also treated the girls to transportation to and from the city and an authentic New York City pizza dinner prior to the play. EMMA WILLARD SCHOOL
or takes me off track even if it breaks my heart. It makes me responsible. I am an emotional I am an emotional, devotional, incandotional, creature. And I love, hear me, love love love being a girl.
Eve Ensler, a playwright and activist, is the founder of V-Day, a global movement to end violence against women and girls. In conjunction with I Am an Emotional Creature, V-Day has developed a targeted pilot program, V-Girls, to engage young women and provide them with a platform to amplify their voices.
Painting: Robert Shetterly
emma everywhere
I Am an Emotional Creature
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LETTER TO THE EDITOR I just finished reading your wonderful article about Bill Dietel in the summer 2012 issue of Emma—what a pleasure to revisit those times at Emma and to hear what the Dietels are up to now. I just wanted to add my own memory. Mr. Dietel also occasionally taught classes while he was head of the school and I was one of the lucky students to take one in my senior year. I honestly can’t remember the title of the class—it was a half-year course in some area of history and we met in the brand new Dietel library in an upstairs conferencestyle room, about a dozen of us sitting around William Dietel a big table. Some things about the course (its title, for instance) are vague, but I do have very vivid memories of several things: how much I looked forward to the class and how challenging and engaging Mr. Dietel was. I remember feeling that he really cared what I and the other students thought—that our insights were important and valued. I remember how funny and spontaneous the conversation was. He took us seriously and stretched our minds with questions, questions, questions! I remember standing around after class—many times—with a group of students and Mr. Dietel—not willing to let go of whatever we had been talking about. It was one of my most pleasurable intellectual experiences from Emma Willard—thanks to Mr. Dietel’s skill and enthusiasm as a teacher and his genuine interest in us. What a treat that class was! Thank you for your lovely appreciation of Mr. Dietel and all he did for the school. Lynn Polan ’68 Chatham, New Jersey
Traveling the World Over the upcoming spring break (March 15–April 2), more than 60 Emma girls will be traveling around the globe as part of our ongoing work to introduce our girls to the world and the issues that it faces. Girls will travel to India to participate in a service project supporting girls’ education, to Spain and China for language immersion and community service, and to England to experience culture, art, and theatre. If the girls are coming to your country, perhaps you can connect. Contact Andrew Gyves at agyves@emmawillard.org.
Photo: Eric Guth
Northern Exposure Students were treated to remarkable images of Arctic wildlife when photographer Eric Guth spoke on campus. Here, a colony of 100,000 king penguins enter the surf on South Georgia Island.
Winter 2013
emma everywhere
Our Signature Style Have you noticed something different in the look of Emma Willard publications? Inspired by Emma Hart Willard’s own signature, we have created a new logo that uses her signature as our guide. The founder’s own hand has become the basis of our new graphic identity, creating the modern “Emma Signature.”
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in the classroom By gabrielle demarco
Ancient Language, Modern Technology One night this fall, several budding Latin students were clarifying some basic points of grammar during an animated session of Latin I. “I don’t understand why sum is an irregular verb,” one asked and was answered by another: “Sum is irregular because it isn’t conjugated like a first or second conjugation verb (ambulare, habere). Does this help?” “Thanks, that makes sense.” It is a conversation that could have happened 50 or even thousands of years ago, yet this particular discussion occurred completely online in a manner Caesar certainly wouldn’t recognize. Girls in their flannel pj’s and slippers, cozy on couches or snuggled in their beds with laptops open in their residence halls or miles away at home were virtually and collaboratively completing their homework together via the World Wide Web late one school night. The online discussion that included nearly 200 posts is just one component of the blended Latin I class taught by Language Instructor Diane McCorkle. “I have always been fascinated with how language and technology can be combined,” McCorkle said. “Technology allows students to work at their own pace, listen to an audio clip over and over, even record and critique themselves speaking.” McCorkle has been teaching languages, including Spanish, German, and Latin, for decades. She stepped in to teach Latin in 2010 as the program was scheduled to wind down at Emma. But rather than fade into the background, Latin at Emma has seen a resurgence thanks in large part to the innovative ways McCorkle has combined technology and teaching to bring this ancient language into the 21st century. Her Latin I course meets just once per week in a Weaver classroom befitting this classics-based course.
EMMA WILLARD SCHOOL
The classroom is covered on three sides with heavy wood bookshelves lined with old hardcover books. A chalkboard on a wooden easel rests solidly in the corner and the girls face each other around a traditional Emma Harkness table. But it is what happens outside the classroom that makes this Latin course unlike any other that has come before it. With only two hours of classroom teaching each week, a large amount of the teaching, practice, and discussion takes place online. Each week, McCorkle records a podcast for the girls to listen to on their iPods or computers at their leisure. On the podcast, she walks them through the textbook chapters that they have been assigned for the week. This allows the girls to listen while they read the chapters at home. During the podcast, McCorkle highlights important parts in the text and points out some potential pitfalls. The idea, McCorkle remarked, uses technology to “flip” the classroom. The flipped classroom is a concept growing in popularity in higher education and some secondary schools where instead of using limited classroom time to simply lecture from a textbook and doing homework on your own time outside of class, the lecture portion of the course takes place at home and homework is done during class. This method allows McCorkle’s students to answer questions collaboratively, learn from each other (a proven method of cementing language skills), and work one-on-one with her on parts that are holding them up. “The podcasts have been really well received,” said McCorkle. “The benefit is that it is simple to rewind a
9 in the classroom
part that you didn’t catch the first time. That isn’t so easy with actual teachers,” she laughed. In addition to the in-classroom time and podcasts, the students also meet once each week virtually via teleconference. During the teleconference, the girls meet either in small groups or individually log on to the Web to watch together via a shared online computer screen as McCorkle goes over the week’s homework, lectures, and posts quiz questions for the group. Using specialized software, McCorkle also lets the girls take over by handing over control of the computer screen they each virtually share to check off quiz answers or try to type out a new Latin phrase (she is partial to poetry). Together the girls go through quiz questions and chat live about the language. This gives them additional time with McCorkle without needing to be together in the classroom. The girls also interact throughout the week via discussions on the online classroom system used widely at Emma called Schoology. Using Schoology, discussion streams on each chapter can be added to or reviewed at another time, podcasts are posted and archived, and quizzes are posted, taken, and graded. It is not uncommon for girls to take the online quizzes seven or eight times until they get it perfect, said McCorkle. With the online platform, it is simple for her to review and comment on quiz answers. “I love that I’m able to do most of the class participation in my own time,” said sophomore and Latin student Maya Greenstein. “With the online component, I can do the homework quizzes and discussions any time and I always have an instant place to work on review. In my opinion, Latin is integrated much more thoroughly than the typical language class.” The online portion of the class gives McCorkle the freedom to be flexible during their time together in the classroom, she says, with the students already prepped and ready to engage fully with her and each other during class. “Online sessions have varied a lot throughout the semester depending on the need,” McCorkle said. “If during one of the live classes I am getting the feeling that the students need more lecture than participation, I change up the plan for that day. Sometimes nothing can replace the use of the body to instruct and see grammar in action.” This becomes particularly apparent when you see McCorkle in action within the classroom. Prone to using her arms, hands, and even legs to demonstrate a phrase during classroom time, she is in constant motion, sometimes using bright flashcards, then rushing over to the chalkboard to jot off a conjugation, or pulling up a website on Virgil on the Smart Screen in the classroom. “Ms. McCorkle does anything to help us learn the material, like acting out certain words or teaching us
lego, audio, dico I read, I listen, I speak
“ The benefit is that it is simple to rewind a part that you didn’t catch the first time. That isn’t so easy with actual teachers.”
English cognates to help us remember the vocabulary,” said sophomore Hannah Christian. This is new territory for language instruction and McCorkle works to keep her teaching methods flexible and focused as much as possible on the individual learners. “There are girls who prefer to be in the room and others who love the independence of being remote,” she commented. “We are constantly changing up our plans as we go through the class together.” McCorkle has big plans for the future of online Latin teaching. She is already toying with the idea of opening up her podcasts and virtual classroom to alumnae or parents. “Latin is exceptionally fun to learn and teach,” she said. “I would love to open up the language to more people. The more people are learning from me, the more inspired I would be.”
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click
The 198th Revels included “Gangnam Style� dancing monks, an appearance by The Hunger Games heroine Katniss Everdeen to take down the bravado of Saint George, rapping jesters, and a chamberlain with a hilariously thick French accent.
Photo: Mark Van Wormer
Photos: Mark VanWormer
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Photo: Kristin Rehder
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EMMA WILLARD SCHOOL
meaningful
moments in history
One for the History Books Trudy Hanmer writes the story of an exceptional woman and the school she founded
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n a fitting kickoff to the school’s Bicentennial Celebration, we sat down with Trudy Hanmer, associate head of school emerita, to discuss the publication of her new book, Wrought With Steadfast
Will: A History of Emma Willard School.* Why that title? The title is a line
from the Alma Mater, “wrought with steadfast will.” Steadfast will—certainly that’s what Emma Willard had. What makes someone adhere to a stance that society is pooh-poohing? Her willpower. The state legislature turns her down. She keeps on.
Was education for women a controversial idea in Emma Willard’s day? One critic said:
The next thing you know they’ll be teaching the cows.
What motivated her to go against the grain and push for women’s education? In 1818 Emma Willard
was writing that if the revolutionary ideals are going to survive in the new nation, women must be educated. She felt there was a role for women within the family, and that role was enhanced by education. She discovered that most men enjoy the company of a woman who could converse beyond housework, diapers, and drudgery—that this is an enhancement to a family, not an embarrassment. That’s a fairly nonthreatening position. In the early 1830s she moved beyond this, writing that women, as guardians of children, should also be educating children. The country was expanding at such a rate that there was a crying need for teachers, and she joined with Harriet Beecher Stowe’s sister, Catherine Beecher, who had a girls’ school in Hartford. Both thought
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women should be educated to provide the nation with a strong teaching corps. If you could go back in time and see the school, what time periods would you choose? I’d definitely
want to be here around 1826 because the school was well established and Emma was in her element. She was firmly in control of everything. Then I’d like to have been here in 1860. Troy was in its heyday—very prosperous, businesses, boats on the Hudson River, Southern girls at the school as well as Northern girls. By then there were some really fabulous teachers, for example, Mary Hastings, who was teaching math, went on to be chair of the math department at Smith. Then I’d love to come back in the 1920s. Things were booming. Eliza Kellas was in control. She started Revels. That would be fun. She had a cadre of fabulous teachers whose names are all over our campus, like Katherine Weaver, Ellen Manchester, Elizabeth Potwine, and Mary Wilson.
How were living conditions different from now? It was almost
like an English manor house. Right up until World War II, you didn’t just have the girls living here. The faculty, the laundresses, the housekeepers— everybody except the men who stoked the coal lived here. And at one point, men who worked here lived in a men’s dorm—they were shoveling coal 24 hours a day to keep the furnaces going.
* See page 4 on how to order the book
What was the composition of the student body then? We pride
ourselves on diversity now, but in the 1850s, there were Jewish girls at the school. That wasn’t done anywhere else. And Roman Catholic girls. Most of the boys’ schools that were around before the Civil War—Lawrenceville, Andover, Exeter—were attached to one denomination of Protestantism. Emma Willard was always, right from the git-go, multidenominational as far as Protestants went, and open to Jewish students.
What documents did you work from? We have Emma Willard’s
“plan for improving female education,” published in 1818, her textbooks, her history of the United States— the best selling one at the time. We have her history of the world, her journals and letters from her trips to England and France. We have extensive correspondence. Plus people wrote a lot of magazine articles about her while she was working. There was a lot of controversy about her. She was wealthy and successful and there were lots of primary sources about not only this school’s beginning in the 19th century, but also secondary and primary sources about early women’s education.
Was Emma Willard involved in other political causes? Early in
her life she opposed women’s suffrage in large measure because she was a one-cause person, determined that nothing would upset her school. When Elizabeth Cady Stanton (a Troy Female Seminary grad) tried to get her to get behind women’s suffrage, she wouldn’t do it. It would have jeopardized the school. She didn’t want to associate the school with radical causes. What was her early life like? Her father was a leader of his small village, a farmer. He had some land holdings,
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in history
but he had 17 children and he wasn’t able to give money to any of them. The boys inherited the property. The girls were supposed to marry well. Her father believed in his wives and daughters reading and writing, which puts him in the minority. When an uncle died and left Emma with a little bit of money, she used it to go to Hartford to an academy. Early on she had a thirst for education that was evident. How did her marriage affect her work? She was recruited to
AB “It was almost like an English manor house. Right up until World War II, you didn’t just have girls living here. The faculty, the laundresses, the housekeepers— everybody except the men who stoked the coal lived here.”
She enjoyed dancing, the high life, within respectable Episcopal bounds, and she probably got swept off her feet—one last grab for the brass ring. I think she was tired of running the school; it had been 24 years. She had made money. In the first winter of the marriage he went through $15,000 of her money. She sued for divorce. When she left him she went back to Connecticut and lived at various siblings’ houses. In court documents she accused him of not being the religious person he led her to believe. After that she came back to Troy. Her son and daughter-in-law were running the school. She bought a house close to the school grounds and engaged in the school more and more.
de
What kind of influence did the school have at the time? The school
teach in a local elementary school in Middlebury, Vermont, in the early 1800s. Middlebury was very elegant compared to where she was raised— the town was prosperous and had not only a college but also a law school. There she met Dr. John Willard, the first physician in the state of Vermont. He was 28 years older than she was and had buried two wives. He courted her and they got married. She quit teaching because that’s what you did. They had their only child in 1810. I think it was a love match. She always wrote about him in the most loving and positive ways.
He said absolutely not. So she taught herself. She had to have had an extraordinary mind. She taught herself math, French, to read Spanish. She was also a shrewd manager of money and was very clever at manipulating public opinion.
When did her school actually get started? In 1813 Dr. Willard was
What happened after her husband died? Dr. Willard died in 1825, so
accused of embezzling money from the bank. He had to pay back a large sum of money that had gone missing, so to help out, Emma opened up a school in her home—Mrs. Willard’s school. That’s our beginning.
What impressed you about her abilities, her character? She was
a smart cookie, and very, very sure of herself. She had a reputation as a very gifted teacher from a very early age. When she wanted to teach mathematics at her new school, she asked the president of Middlebury College, whose nieces were at the school, if she could sit in on algebra and geometry classes.
they were only married for 15 years. Then she was a widow for 13 years before she remarried. She married Christopher Yates from the Schenectady area, a doctor as well. But she was warned by mutual friends that he was not what he appeared. He was apparently handsome. He was a widower, with children. She listened enough to the warnings that she signed over the school and most of the money to her son and daughter-in-law before the wedding. Quite honestly if she hadn’t done that we wouldn’t be here. My speculation is she was 51 years old when she met him. She always liked men and liked their company.
had this incredible place in the center of American cultural and social history of the 19th century. There are so many connections between women who studied here and major figures in history. James Fenimore Cooper’s nieces were here, Longfellow’s first cousin was teaching here, William Seward’s wife, Cyrus McCormick’s wife. Marshall Field’s wife—his two wives—went here. Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Then there were the women who went out of here and became doctors and missionaries. They didn’t marry. For the most part if they made a name for themselves in their own right, it was an either/or proposition.
Trudy Hanmer is currently the associate head of school emerita, a member of the History and Social Sciences Department, and the coach of the quiz team. She is working with her colleagues in the Department to incorporate the school’s history and its archive into a revised U.S. history survey course.
Winter 2013
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By Rachel Morton
Kermani
Uncut EMMA WILLARD SCHOOL
Photo: Bob Handelman
Meet Natasha Kermani ’06, a young film director at the intersection of sight and sound
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At 24 years old, Kermani is a rising filmmaker whose gigs run the gamut from commercial jobs for cosmetics company Maybelline to mini-documentaries for an e-book publisher. Clients are drawn to her unique aesthetic and vision, while she is drawn to projects that allow her to dive down the rabbit hole of her imagination to explore her myriad interests, from music composition to environmental science to science fiction. As the four band members lip-sync the words to their song “Meatball Love Tone,” which will be released on an album in February, Kermani orchestrates the rest of the action. A makeup artist is liberally applying Day-Glo paint to the body of a dancer, who is dressed in torn jeans and pink lacy bra. “Girl, you know what I like!” Kermani exclaims at the sight of the skeleton-like stripes. “I’m into the whole Day of the Dead thing.” She calls for lights out, and the studio goes black. Kermani shines a black light onto the dancer, her DayGlo stripes leaping into vivid, colorful life. Avatar, someone whispers from the dark. This is the effect she was going for. “Roll it,” she calls out, and the music starts and the dancer begins undulating, throwing her wild curly hair around, gyrating her hips, making snaky movements with her arms. “Hold up your hands closer to your face,” she instructs the dancer. Kermani and the cameraman and the dancer are the only people visible in the dark, held in a small circle of black light. “Hide your face with your hands,” she says. “It doesn’t have to be pretty. Perfect! Cut. Beautiful, love it!”
EMMA WILLARD SCHOOL
The band is pleased with the day’s filming. “We killed it,” one observes. They will be performing the next night at Santos Party House and Kermani will film that, too. She will also be projecting images from this photo session onto that live show tomorrow night for an interesting multilayered effect. Vinyette guitarist Danny Monico says the creativity behind this music video is 100 percent Kermani. “It’s all her idea,” he says. “She wrote the whole thing. She wanted to create this vibe.” Creating a vibe is something Kermani does in all her film work—whether it’s music videos or more commercial work. “I’d definitely say Natasha has a specific aesthetic,” says Samia Shoaib, an actress, writer, and filmmaker who has worked with Kermani. “Visually her work is very rich and dramatic, lush and beautiful.
Photo: Bob Handelman
here’s no buzzer, no bell. Someone already inside has to open the door to the battered and scarred building—its hallways covered in slashes and drips of brightly painted graffiti and art. There are 69 studios on 12 floors, and this afternoon Natasha Kermani ’06 fully inhabits one of them as director of a music video for the rock band Vinyette.
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I do think I had a huge “ advantage coming from Emma
because Emma trained me to be fearless and not apologetic.
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Thematically she’s drawn to topics like sci-fi and horror that one wouldn’t necessarily expect of a young woman, especially one who looks like her, which only adds to her charm. I’d say she breaks many molds.” Making a name for yourself—and paying the bills—as a young, up-and-coming film director requires Kermani to take on a lot of different kinds of assignments. Her ongoing work creating short documentaries about authors like Dean Koontz and actors like James Franco
and William Shatner for e-book publisher Open Road allows her a lot of artistic freedom, she says, and has brought her much attention. “The challenge is to sell the book,” she says, “but also to put something together that will get a lot of play on the Internet.” One of those films she did was on the front page of iTunes for a day—a huge showing for a young filmmaker. Much of Kermani’s work is destined for, and created for, the Web. She does camera work for a popular Web comedy series called Srsly. The Web is where not only actors, but filmmakers as well have the opportunity to show their work in the hopes of gaining viewers and fans. Shoaib says that directors are no longer snobbish about the big screen. “We have to move with the times,” she says, “and the Internet is a tremendous resource. The global reach is especially exciting.” Kermani’s production company, Illium Pictures (a nod to her deep connection to Emma Willard: Ilium is the ancient name of Troy), is one of five finalists in a competition for short films sponsored by Vision Research. Their concept was chosen from among hundreds and they are now producing a film using a new camera produced by Vision Research that shoots extreme slow motion. “The challenge is to create a project that is innovative and shows off the camera—a Phantom Miro,” Kermani says. The winner will be announced and the films released later this winter. “This film will likely have a long life on the Internet,” says Kermani, “and could get a lot of attention for the company.” Her concept for the film blends themes of music, science, and the bonds between people. She is dedicating the film to her Emma friend Annalise Kjolhede ’06, who died tragically in November in a ski accident. “I will be thinking of Annie, especially her love for the natural world and the people around her, as the project comes to fruition, and will be including a small dedication after the end credits of the film.”
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ermani found her passion early. Her mother is a musician and performance artist and her father, a physician, is a film buff. “So
Winter 2013
20 experimental film, unconventional in its narrative I fell into it naturally,” she laughs. She dates recogniand, she admits, hard to follow. tion that she could have a career in the theatre to the “The film was very flawed,” she says. “It wasn’t third grade, when she first saw a film by Julie Taymor, received well by NYU. But the lack of a good recepbest known for the movies Frida and Across the tion was probably one of the best things for me. It’s Universe, who also won Tony awards for so important to get pulled down off your high horse.” her work in theatre. Her classmates and peers were not so critical. In “I came to Emma wanting to direct both an interview for a film review website called Flix film and theatre,” she says. She also arrived Fiend, the film is described as “raising the bar for with the intention of putting together a portfolio so she could apply to the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU. She did just that with the At NYU you are not just competing help of Mark Van Wormer, who with people in your class, you teaches the Film and Video class, which she immediately enrolled are competing with people who in as a freshman. When that class graduated before you—people like ended, Van Wormer mentored her in independent tutorials so Martin Scorsese and Spike Lee. she could go further. “He really went the extra mile for me,” short film,” and she is lauded as a rising star: “Coming Kermani says. out of the gate with such a polished piece is quite Van Wormer was not surprised when she the accomplishment.” was accepted to the highly selective program If the media for showcasing films has changed and at Tisch: “She is an excellent writer. Her the Web is now a legitimate destination for one’s crefilms, even as a high school student, showed ative work, the act of filming itself has had an even equal attention to both the aesthetics and the techniques of telling her stories with dialogue, visual imag- more radical transformation. Many of the directors who Kermani studied at NYU, the directors who ery, and sound. An excellent violinist as well, she even performed some of the scores for her productions. Her are role models and an inspiration to her, did their work on actual film. Now everything is digital, which work got progressively better because she expected a she says does make a difference in the look and feel lot from herself and learned to critically examine each of a film. aspect of what she was doing.” She knows this because she has made movies the Kermani found college wonderful but incredibly old-fashioned way—shooting 16 mm on World War competitive. “At NYU you are not just competing II-era cameras with real film—in an NYU course with people in your class, you are competing with people who graduated before you—people like Martin called “Sight and Sound.” “There is a magic to it,” says Kermani. “Seeing the Scorsese and Spike Lee.” She looks back at her years at film come out of the roll. Literally cutting it with a Emma as providing a foundation for the stimulating razor. Your hands are cut up, bloody. Then winding and tumultuous years in New York. it into the projector and finally hitting ‘run.’ You see “I do think I had a huge advantage coming from light projecting through celluloid. It’s the Plato ‘shadEmma because Emma trained me to be fearless and not apologetic,” says Kermani. “Walking around those ows on the cave wall’ moment, totally magical.” halls of Emma, feeling like, ‘I deserve to be here.’ I didn’t second-guess myself. I took a lot of risks at NYU that I wouldn’t have taken if I hadn’t had my support of those four years at Emma behind me.” ermani is a One of the huge risks she took during her undervoracious movie graduate training was her thesis, a film called The consumer. She watches Turing Love Affair—a science fiction film in the style movies all the time—often one a of 2001 Space Odyssey. “We built a spaceship,” she night. Her big influences are French New Wave laughs. “We were juniors. We were stupid. We didn’t filmmakers like Truffaut, and Hong Kong New Wave know you couldn’t do that.” She was influenced by filmmakers like Kar Wai Wong. She loves science her love of science fiction and the films Battlestar fiction and westerns (American and Japanese). Since Galactica and Blade Runner. The result was a long, she is half-Persian (her father is from Iran), she was
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Kermani’s thesis, The Turing Love Affair, is a neo-noir science fiction-fantasy-love story, set entirely on a distant space station.
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“Summer of All Dead Souls” music video for the band, And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead.
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21 exposed to Persian films from an early age. And then there’s the “junk” she can’t do without: John Carpenter’s Escape from New York, James Cameron’s Terminator series. “But at the end of the day, I see myself as mostly influenced by American and New York filmmakers like Scorsese,” she says. His sense of place resonates for her, the detail of individual human lives lived. And like Scorsese, who said music was the soundtrack of his life, Kermani uses music in her films intuitively and skillfully. “Music is huge,” says Kermani. “I think music has everything to do with film. For me, film is even more temporal than music. It’s always about where you are in the story at a moment in time. Music is all about the nonlinear nature of things. “A lot of people come to film from an intellectual place. I’m coming from a more intuitive place—from the ground up. Sometimes I lay down music before I cut the picture.” Music is what brought her into an unusual project—one that married not only her expertise in film and music, but also her interest in science and environmental issues. She is still great friends with Abbe LaBella ’06, now a graduate student in genomics and genetics at Duke University. “We are nerds together,” laughs LaBella about their mutual enthusiasms for each other’s work, for comics, and for Harry Potter movies. “We read books together. Call each other before we see movies. We know about what we love, and love to share it.” LaBella was able to share something very special with Kermani last summer. LaBella was one of the researchers aboard a vessel from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute for the purpose of scientific exploration of the deep sea. Her adviser at Duke, Cindy Van Dover, had envisioned a very unusual expedition and had grant funds to support it. The research trip brought together scientists and artists. The scientists investigated deep sea organisms, the artists created art inspired by what they saw and learned on board, and those artworks would help disseminate information to the public about some of the things scientists were discovering. When Van Dover told LaBella she was looking for a composer and musician to join the group, LaBella immediately recommended her old friend. Kermani was invited and jumped at the chance. They spent 10 days on the water in Barbados looking for organisms between 2,000 and 5,000 meters underwater, using a remote vehicle, an ROV named “Jason” that descended to the depths and brought back pictures and samples.
LaBella’s research is on deep-sea population genetics, studying organisms that live around hydrothermal vents and cold seeps. These creatures include huge clams and eight-foot-tall tubeworms. (The science-fiction fan in Kermani was ecstatic.) The ROV brought up samples, including, LaBella says, an entirely new species discovered during that expedition. Kermani wanted to make a documentary about the expedition, as well as create a musical composition. “I was getting more interested in documentaries, in social causes. It’s a huge problem—people’s ignorance about science. These are relevant issues.” She says that she and LaBella both believe in the intersection of art and science. They both aim to make people on the streets more aware of what scientists are doing and how it affects their life and the lives of future generations. So she did both—filmed and composed. She put together four musical pieces that she showcased at the end of the trip “Everybody loved it,” says LaBella. “To have someone reflecting back on what you were doing in a different way and a new way—it’s really cool and really beautiful.”
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“Now Here is Nowhere” is a modern musical, following biblical figures reimagined as modern-day musicians living in Brooklyn. Produced with musician Autry Fulbright, starring TV on the Radio's Jaleel Bunton. Release: spring 2013, sneakpeak on IFC.com.
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A music video for the band The Surefire Hints: “My concept was cyberpunk meets James Bond, all with the band's badass singer, Cindy Shaoul, at the center.” Available on YouTube.com.
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hat Kermani will succeed at becoming a filmmaker is beyond a doubt. She’s got the work ethic, the stamina, the dedication to the craft, and the vision. “She can be the next Kathryn Bigelow, the next Sherry Lansing,” says Shoaib. “Or she can forge her own path, using the tools of our age to break new ground and create something entirely unique. Frankly I believe she’s visionary and has the potential to do that. “It’s no exaggeration to say that when I need to be optimistic about the future, I think of women like Natasha who personify the most exciting aspects of their generation,” Shoaib continues. “I have deep respect for her work ethic, her stellar values, her humility, and the magical blend of East and West that she embodies—a true global citizen. And most of all she has an abiding commitment to advancing her craft. Suffice it to say, I’m looking forward to great things from her.”
See more of Natasha’s work: www.illiumpictures. com and www. natashakermani.com
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Women speak their
Mind
Op-Ed Project Helps Students Find their Voices
by Gabrielle DeMarco “But I am not an expert at anything,” an anxious voice called from behind a half-closed laptop. The other girls in Dr. Meredith Legg’s nonfiction writing course looked similarly worried from their seats around the large table at the center of the classroom.
EMMA WILLARD SCHOOL
Legg, who is the Sara Lee Schupf Family Chair in Instructional Technology and Classroom Innovation, smiled knowingly. Unfortunately, it was the exact response she was expecting and she was prepared to tackle her students’ misperception. This particular lesson was on op-ed writing, a form of nonfiction writing with woefully low female participation. Op-eds, which is an old journalism term for “opposite the editorial page,” are among the most widely read parts of any newspaper or news blog. Here, people write in their opinions, usually spurred by recent headlines. At the end of each op-ed, the writer’s credentials are listed, usually in stark italics. Professor of Law…Author of the book…Pulitzer Prize winner…. These are the thought leaders of our country and their opinions gain authority through this medium. But the vast majority of voices that we hear in all major media are western, white, privileged, and overwhelmingly male. According to The OpEd Project, an organization dedicated to increasing the range of voices heard in the media, men comprise 80 to 90 percent of the voices in opinion forums: they are 84 percent of the pundits on Sunday morning talk shows, 87 percent of the Wikipedia contributors, and 85 percent of Hollywood’s
Photo: Kristin Rehder
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producers. (Details of the study can be found in “2012 Byline Report: Who Narrates the World?”) When women and girls do contribute, their voices can overwhelmingly be found in traditionally “pink” subjects, such as fashion, family, and food. Here, women comprise upwards of 70 percent of the opinion pieces in new media and 40 percent of the contributors in legacy media (newspapers, magazines). When you move on to weightier topics, such as the environment, economics, politics, and even education, women produce less than 35 percent of the contributions in new media and just 20 percent in legacy media. And so, when Legg gave the Emma Willard School girls the seemingly enormous task of writing their own op-ed, they were faced with their own misgivings about what they could possibly write that would be of import to anyone. The possibility that their credentials would ever allow someone to listen to or respect their opinion seemed next to nil as they tried hard to answer the simple question posed in stark pixels on the classroom Smart Screen behind Legg: What are you an expert in? Following are excerpts from the fruits of that class’s labor.
Sammie-Marie Oluyede
Women’s Roles It has been a raging debate whether or not it is right for women to have important positions in society, such as the presidency. Many say that women would not be able to properly function in a position as demanding as the presidency simply because of their emotions and their menstrual cycles. They say: women cannot lead a company to greatness because women are too catty and would focus on the social aspect of the job more than they would the actual work. To that I say, wrong. If a woman is educated, confident, and outspoken, she can do anything a man can do. Although some pose women’s emotional status as a negative quality, I believe that women’s ability to be care-based thinkers and have maternal instincts is something that aids them. This attribute along with education is a powerful one. As important as education, a I feel very strongly that woman’s confidence is extremely there cannot be a double important in her standard between men climbing the ranks and women. at work, in social situations, and at home. In a Harvard Business Review article titled, “Why Women Leaders Need Self-Confidence,” Virginia Rometty, CEO of IBM, states, “You have to be very confident, even though you’re so selfcritical inside about what it is you may or may not know.” As necessary as being educated and being confident is a woman’s ability to be outspoken. An outspoken woman can change the world. Typically men are seen as the forward “take no prisoners” kind of people, while women are the meeker, more soft-spoken ones that do not step out to state their opinions. I think this mindset
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WOMEN speak their mind
The majority of voices that we hear in all major media are western, white, privileged, and overwhelmingly male.
Men comprise
80–90%
of the voices in opinion forums
84%
of the pundits on Sunday morning talk shows
87%
of the Wikipedia contributors
85%
of Hollywood’s producers See more stats at www.theoped project.org
is what needs to change in order for women to be viewed equally with men. As women become more outspoken, they are part of the conversation, their views are heard. Emma Girls are all educated, intelligent women. When we come to Emma Willard School we learn how to be confident. At Emma, we gradually become more and more outspoken. An educated, confident, outspoken woman, like some girls found at Emma, can lead. Educated, confident, outspoken women can do all that men can do and more; we can do it in heels. Sammie-Marie Oluyede is a singer, basketball player, runner, and head proctor. A first-generation American, born to parents of Nigerian and Kenyan roots, she was raised with a strong belief in the power of education.
English teacher Meredith Legg with Hye Ri Hwang, Sammie-Marie Oluyede, and Jennifer Ding.
EMMA WILLARD SCHOOL
Hye Ri Hwang
the College Application Process
The college application process has been controversial for years. The case of Grutter v. Bollinger in 2003, a landmark case on a race-conscious admissions process, showed how unfair the process can be for many people, including students, parents, teachers, and even college admissions professionals.
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University. Many other colleges also show the trend of expecting higher scores from Asian students. According to No Longer Separate, Not Yet Equal, written by Princeton sociologist Thomas Espenshade, when all other credentials are equal, Asian students need to score 140 points more than
My opinion is of a real high school senior who is truly going through the college application process.
Colleges want to maintain student body diversity, yet different standards are applied to the students depending on their races and nationalities. The most controversial factor is SAT scores. For instance, Asian students who were accepted at Duke University in 2001 and 2002 scored 1,467 out of 1,600, compared to 1,416 for whites, 1,347 for Hispanics, and 1,275 for blacks, according to a 2011 study co-authored by Duke economist Peter Arcidiacono. This tendency is not only limited to Duke
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whites, 270 points higher than Hispanics, and 450 points above African Americans out of maximum 1,600 to have the same chance of admission to a private college. The influence of the make-up of the student body has to be minimized so everyone can have an equal opportunity. Another complaint about the college [application] process is that there is not enough space to show a student’s true characteristics and personality. Many application forms, including the Common Application, which
Photos: Kristin Rehder
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is used by over 400 colleges and universities, have rigid instructions leading to applications that are formulaic, not creative. One college expert stated: “The application is all about things that the colleges want to see, not ones that a student wants to show.” These limitations and preferences make the students into clichés. The colleges have to find a new way to understand applicants more deeply. Standardized test scores also limit colleges from discovering promising students. Even though colleges state that test scores are not an important part of the application, it remains an indispensable factor in student evaluation at many universities. This is despite the fact that a University of California, Berkeley, study on the validity of SAT scores concluded that an SAT score is not an effective measure of how well a student is prepared to succeed in the future. The fact that the admissions process is controversial every year means that it needs to be fixed through thoughtful discussion by those involved. To help every student to show his or her full ability, people concerned need to get together and find a more satisfying solution. Hye Ri Hwang plays three instruments, volunteers, is a member of Slavery No More, and is a peer math tutor. She was born in Korea.
Jennifer Ding
Social Connectivity Who doesn’t love the little red notification flag on Facebook? For whatever notification it may be—friend request, message, like, wall post—it shows that someone thought about you and decided to leave something behind to let you know they were there. But does social networking really increase social interaction? Facebook is the world’s leading social-networking platform with an estimated 900 million users and counting. Each user is a person who is claiming digital connections with friends and followers. What happens after someone accepts a friend request? As a teenager and member of what has widely been called the “Internet Generation,” I find that I talk to people less after I’ve become their friend on Facebook. After all, everything can now be instantaneously broadcast, from what you’re doing to whom you’re with to where you are. It just takes a few clicks to update an entire network on every detail of every moment of the day. Then, through comments and likes, the whole conversation moves online. Catching up no longer requires hours spent together telling stories about what has happened in your life, all it takes is a quick scan I wanted people to down a Facebook timeline. realize that social The Dunbar number, created by anthropolonetworking is not gist Robin Dunbar, is the the same as social estimated number of the interaction. amount of stable social relationships a single person can hold at any given time. Right now, it is believed to be about 150. The average Facebook user has about 350 friends. Therefore, the average Facebook user has more friends on Facebook than they should be able to maintain a stable social relationship with. Is this really all that surprising? This new ease of sharing information helps keep people across-the-board connected, but takes away the feel of a personal relationship. But while Facebook and other social media may not lead people to an increased amount of closer friends, it does serve as a gentle reminder to communicate with people. Be it through a face-to-face meeting or a Facebook update, social media does help us know there are people out there that truly want to know what’s on your mind.
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Jennifer Ding is a Girl Scout, violinist, and recommended black belt in Tae Kwon Do. She has over 523 friends on Facebook.
Winter 2013
Photo: Bob Handelman
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move my next
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Pamela Quinn ’72
and
Michael O’Connor
A dancer develops Parkinson’s disease and discovers her life’s work isn’t over— it’s simply headed in a new direction Winter 2013
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gave my name to the man guarding the trailer and politely told him I needed to speak to Mr. Walken. He went inside for a moment and then returned. Permission was granted; I climbed up the steps. Christopher Walken was sitting alone, looking calm, stooped over, perhaps a little dejected. He greeted me with “Hi” and an upward nod of the head.
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By now he would look at me. At our first encounter several months before—a discussion with the director Yaron Zilberman about his film A Late Quartet— Christopher had been like a horse with blinders, making hardly any eye contact. But in our few, brief meetings since, he had warmed to me a bit, and now as we talked, his blue-grey wolf eyes slowly came round to meet mine. They are beautiful eyes, but disconcerting ones. His gaze can seem brooding even in casual communication, and they are a large part of his aura of volatility, the unsteady chemical compound of his presence that so charges his screen performances. I was not sure I didn’t prefer his ignoring me. But I was here to do a job, and I got to the business at hand. I had been hired as a consultant for the film A Late Quartet to advise about Parkinson’s disease, with which Christopher’s character, an aging cellist, is diagnosed at the start of the story. Contrary to my expectation, there was virtually no rehearsal time, so I had to be succinct, specific, and general all at the same time.
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What I said was this: Any extreme emotion, particularly anxiety or nervousness, will exacerbate your symptoms. The tremor in your hand will go from a barely noticeable shake to something uncontrollable and very apparent. I told him that the mind-body connection runs deep with Parkinson’s. So intertwined are the two, in fact, that sometimes the body expresses anxiety before the person even knows what he or she is feeling. I knew whereof I spoke. I had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s 15 years earlier, at the age of 42. I knew firsthand about the shock and fear that come with the news that you have an incurable neurological disorder, one that causes progressive degeneration of muscular and, potentially, mental control. I knew firsthand about the disbelief and angst that accompany a wholly unexpected upending of your life. The character that Christopher was playing, Peter Mitchell, the senior member of the Fugue String Quartet, would be confronting these things. As a figure of renown in the classical music world, he would feel an instinctive need to protect his image. As a serious artist, he would
be hard-pressed to accept the drastic implications of this development for his work and his life. And he would, like I did, be trying his best to hide his emerging symptoms. If his hand started to quiver, he would put it in his pocket, or cross his arms to hold it still, or put it behind his back and squeeze until the tremor subsided. If he found himself limping because his left leg would not move in time with his right, he might pretend to others that he had sprained his ankle. If he found himself beginning to stoop over or to shuffle in his steps, he could claim that he was just tired from a bad night’s sleep. All of this I offered him for his use in working on his character’s life-altering dilemma. He listened quietly as I spoke, asking no questions. When I had finished, he shrugged and said, “I don’t really have to worry about all those details. The camera will take care of a lot of it.” I didn’t quite follow. “They’ll get a close up of my hand shaking and then cut to my face or to a reaction shot from another person in the scene. You don’t understand how this works.” He was right about that. I was a movie naïf. Still, his near dismissal took me aback. All I could say, and that rather awkwardly, was that if he needed to ask me about anything, I would be available for the rest of the day’s shooting. I descended the rickety steps of the trailer unsure of how much he had actually heard of what I had said. I would have to see how much of my advice he took when he went through the scene. At least, I thought, those piercing eyes will bring intensity to the character’s struggle. As I walked down the block past the row of other trailers, I couldn’t help but think back to the earliest moments of my own discovery that I had Parkinson’s.
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As I had from almost the beginning of my involvement with the film, I thought again of my own reflection in the story. Like the cellist Christopher would portray, I was an artist with an intense attachment to my profession. Like the cellist, I knew the diagnosis meant the end of my career as I had known it. And perhaps in ways even more extreme than with this character, the diagnosis cut to my core. It was not only my hands that I had to be concerned about. It was my whole body: I was a dancer. I had been a dancer ever since my days at Emma Willard. It was there that I discovered a new opportunity for my love of things physical. As a kid I had played sports in an intense way, competing in tennis, horseback riding, and figure skating, and playing on every team my middle school had to offer, even in those pre-Title IX days. Using and testing and enjoying my body were basic to who I was. But at Emma Willard, in classes taught by Pat Petersen, I found a realm of physical activity with a whole new dimension to it. She introduced me to a discipline that not only incorporated the vigor of sports, but a realm of ideas and emotion, of personal expression and reflection, and, in some deep but unspoken way that she quietly exemplified, of spiritual exploration. I was not the dancer with the longest extension or the highest jump, but there was something about the core of dance that I understood and that I wanted to give myself to. It became my life. I spent the next 25 years in dance, first at Oberlin College with fellow Emma dancer Kimi Okada ’69, then for 10 years in California with ODC/San Francisco, the company she and I and a crew of other artists helped Brenda Way, our Oberlin dance teacher, found. After San
Francisco, I moved to New York, where I choreographed, trained, taught, and performed for over another decade. My professional identity, my social world, and my economic livelihood were entirely bound up with movement. And then, in a development I could never have dreamed of, I discovered I had a disease that expressed itself in movement. Or rather, it expressed itself in insidious disruptions of movement: slowing it down, distorting it, causing uncontrollable extraneous motion and making normal activity, to say nothing of the demands of dancing, more difficult by many degrees. From the smallest beginnings of a tremor in my left hand, I progressed to a point where I was unable to cross a room without violent lurching from side to side. Fate, it seems, can be a cruel ironist. As with the character in A Late Quartet, I found myself in a state of shock. And after shock, in mourning. Mourning for the loss
of the self I knew, for the loss of the work I loved, for the loss of the future I imagined. When I read the scene in the script where Peter is given his diagnosis by a reluctant neurologist, I felt myself on the verge of tears. It was difficult to
I found myself in a state of shock… Mourning for the loss of the self I knew, for the loss of the work I loved, for the loss of the future I imagined.
In the film A Late Quartet, Christopher Walken (above, far right) plays an aging cellist diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Pamela Quinn was hired as a consultant on the film.
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EMMA WILLARD SCHOOL
• Photo: Bob Handelman
revisit those episodes, even after all these years. Yet fate can also be a secret benefactor. After a long period of searching for answers and treatments, a time in which I withdrew from many of the people and much of what I knew in the world, I had a revelation. Or more accurately, a dawning realization. The very thing that Parkinson’s was attacking, my capacity for movement, was the weapon I needed to combat it. Could I not use my experience as a dancer, as an observer and student of movement, to analyze my strange, unsynchronized ways of moving? A dancer’s understanding of the body, honed and deepened in years of training and performing, is not restricted to pirouettes and jetés. What a dancer learns is more fundamental, more essential than a particular vocabulary. A dancer develops an intuitive sense of physical possibility and process. A dancer learns conscious control. A dancer learns physical principles that apply to movement in the broadest scale: to weight shift, to balance, to extension of energy, to articulation of trunk and limbs, to rhythm in movement, and to coordination not just of eye and hand, but of eye and foot, eye and elbow, eye and pelvis. A dancer learns the body in intimate, felt detail. And so I went to work on myself. My instincts told me that the tremor in my hand could be quelled by vigorous shaking, that my reluctant left leg could be coaxed into synchronizing with my right by kicking a ball in a bag as I walked, that my difficulty in rising from a chair could be eased by shifting my weight forward
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before I rose. For every symptom that presented itself, I searched for a physical practice to counteract it. In time, I developed a whole range of exercises and strategies to deal with the distortions and disruptions in my neural circuits. And in time, I began to seek out others that I could communicate this approach to. Beginning with a small number of individual clients, then taking my message to larger groups in speaking engagements and workshops, and finally establishing a kind of home for my work in a class sponsored by the Brooklyn Parkinson’s Group, a pioneer in arts-based therapy for people with Parkinson’s. Conceived of as a laboratory for exploring ways in which movement can, so to speak, talk to itself, the class is a dance-based exploration of symptom-driven exercises and tactics. We proceed from stretching sequences in a chair to standing exercises to movement combinations that travel across the floor. But mixed with these basic elements are a variety of experiments with props that make use of visual cueing, games that challenge attention and reflexes, and playful exercises meant to coax our distorted movement patterns back toward the functional and even, at times, the graceful. We test ideas to see what they yield. You can actually glimpse the class for a brief moment in the film. For in addition to advising Christopher, I am also his fleeting costar. There is a scene in which a very wary Peter Mitchell comes to observe this strange new exercise. He sits in the midst of the group but does not participate. He stares at the people around him
Pamela Quinn developed exercises and dance-based movements. She now works with people diagnosed with Parkinson's, helping them gain some control of their bodies.
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32 Music can be as powerful a treatment as any pharmaceutical. Even patients in the most advanced stages of the disease come out of their calcified state and begin to move their arms and heads, to walk, and, indeed, to dance.
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My instincts told me that the tremor in my hand could be quelled by vigorous shaking.
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with their rigid spines and stiff facial muscles, as the teacher (me) goes on about how Parkinson’s makes everything contract and what we need is conscious effort to enlarge and expand. Peter is searching for a path forward in a confusing and threatening new environment, but he seems shell-shocked by his very presence in the room, and we feel his unease and his sadness intensely. Yet if he returned at a later time, when he was able to better accept the reality of his condition, perhaps he would discover what I did and what I try to impart to my students: the very process of working on the physical challenges of Parkinson’s is itself beneficial, itself empowering, itself medicinal. It is enormously valuable to understand the ways in which we can each regain a degree of control over our condition, to reassert ownership of our bodies. In Parkinson’s, a disorder of the substantia nigra section of the midbrain, the brain
becomes an adversary. Yet we can also reclaim it as an ally. As one part of it breaks down, another part may, with encouragement and application, take over. Our brain’s complexity is astonishing, and its powers of resilience are only beginning to be understood. And if Peter Mitchell returned at a later time he might also have made a discovery that I still find continually surprising. As in my own story, he would find that the discipline in which he had spent his professional life, music, would offer him a brilliant tool for dealing with his predicament. For as everyone who has ever danced to a favorite song knows, music is the natural partner to movement. It inspires and directs movement; it enables and expands physical possibilities. And in regard to Parkinson’s, music can be as powerful a treatment as any pharmaceutical. In ways not yet understood, but clearly documented, music can bring the most astonishing relief of symptoms. Even patients in the most advanced stages of the disease who are virtually frozen in place have been liberated, if only for a time, by music. They come out of their calcified state and begin to move their arms and heads, to walk, and, indeed, to dance. Of course, Peter Mitchell will never actually return to my class, as he is entirely imaginary. And in this I sometimes envy him. There have been more than a few moments in the last 15 years when I wished that what was happening to me was really a movie and that a director could yell “Cut!” and make it all disappear. Then my off-kilter walk would return to normal. I would no longer shake in my hand, or my arm or my leg, or deep inside where no one can see. I
33 would no longer have to think consciously about stepping forward with my heel and following through with my toes or about moving my evercontracting shoulders back so that I am not bent over in a bow to this oppressive master. I would not have the maddening sense of moving at times as if through mud. I would not have to be concerned about the speed with which I can cross a street or fix a meal or simply pull a sweater over my head. That would all be an imaginary exercise, just as it was for Christopher Walken on the set of A Late Quartet. Unfortunately, that will have to remain a fantasy that I indulge in my flightier moments. What won’t be a fantasy, however, is my dedication to moving my body back toward the functioning that I once took for granted, and to continually trying to understand the ways the brain can be made to give back some of what it has taken away. And what also will not be a fantasy is my appreciation of the deeper lessons this illness almost forces on you: patience (non-negotiable in the often creeping pace of PD), fortitude, and, most surprising, renewed purpose and meaning.
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Photos: Bob Handelman
o how, you may be wondering, did Christopher do? Was he really so cavalier about the crucial physical facts of his performance, so reliant on the camera to do the work of conveying how his body was beginning to betray him? After watching the finished cut of the film, I had to conclude that his response to my advice that day in his trailer was a bit of actorish bravado. He is no slacker, but an astute student and
observer. If you see the film, watch in the scene where he is diagnosed how subtly he suggests the tremor in his left hand. Notice when he walks for the doctor how his left arm doesn’t swing in a natural way. See how his first effort to get up from the chair in which he is sitting is frustrated and how he recovers. It’s all done with finesse and understatement and integrated beautifully into a moving portrait of a man facing profound loss and change. The film is about more than just one character’s struggle. It follows each of the other members of the quartet as they deal with the changes Peter’s illness sets in motion. A depiction of an interdependent group of people, disciplined artistic souls, being torn apart by circumstances and their own moral failings, the film is bound together by the soulful strains of Beethoven’s late string quartet opus 131, which we hear at the opening and close of the film and at strategic moments throughout. The music functions as both theme and background for the story and lends the whole piece its gravity and beauty, punctuating the action and soaring up from it in deftly orchestrated ways. The director and writer Zilberman has done a masterful job of weaving the dramatic and musical elements into a whole.
As I sat watching the final cut at a screening, I felt carried away by the performance of Beethoven’s beautiful opus in the last moments of the film. The music is almost painfully beautiful. It moves from moments of energy and life with the high, lilting pitches of the violins to passages of reflection and contemplation led by the mournful song of the cello. It seems to speak of an exquisite ache in the beauty of being alive, and of some kind of final peace that doesn’t deny pain, but contains it within its blissful savoring of life. It was a moving ending to the film and a moving summation of the experience it inspired in me. Beethoven famously wrote another of his best-known quartets, opus 132, following his recovery from a life-threatening illness. Called A Convalescent’s Holy Song to the Divinity, its shimmering themes have taken up residence in my mind since I first heard it in preparing for the movie. I am not myself a convalescent, as there is yet no cure for Parkinson’s, but I am in a way recovering, even as my symptoms may progress. For my illness has given birth to a revival of spirit—a spirit of ingenuity and of creativity that is all the more meaningful for having been once taken away. And in my best moments, that is what now moves me, in every punning sense of the word. I lift my hand in salute to Christopher Walken, who in the end took the opportunity to mimic its quivering motion, and perhaps to show the world its ironic blessing. Pamela Quinn, teacher and movement therapist, lives with her husband, Michael O’Connor, and their two children in New York City. Former collaborators in creating dance-theatre work, they now sometimes work together as writing partners.
Exercises with props make use of visual cueing and are meant to coax distorted movement patterns back toward the functional.
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connections By kelly finnegan
Welcome to the New Girls Network As all who have journeyed through Emma fully understand and embrace, there is enormous power in being a girl—particularly an Emma girl. Each alumna of Emma Willard School joins a select network of women who excel at everything from poetry to lobster fishing and who span the entire globe. Emma Willard School offers each alumna multiple opportunities to tap into that network of exceptional women. Looking for more information on Dartmouth for your daughter? Interested in switching to a career in journalism? Looking for an apartment in Boulder? Itching to travel to Singapore? Want to help a recent Emma graduate? An Emma girl is there to help. How can you tap into the “New Girls Network?” Here are some ways:
Emma Alumnae App Download the app created just for Emma alumnae. From the app you can map alumnae in your area; search the secure alumnae directory by name, class year, college, or company; integrate with LinkedIn; view the alumnae events calendar; and keep up with Emma news on Facebook, Twitter, and our website.
EMMA WILLARD SCHOOL
Core Connectors
Alumnae Events
Core Connectors are alumnae volunteers who help form the connective tissue that joins the alumnae community with the school, engendering the connections, relationships, and cross-pollination of ideas that will carry the school forward to the next 200 years and beyond. We are looking for four to five Core Connectors from each class. We are well on our way to meeting this goal thanks to the efforts of the Alumnae Association Council, with over 120 Core Connectors. Many of our Core Connectors are also the Bulletin Reporters listed at the start of each section in the Class Notes within this magazine. If you are a Bulletin Reporter, or are interested in learning more or joining the Core Connector ranks, and have not yet signed on, please send me an email at kfinnegan@emmawillard.org. Your Core Connectors are an excellent resource for information on your class as well as upcoming alumnae events. Reach out to them with questions and of course, to update them on new babies, jobs, awards, or other milestones for inclusion in Class Notes.
The Alumnae Relations office holds a wide variety of events for our alumnae each year. With the launch of the Bicentennial this month, we have a strong focus on bringing our alumnae together to celebrate past, present, and future in really big ways. Starting at the end of February, we will be bringing that Bicentennial party to you with a series of book tours around the country featuring Wrought With Steadfast Will: A History of Emma Willard School author Trudy Hanmer. Look for an invitation to your local event in the mail or check out the full list of regional book tours at www. emmawillard.org/bicentennial. In addition to a grand birthday celebration, the huge Bicentennial weekend coming up on May 9–11, 2014, will showcase our alumnae network and provide boundless opportunities to connect with alumnae, parents, teachers, and students. During this weekend, we will specifically focus on growing the New Girls Network, connecting our students and our alumnae—women who are living out their passions and transforming their communities.
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Photo: Mark Van Wormer
connections
COMMUNITY SERVICE FOR MLK DAY In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, the entire 328-member student body at Emma Willard School and their teachers spent the school day performing acts of community service throughout the Capital Region. Rather than staying in class that day, the girls became an “Army for Service,” continuing what has become an annual tradition. From working with homeless animals at the Mohawk Hudson Humane Society and making meals for Equinox, Inc. to tutoring area elementary students and spending time with the elderly, the girls spent the school day well outside the classroom in more than 25 locations throughout their community.
We hope to strengthen connections among Emma girls the world over and to pave the way for inspired individual journeys. Emma Hart Willard and alumna Margaret Olivia Slocum Sage built an alumnae network second to none in the nineteenth century. Over the course of the weekend celebration, we will demonstrate that their vision is thriving today. Please mark the dates on your calendar now. And we certainly can’t forget Reunion coming up for the 3s and 8s on June 7–9, 2013. Reunion is a perfect time to tap into our New Girls Network and we really look forward to seeing you there.
Alumnae Association Council (AAC) Lucky for our alumnae, we also have a group dedicated to helping create and find new and better ways for you to connect with the school and help move the school forward. For more than 100 years, the Emma
Willard School Alumnae Association Council has provided a vital link between the school and its diverse and loyal graduates. Council members meet three times per year and are a great sounding board for our alumnae on networking ideas. If you would like to contact the AAC, you can email Jane Cohen Freedman ’86, president, at janefreedman0@gmail.com. If you are interested in joining the AAC, there are nomination forms on our website at www.emmawillard. org/alumnae.
Keeping Us Updated One of the best things that you can do to jump-start our New Girls Network is to keep us updated on your personal and professional lives, including contact information and affiliations. In addition to up-todate personal contact information, we particularly need details on your professional lives. Our goal is to create a comprehensive database that
includes information about where you work and what you do, including board seats and philanthropic activities. This information is critical in creating the network to connect us and you with other alumnae, as well as current Emma girls, who share the same passions that you do. We want to make sure that whatever our girls are seeking to do in their lives after Emma, there exists a core group of alumnae to support them. We also want our alums to be able to leverage each other as they follow their personal and professional paths to success. Please update your information by emailing me directly, by using the Emma Alumnae App, or by going to www.emmawillard.org/ alumnae and clicking the “Update Your Information” link on the side of the page. Please note that we keep this information confidential and do not share it with anyone, and that the app and database are completely secure. See you on the book tour!
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women’s work Dressing for the Show Chris Carroll Costumer for Revels, retired Eliza Kellas Instructor in English Revels is a nearly 100-year tradition at Emma, where seniors perform a Christmastime pageant about a Medieval manor family. I’ve done the costumes for Revels for at least 36 years. When I came as a brand-new teacher in 1975, Miss Hogben, who had been the seamstress for the school, was 80 years old.
Last year they wanted to include a gargoyle, so I came up with a concept and a costume. I took the original St. George costume from years past and adapted it for the gargoyle. Because I wanted her to have a stone-like appearance, I used an old hairpiece, beard and moustache, and then we worked with makeup and sprayed the whole thing with this stone spray so she looked like a stone figure that could, in fact, move.
She was such an artist with Revels costumes. Because I had a theatre background, I worked with her for a year. When she passed away, it turned to me.
I’ve always loved that creative aspect of the work.
Even though the basic script of the show is always the same, the characters will change based on student ideas or characters they might be interested in trying to create or craft.
I will never cut into old fabric.
The show through the generations has changed dramatically. At first it was very processional, but now the girls are quite physical and they come up with different concepts of their own.
The oldest piece in the costume collection is close to 96 years old.
Because of the age of the costumes, we secure them in special ways—we sew a lot of students into their costumes and then cut them out. One year we were inspired by the costumes from The Lion King that extend beyond the body. We made one dragon that was huge, and it really rose up above the audience when it came in. It was pretty spectacular to see. The costumes are like people to me. I really treasure them because they are so beautiful, even given their age. I realize that every time Miss Hogben went to create a character, there was a little detail in that costume that made it different from any other. It makes the student who wears it feel special. I value that.
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Why I give… Rev. Bonnie Scott Jelinek ’63 Years at Emma Willard: 4 (Diehard)
Occupation: Minister, psychotherapist Revels Part: Devil
On leaving a legacy
On making a bequest now
On a future for women
Leaving a legacy is an act of significance and meaning. It is a way of saying, “Thank you for my years at Emma Willard,” not just for the rest of your life but beyond. Leaving a bequest is a gift to the future and a gift by way of example to my children.
I wanted to do something special in honor of my 50th reunion year, to give thanks, and to honor the memory of classmates we have lost. And, to be quite frank, in my role as minister, I bury a lot of people. I am constantly reminded of the importance of making plans while you are around to enjoy them.
Emma Willard allowed me to believe, from a very early age, that I could follow my dreams and pursue a career in the ministry, even at a time when women were denied that chance. A gift to Emma Willard is a gift to young women of all backgrounds, women who will lead fully enriched lives, who are dedicated to service. Educating women is the best way to effect change in the world. It is the best kind of seed planting.
For information on including Emma Willard in your will, contact Joe Hefta, director of planned giving, at 518-833-1831 or jhefta@emmawillard.org.
285 Pawling Avenue, Troy, NY 12180
SAVE THE DATE
Reunion 2013
June 7–9
Classes of 1933, 1938, 1943, 1948, 1953, 1958, 1963, 1968, 1973, 1978, 1983, 1988, 1993, 1998, 2003, 2008 If you’d like to volunteer for Reunion, please call or email the Alumnae Relations Office toll-free at 866.833.1814 or alumnae@emmawillard.org. Look for your invitation in March with all of the details of the weekend’s activities.