Expression Winter 2002 by Debra Falzoi

Expression WINTER 2002

The national crises that have touched us all, and the long, hard road that American journalists have traveled to bring the story home

THE MAGAZINE FOR ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF EMERSON COLLEGE

[ ] media under pressure

C H I L D â&#x20AC;&#x2122; S W O R K ( A N D P L AY )

At the Collegeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Robbins Speech, Language, and Hearing Center, students studying Communication Sciences and Disorders learn how to work with clients to improve their communication skills. Here, graduate students work with children in 50-minute sessions while their clinical supervisors observe them through a two-way mirror.

Top left: Sharna McMicken demonstrates articulation skills to a 5-year-old. Top right: Lindsay Avant works with a 10-yearold on organizing his language. He plays Monopoly at the end of the session as positive reinforcement. Above: Susanne McFarlin aids a 4-year-old with his articulation, with help from a tongue depressor. Right: Jaymie Tauber works with a 5-yearold on using words to make choices.

CONTENTS WINTER 2002

Expression For alumni and friends of Emerson College E X EC U T I V E E D I TO R D AV I D R O S E N E D I TO R R H E A B EC K E R

2 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 3 CAMPUS DIGEST Ground is broken for the Tufte Performance and Production Center, plans are being formulated for the new Campus Center, a virtual tour of the College is launched, students take to the seas on a historic schooner, and more

WRITER C H R I STO P H E R H E N N ESSY D E S I G N C O N S U LTA N T RONN CAMPISI CONTRIBUTING WRITER KEN GEWERTZ E D I TO R I A L A S S I S TA N T J ESS I CA N A D E AU

8 WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF DATABASE MARKETING

PA G E 4

Where everybody knows your name, your shoe size, your taste in music….

12 UNCOMMON POETS ON THE COMMON A mini-anthology of Emerson poets

15 MEDIA UNDER PRESSURE A century of crises and how U.S. journalists have held up

22 BOOK SHELF PA G E 7

23 ALUMNI DIGEST Cover photograph by Fred Collins EXPRESSION is published three times a year (fall, winter and spring) for alumni and friends of Emerson College by the Office of Public Affairs (David Rosen, associate vice president) in conjunction with the Department of Institutional Advancement (Jeanne Brodeur ’72, vice president) and the Office of Alumni Relations (Barbara Rutberg ’68, director). OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS public_affairs@emerson.edu (617) 824-8540, fax (617) 824-8916 OFFICE OF ALUMNI RELATIONS alumni@emerson.edu (800) 255-4259, (617) 824-8535, fax (617) 824-7807

A look at several attorneys who also happen to be Emerson grads, photo coverage of alumni events from around the country and a preview of Alumni Weekend 2002

29 CLASS NOTES 34 PROFILES Meet a theater aficionado who helped save a Boston landmark from the wrecking ball, and an award-winning brewmaster

36 MY TURN

PA G E 8

Faculty member Flora González on her Cuban past and American present

PA G E 3 5

letters

IN THIS ISSUE The events of Sept. 11 cast a long shadow. In this issue of Expression, we were inspired to examine the world of journalism not only in the wake of this crisis, but throughout a century of crises, including world wars, school shootings, natural disasters and other national tragedies. To pen this piece, staff writer Christocaptures the colorful heritage of pher Hennessy spoke to an array Emerson College, its vibrancy and of media practitioners and exexciting future. Keep up the good work! perts mainly drawn from our facneil davin ’72, ms ’79 ulty and alumni communities. roslindale, mass. You will also find yourself in the trenches with former ABC war hank you for the article on correspondent Morton Dean ’57, reality television Hon. ’77, who has Expression welcomes short in the most covered the conflicts letters to the editor on toprecent issue of in Vietnam, the Perics covered in the magazine. Expression. A perfect sian Gulf, Grenada The editor will select a repchoice for the and the Balkans. resentative sample of letters to publish and reserves the magazine, since (as Have you ever purright to edit copy for style writer Christopher chased a book online and length. Send letters to: Hennessy discovered) and found that the Editor, Expression, Office of so many alums are recommendations Public Affairs, Emerson Colconnected to television. they later offer you lege, 120 Boylston St., Boston, MA 02116-4624. The article was are eerily just the completely absorbing. things you’d choose Keep up the excellent work. Emerson for yourself? Who are these peoseems overly modest about its ple and how do they know so graduates, don’t you think? much about me? This phenomeremy rougéau, mfa ’98 non is called database marketing, via the internet and writer Ken Gewertz examines it in his story on this burgeoning am writing about an erroneous facet of the business world. caption for a photograph that apIn an Expression first, we prespeared in the Fall 2001 edition of ent a selection of poems written Expression. The caption reads: “Doug by members of Emerson’s esVan Gundy becomes a millionaire on teemed writing faculty. ABC’s Who Wants to be a Millionaire.” Finally, in our Alumni Profiles I happened to be a contestant on the section, meet Tobie Stein ’79, same episode of Millionaire in which who, as an Emerson student, Van Gundy got into the “hot seat.” This spearheaded a drive to save was the fourth show of Millionaire, Boston’s Wilbur Theatre and retaped in August 1999. Doug did not cently penned the definitive hiswin a million dollars on the program, as tory of the city’s Colonial Thehe walked away at the $250,000 plateau atre. And Dann Paquette ’90, (the $500,000 question that he was who studied broadcast journalpresented with and declined to answer ism at Emerson and then went on regarded Shakespearean characters). to make a name for himself as a The photograph of Doug shows his brewmaster, creating a line of reaction to winning $250,000, not award-winning, palate-pleasing a million dollars. beers. scott brill, ma ’91 Rhea Becker, editor

From the Serious to the Whimsical Expression ALSO

America’s love/hate affair with reality TV

Emerson’s really cookin’ this fall Highlights: Graduation, Alumni Weekend

Freeze Frame Associate Professor Eric Schaefer examines the world of film preservation, from Hollywood to home movies

ongratulations to the staff of the Office of Public Affairs and their contributing writers for the splendid Fall 2001 issue of Expression. I enjoyed the balance of the serious (Eric Schaefer’s “Freeze Frame” and Christopher Hennessy’s “Viewer Discretion Advised”) and the whimsical (“The Incredible, Edible Emerson”); looking back with Robert Fleming’s “Father Time” and looking ahead with “Construction Work Abounds Around Campus.” Featuring articles by our accomplished faculty and the talented Public Affairs staff is a winning combination. The magazine CLICK ON EMERSON A new online Web presence designed especially for Emerson alumni will have its debut in February 2002. Alumni will be able to e-mail other registered users in the database, access personal profile pages of their friends, update their own profile, participate in message board discussions, register for events and more. If the Office of Alumni Relations does not have your e-mail address, please call (800) 255-4259 or (617) 824-8535.

huntington, conn. 2

EXPRESSION WINTER 2002

campus digest College receives $1 million federal grant for curriculum development in performing arts he college has received a $1 million federal grant to support curriculum development in the performing arts related to the construction of the Tufte Performance and Production Center (see related story on page 4) and the restoration of the Emerson Majestic Theatre. The funds are contained in an omnibus education appropriation bill enacted by Congress in December 2001. Noting that this is the first major federal grant Emerson has ever received, President Jacqueline Liebergott said it represents “a major milestone in Emerson’s continuing evolution. It is a testament to the leadership role the College has assumed in performing arts education and in revitalizing Boston’s Theatre District.” She thanked members of the Massachusetts Congressional delegation and the College’s Board of Trustees who were instrumental in winning approval of the grant, especially Sen. Edward Kennedy and Congressman Michael Capuano, who shepherded the measure through their respective branches. Sen. John Kerry, Congressman John Olver and Trustees Ted Benard-Cutler, Peter Meade and Larry Rasky also provided significant support. In a congratulatory statement, Capuano said, “Emerson College has a unique mission of educating future leaders in the performing arts and communication. These federal funds will help advance that mission. I am proud to represent Emerson College and pleased to have assisted in providing these funds. I thank my colleagues in the Congress, particularly Senator

Major federal grant awarded

Kennedy, for their efforts in securing these funds.” Full restoration of the historic Majestic Theatre began last summer when workers removed stained-glass windows from the building’s exterior and brought them to the Boston studios of Lyn Hovey. They will be restored when possible and replaced when missing or beyond repair. Extensive restoration is also planned for the interior of the theater. The work is being done by Evergreene Painting Studios Inc. of New York City. The firm’s previous restoration projects include the New Amsterdam Theatre in New York City and the Academy of Music in Philadelphia. A groundbreaking ceremony for the 85,000-sq.-ft. Tufte Center, located adjacent to the Majestic Theatre, was held last fall. The new facility will include two theaters, two television studios and many other facilities to support performing arts education.

Plans move ahead for creation of Campus Center Planning is underway for the 14-story campus center that Emerson will build on a vacant, 14,900-sq.-ft. lot at 144-156 Boylston St. that the College purchased last spring. About 70 percent of the space is expected to be used for student housing. The remainder will support student activities and athletic programs and provide a central gathering place for all members of the Emerson community. In October the College retained The Stubbins Associates architectural firm of Cambridge, Mass., to design the building, and in November President Jacqueline Liebergott named a 17-member task force of students, faculty and staff to provide input. In announcing the formation of the group, Liebergott said: “I cannot overemphasize the importance of this project. It will be a signature building for Emerson and will enable us to complete the relocation of all our facilities to our new Campus on the Common. Properly designed, it will also enhance the sense of community on campus by providing a suitable venue to promote social interaction among students, faculty and staff.” One alumnus, Larry Rasky ’78, who chairs the Future College Committee of the Board of Trustees, serves on the task force, and several other alumni are providing informal input. All alumni are invited to review the progress of the project and provide comments via a special website located at http://cafe. emerson.edu/campus_center/.

WINTER 2002

EXPRESSION

campus digest

College website revamped; virtual tour debuted

he college has launched a redesigned and re-engineered website that includes a virtual tour of the campus. The site features a distinctive design based on the College’s new identity system, greatly improved navigation, enhanced functionality and new and updated content. It is divided into two sections, one for external audiences and the other for on-campus users. The external portion of the site uses the URL of the old site, http://www. emerson.edu. Administered by the Office of Public Affairs, it is directed at groups such as prospective students, alumni, parents, government and community leaders, the news media and the public at large. To reinforce institutional or “brand” identity and facilitate navigation, all pages will use an approved template. The internal portion is managed by the Office of Information Technology

Updated content, uniform look

(IT) and is designed to serve students, faculty and staff. The URL is http:// cafe.emerson.edu. Both sections are powered by Cold Fusion, which is a dynamic databasedriven system, and both employ the same powerful but easy-to-use webbased editor to create and update pages. In the coming months, “we will be looking to enhance the functionality and interactivity of the site and add bells and whistles,” said David Rosen, associate vice president for public affairs. VIRTUAL TOUR NOW ONLINE

Alumni, parents, friends and prospective students can now take a virtual tour of the Emerson campus. To access the tour, go to www.emerson.edu and click on the “Tour” link on the purple navigation box on the top of most pages. Developed by the Office of Public Affairs, the tour was unveiled last year during Alumni Weekend. It includes more than 100 photos, several Quicktime QTVR panoramas and several video and audio clips that are organized as a stop-by-stop walking tour of the

The home page of the newly designed College website.

College campus. The tour begins on historic Boston Common and travels through the Theatre District. From there, it crosses over to the Back Bay and up Beacon Hill. It ends with scenes of Emerson’s Los Angeles Center and Castle Well in the Netherlands. The script accompanying the tour describes the College’s facilities and the neighborhoods in which they are located. The site also includes two maps, one that marks the 19 stops on the tour and one that shows the street locations of Emerson buildings.

Groundbreaking ceremony held for 11-story Tufte Center The College officially broke ground in October for the 11-story Norman I. and Mary E. Tufte Performance and Production Center. Among the attendees at the ceremony were Grafton Nunes, dean of the School of the Arts; Ted Benard-Cutler ’51, chair of the Board of Trustees; Trustee Marillyn Zacharis; President Jacqueline Liebergott; Boston Mayor Thomas Menino; and Vice President for Administration and Finance Robert Silverman. The building is being named in memory of Norman I. and Mary E. Tufte, the parents of Trustee Marillyn Zacharis and the parents-in-law of the late John Zacharis, a former Emerson College president and faculty member. Located adjacent to the Emerson Majestic Theatre, the modern steel and glass structure will house two theaters, two television studios, laboratories, offices, classrooms and other facilities. It is scheduled for occupancy in fall 2003. Ted Benard-Cutler ’51 and Marillyn Zacharis break ground for the new Tufte Center. 4

EXPRESSION WINTER 2002

campus digest

Crockett, longtime Board member, dies at age 82 David Crockett ’41, a former faculty member who served for 30 years on the College’s Board of Trustees, died Oct. 24, 2001. He was 82 and lived in Westerly, R.I. He also served as director of admissions for the College from 1950 to 1952. When Crockett was interviewed last summer as part of the College’s Alumni Oral History Project, he said he had known every Emerson president from Harry Seymour Ross, who was president in the 1940s when Crockett was a student, through current President Jacqueline Liebergott. Crockett held degrees from Emerson (1941), Tufts University (1950) and Episcopal Theological School (1955). As an Emerson student, Crockett held numerous offices, including senior class president, junior class treasurer and Phi Alpha Tau treasurer. “Rev. Crockett had a deep love for the institution, and as a member of the Board of Trustees provided wise counsel,” said President Jacqueline Liebergott. He taught speech at Emerson College from 1948 to 1952. He served as a minister in parishes in Tiverton, R.I., and Stamford, Conn., and was canon to the Ordinary of the Diocese of Western Massachusetts. He was elected to Emerson’s Board of Trustees in 1961. He received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Emerson in 1965. He authored several books, including Archaeological Anomalies, published in 1994.

Members of College community touched by Sept. 11 tragedy thors and Publishers) and was active in everal members of the Emermany community activities. son College community, includAronson, 50, was a public relations ing Sonia Morales Puopolo of manager for Computerware Corp. in Dover, Mass. — a prominent philanCambridge. She had taught public relathropist, arts patron and political actions courses at Emerson off and on for tivist, and the mother of two Emerson a number of years. graduates — were among Puopolo, 58, was the wife the victims of the Sept. 11 of Dominic Puopolo, a forattack. mer Emerson College The others were alumTrustee, and mother of three na Jane Simpkin ’88 of children — Dominic Jr., Wayland, Mass., and forMark Anthony and Tita. mer adjunct faculty Mark and Tita are alumni member Myra Aronson of the College. She was also of Charlestown, Mass. a patron and lifetime memThe three were aboard ber of the Friends of the the planes departing Emerson Majestic Theatre. from Boston that crashed Sonia M. Puopolo, a In addition, Puopolo was into the World Trade Friend of the Majestic, a major contributor, board Center in New York City. died in one of the plane member and supporter of Puopolo and Aronson crashes on Sept. 11. numerous organizations in were aboard American New England, Florida and California. Airlines Flight 11, and Simpkin was These included the American Red aboard United Airlines Flight 175. Cross, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance A memorial tribute for Puopolo was Against Defamation, the AIDS Action held at Trinity Church in Boston. U.S. Committee, the American Cancer SociSen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) ety, the Miami City Ballet and several spoke at the gathering. medical and social welfare organizaSimpkin, 36, worked for ASCAP tions in Nantucket and in Florida. (American Society of Composers, Au-

PSYCHOLOGY PROFESSOR COREA DIES Peter Corea, a faculty member who taught psy-

chology courses at the College since 1965, died Thursday, Nov. 22, 2001, after a lengthy illness. He was 77 and lived in Quincy, Mass. One of Dr. Corea’s greatest hopes was that he would teach until the end of his life, and he fulfilled that dream, meeting his last class on the prior Wednesday. Born in Boston, Corea graduated from Boston College and Andover Newton Theological School and earned a doctorate in philosophy at Boston University. Corea joined the Emerson community and taught at the College for 37 years — under six different Emerson presidents — and many claim that taking at least one course of Corea’s was a requirement for graduation. Corea relished teaching and believed firmly in a strong education. He once said, “Education is the place where free and open discussion of every point of view is not only allowed but richly cherished to ensure progress, peace and prosperity.”

WINTER 2002

EXPRESSION

campus digest

College sets challenging agenda for new 5-year strategic plan he college’s board of Trustees has approved a wideranging strategic plan for Emerson that will chart the institution’s course for the next five years. The plan, which covers the years 2001-2005, establishes eight overall goals, calling for: • Attracting and retaining a first-rate faculty by, among other things, hiring three to five new tenure-track faculty members who have “high impact” creative and scholarly skills as well as exceptional teaching ability • Improving the quality of the academic experience for all students inside and outside the classroom • Completing the relocation of all Boston facilities to the “Campus on the Common” by finishing the new Tufte Performance and Production Center and building a new college center and

Charting a course for the future

residence hall without increasing longterm debt and without reducing funding for non-construction programs • Recruiting and retaining students who have a high potential for achievement at the College • Generating additional philanthropic support for educational and facility priorities • Increasing Emerson’s visibility and enhancing its national reputation • Increasing the racial and ethnic diversity of the student body, faculty and staff, and • Improving organizational effectiveness by, among many other things, reinforcing a “students first” work ethic and migrating mainframe computer applications to an integrated web-based system. The plan reflects a year of work by a College-wide committee. The committee was assisted by six subcommittees that broadly represented all of the College’s internal constituencies. Input was also obtained from members of the Alumni Association Board, the Board of Overseers and the Board of Trustees.

ACTRESS/DIRECTOR WHOOPI GOLDBERG SLATED TO BE VISITING ARTIST THIS WINTER As this issue of Expression went to press,

Academy Award winner and entertainment icon Whoopi Goldberg was expected to spend about a week on campus in February as the College’s latest artist-in-residence. Goldberg was scheduled to begin her residency with an “An Evening with Whoopi Goldberg” at the Emerson Majestic Theatre in which she would address current Emerson students, alumni and friends of the College as well as staff and faculty. Performing arts students and film students alike were also slated for classroom sessions and forums led by Goldberg in which she would speak about her experience as an actress, director and producer. Goldberg is scheduled to be feted at a special reception hosted by Emerson President Jacqueline Liebergott and Dean of the School of the Arts Grafton Nunes. Chairman of the Board of Trustees Ted Benard-Cutler ’51 and other leaders and supporters of the College and the Boston arts scene were expected to be on hand to welcome Goldberg.

EXPRESSION WINTER 2002

Henry Winkler donates collection of memorabilia One of Emerson’s best-known alumni, Henry Winkler ’67, has donated to the College a selection of his personal and professional memorabilia. A portion of the collection is currently on display in the Little Building Arcade (80 Boylston St.), where it will remain on view into the fall 2002 semester. An accomplished actor, producer and director, Winkler became a household name as the “Fonz” in the hit show Happy Days. The Henry Winkler Collection includes 12 archival boxes of scripts, photographs, videotapes, publicity materials, correspondence, memorabilia and souvenirs. The materials document his life from childhood to college and also cover the early years of his career to his more recent accomplishments as an actor, television and film producer and director. By including videos, annotated scripts, screen tests, dailies, and other documents that illuminate the process of filmmaking and the art of acting, Winkler hopes current students will find educational value in the Collection, says College Archivist Robert Fleming. Some of the personal items included from his Emerson days are an issue of the Berkeley Beacon student newspaper (complete with a note to his parents scribbled on it), his old Emerson I.D. card and correspondence. The Collection also includes clippings, programs, and photos from shows he acted in at both Emerson and at Yale, where he earned a master’s degree in drama.

campus digest

Educational schooner outing a first for College n intrepid band of Emerson students from a Marine Biology class got the chance of a lifetime last October when they boarded the famed schooner Ernestina for a weekend of rigorous hands-on research and nautical training. The 18 students, led by Assistant Professor Alan Lee Hankin, made the excursion into the marine environments of Buzzard’s Bay and Vineyard Sound. In what Hankin called “a true immersion experience,” the students lived, studied and performed crew duties aboard the 107year-old schooner, alongside the ship’s 14-member crew. Despite harsh conditions — wind chill temperatures in the 10’s, 6-foot seas, and winds at 25 knots with gusts up to 31 knots (34 is gale force) — the students admirably “‘stood watches’ and performed scientific analyses literally around the clock,” said Hankin, who’s conducted on-water investigations for 15 years. Classes focused on marine life, research at sea, and similar topics.

Aboard a 107year-old schooner

For example, students performed “otter trawls” (sampling the ocean floor with a net-like device) each day, and identified and analyzed all the organisms collected. Senior Matthew Heath described the trip as “very enlightening” and said that working onboard a ship without any automation is “hard-core.” While the focus of the trip was scientific, once on board, the students hauled sails, learned navigation, and performed an array of maritime duties. By the second day, students were plotting courses and “manning the helm,” Hankin said. They also got lessons in fishing, snagging four sharks and numerous other fish, he said. Like good Emersonians, the students also videotaped and took digital photography of the entire experience, which was later uploaded onto a special website for the campus community to see. Sophomore Johnathan Ruggiero was instrumental in organizing the technical aspects of the trip, said Hankin. Ruggiero discovered during the rigorous voyage that “sailing brings out character.” The trip was sponsored in part by the Office of Stuart Sigman, dean of the School of Communication, and the Student Government Association.

Student Peter Wylie ’02 holds a spider crab that was caught in a net trawl.

TOP:

ABOVE: Student Heather Fortier ’02 analyzes a sample of ocean water in search of dissolved oxygen, one measure of water quality. LEFT: The schooner Ernestina was home to an Emerson class for a weekend of study and crew duties last fall.

WINTER 2002

EXPRESSION

DATABASE MARKETING

Where everybody knows your name, your shoe size, your taste in music, yourâ&#x20AC;Ś

n that long-ago , possibly mythi-

BY K E N

cal, small town America for which many of us harbor some secret nostalgia, people felt secure and valued because they were known. Extended families lived under one extended roof, neighbors were neighborly, and even the owner of the general store knew GEWERTZ what brand of canned peas you liked and when that bag of flour you bought last month was likely to run out. Then came the suburbs, the shopping mall and mass marketing, and we were on our own. Family members lived five hours away by jet plane, you were lucky if your neighbor gave you a nod as he pulled out of the driveway, and as for shopping, it was just you

EXPRESSION WINTER 2002

THE SYSTEM ELIMINATES WASTE — NO MORE DOG FOOD COUPONS FOR THE PETLESS OR TV DINNER COUPONS FOR THE GOURMET COOK.

and a cart wandering up and down corridors of floor-to-ceiling shelves like a rat in a maze. Anonymity, alienation, loneliness—the curses of modern life. But wait—now there’s help, at least where shopping is concerned, and it comes from an unlikely source: the computer. Database marketing—to use one of the many names by which this new phenomenon is known—relies on the capacity of the computer to process vast quantities of information, together with the immediate and far-reaching interconnectivity of the World Wide Web, to let firms know their customers with a thoroughness and intimacy unmatched since Ike Godsey sold six yards of calico to Grandma Walton. SCANNING FOR DOLLARS

Database marketing can take many forms. One of the most familiar is the frequent buyer card issued by supermarket chains across the country. The card is an electronic name tag, allowing the store to identify each customer as an individual and track his or her buying habits. The promise of special savings to holders of the card motivates shoppers to carry it in their wallet or on their keychain and produce it on demand so that it can be scanned by the checkout clerk. But its real purpose is to cultivate the loyalty of customers by anticipating their needs. By analyzing a customer’s purchases, the computer can print out coupons on the back of the cash register receipt for those items that the person has bought in the past. The system eliminates waste—no more dog food coupons for the petless or TV dinner coupons for the gourmet cook. But more importantly, it gives the customer a sense that he or she is no longer a faceless cipher in a great undifferentiated

crowd, but rather a known entity whose needs are being taken into account. According to Dan Sher ’94, a director of PAN Communications Inc., an Andover, Mass.based public relations company that serves clients in the database marketing field, paying attention to the customer’s needs can mean greater revenues and more repeat business for a firm that invests in this kind of technology. “You want to get closer to your customers, to know what they need almost without their having to tell you. That way, you’re rewarding them for their loyalty, something like a frequent flyer program,” Sher said. Frequent buyer cards not only reward customers with coupons, they also provide information that the store can sell to manufacturers to better facilitate their marketing decisions. “Hypothetically, you might find that a lot of customers who came in and bought Pampers also bought a six-pack of beer,” Sher explained. “Given that information, the beer manufacturer might decide to display its product next to the Pampers.” I KNOW WHAT YOU WANT

But frequent buyer cards are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to companies cozying up to their customers. Using technologies of greater power and sophistication, retailers have been nudging us at even deeper levels. Large web retailers like Amazon and Barnes & Noble use software called neural nets, which compare a customer’s purchases with those of other customers. This strategy enables the company’s computers to establish communities of interest and to generate recommendations based on that data.

WINTER 2002 EXPRESSION

‘A LOT OF PEOPLE HEARKEN BACK TO NOTIONS OF BIG BROTHER WHEN THEY TALK ABOUT WEB MARKETING.’

For example, suppose a customer bought a mystery novel by Sara Paretsky. Amazon’s neural net would compare that purchase with those by other customers and, on that basis, suggest that this reader might also enjoy novels by Sue Grafton, Robert B. Parker and Ed McBain. Reactions to this type of marketing have been mixed. Some, like Don Peppers and Martha Rogers, authors of Enterprise One to One (Doubleday, 1997) and other books on interactive marketing, herald the new technology as nothing short of a revolution in business as well as a quantum addition to the sum total of human happiness. Their philosophy boils down to a kind of mantra expressing a new relationship between an enterprise and its customers: “I know you. You tell me what you want. I make it. I remember next time.” But not all observers of database marketing are so sanguine about the new technology. Sher, for example, finds that the neural net technology used by Amazon and other web retailers sometimes produces unexpected results. “Suppose I’m going to visit New York and I order a guidebook from a web retailer. That book is liable to show up as a recommendation on somebody else’s account just because it’s associated with certain other books I’ve purchased.” He notes, however, that Amazon allows customers to deselect certain items and thereby refine the recommendations Amazon provides. INVASIONS OF PRIVACY

Mary Joyce, professor of communications at Emerson, mentions other objections: “Some of my friends say, ‘I really resent being told what I’m going to like.’ There are a lot of people who hearken back to notions of Big Brother when they talk about web marketing, and it’s not just a generational thing. I think it transcends age groups.” Joyce herself has no problem with web marketers making educated guesses about her preferences. As a wearer of petite sizes, she appreciates it when clothing retailers send her catalogs containing items that suit her taste and body type, rather than stuffing her mailbox with offerings in which she has no interest. Some high-end businesses are so assiduous in collecting data on their clientele that their ability to anticipate needs is almost uncanny. According to Joyce, the Ritz-Carlton chain of luxury hotels knows the habits of its regular guests so well that those who regularly overindulge may return to their rooms after a night out to find a package of Tylenol on their pillow. In return for this level of service, Joyce says she is willing to provide companies with the personal informa10

EXPRESSION WINTER 2002

tion they need to accurately target her needs and habits. “It may be somewhat naively optimistic of me, but I always say, ‘what’s the worst that could happen?’” Yet certain scenarios that are well within the realm of possibility cause even the optimistic Joyce a certain alarm. “What if a health care provider merges with another company that is not in the health care field,” she asked. “All of a sudden that company has access to your health records.” Sarah Keller, an assistant professor in Emerson’s Health Communications Program, worries that the free and easy attitude many web businesses seem to take toward consumer privacy will eventually have a restrictive effect on the legitimate use of the web as a health education tool. Keller believes that for certain kinds of information—safe sex education for teens is one example—the web is the ideal tool. “It’s the best way to reach teens with sensitive information that they may be embarrassed to ask parents or doctors about,” she said. But the information-gathering activities that some webbased enterprises engage in, particularly when that information is sold to other companies, may provoke a regulatory backlash, she believes. Even though these enterprises post privacy statements on their websites that warn users that the information they provide may be shared with other enterprises, the fine print and legalese in which these statements are presented discourage all but the most determined users. “It’s an incredible invasion of privacy, a violation of consumer rights,” she said. “These violations of privacy are quite rampant, and will probably result in massive lawsuits that will curb the openness of the web.” Such invasions of privacy have already occurred, sending shockwaves through that sector of the business world that has made major investments in database marketing. In 1998, the CVS drugstore chain teamed up with Elensys Inc., a Woburn, Mass.-based database marketing firm, to create a direct mail campaign aimed at customers who filled their prescriptions at the store. The letters reminded them to refill their lapsed prescriptions or suggested they try alternative drugs. Many customers, far from finding the campaign useful, were dismayed to learn that CVS had shared their medical information with a third party. The drugstore chain discontinued the practice after a wave of critical responses from watchdog groups as well as from customers themselves. But the incident, and others like it, raises the question of where to draw the line between well-intentioned catering to consumer needs and invasion of privacy. DRAWING THE LINE

At one level, it is a question for lawmakers and regulators. But at a deeper level, the problem of where to draw the line

Future

Shop

What new marvels does database marketing hold in store? We asked a few of our experts and got these predictions.

FRANK PARRISH ’75, a direct marketing veteran, said that one of the drawbacks of shopping on the web is that the customer misses the pleasure of browsing through shelves of books or stroking the sleeve of a tweed jacket in a clothing store. “I use Amazon a lot when I know what I want, but there’s no substitute for the romance of a bookstore,” Parrish said. But that will change, he believes. “The Internet will get better. I can foresee a day when rather than sitting down at a computer and click-

ing through the Land’s End website page by page, you’ll strap on a headset and enter a virtual Land’s End store, maybe look through garments and even try them on.” DAN SHER ’94 sees a time in the not too distant future when several technologies will converge, producing a type of marketing that will be specific not just to the individual but to his or her geographic location as well. A technology that allows emergency personnel to pinpoint the location of a cell phone caller to within a hundred feet has been de-

must be decided by those most affected by the issue—the public. As Joyce puts it, “Ultimately, it’s a question of how much convenience do we want versus how much privacy are we willing to give up—that’s where the battlefield will be.” But while outrage over privacy violations may spur stricter regulation of personal data by database marketers, it is unlikely that such measures will seriously curtail the development or deployment of this technology. The forces driving the spread of electronic data-gathering in the commercial sphere are simply too powerful. While many of us long for the days when retail relationships were marked by personal, individual service and reject electronic substitutes as cold and creepy, it is nevertheless true that for certain types of transactions, dealing with a computer program may be as good or better than dealing with a live person. Tao Sun, an assistant professor of communication at Emerson and an expert on consumer behavior, speculates that the future of retail will probably encompass both the personal and the electronic. “I doubt computer-mediated communication [CMC] could replace interpersonal communication. However, this does not mean that CMC will always be a loser compared to interpersonal communication. Some people who buy certain products actually feel more comfortable with CMC than with interpersonal communication. This is where database marketing could excel the most, I believe.” But database marketing is also sure to secure a growing and more secure niche for itself because in many ways it is more effective than its predecessor, mass marketing, which relies on sending a message out to a large, undifferentiated audience, such as television viewers or newspaper readers.

veloped and is now in the process of being deployed. Sher believes it is only a matter of time before this technology is adapted by advertisers for their purposes. “Say you’re walking down the street and you feel hungry. Your cell phone will be able to tell you there’s a pizza place a few blocks away that’s having a lunch special.” If the idea of advertising on your cell phone disturbs you, get used to it, Sher said. “Advertising isn’t going away. But in the future, it will target you better,” he said. —K.G.

According to Frank Parrish ’75, head of an Arlington, Mass.-based marketing consulting firm called Virtual Agency, direct marketing (which he sees as the broad category that includes database marketing) is the only part of the marketing community that is growing. “Television is not the target medium it once was,” Parrish said. “There are no longer just three networks, so it’s harder to reach your audience and make sure your money has an effect. Advertisers want more accountability and measurability today, and that’s hard to provide in broadcast or print.” Instead, Parrish sees direct marketing, driven by the kind of data-gathering technologies that are being used increasingly on the web and elsewhere, as the wave of the future. “The more you know about your audience, the more data is driving the message, the more you can structure the offer in a way that’s appealing.” And while database marketing came of age during the bull market of the 1990s, it’s real heyday may come during the leaner times that have settled in more recently. The reason is that its data-driven message provides advertisers with more bang for their buck. Two recent success stories suggest that database marketing is holding its own during the current economic downturn. InfoUSA Inc., an Omaha database marketing firm, enjoyed a sharp increase in earnings during the second quarter of 2001 over earnings for the same period last year. Online retailer Amazon has provided an end-of-year lift for the dot.com world by reporting record sales over the 2001 winter holiday period. All of which seems to show that we really do want to go where everybody knows our name—even if that knowledge is electronically generated. n WINTER 2002 EXPRESSION

Uncommon

poets on the Common

A M I N I -A N T H O L O GY O F E M E R S O N P O E T S

ne of emerson’s true treasures is its community of poets. They are part of the reason the Writing, Literature and Publishing Department at Emerson has received national attention, ranking consistently as one of the top programs of its kind in the nation. Seven of these poets, all accomplished wordsmiths and image-makers, have each contributed a poem to this Expression compilation, some works published here for the first time. From mediCHINATOWN STATION tative strolls through the Common, to lessons of loss learned on the lakes of The air is sheer yet unctuous like bonus magazine lotion. Maine, to a love affair recalled on the streets of Beacon Hill, the selected poThe whistle of the noon Aniline makes me think of cinema rain. ems all explore the city and region that Emerson calls home. I stand below the public horn and play with my palm’s maze generator. LOOKING FOR MERCY IN MARION, MASSACHUSETTS My friend who goes crazy every spring And becomes as good as two friends Danced in the slow water of the marsh at sunset— Such grace in his nakedness, the cattails’ waving, A new family of geese looping wide, wide around him. When he came in shivering and we poured More whiskey, he told me he’d been dancing With my dead wife, whom he knows by heart, That she’d thrown back her head laughing And burst into a flame the sun made On the water. Did you see her? he said. Yes, I said. And I leaned to him and Kissed him year after year after year. David Daniel is poetry editor of Ploughshares and an adjunct professor. His new book, Let the River Horses Run, is forthcoming next year from Graywolf Press.

EXPRESSION WINTER 2002

A griseous bone grows over its steel trap. The inland roads are deserted. The pepper oak are algebra. Who has padded the bardo pond with floating terrapin ashtrays? Please rinse your eyes before you look at us. The slate sky looks acid buffed and the inflected alkyd light lets me believe that my feet are not, no, not my own— Naturally, we have no proof! Tred on the principle of hope. The gas mask vendor passes me the timetable. Peter Jay Shippy, an adjunct professor since 1987, has had his poetry recently published in Poetry Ireland, the Harvard Review and the Denver Quarterly.

BEACON HILL I can still feel the edgy twist of her hips down the stairs, her hair shielding whatever her heart has done to her face. And the room where we placed each other over a narrow bed, the sheets creased like a palm stretched out toward a gypsy — THE COMMON Iron cannons from the Revolution. Ghost music— folk songs, rock concerts, Sunday demonstrations. A granite slab for the elm where Washington took command. A new wood plaque, already rotting, for Margaret Fuller Ossoli—the city father’s minimal nod to the life of her mind. The black trunks of old maples brushed with snow, their strong lines rephrased by snow’s finery. From a concrete gazebo, Abraham Lincoln gazes down at the cobbled plaza where raffish bands plugged in, and stoned crowds gathered; my small son and daughter skipped ahead of me, hand in hand, to the swings, the jungle gym, the roundabout, and at home, pre-season jonquils dazzled in a white crockery jug. Stringed beads—necklaces, earrings—for sale by a woman who’s sat cross-legged on folded blankets since those days, those days. The season’s worst cold brewing this early morning. Two men huddled in damp sleeping bags spread out on newspapers; convulsive dreams of their war.

see the lines there, the braided paths that trailed off into weddings and bursts of fresh power — and once, the sight of her on a bicycle ticking down a row of shops, then pausing at a plate glass display of lush stationery, watermarked, and pressed by an array of quartz paperweights fractured in half to explode their beauty. John Skoyles, a professor at Emerson, is the author of three books of poems, many of which have appeared in magazines such as The Atlantic, Poetry, The American Poetry Review, the Harvard Review and The Yale Review.

The oaks. The maples. In the near-zero day I take on faith, faith in Nature, that life’s machinery groans and strains in the frozen limbs. Gail Mazur’s most recent volume of poems, They Can’t Take That Away from Me (2001), was a finalist for the National Book Award. Mazur is a writer-in-residence at Emerson. P H O T O G R A P H S BY E M I L I A D U B I C K I , M FA ‘ 9 2

WINTER 2002 EXPRESSION

AFTER FLY FISHING AT DAWN IN MAINE

LITERARY NEW ENGLAND I saw Hawthorne’s gravestone one autumn in Concord the Walden Pond of Thoreau (that nature mother) but what is the name of the man a slave (Negro) Miss Sally knew buckshot in the pit of his stomach like Br’er Fox Br’er (Jack) Rabbit Trickster hustler teeth of dogs stained with his blood livable patches at the knees & the bottoms of well worn country clothes (like I wore to school) they hear more about Memphis Jug Bands than Owen Dodson than storytellers prose troubadors novelists tale bearers (Southern Aesops) who conceived Mr. Turkey Buzzard a life of sticks and cow hide (blood filling

EXPRESSION WINTER 2002

his father’s shoes) living in a hollow tree (skin mangled by dogs) called the children honey (although a slave) old black man born before Jim Crow) telling stories about an American forest Uncle Remus is not your name Uncle Remus sings America: tales of the Southern Woods Joel Chandler Harris heeded (ears bending) the Negro people (the overseer elsewhere) (called runways or just Negroes) they knew cowhides & sticks the blood of the old man is his stories Sam Cornish, an adjunct professor since 1982, is the author of the memoir 1935 and several books of poems, including Cross a Parted Sea.

Gulls cawed the old man sound and it wasn’t soil but bark chips and Asian sea moss Thorne spread in the rock garden. My nasturtiums took root and the boys hitched our skiff to the dock. Keith lived in the hospital fighting the different cancers. Still we argued best basketball teams over morning coffee, while mosquitoes thronged our porch screens. And maybe that’s what we were meant to do under a marine sky blue and singing: fight Knicks versus Celtics and keep the weakest of us alive. Nostalgia crept the wild rose trellis if we weren’t careful and Thorne wanted to plant more heather, thin the blueberries. John lay in the lawn’s slab of sun eating chocolate donuts, trying to describe the silky underside of a sea bass he’d released. For once I didn’t seek escape from my life. Bright Sunday and Keith was alive but sick. I’d tricked myself he’d always be sick— that it was the alive that counted, until his sickness became a kind of false anchor, a way of holding him here longer. Susan Conley, associate poetry editor of Ploughshares and adjunct professor, has published poems in numerous literary journals such as The Paris Review, the Harvard Review and the New England Review.

FROM THE ABANDONED The house we’re walking by? Someone else’s. And every car parked on this street, too, and every street in Newton, and yesterday, in Brookline, over by the High School, then later up Perkins – that black lab and her calico neighbor. That Springer Spaniel. That, that, that. Even this bench. Boots! Black, brown, pairs mud-caked on newspaper, not ours. Baseball bat. Basketball hoops above every single driveway. Barbie, headless, sticking out from the abandoned Birdcage in the window – someone else’s, else’s. Blossoms, too. Ivory, pink-edged magnolia blossoms, too. Martha Rhodes, adjunct professor, is the author of two poetry collections, At the Gate and Perfect Disappearance, as well as the director of Four Way Books, an independent literary press.

[ ] media under pressure By Christopher Hennessy

Americans everywhere huddle around radios to hear each word of President Roosevelt’s speech on the ‘day of infamy’ — December 7, 1941. § Black protesters in the South are attacked by police dogs and hosed down with high-pressure jets of water. § John F. Kennedy Jr. is captured forever as the young boy solemnly saluting his father’s coffin. § The space shuttle Challenger explodes before our eyes. § ‘Smart bombs’ are caught in infrared as they streak into Iraqi military targets. § The grinning visages of a couple of boys named Derek and Dylan become fixtures on national television after they shoot 12 people at their Colorado high school. § We depend on journalists to bring us the stories that describe and explain some of our nation’s darkest moments. It is exactly at

A CENTURY OF CRISES AND HOW AMERICAN JOURNALISTS HAVE HELD UP

WINTER 2002 EXPRESSION

these times — when we need information most urgently — that the journalist’s task becomes the most difficult. But what happens when a reporter is thrust into the vortex of a national crisis? By exploring various crises spanning the past century, a diverse collection of journalists reveal the numerous professional challenges that they face, from surviving a war zone to facing unanticipated ethical dilemmas to satisfying the public’s unquenchable desire “to know.” CASUALTIES OF A CRISIS

A host of logistical factors come into play when a journalist covers a crisis. In recent years, an exponential increase in the ‘velocity of news’ — the ability to stream information across the globe at lightning speeds — is one of the greatest reasons for caution. The faster the news speeds into a newsroom, the faster decisions must be made. During the first hours and days of a breaking news story, ethical decisionmaking can quickly evaporate. At the heart of the problem lies a fundamental challenge:

“To react quickly and responsibly … and those two [goals] can sometimes be at odds,” says Jerry Lanson, a Pulitzer Prize-winning news editor and chair of Emerson’s Department of Journalism. For broadcast journalists, adds his colleague, former CNN producer Janet Kolodzy, this is especially problematic. “When the images [from the field] are coming at you, you really only have minutes and even seconds to decide what is and isn’t acceptable to air,” says Kolodzy, who is an assistant professor of journalism at Emerson. She offers the ever-difficult example of how or if to use what reporters call “raw footage,” that is, graphic images of human death and suffering. “If you don’t show the pictures, are you denying the public the reality [of the scene]?” she wonders. Paul Niwa, scholar-in-residence in Emerson’s journalism department, covered the ‘Asian Contagion’ — the Asian currency collapse that threatened the global economy in July 1997 — as business editor for NBC Asian News. In a field where one hasty prognosis can send stocks plummeting,

THE MORNING THE SKYLINE CHANGED

On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Marc Nathanson ’94, MA ’98, and Jonathan “Satch” Satriale ’94 were among the first media to cover the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. As executive producer of NY1.com, Nathanson broke the news to the online audience of the website for NY1, the city’s 24-hour cable news channel. Satriale, a freelance videojournalist, was called in to cover the attack for the station. The first-person narratives that follow re-create crucial moments of a day that tested the two as journalists and as New Yorkers. I WAS ASLEEP in my bed in my Upper West Side apartment when the ringing of the telephone woke me. “Marc, I just walked past the World Trade Center,” said a friend calling from his cell phone, “and it looks like a plane just crashed into the building.” “You’re kidding,” I said, and immediately dialed NY1’s assignment editor, finally reaching him on the tenth ring. “Colin, the World Trade Center –“ “ – We’re on it,” he said. I hung up and flipped on my TV. It was only four minutes since the events began, but already NY1 had a live picture of 16

EXPRESSION WINTER 2002

the Twin Towers from our camera atop the Empire State Building. Smoke was billowing from the north tower as our morning anchor described the scene. At the computer on my desk I called up NY1.com, where our Primary Day coverage was the website’s top story. I accessed the site’s content management system and typed: “The World Trade Center was rocked by an explosion this morning when an airplane struck one of the building’s twin towers, witnesses say. The blast occurred shortly before 9 a.m. Emergency crews have been called to the scene.” Three simple sentences — just the basics. The details would follow. I hit the “submit” button and published the terse description as the site’s lead story. I called the writer on duty at my office but got no answer. Sixteen minutes since the plane hit the tower and back on television things were looking even worse — flames now shot up from the building, and the south tower was now on fire. But something was wrong: with more than 100 feet separating the two towers, the fire shouldn’t have spread from one to the other. On NY1, anchor Pat Kiernan was discussing

the possibility that a second plane had struck the complex, but that seemed impossible. Then the station replayed a shot from just moments before, and there on the screen was a blip in the sky heading right toward the skyscraper. Why would a second plane crash in the same spot as the first? I opened up my story and inserted another paragraph after the lead: “Shortly thereafter, the second World Trade Center tower was damaged by what appeared to be another airplane.” I finally got the morning writer on the phone and learned the latest — it was two planes, both of them large passenger jets. It looked like a possible terrorist attack. I handed off the story to the writer and told him I’d be right in. A terrorist attack on the World Trade Center? My mind raced as I fumbled with my shoelaces. What might be next? The Statue of Liberty, the Chrysler Building, the Empire State? On my computer screen, I re-read my brief story. There are five W’s in journalism, and the simple sentences contained four of them: who, what, when and where. The “why” would only come later. — M.N.

perhaps damaging the economy, he knows first-hand the need for thoughtful coverage. “Let’s keep our heads on straight,” he recalls telling his staff during the collapse. “Be careful of the words you use to characterize these events. Be precise.” When caution isn’t heeded, lives can be ruined. The press “failed very badly” in the coverage of the bombing at Olympic Park in Atlanta in 1996, says Lanson. In the wake of the incident, media outlets deified security guard Richard Jewell, claiming he’d acted heroically amidst the chaos. However, acting on anonymous sources who suggested Jewell himself might be behind the bombing, many outlets just as quickly demonized him without verifying their information. Jewell was later vindicated. Information can literally save or endanger lives. Years after the Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba, recalls Lanson, editors at the New York Times second-guessed their own decision not to report a crucial discovery – that the 1961 incident was a planned invasion by CIA-trained Cuban exiles. If they had

broken the story, many wondered if lives could have been saved. Many news outlets were criticized for revealing too much information about the 1999 Columbine High School shooting while suspects were still at large in the building. Parents feared that the shooters, watching the news inside the school, would learn enough about police movements to aid their escape. When reporters cover breaking news on the scene, as they did at Columbine, they themselves and their coverage can become part of the scenario unfolding before them, offers J. Gregory Payne, director of Emerson’s Center for Ethics in Political and Health Communication. This can turn a news event into “a spectacle,” he says. More recently, similar questions have surfaced, with network newsrooms debating whether to abide by the White House’s request not to air videotaped statements by al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, fearing the tapes could contain embedded messages to his followers. (Ironically, the government later asked the media to air a videotape in which bin

I ARRIVED AT THE newsroom to find that it had become a war room similar to the one I remembered from the crash of TWA Flight 800. Everyone who worked for NY1, in any capacity, was there pitching in. We had several crews already downtown when I saw the first tower drop, via our broadcast. My thoughts turned to one of my best friends, Anthe downtown area, covered in debris and drew, a former NY1 reporter who now chased by clouds of dust. Somewhat worked just a few feet away from the magically, my good friend Andrew came World Trade Center. I scrambled to reach out of the masses and we stopped him. him via cell phone but had no luck. It was a weird mixture of hugs and factMy first story that day was the evacfinding. We interviewed him as well, and uation of Lower Manhattan. The sheer he did his best to give us an accurate magnitude of trying to and unbiased report, evacuate so many peobut he was visibly WE TRADED OUR CAR ple from such a dense IN FOR A MOTOR SCOOT- shaken. spot was intense. In Our next stop was ER AND TRAVELED fact, it took me and my as close to Ground DOWN THE MEDIAN reporter a half-hour to Zero as we could STRIP AND SIDEWALKS travel one block west stomach. The air was WITH THE CAMERA because of the gridSTRAPPED TO MY BACK gray and difficult to lock. It was obvious if breathe. The police we were going to cover the story, we best kept trying to push us back. There was not be part of it. So we traded our car in a news truck from another station that for a motor scooter and traveled down we met up with. Later that day, #7 World the median strip and on sidewalks with Trade would crumble onto the spot where the camera strapped to my back. We inthat news truck had been. We gathered terviewed several people heading out of information and pictures and then decid-

ed to pull back, all the while I was thinking about the increasing risk to my life. We headed uptown to the Red Cross Emergency Response Center to cover the outpouring of support for the victims. There was a line of blood donors wrapped around several blocks. The unique thing was the diversity of the donors. Imagine all those interesting New Yorkers we have — all on the same line — from the business professional to the transit workers to the body-piercing champ. I couldn’t help but tear up a bit as I panned the line with my camera. So much support from a seemingly harsh city. Somehow, as long as I kept my eye to the viewfinder, I felt like I was just doing my job, and it made what I was seeing tolerable. However, every so often my own emotion would seep through and remind me that this was not tolerable. What I was covering was beyond words. As a former firefighter and EMT, I knew what had to be done and who was performing what role; this time I was playing the role of the media, a role that I was proud to play, on a story that changed our world, our city and my life. — J.S. WINTER 2002 EXPRESSION

(RE)DEFINING MOMENTS Emerson Professor of Media Ethics Tom Cooper offers the following buzzwords to help define the pitfalls inherent in the media coverage of crisis events. Smotherage [noun] (1) occurs when coverage of one event is so overwhelming it desensitizes the audience and the coverage eventually ceases to seem like news or hold audience interest and/or (2) when coverage of a crisis causes other important news items to be underreported or overlooked altogether. Emotional poisoning [noun] when tragic or disturbing news is repeated so often it risks ‘poisoning’ the psyche; (e.g., an effect similar to what would occur if someone is told every half hour that his/her mother has died). To hijack the media [verb] when media coverage promotes the ends of a terrorist group by giving them what is, in essence, free, often sustained and global publicity.

Laden vividly discusses the attack on the World Trade Center.) Some journalists themselves fear they could be “producing the next chapter” of the stories they’re covering by airing such tapes, reports Payne, an associate professor of communication at Emerson. At a national conference late last year called “Journalism in a Time of Crisis,” Lanson put the question of airing bin Laden’s statements and similar ethical questions to an audience of high school journalism students. Their response: “If my government asks me not to do something, I won’t do it.” “That’s a terrible standard for journalism,” Lanson laments. HOSTILE TERRITORIES

Many newsrooms have in fact chosen not to air some of bin Laden’s video statements. But the impulse to self-censor is not the only challenge reporters face. They must also face the obstacles of restricted access — to information itself and to the sites where trouble is happening. Some of the most notorious examples of government

MILESTONES This timeline chronicles some of the most significant moments in news media history, spanning nearly 100 years of both crisis and achievement. The data is drawn from the work of Irving Fang, author of A History of Mass Communication: Six Information Revolutions (Focal Press, 1997).

EXPRESSION WINTER 2002

1901 In Newfoundland, Marconi receives a radio signal from England.

1902 Muckraking begins with an article by Lincoln Steffens in McClure’s magazine.

1904 A photograph is transmitted by wire in Germany. Lewis Hine shocks with his photographs of America’s immigrants, child labor. Ida Tarbell’s exposé is published, History of the Standard Oil Company.

censorship and blocked access occurred during the Vietnam War, when the government and the military, fearing the press would pit the public against the war effort, initially denied reporters access to the battlefield and forced them to rely on government statements, according to Robert Hilliard, an Emerson professor specializing in media ethics, and a former chief of the Educational/Public Broadcasting branch of the Federal Communications Commission. The government imposed similar controls during the U.S. invasions of Grenada (1983), Panama (1989-90), and the Persian Gulf (1990-91), according to Hilliard. He asserts that the censorship is often linked to an administration’s political self-preservation, and not a need to protect national security or civilian lives. When the New York Times, in 1971, published Neil Sheehan’s story “Vietnam Archive: Pentagon Study Traces 3 Decades of Growing U.S. Involvement” (breaking “the Pentagon Papers” story), the Times met immediate resistance from the Nixon administration: cease and desist publication. The government even won a restraining order against the Times – an injunction later extended to the Washington Post when that paper soon covered the story. The press fought the injunctions, and the legal tug-of-war culminated in the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to lift the injunction. Some argue that this is the most important freedom of press case the High Court has ever decided. When it comes to war, many journalists find that the old cliché is true: the first casualty is always truth. In a poll conducted in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press discovered that 53 percent of the public think it is more important that the government be free to censor news that may threaten national security than it is for the press to report what it believes to be in the best interests of the nation. That kind of environment may mean that even if the press has access to information, the public may be unreceptive to their message. War is not the only hostile environment journalists face.

1909 The first broadcast talk is aired; the subject is women’s suffrage.

1917 U.S. enters WWI; amateur radio transmitters shut down; Navy controls radio.

1918 First Pulitzer Prize for journalism is awarded.

1919 Upton Sinclair’s The Brass Check pillories American journalism.

1920 From a shack, KDKA, Pittsburgh, broadcasts first scheduled U.S. programs.

1923 A.C. Nielsen Company begins to measure radio audiences for advertisers.

Time, the weekly newsmagazine, is founded.

The civil rights movement was rife with risk for journalists who worked to bring the stories and images of the times into homes across the country. Though they faced an uphill battle during the early years of the civil rights crusade, the black press “really stepped up to the plate,” asserts Kolodzy. Outlets in the mainstream press would encounter political opposition as well. “If the Arkansas Gazette hadn’t taken a stand [against the governor], what would have happened with Little Rock Central High School?” Kolodzy asks, referring to the struggle for racial integration that occurred there in the mid-’50s. The newspaper lost about 17,000 readers who disagreed with their editorial stance but, in 1958, the paper was recognized for its work with two Pulitzer Prizes. Reporting political scandals can threaten a reporter’s safety. At the risk of being labeled traitors, reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein uncovered the country’s most notorious election conspiracy in 1972. Their work on the Watergate story is seen by many as “the finest hour for American journalism,” says Manny Paraschos, professor of journalism at Emerson and an expert in media ethics and the international news media. (Paraschos is co-publisher of the journal Media Ethics, which is cosponsored by Emerson College.) That coverage “led me and a generation of my contemporaries into journalism,” echoes Lanson. The Watergate story revivified the notion that journalists could have a positive and real impact on the world. What’s more, the event’s reach can still be witnessed today, as the suffix “gate” has been adopted as a way to mark political scandals of all types, e.g., Monica-gate. ANOTHER KIND OF VETERAN

A literal war zone can be the territory that correspondents must negotiate to get the story. “The first thing you’ve got to do is keep yourself and your crew alive,” says Morton Dubitsky Dean ’57, Hon. ’77. As one of the country’s most respected war correspondents, Dean has worked 40 years in the field, producing award-winning coverage for ABC News and receiving many honors, including an Emmy for his role in

1924 In the U.S., 1,400 stations are broadcasting to 3 million radio sets.

1927 CBS is formed. U.S. Radio Act declares public ownership of the airwaves.

1928 Television sets are put in three U.S. homes, programming begins.

I L L U S T R AT I O N S BY M A R K F I S H E R

1930 Lowell Thomas begins first regular U.S. network newscast. Published photos show Americans the hard times of the Depression.

1932 Lindbergh baby kidnapping shows power of radio news to capture listeners’ attention.

1933 FDR begins radio Fireside Chats, bypassing hostile newspapers.

the coverage of the Balkans conflict. But reporting in ‘ticklish’ situations, as Dean modestly puts it, is more than just duck and cover. Keeping your wits about you and your attention focused on your goal is essential. “You want to remember that if you survive, you’re going to want to report on what you’ve just been through,” he says. He recalls one instance during the Vietnam War when he nearly forgot that. “We were in an evacuation helicopter, helping to pull some wounded Americans out of the jungle. A wounded guy was grabbing hold of my hand and squeezing it, and all hell was breaking loose. The helicopter was stuck in the mud and we were under fire, and at one point I squeezed my eyes closed — just for a few seconds. When I replayed the moment in my mind, I thought: Whatever happens is going to happen; just try to keep your eyes on the story.” Dean and his team escaped, but the moment left an indelible impression. Foreign correspondents are at risk in all parts of the globe. The war in Afghanistan is turning into one of the most dangerous reporting jobs in recent history,” writes Mark Jurkowitz, media reporter for the Boston Globe, during November 2001, when a total of nine journalists were reported killed. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, a nonprofit organization that publishes an annual report documenting attacks on journalists, 21 media personnel were killed around the world in the line of duty last year. From 1812 to 2000, more than 700 people have been killed covering wars, say statistics from the Freedom Forum, a nonpartisan foundation dedicated to a free press and free speech. Dean recalls a time when he could have become a statistic himself, during an assignment in the Middle East in 2000. His crew’s armored car was struck during a Palestinian Authority ambush. The Israeli military rushed to the scene to return fire, the gunfire illuminating the night. Dean wondered if he could slip out of the car to cover the action and whispered to his cameraman, ‘You wanna go outside? I’ll go with you.’” To Dean’s relief, the cameraman, also a

1934 FCC is created to regulate U.S. broadcasting and telecommunication. Half of the homes in the U.S. have radios.

1936 H.V. Kaltenborn broadcasts a Spanish Civil War battle over live radio.

1937 NBC sends mobile TV truck onto New York streets. A recording of the Hindenburg crash is the first coastto-coast broadcast.

1938 CBS World News Roundup ushers in modern newscasting.

1939 New York World’s Fair shows television to the public.

Orson Welles’ radio drama, War of the Worlds, causes national panic.

Radio brings the public first reports of World War II events.

1940 U.S. gets first regular TV station, WNBT, New York; estimated 10,000 viewers.

WINTER 2002 EXPRESSION

seasoned veteran of war zones, believed the stakes were too high. Even so, Dean’s report from inside the vehicle still made a fine piece for Good Morning America the next day. Reporting during a crisis carries enormous responsibility. Author and former correspondent and noted media analyst Michael Emery puts it in perspective: “It’s amazing that fewer than a thousand U.S. nationals, about half of them working for press associations, are given responsibility for covering the world for our population of more than 250 million persons. For better or worse, the men and women of the foreign press corps are America’s scouts in the battle for truthful information about the other 96 percent of this globe’s people,” he writes in his 1995 book On the Front Lines: Following America’s Foreign Correspondents across the 20th Century. The responsibility of providing foreign coverage has most notably fallen to CNN, the station often credited with breaking news to the world before anyone else – thanks to its 24hour news capabilities and its teams of globetrotting correspondents. Some even joke that the U.S. intelligence community gets its foreign intelligence from CNN. It’s not uncommon for journalists covering all manner of crisis events to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, another sometimes devastating, always disturbing echo of military life, according to Lanson. BEYOND THE CRISIS

One of the keys to worthwhile crisis reporting is providing context. “Whether it’s war or an earthquake,” says Lanson, a journalist must remember “that the stories that are meaningful and powerful go well beyond the experts and the officials sources.” Sometimes this means providing strong regional angles to national stories. Such coverage can “bring a story into our own backyards,” says April Peavey ’89, an associate producer of news at WBUR-FM in Boston. “Filling in the gaps” with analysis that means something to your audience, Peavey explains, is especially important in times of crisis. During the Columbine High School massacre, Peavey heard

1941 FCC sets U.S. TV standards. CBS experiments with electronic color TV. Americans hear radio broadcast of Pearl Harbor attack.

1945 Millions tune in daily to hear news as World War II comes to an end.

1947 The start of television’s longest running program, Meet the Press. U.S. House Un-American Activities attacks entertainment industry.

EXPRESSION WINTER 2002

1949 The United States has 98 television stations.

1950 CBS broadcasts in color to 25 television sets.

1951 Edward R. Murrow’s See It Now debuts on television. One and a half million TV sets in U.S. First transcontinental telecast. CBS presents four hours of color TV, but only CBS execs, engineers have sets.

the news and launched an urgent search for local principals who would give their reactions to the tragedy and discuss how a school handles such an unimaginable event. Whether the country is reeling from a tragedy at home or a war abroad, the press must remain vigilant in its objectivity, something that is not as easy as it sounds. In a time of crisis, the news media should not be “a cheerleader” for the country, argues Paraschos. The press cannot, however, “function independently from the people [it] serves,” he says. Lanson understands that journalists must never lose sight of their public and must always ask themselves the question, “How can I inform the reader?” As an editor for the San Jose Mercury News, Lanson learned from experience, covering events like the Los Angeles Riots, the Oakland Hills fires, and the deadly 1991 Bay Area earthquake. In the case of the latter, a disaster that “shook [us and our readers] to the core, psychologically as well as physically,” the Mercury decided to investigate the area’s earthquake preparedness, realizing the answers they might find, though not a comfort to the public, could save lives in the future. It published a special segment called “We Are Not Prepared” calling for greater earthquake preparedness measures, and won a Pulitzer Prize for its work. Further complicating journalists’ role, however, is the fact that reporters are as human as their audiences, subject to the same emotions, prejudices and anxieties. And when the world is turned upside-down, emotions can overpower professionalism and sometimes objectivity. “Yes, journalists are professionals, but underneath it all we’re all human,” argues Payne. He recalls that President Kennedy’s assassination hit the country with such emotional force that even Walter Cronkite momentarily lost his composure when he told the country that Kennedy had died. The U.S. press soon learned how to deal with many more such moments: the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy and the Kent State shootings, says Payne. Further, a journalist’s objectivity can be eroded by the

1952 National Association of Broadcasters draws up Television Code of Ethics. The first magazineformat TV program, The Today Show, with Dave Garroway.

1954 54% of American homes have television sets.

1960 Harvest of Shame, a history-making television news documentary, is broadcast.

1963 TV news “comes of age” in reporting JFK assassination.

1964 Mariner IV sends television images from Mars.

1969 Astronauts send live photographs from the moon to worldwide audience.

magnitude of the events unfolding around them. The images of Sept. 11, to use the most recent, compelling example, are “incredibly indelible images that can cloud our rational perspective,” says Payne. He argues that crisis moments can “take us into uncharted ethical territory [and] can challenge the deliberative process.” For example, Payne wonders, where does national identity end and professional duty begin. Since Sept. 11 many in the news media have been seen leaving behind their usual professional aplomb for a more emotional delivery; some have even been seen wearing American-flag lapel pins on-air while other news outlets have used graphic lead-ins like “America Rising” that smack of propaganda. CUTTHROAT COVERAGE

While competition can push journalists to work harder, it can also lead to lapses in judgment and ethics and a forfeiture of journalistic integrity, something April Peavey witnessed years ago while working at a big-three network. In fact, she became so frustrated during the Gulf War by her network’s obsession with what she labels “the ratings game,” that she not only left the industry but threw out her television set as well. Peavey believes that TV’s gift is also its curse: it can provide viewers with meaningful images that remain with us, but ratings concerns can lead networks to repeat those images ad nauseum, a phenomenon she observed during the Gulf War and more recently during the coverage of the World Trade Center attacks. Now that she’s returned to the newsroom — at Boston’s WBUR-FM — when it comes to times of crisis she tries “to move the story one step further.” Rather than allow the ratings to decide what makes the news, Peavey believes that people in newsrooms (rather than in boardrooms) should decide what stories to pursue. When President Kennedy was assassinated, CBS introduced a broadcasting innovation: ‘holding the air’ – a way to maintain wall-to-wall coverage and to break into regular programming, according to Paul Niwa. While extremely expen-

1970 AP sends news by computer.

1971 New York Times publishes “The Pentagon Papers.”

1972 Satellites used for television news reports.

1973 Watergate exposure by press will lead to Nixon resignation the next year. AP, UPI start to install computer terminals in all U.S. bureaus.

1980 CNN, 24-hour news channel, begins reports.

1985 Worldwide mass communication harnessed for “Aid to Africa” appeal.

sive (because it didn’t allow for commercial breaks), this tactic sought to build a newsroom’s credibility and to increase audience size. The Iranian hostage crisis of 1979 set another historical precedent for extended network news coverage when demand for news caused the major networks to devote a third of their time to the story during the first six months. ABC even created an entirely new program called The Crisis in Iran: America Held Hostage, which aired nightly at 11:30. The format became so popular it eventually became what we now know as Nightline. CNN took the trend to a whole new level during the Gulf War, ‘the first televised war.’ Such extended coverage might seem like a good thing. However, anchors who must ‘hold the air’ are also “forced to repeat the same facts over and over again, sometimes extrapolating new meanings from only a handful of facts,” Niwa explains. In the end, ironically, extended coverage can lead to an erosion of network newsrooms’ credibility. Though a recent Pew Research Center study showed that more than three quarters of the public judged coverage of the current war on terrorism as good or excellent, other figures showed that many still are skeptical about the press – the O.J. Simpson, Monica Lewinsky and Gary Condit scandals still painfully fresh in their minds. Most media critics praised the media’s coverage of the events of Sept. 11, but the press was roundly criticized for its follow-up coverage, which seemed to be rehashing old news, producing poorly developed stories, and exploiting the violent images of the day. It seems the greater the tragedy or disaster, the more difficult it is for the press to maintain competent, ethical coverage. As bombs explode around them, as ethical quagmires trap them, as they battle government censorship, the press must meet crisis with persistence and intelligence. “To act independently, to maximize truth, to minimize harm,” as Lanson puts it, must remain the key to the journalist’s pursuit, a vigilance more imperative than ever in our increasingly hostile and uncertain world. n

1989 Tiananmen Square massacre demonstrates power of media to inform the world.

1991 CNN dominates news coverage worldwide during Gulf War.

1993 Photojournalists, studio photographers switch to specialized digital cameras.

1995 Oklahoma City bombing sends many to Internet for details. Lamar Alexander chooses the Internet to announce presidential candidacy.

1998 3,250 newspapers, 1,280 TV stations now have online websites.

2001 TV newscasts receive praise for reports of New York terrorism.

WINTER 2002 EXPRESSION

book shelf Works by members of the Emerson community Joseph Hurka

Chris Lynch, MA ’91

Fields of Light: A Son Remembers his Heroic Father (Pushcart Press, 2001) hat better way to honor one’s father than to write a poignant memoir about his struggles and sacrifices. Joseph Hurka, an adjunct writing professor, has done just that with his new book — the winner of a Pushcart Editors’ Book Award. As Hurka describes his father’s life as an anti-Communist resistance fighter in Prague, he produces a dramatic and touching memorial. Hurka gives balance to the memoir by including vivid descriptions of his own travels to modern-day Prague. With conscientious attention to the particulars of his father’s heroism and a writerly eye for rich detail, Hurka follows his father’s wisdom: “Serve the truth…resist all trespass on the spirit.” The book is a “lyrical work [that] “insures that…anonymity won’t befall [Hurka’s] father,” says Library Journal. — christopher hennessy

All the Old Haunts (HarperCollins, 2001) ward-winning author chris lynch has carved out a special place for himself in the realm of young adult fiction. His latest book, All the Old Haunts, is a collection of 10 intense, often dark short stories that unabashedly depict the teenage experience. Lynch demands a lot of his teenage readers, exploring issues ranging from an unintended pregnancy, to father and son conflicts; from a character’s struggle to understand the layers of his sexuality, to another’s frustration with his violent nature. Lynch has a knack for smart but realistic dialogue, and his first-person narratives capture authentic but distinct teenage voices. School Library Journal gets it right: “Teens who enjoy deftly crafted tales with more than a hint of the dark side will appreciate this sophisticated prose.” — c.h.

Donna L. Halper

Susan Strong ’80

Invisible Stars: A Social History of Women in American Broadcasting (M.E. Sharpe, 2001) n her third book, broadcast historian and adjunct professor of communication Donna Halper examines the role women have played in American electronic media. Beginning in the 1920s, she uncovers the various ways in which women have contributed to television and radio and brings to light a number of littleheralded broadcasting pioneers, including Bertha (“Betty”) Brainard, the first female executive at NBC who eventually served as commercial program manager for the NBC radio network; influential radio talk show personality Mary Margaret McBride; Frieda Hennock, the first woman to serve on the Federal Communications Commission; and Edythe J. Meserand, one of the founding members of American Women in Radio and Television. —rhea becker

The Greatness of Girls: Famous Women Talk about Growing Up (Andrews McMeel, 2001) rying to make life easier for adolescent girls, Strong, a former MTV writer and producer, has assembled interviews with 42 women who talk about the vicissitudes of growing up and how they overcame obstacles of all sorts. The book demonstrates that even the greatest women may have started out shy, fearful or awkward. From historic figures like Golda Meir, Babe Didrikson Zaharias and Eleanor Roosevelt to contemporary cultural figures like Mary Chapin Carpenter, Jackie Joyner-Kersee and Mary Tyler Moore, the book collects both reprinted excerpts and original interviews. This engaging work is organized into chapters that address relationships, school, family and other topics, and could be likened to a portable support system or a remarkably helpful older sister. —r.b.

EXPRESSION WINTER 2002

alumni digest Lawyers of Emerson There is a certain esteemed group of Emerson alums who don’t just play lawyers on television—they actually are lawyers.

lthough it is the path less taken by Emersonians, numerous graduates have gone on to study and practice law. In the following story, we take a glimpse at four of these alumni/ae, working in various aspects of the field. They are: Michael Nelson ’83, an assistant public defender in Sacramento, Calif.; Nancy Bloom ’90, a practitioner of entertainment law in New York City; Anita Rowe ’81, a mediator and arbitrator on labor and employment cases in Chicago; and Howard Liberman ’68, a communications attorney from Washington, D.C.

may spend time in trial,” he says, “or I may be busy explaining to parents why A WINDOW ON their 15-year-old is facing a minimum LIFE’S TRAGEDIES of 75 to life. I may be researching the s an acting student at law, or asking the district attorney to Emerson, MICHAEL NELSON ’83 consider 20 years instead of life,” says most enjoyed researching the Nelson. history and culture of the roles he Nelson’s work forces him to conplayed. Today, he enjoys the “research, front tragic circumstances each day. writing and ‘performance’ of criminal Studying theater at Emerson taught trial work” as an assistant public dehim “an appreciation for some of life’s fender in Sacramento, Calif. tragedies,” he says. He also credits his Nelson, who attended McGeorge education with helping him to “feel School of Law in Sacramento, specialcomfortable in front of a group,” a skill izes in representing juveniles who are that is required each time he represents being tried as adults. His clients range a client in court. in age from 14 to 18 and all are charged One unusual case had Nelson travelwith serious crimes. There is no typical day for Nelson. “I ing by mule into the mountains near Sacramento, searching for the carcass of a dead animal. He and his client, who was charged with animal cruelty, were looking for a mule the client had shot “after a long weekend of camping and drinking.” Nelson lives in California with his wife, Mary, whom he met at law school, and his two chilSacramento lawyer Michael Nelson ’83 holds his newly dren, Aengus and adopted son George, joined by Judge Peter McBrien; George. Nelson’s wife, Mary Kennedy; and son Aengus.

New York attorney Nancy Bloom ’90 handles licensing issues concerning the work of prominent musical artists.

ENTERTAINMENT UNLIMITED

ritney spears, the Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC. These are just a few of the artists whose songs cannot be used in films, television or on the Internet until entertainment attorney NANCY BLOOM ’90 has weighed in. As associate director of business affairs at Zomba Music Publishing in New York City, Bloom handles contract and copyright law for the company, and is responsible for managing the Synchronization Licensing Department. “In simple terms, ‘synch’ licensing grants you permission to use a song in WINTER 2002

EXPRESSION

alumni digest

A LABOR OF LOVE felt like a pioneer when, as an undergraduate, she decided to apply to law school. Few, if any, of her classmates were doing such a thing. She soon turned to her faculty adviser, Walt Littlefield, for

NITA ROWE ’81

Anita Rowe ’81 at work in Chicago, where she is a mediator and arbitrator mainly on labor and employment cases.

EXPRESSION WINTER 2002

TV OR NOT TV

M A R K VA N B E R G H

a TV program, film, commercial, video or any other audiovisual production,” Bloom explains. “I spend a lot of time negotiating licenses with film studios and television production companies.” She also handles Internet licensing and has negotiated deals for downloadable ringtones, online karaoke and virtual instruments. She was also involved in the recent MP3.com litigation. At Emerson, Bloom majored in mass communication and television production. She also spent a semester in the Los Angeles Program. “It was a great introduction to the film and television industries, and it gave me the background that I needed to better understand the production process,” she says. After college, Bloom spent four years working as an administrative assistant at a music talent agency and a major record label before attending New York Law School, graduating cum laude in 1997. While Bloom advises Zomba on legal issues, hers is not a strictly legal position; she also makes numerous business decisions. One appealing aspect of her nontraditional legal position is that “the hours are reasonable.” Gladly, she says, she can still enjoy a “fulfilling social life.”

OWARD LIBERMAN ’68 has been a communications lawyer for almost 30 years and he still relishes his work. “I love writing a contract that captures the intentions of the parties,” declares the Washington, D.C., resident. He particularly enjoys closings, which are extraordinarily complex when involving the sale of, say, a radio station, which could entail issues regarding real estate, intellectual property, tax, employment law, environmental regulations and more. Upon graduation from Brooklyn Law School in 1972, Liberman worked for the Federal Communications Commission’s Policy and Rules Division in its Cable Television Bureau, developing rulemaking proceedings. He left the FCC in 1974 and has been in private practice ever since, mainly representing broadcasters, telecommunications companies and investors in the communications industry. In the 1980s he was involved in the efforts of broadcasters to obtain permits, through litigation, for new FM and TV stations. “My Emerson training certainly helped me when I had to stand before trial and appellate judges,” he says. “I have always felt comfortable dealing with broadcasters, in part because of my Emerson training and the friends I made there who are in the broadcast industry,” says Liberman. Working in one of the most rapidly changing fields of law, Liberman is often involved “from day one” with new groundbreaking technology, such as the cutting-edge innovation called Digital Audio Radio Service (DARS), a satellite audio system that is expected to be introduced nationwide in 2002. What’s the next hot communications technology? Whatever it is, chances are that Howard Liberman will be behind the scenes, working on the legal issues. Liberman and his wife, Susan, an attorney, have two daughters.

Howard Liberman ’68 handles communications law cases in Washington, D.C.

advice. “He steered me toward courses he felt would help me achieve my goals, and counseled me through the process of applying to law schools,” she recalls. In 1984, she graduated from Georgetown University Law Center. Today, she works in Chicago as a mediator and arbitrator primarily on labor and employment cases. “On any given day, I might be mediating an employment discrimination case, hearing testimony in a labor arbitration, training new mediators at the Center for Conflict Resolution in Chicago, drafting an arbitration decision back in my office, or facilitating post-mediation telephone negotiations.” Rowe is presidentelect of the Chicago chapter of the Association for Conflict Resolution. The communication skills Rowe acquired at Emerson have been “indispensable” in her career. “I still remember how some of my law school classmates – intelligent individuals who had no trouble speaking in a classroom setting – were terrified of the prospect of standing in front of a panel of judges to argue a case in our firstyear moot court competition.” Rowe credits her participation in the forensics and debate team at Emerson with the development of her public speaking skills. Rowe and her husband, Bob, have two school-age children, but she still tries to find time for her avocation – singing. “I came to Emerson as a theater major, but once I set my sights on law school, I gave up performing and stopped singing for the next 13 years. I finally decided to get that rusty instrument in shape again,” and she now sings in a church choir.

alumni digest

Denver California

The State of Colorado Alumni and Prospective Student Brunch was held in December in Denver.

Rob Moran ’82 and his wife, Julie, hosted alumni, friends and parents in their home last November in Santa Monica, Calif.

Terri Shulman ’82 and Ron Bostwick ’81 enjoy the brunch.

More than 40 young alums enjoyed a performance last fall of the Danband with lead man Dan Finnerty ’92 at Club 1650 in Los Angeles. Rob Moran ’82, Julie Moran and Glenn Meehan ’83

Bob Tull ’50 and Marvin Tabolsky ’59

Steve Farrier ’75, Henry Winkler ’67 and Barbara Segal Rutberg ’68

Bob Tull ’50, president of the Southern California Alumni Chapter, hosted a reception for fellow alums last fall at his Los Angeles home.

Professor Emeritus Leo Nickole ’49 with Dan Finnerty ’92 in L.A.

Washington, D.C. The “Emerson College Edition,” a special gathering of Emerson alumni and friends, took place at National Public Radio (NPR) headquarters in Washington, D.C., late last year. Special guests included Liane Hansen, host of Weekend Edition Sunday; Neal Conan, acting host of Talk of the Nation, and Robert Siegel, host of All Things Considered. NPR’s Neal Conan and Liane Hansen greet Betty Atherton ’45 and husband Roy Atherton. Conan and Hansen are parents of an Emerson undergraduate.

Art Silverman ’71, senior producer at NPR, addressed the gathering.

From left: Cedric Harmon ’88, Peter Loge ’87 and John Michael Sophos ’71 at the National Public Radio gathering. WINTER 2002

EXPRESSION

alumni digest

Connecticut Connecticut-area alums enjoyed a tour and reception at ESPN during an Alumni Relations fall program, “An Evening of Change: Sports, TV and Education,” held at ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Conn. The event was hosted by Al Jaffe ’68, overseer of Emerson College and vice president of ESPN.

Al Jaffe ’68, vice president of ESPN, and Jeanne Brodeur ’72, Emerson’s vice president for Institutional Advancement

Philadelphia Alums from the Philadelphia/Southern New Jersey region got together last fall for a luncheon at the historic City Tavern Restaurant in Philadelphia.

Bonnie Brenner and Peter ’67

Steve Shaw ’82 (left) and Doug Kupper ’71

Arthur Spivak ’63 (left) and Jack Farber ’62

Dallas Eliza Solender, ’73, MA ’75, an Emerson College Overseer, and her husband, Gary Scott, hosted alumni and prospective students in their home in Dallas last November.

First row: Myra Gutin ’70, Lisa Burick ’82 and son Alexander, and Dorrane Smith ’52; second row: Lloyd Roach ’70 and Tom Bauer ’68; Roberta Perry ’92 and Fran Plevinsky ’74; Graham Perry ’93 and Patricia Peyton ’84; Stacey Ryan ’99 and Tony Scipione ’87; and Gaelen Vandenbergh ’95, Debra Kalodner ’53 and Bethany Bellinger ’95. Eliza Solender ’73, MA ‘75, Mark Sidweber ’68 and President Liebergott 26

EXPRESSION WINTER 2002

alumni digest Reunion for ‘This is Pathetic’ Comedy Troupe Marks 20 Years Since Founding The 20th anniversary of the founding of the Emerson student comedy troupe This is Pathetic took place in summer 2001 with a gathering on campus of more than 40 former and current members and guests. Founding member Anne Kenny ’85 was responsible for locating the former cast and crew members. A video presentation contained highlights of past Pathet-

ic performances going back to the year the group was founded. Kenny announced the creation of the Joe Murphy Scholarship Award, named in honor of founding member Murphy, who died of cancer in 1995. The annual $5,000 award will be given to a graduating senior (beginning with this year’s class) who excels at comedy. To make a contribution, contact amkenny@aol.com.

Attending the ‘Pathetic’ reunion were (front row, from left): Mike Bent, Scott Lief, Tara Bunny Mooney, Nicole Torre, Bob Gautreau; (second row) John Ring, Steve Moreau, Jennie Smith, Howard Horvath, Billy Glasser, Jill Kaufman, Anne Kenny, Christo Tsarias; (back row) John Taylor, Laura Kightlinger, Gerry Izzo, Matt O’Shea, Dave Waller and Kevin O’Dea.

A Night at the Theater Alumni and friends attended a performance last fall of Betty’s Summer Vacation, starring Andrea Martin ’69, at the Huntington Theatre in Boston.

Front row (from left): Barbara Morgan ’61; Andrea Martin ’69; Grafton Nunes, dean, School of the Arts; Professor Harry Morgan ’59; and President Liebergott. Top row: John Kuntz ’90 (who appeared in the performance), Michael Morrill, John Levy ’78, Andrea Kunst ’74, M ’84, Michele Quinn ’94, Bill Davidson ’94 and Neil Davin ’72 WINTER 2002

EXPRESSION

alumni digest

Save the Date! Alumni Weekend Slated for June 7–9 Alumni Weekend 2002 will feature a celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Emerson Comedy Workshop. Eddie Brill ’80 will host the show as our comics return home for a group performance featuring Denis Leary ’79, Chris Phillips ’80, Adam Roth ’80 and others on Saturday, June 8. We will also be marking the 100th anniversaries of Kappa Gamma Chi and Phi Alpha Tau. If you’re a Kappa sister or Tau brother, please come to Alumni Weekend to see old friends, share memories and celebrate 100 years of sister- and brotherhood. On Friday, a full-day course, “Upward and Onward: Being Successful in Starting or Expanding your own Business,” will help you develop and enhance the marketing and promotional skills that are essential to career success. From the newest trends in e-marketing to good old-fashioned networking, insights and experiences will be shared by Emerson alumni and faculty. Alumni Weekend 2002 includes reunions for all class years ending in ‘2’ or ‘7’. The reunion classes will be planning individual events. Events for all returning alums will include a night at Crossroads, Alumni College classes featuring some of your favorite faculty, dinner and dancing at the Museum of Fine Arts, and our annual emeriti and current faculty brunch. To plan an event or for more information on Alumni Weekend, call (800) 255-4259 or (617) 824-8535. —Barbara Rutberg ’68, director of Alumni Relations

EXPRESSION WINTER 2002

Alumni Gifts Help College Reach Important Goals as emerson grows in ways that may have once seemed unimaginable, alumni, parents and friends of the College have continued their generous support of the students, programs and facilities that make Emerson a unique place to learn. Through a number of new giving opportunities, many Emersonians are directing their support to the specific programs and campus initiatives that they hold dear. The following are just a few examples of the diverse ways in which donors are making a significant difference in Emerson’s continued evolution, with gifts ranging from $1,000 to $250,000: • Maxine (Lampert) Kutchin ’51 and her husband, Melvin, have established the Mitzi and Mel Kutchin Scholarship Fund, which will benefit an incoming graduate student in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders each year. Preference will be given to students who are interested in working with young children in a school or clinic setting. • Kevin Eldridge ’89 has made a generous gift in support of the Communication Sciences and Disorders Endowed Graduate Scholarship Fund. • William Sharp has established the Dr. William Sharp Endowment Fund, which will support Emerson’s Annual Fund each year in perpetuity. • Thanks to the continued generosity of Rod Parker ’51, Emerson Stage awarded undergraduate student Alexis Clements the 2001 Emerson Playwright’s Award, which carries a $3,000 fellowship. This year marked the 10th anniversary of the award. • Richard Levy ’68 and his wife, Sheryl ’68, have agreed to provide funds for the construction of a suite of two state-of-the-art learning rooms on the new Journalism/Communication floor in the Walker Building at 120 Boylston Street. • Helaine Miller ’55 has made a gift that will enable Emerson to recognize

an exceptional faculty member each year. The Helaine and Stanley Miller Award for Outstanding Teaching will honor an Emerson professor who demonstrates remarkable dedication and creativity. • The Alumni Association has made a leadership gift to establish a Film Finishing Fund that will provide funding to help B.F.A. students in media arts complete their thesis projects. The College is currently seeking additional gifts to permanently establish this Fund on campus. • A brand-new fundraising initiative seeks funds to subsidize hearing and speech services for underprivileged clients in need of assistance from the Robbins Speech, Language, and Hearing Center. • A new Annual Fund campaign offers Emersonians the opportunity to designate their gifts directly for scholarships that will be disbursed to incoming freshmen this spring. The campaign allows each donor to support a student entering an Emerson department of their choosing (Communication, Performing Arts, Communication Sciences and Disorders, Visual And Media Arts, Journalism, or Writing, Literature and Publishing). • The Class of 1997 recently decided to commemorate its upcoming 5th Reunion by offering a scholarship to an incoming student. The other Reunion Classes are currently working to identify ways in which their fundraising efforts can best benefit the Emerson community. The Office of Institutional Advancement is interested in hearing from Emersonians who would like to direct their support to specific areas of the College. For more information about any of the projects listed above, or to explore the possibility of creating a new fund on campus, please contact Jeanne Brodeur ’72, vice president for Institutional Advancement, at (617) 824-8533 or at jeanne_brodeur@emerson.edu.

class notes Expression welcomes Class Notes submissions. We reserve the right to edit copy and regret that we may have to withhold some items due to space limitations. Send news items and nonreturnable photos to Barbara Rutberg, Office of Alumni Relations, 120 Boylston St., Boston, MA 021164624 or e-mail Barbara_ Rutberg@emerson.edu. Please include information on how we can contact you.

1934 NELLIE SPOTNITZ COHEN writes: “Five years in Boston, 20 years in Mansfield, 10 years at Temple Reyim in Newton, 4 children, 2 boys and 2 girls, all graduated from college: Boston College, Mount Ida, Boston University.”

1958 is president of S. Group Ltd., owner and operator of Midas Auto Service Experts in Burlington, Billerica, Tewksbury and Fitchburg, Mass. He has three children, one grandchild and another on the way. He says that “Emerson played a big part” in his life.

EDWARD SWERDLICK

1960 FRANKLIN H. SILVERMAN,

a professor of speech pathology at Marquette University, recently published a book, Teach for Tenure and Beyond.

1966 JUDITH RAPHAEL KLETTER published a memoir, Trying to Remember, Forced to Forget (Xlibris).

1968 WYNN ALLEN

(MS, 1969) is an

SUSIE FRIEDMAN FITZER ’65 recently bumped into alum Jay Leno ’73 in San Francisco. Leno had been invited to be the Grand Marshal of the annual Bay to Breakers race. When Susie saw him walking toward her, she handed her husband the camera and asked Jay to pose with her.

adjunct professor of RAYMOND speech communi“DAN” cation at PepperALEXANDER dine University in ’70, of South Malibu, Calif. His River, N.J., is an primary career, agent for New however, is as presYork Life and a ident of W.G. Allen registered repCompany, a comresentative for New York Life munication conSecurities. He recently achieved sulting firm. Wynn entry into New York Life’s writes: “My wife Executive Council. He is also a and I recently had part-time news and sports our first grandchild. announcer for WCTC radio in We have lived in New Brunswick, N.J. Westlake Village, Calif., since 1972. I would like the Cleveland Cavaliers, Cleveto hear from those in our grad- land Rockers, the NBA’s Buluating class.” His e-mail is lets/Wizards and Georgetown wgaphd@aol. com. basketball.

1973 is a former licensed private investigator who also served as executive director of the Florida Democratic Party. He is president and CEO of The Windsor Group, a Tallahassee-based consulting firm specializing in governmental and strategic public affairs. BARNEY BISHOP

1975 RUDY NADILO, former CEO at Greenfield Online Inc., recently left the company and took a position as president and CEO of vSimplify, a human resource and benefits management system, in Fairfield, Conn. He and his wife, Holly, have four children and live in Norwalk.

1 976 LEE STACEY has been named vice president of marketing and sales for the New York Jets. Before this post, Lee worked for

1982 20th Reunion

is owner of Burick & Company and as advertising director, she helped launch Philadelphia Style magazine, now distributed in 22 countries. She would love to hear from her old friends. She can be reached at LJBurick@ aol.com. LISA JOY BURICK

1984 NIEL MAURER has recorded a new song, “Where Eagles Touch the Sky,” to help raise money for Sept. 11 charities. The song is performed by Dakota Cloud, a collection of Vermont local musicians. Contact Niel at maurer@together.net.

1985 JENNIFER (BARBONE) GERONAITIS

is now offering tea tasting workshops, events and conWINTER 2002

EXPRESSION

class notes

lives with his wife, Rachel, and their son, Owen, 3. He can be reached at DSTendrich@ Scripps.com.

COLEMAN HOUGH ’82 just sold her first screenplay, Full Frontal, which will be distributed by Miramax and released in March. It is being directed by Steven Soderbergh and stars Julia Roberts, Catherine Keener, David Duchovny, David Hyde Pierce, Mary McCormack and Blair Underwood.

sulting through her online web business, Tea Time Worldwide. Future plans include sponsoring a tea talk by author James Norwood Pratt in spring 2002, and holding a tea and tour at Beechwood Mansion in Newport, R.I. BRIAN YOUNG was recently promoted to director of operations for NBC’s Southeast hub broadcast facility in Miami, Fla. This facility provides all network and syndicated programming as well as commercial content to NBC-owned stations in Miami, Dallas, Birmingham, Ala., and Raleigh, N.C. He is married and the couple is expecting a baby in May.

1986 KAREN AGNOFF-LAMPKIN and her

husband, Mark, welcomed their second child Spencer Max (“great stage name”) on Aug. 16, 2001. His big sister, “Sexy Lexi,” will turn 2 this November. Karen would love to hear from some Emersonians. She can be reached at Karen@orbita.net. WALLACE KEMP wants to thank everyone who came back for Alumni Weekend in June. He said it was a lot of fun and he encourages anyone who hasn’t been back in a long time to come and see the new look of Emerson. He has been acting and directing in the New York 30

EXPRESSION WINTER 2002

1988

theater and has been trying his hand at playwriting. He would love to hear from any Emersonians, (718) 390-6646.

1987 15th Reunion

won a 2001 Emmy for his work as a producer of the hit reality show Survivor. The series received five nominations and won in the category of Outstanding Non-fiction Program (Special Class). ROBYN (LEUTHE) NORRIS gave birth to her first child, a girl, Ryan Nicole Norris, on Feb. 8, 2001. She has been living in Los Angeles. for the past 14 years working as a special events producer. JAY BIENSTOCK

SUSAN ATKINSON MORRIS and her husband, Brett, had their first child, Benjamin William Morris, on May 1, 2001. She writes, “Nothing has been the same since—and it’s great!” Her company, The Atkinson Group, has been producing and managing festivals, events and meetings around the country for the past five years, and “continues to do well.” DANIEL GUSS is a Los Angelesbased journalist and Writers Guild of America member who last year co-wrote two pilots for Warner Brothers and Fox Television, including a U.S. edition of the long-running BBC hit Have I Got News for You and another titled Mob Rules. His

articles appear in the Los Angeles Times, Movieline magazine, Emmy magazine and others. LORI (KUGELL) SPECTOR just received her master’s degree in elementary education and is now a 4th-grade teacher in New Britain, Conn. She and her husband, Larry, just celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary and their son, Jonah, just turned 4. CARLOS RIVERA began working for his family’s TV and radio stations after graduating from Emerson. He worked there for seven years and then made a big career change: he opened his own cigar shop. He is married with one son and still lives in his hometown of Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Carlos is currently fulfilling a lifelong dream of becoming a professional pilot and soon will be earning his private pilot wings. He is at tabfino@netsys.hn.

CHRISTINA NEWMAN MCCART-

recently left Outpost.com to accept a key position with American Musical Supply in New Jersey. With almost 15 years of experience in the catalog direct marketing industry, she has worked with companies like Tom Snyder Productions. She lives in Litchfield, Conn., with her husband, Doug. She can be contacted at c_mccartney@hotmail. com. DEAN TENDRICH is working for WPTV, the NBC affiliate in West Palm Beach. In addition to his on-air meteorology duties, Dean is also president of Tendrich Media & Image. He

NEY

STEAVE KANTAROWSKI ’91, shown here in Virginia with a telescope near the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, graduated with honors from Gateway College with an A.A.S. degree in nuclear medicine. He has taken and passed the Nuclear Medicine Technology Certification Board exam and the ARRT Certification Board exam. He is currently working in the Nuclear Medicine Department at Phoenix Baptist Hospital in Phoenix, Ariz.

class notes

had her first child, Joseph Vincent Vela Jr., on July 3, 2001. TOM GIANAKOPOULOS is living in Los Angeles and is currently involved in a documentary about the disappearance of a fellow Emersonian, who was one of the founding fathers of SAE. Tom would also like to congratulate Livio (“the Latin Lover”) Sanchez on the birth of his son. Tom can be contacted at tomg@npa.net. JENNIFER KNIGHT has been working in human resources management in the high-tech industry for the past six years. She recently completed her first triathlon. Jennifer got engaged in October to Andy Katz on the top of Mt. Tamalpais in Marin County, Calif. They plan to get married in the fall of 2002. She would love to hear from old friends and wants to know “Joe Blumenfeld, where are you?” She can be reached at jennifer_l_knight@yahoo.com. BOB PFLUGFELDER is currently working as an on-set science tutor on the television shows Grounded for Life, Malcolm in the Middle, Everybody Loves Raymond, Seventh Heaven and Buffy, The Vampire Slayer. STEPHANIE SANDLER is the senior vice president of The Giving Back Fund, a national nonprofit that works with athletes and entertainers to help them establish and maintain cost-effective and efficient charitable foundations. Some of the donors GBF has worked with include Doug Flutie, Britney Spears and Earvin “Magic” Johnson. Stephanie is moving to L.A. to open a local office. She can be reached at ssandler @givingback.org. KEITH VALCOURT and his wife, of Sherman Oaks, Calif., are exCHRISTINE CALI-VELA

pecting their first child, a daughter, in March. Keith was recently hospitalized when an onstage pratfall with his comedy troupe went wrong. Seven stitches later, he is fine.

1990

SHAWN EMERY ’93, producer at Working Title Productions, recently released a documentary called The Greatest Snow on Earth: Utah’s Skiing Story after nearly four years in the making. The film takes viewers on a 100-year journey from when miners first used skis as transportation in the avalanche-prone mountains to the controversial Olympic bid process that shook the entire Olympic movement. Shawn has lived, worked and skied in Utah since 1972.

TODD PERLMUTTER, who is living in New York, produced the first Blue Man Group album, which was nominated for a Grammy last year. “There are a few Emerson alums I would love to hear from. Feel free to e-mail me at toddp@ blueman.com. JOEL SCHWARTZBERG is currently editor and executive producer of TimeForKids.com, Time magazine’s news Website for kids. He is married with one child and lives in Maplewood, N.J. Joel is also a screenwriter in his free time and this year secured literary representation

with the Luedtke Agency in New York City. He can be reached at joel_schwartzberg@ timeinc.com.

1992 10th Reunion

has joined the English Department at Plymouth State College in New Hampshire as an assistant professor of poetry and creative writing. She completed her Ph.D. this past May after six years in Nebraska. LIZ AHL

She says she is very happy to be back in New England. DAVE CABRAL popped the question to Amanda Mason on Nantucket after a two-year courtship. The wedding will be held at the Mount Washington Hotel in the fall of 2002. Dave left the Navy in 1998 and worked for Caregroup’s Corporate Communications Department for two years. He has just finished a two-year position as account manager at Regan

WHERE ARE YOU AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING? Please use the form below to submit news that you would like to share with your fellow Emersonians. Or, if you prefer, e-mail your news to Barbara_Rutberg@emerson.edu. New job? Recently engaged or married? New baby? Moving? Recently ran into an old classmate? Received an award? Let us know. NAME

ORIGINAL LAST NAME

ADDRESS HOME PHONE

CITY

CLASS YEAR STATE

ZIP

E-MAIL

YOUR NEWS

1989

Mail to: Class Notes, Emerson College, Office of Alumni Relations, 120 Boylston St., Boston, MA 02116-4624

WINTER 2002

EXPRESSION

class notes

From left, JOHN SUTICH; John’s wife, Lisa Herrington; LISA BEYER; and REP. KATHI REINSTEIN (a Democrat representing Revere, Mass.) met up at the Democratic National Convention in the summer of 2000. John, Lisa and Kathi hold 1997 Emerson master’s in political communications.

Communications in Boston and will be moving with his fiancé to Burlington, Vt., in early 2002 to start a family. JODY-LEE JACQUES would like to announce her engagement to David Dirsa. They are getting married in October. She would like to say “hi” to her Sigma sisters and all her old friends. She can be e-mailed at rjac9443@ juno. com.

1993 has completed her master’s in education from Pepperdine University. She is currently teaching kindergarten. She is also actively involved with a comedy group that writes, directs, produces, shoots and acts in original Internet short films (www. sketchshorty.com). She is also involved in a nonprofit group called L.A. Actors Coalition. When she is not working, she is hanging out with her husband of two years, Scott Feldman.

MARISA ABBOTT

TRACIE (DEJULIO) MICHELSON

EXPRESSION WINTER 2002

and her husband had their first child, a boy, Austin Michael Michelson, born Aug. 9, 2001. Tracie would love to hear from her friends and can be reached at Traciemich@aol.com. LISE RASMUSSEN SIMRING of Malden, Mass., gave birth to her first child, Ella Carlisle, on Oct. 27, 2001. LEE RUBENSTEIN QUIGLEY from Calgary, Alberta, gave birth to her second daughter, Paige Isabella. LORRY (SHEA) ZAMBRANO married Edward Zambrano on June 16, 2001, in Pasadena, Calif. Emersonians in attendance included ANGELA LEPITO ’94 and NICK TERMINI ’93. Lorry works as administrator of television operations for Europe and Asia for Walt Disney Character Voices International. She can be reached by e-mail at lorryanns @yahoo.com.

1994 CAITLIN MCCARTHY has been selected as a juror for the 2002 Elle’s Lettres Readers’ Prize

Competition, and will be judging three works of fiction for Elle magazine’s July 2002 issue. She will also serve as a juror for Elle’s Grand Prix Book of the Year for fiction. In terms of her own writing, she has completed her first novel and is currently seeking representation. JESSICA PHILLIPS and her husband, Nicholas, had their first child, a boy, Jonah Benjamin Rohlfing, on Sept. 28, 2000. Jessica is on maternity leave from Broadway spending time in their new home in rural Pennsylvania. MICHAEL MILHAVEN was promoted to executive producer at Fox 25 News in Boston. DAN SHER and his wife, Beth, are pleased to announce the birth of their son, Spencer William Sher. He is a New Year baby, born at 11:34 a.m. on Jan. 1.

1995 RICK HOLMES relocated to WTKR-TV, the CBS affiliate in the Norfolk/Virginia Beach area, after three and a half years in various newsrooms in Michigan. He covered the attack on the Norfolk-based U.S.S. Cole and accompanied the destroyer U.S.S. Ross on a trip to the Mediterranean after Sept. 11. Friends can reach him at

BROOKE KAPLAN ’97 is working at the Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, Mass. She is excited to be working with deaf and blind students between the ages of 12 and 22. She would love to hear from her classmates and can be reached at BJKOPHELIA@aol.com.

Holmes.Richard@worldnet. att.net. CORRIE KAUFMAN is very excited about the premiere of the reality-based television show she has been working on, Shipmates, on UPN. It is a dating show that takes place on Carnival Cruise ships. Viewers can check out the Website at www.shipmatestv.com. If anyone knows any singles who want to be on the show, let her know. It is pretty easy to get an audition, and Corrie says, “Hey, free cruise.” CATRIN (NILSSON) DIAMANTINO

works as marketing manager at the European Centre of English Language Studies in Malta. She married Jonas Diamantino on May 1, 1998, and on May 2, 2001, their son was born. JOHN POOL recently took home a first-place trophy from the Massachusetts Broadcasters Association’s annual retail radio commercial contest. The winning 30-second spot was penned for a regional Oriental rug dealer. Titled, “The Good, Bad and Ugly” it featured a Clint Eastwood-esque Western theme. John is also keeping busy with Arrow Aviation Inc., a company he started that buys, refurbishes and leases small airplanes to flight schools. His Emerson friends can reach him at Cokeyno@aol.com.

class notes 1997 5th Reunion

celebrated the one-year anniversary last summer of her P.R. firm, Bayleaf Communications. She represents chefs, restaurants, theaters and nonprofit organizations. Jaimie spoke at the Share Our Strength national conference on effective event-driven P.R. She was one of 10 publicists chosen to represent the Olympic games. ADDY BIRON recently returned to Boston after four years at Young & Rubicam in Detroit, where she worked on the Ford account, managing relationship marketing programs. She now works at Arnold Worldwide, where she is supervisor of the Volkswagen account, managing the upcoming owner-loyalty programs and new vehicle launches like the Passat W8 and the soon-to-be introduced Beetle Cabrio. JAIMIE ADLER

1998 TREVOR GOOBY

was named as-

sistant general manager for the Vero Beach Dodgers baseball team, a Single-A affiliate of the L.A. Dodgers in the Florida State League. He works at Dodgertown, where the L.A. Dodgers hold spring training, and gets to see baseball all day long. He worked with BLAKE ENGLERT ’00, who did an internship there.

1999 JENNIFER GOLDBERG was recently promoted to music director at Radio Express Inc., an international radio syndication company heard in 41 countries around the world. Jennifer moved to California last January after working briefly as a morning talk show producer at WPRO-AM in Providence, R.I. STEPHANIE HUGHES spent the past two years working as a reporter for KDRV, the ABC affiliate in Medford, Ore. She is now looking for a reporting job, or possibly a position in P.R., in the Charleston, S.C., area, where she lives with DON PRATT

JESSICA DEVENEY ’99 and RICHARD MARINO JR. ’99 were married June 17 at Grace Episcopal Church in Medford, Mass., making official a five-year relationship that began when they met at Six Arlington Street. Emersonians in the wedding party were Rita Anelli, Jill Anderson and Laura Josephson, all from the Class of ’99. Jessica is currently a speech-language pathologist in Westbrook, Maine. Richard is at Maine Medical Center as a resident doctor. The couple honeymooned in London and is currently living in Portland, Maine.

JAY COX ’98 (far left) sings and plays a guitar with The Ivory Coast, who have just released their second record, Clouds, on Polyvinyl Records. The band recently completed a three-week tour of the East Coast and Midwest.

(MA ’97). Don is news director at WCSC-TV, the CBS affiliate in Charleston. He previously worked as executive producer at KGO-TV in San Francisco and as the 11 p.m. producer at WHDH-TV in Boston. MELISSA LITON was recently promoted to assistant account executive at Evans Partners, a boutique high-tech public relations firm in San Francisco.

2000 recently completed associate producing a feature film called Wisegirls, starring Mira Sorvino, Mariah Carey and Melora Walters and directed by David Anspaugh (Rudy, Hoosiers.) The film has been accepted into the Sundance Film Festival and it is expected to be released sometime this year.

NICHOLE CHERILL

IN MEMORIAM 1943 HARRIETT MARTIN of Deland, Fla. 1950 RUTH LOCKWOOD of Boston, Mass. 1951 HELEN BROTHERTON of Beverly Farms, Mass. 1970 LOUIS BEAUCHAMP of East Hartford, Conn. 1977, 1989 (MA), RUTH SHEEHAN of Weston, Mass. 1981 NEIL M. SHAPIRO of Winthrop, Mass. 1988 JANE SIMPKIN of Wayland Mass. FORMER TRUSTEE JULIAN M. SOBIN of Boston,

Mass. FORMER FACULTY MYRA JOY ARONSON of

Charlestown, Mass. PETER COREA of Quincy, Mass. DAVID CROCKETT ‘41 of Westerly, R.I.

WINTER 2002

EXPRESSION

profiles THE SHOW MUST GO ON Tobie Stein ’79 is determined to keep the arts centerstage Belle Harbor, Long Ismost emerson students are so imland, with her husband. mersed in classes, projects, rehearsals, Because of her work term papers and internships that they on behalf of the Boston have little time available for, say, singletheater community, Stein handedly rescuing historic Boston landwas approached several marks from the wrecking ball. Not Toyears ago by an old friend bie Stein ’79. and Boston Theatre DisWhile a junior at Emerson, Stein trict champion, Jon Platt, discovered that the Wilbur Theatre in to pen the definitive histhe city’s Theatre District was slated for tory of Boston’s oldest demolition. “There was no way it was continuously operating coming down,” she recalls thinking at playhouse, the Colonial. the time. Although Stein was busy coStein spent two years producing the spring musical, Oklawriting Boston’s Colonial homa, and working as an R.A. at the Theatre: Celebrating a Cenresidence hall at 100 Beacon St., she tury of Theatrical Vision, a spearheaded a campaign that involved lively account illustrated tapping influential Bostonians and harwith some 300 photos. nessing their support. “That was the Stein’s work is start of my real love and passion for “a Who’s Who of prethe Theatre District,” Broadway,” because theatrical says Stein, who did STEIN PENNED THE DEFINITIVE HISTORY OF shows often had tryouts in college internships as BOSTON’S OLDEST, CONTINUOUSLY OPERATING Boston before their New York assistant to the manPLAYHOUSE, THE COLONIAL (PICTURED ABOVE). runs. Boston audiences were agers of both the Colothe first to see many American prewas packed. Stein, age 21, confidently nial and Wilbur theaters. mieres, including Cole Porter’s Anygave her testimony and later learned Stein recalls “visiting Boston Brahthing Goes and Gershwin’s Porgy and that she was likely the youngest person mins in some of the nicest homes I’d Bess. Stein visited Boston late last year ever to do so before the Council. ever seen.” Several of the people she for a gala celebration to mark the publiIn 1987, long after Stein moved to spoke to were aghast when they learned cation of the book and the centenary of of the Wilbur’s fate, declaring, “My par- New York to pursue a graduate degree, the Colonial. the Wilbur Theatre was placed on the ents were at the opening of that theStein is upbeat about the future of National Register of Historic Places ater!” Stein networked around the city, the theater industry in this country, and received state register and landcounting on one supporter to direct her despite fears about its stability since mark designations as well. to the next. the events of Sept. 11. “During World Stein went on to earn her master’s She managed to get celebrities on War II, people went to theater; the inin arts management from Brooklyn board, too, including actor Vincent fluenza epidemic closed theaters for a Price, theater legends Jessica Tandy and College and her Ph.D. in sociology while but they reopened; and during Hume Cronyn, and Massachusetts Sen- from City University of New York. Boston’s Great Blizzard of ’78 people Today she is director of Brooklyn Colators Edward M. Kennedy and Edward went to theater,” she says. As she tells lege’s M.F.A. program in Performing W. Brooke. her students, “Your role in society is so Finally, she needed to give testimony Arts Management, which turns out fuimportant now. People need entertainture managers of theater and opera before a Boston City Council hearing to ment, and you are the managers of the companies as well as arts fundraisers, persuade city officials to support her entertainment.” — Rhea Becker cause. The day of the hearing, the room marketers and publicists. She lives in 34

EXPRESSION WINTER 2002

profiles

B R E W A N D I M P R OV E D Dann Paquette ’90 is a brewmaster with a Rembrandt touch dann paquette ’90 has found the recipe for personal success and happiness – a recipe that includes barley, hops and his own flair for understanding flavor. “It turns out it’s the perfect job for me,” Paquette says of his life as a brewmaster. “I’m able to use my creative side and my analytical side; it’s hard labor sometimes, but it’s the perfect art as far as I’m concerned.” What’s more, Paquette has just started his very own line of beers as head brewmaster for Concord Junction Brewery in West Concord, Mass. Paquette has been described by the Boston Globe as “a fixture in the New England brewing community for nearly a decade.” For the past five years he was brewmaster at Boston’s awardwinning North East Brewing Company. His creations have received rave reviews, and his Bostonia Blonde was rated one of the top beers in the world in the competitive pilsner category in the 1997 World Beer Championships. In all, he has about 50 beer styles to his name. “I want to make the world’s greatest golden beer,” Paquette says of his new venture. He recently debuted an entirely new ‘artisanal’ line of beers. The first beer is called Rapscallion Premier, which boasts “a gorgeous golden color, with malty, toasty notes” and uses yeasts that Paquette procured from Belgium, which give it a vanilla character. According to Paquette, the Premier is “made for everyone, from Bud drinker to expert. These beers are designed to really draw people into the art of experiencing beer.” Along with learning how to craft a

’I WANT TO MAKE THE WORLD’S GREATEST GOLDEN BEER,’ SAYS PAQUETTE OF HIS NEW VENTURE. PICTURED: PAQUETTE AT NORTH EAST BREWING fine beer, Paquette has crafted a finetuned business sense from 10 years (and five breweries) of studiously watching the successes and failures of others. The key? “You’ve got to have a true connection to the consumer with something really interesting to say.” “Everything about this product is going to be new” – from the packaging to a new concept of freshness dating, Paquette says, referring to a “brew track system” he developed. Each bottle will have a code, which the consumer can plug into a special website, enabling him or her to learn more about how the beer was made. Visitors to the website can also comment on the beer and look for codes of specific vintages they might also enjoy. “It makes for a real conversation between the manufacturer and consumer that just doesn’t exist right now,” says Paquette. Paquette demonstrated this same

kind of ingenuity as a broadcast journalism major at Emerson, where he worked on an investigative documentary series called Inside Out. He tackled stories like drug interdiction in the Caribbean and actually reported his story on location, shooting on Coast Guard vessels and in Black Hawk helicopters. Experiences like this enabled Paquette to begin a promising career in television in New York, where he worked on shows such as the nationally syndicated daily Preview and the popular Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. Then, one day he told his TV co-workers he was moving to Boston to become a brewer. “We toasted my decision with some of my god-awful home brew,” he says, laughing. If pressed, he’ll admit his personality most resembles a beer called the Rodenbach. “It’s a very simple, cohesive flavor; it takes a long time for this beer to get things right, and it’s not at all what you expect.” — Christopher Hennessy WINTER 2002

EXPRESSION

my turn

Cuban Reverie An émigré’s view of America through a prism of melodrama by flora m. gonzález

s a Cuban child steeped in Latin American popular culture, I was thoroughly exposed to melodrama as a way of life. I most enjoyed late afternoon movies from Argentina, in which Gardel sang his soulful tangos, and I adored reading Corín Tellado’s Spanish Harlequin-style novels. Saturday afternoon was my radio time, when I would sing along with Mexican ballads and their “ay, ay, ay, ay, canta y no llores!” — boleros that described a nostalgic past that could never be regained, and alluded to a difficult future such as when a bereft lover must endure a beloved’s absence. As in the best of soap operas, early on the morning of Jan. 1, 1959, good triumphed over evil. That morning we Cubans woke to new songs blaring — revolutionary songs announcing the triumph of the Castro revolution and the cowardly retreat by the gangster dictator Batista. And yet the good of the revolutionary heroes did not coincide with the good of my middle-class family. Soon, my parents would feel that leaving the country for America was best for me and my sister. When I set foot on Florida soil in the early 1960s, my emotional survival depended on my attachment to melodrama. I found comfort in its theatrical emphasis on larger-than-life gestures, its focus on domestic struggles to overcome insurmountable odds, and its tendency to postpone happy endings. For that year and a half while my sister and I (along with 14,000 other Cuban children) waited for our parents at an orphanage in Ukiah, Calif., we endured separation and hardship by “Singing Along With Mitch,” and accompanying Elvis to the tune of “Blue Christmas.” 36

EXPRESSION WINTER 2002

As a Cuban, I had learned my melodramatic lessons well, the only difference was that in the Land of the Free I was applying them in English: beautiful forlorn heroine endures patiently, always in the knowledge that endings may take a long time arriving, but they eventually do arrive. That heartbreak episode of my own life did end – happily – with reunification with my parents. But like all melodramas, the 1960s Operation Pedro Pan child-refugee movement, with children flying over the Florida straits to freedom, was bound to repeat itself. Except that in the ’90s children were not flying, but swimming across the Florida straits. Enter Elián González and his marvelous dolphins. Stuck on the melodramatic record of the early ’60s, the Cuban-American population insisted on creating a larger-than-life scenario, where, eventually, even if it took months, good would conquer evil. This time, the new Cuban-American citizens

defined the “good” as separation from, rather than unification with, the parents. The only problem with melodrama, as I have learned as a literary critic, is that the gestural language, the struggle between good and evil, the ability to persevere based on the desire for a happy ending, always stays the same. What changes is the authority that manipulates what gets to be defined as good, what gets to be defined as evil. With the perspective of time and historical knowledge, I’ve learned to observe how governments use melodramatic forms to sway public opinion and quietly dispose of undesirables. The more I watch, the more I see the authority with which American media manipulates today’s melodramatic imaginations. What becomes increasingly unclear is, to what purpose? The heightened pitch of melodrama rises and ebbs on our television screens, particularly after Sept. 11. There is talk of evil empires, of crusades, of standing with us or against us. But whose good and whose evil? And what is the media covering up with the facade of melodrama? A national tragedy? What is it that we are about to lose, besides our innocence? Is it, perhaps, the Land of the Free?

Flora M. González is an associate professor of writing, literature and publishing at Emerson, concentrating in Latin American and Caribbean literatures.

Why Emerson College? Because for alumni/ae like Anne Marroni ’79, the road from Commencement can lead from public relations to radio to finance. “I started out as a mass communication major and switched to business and industrial communication,” says Marroni, a senior officer at a Boston-area mortgage finance company. “I got my first job in a P.R. agency as a result of a research project on film promotion. Then I went into radio sales and after that into financial services training and sales—first at Prudential and later at New Boston Mortgage. “I like to say that I majored in talking at Emerson, and I haven’t stopped talking since then. For me it’s always been the same in my

ANNE MARRONI ’79, VICE

professional life. I’m having a conversation.

PRESIDENT AND PRINCIPAL

I’m telling a story. I’m making the intangible

NEW BOSTON MORTGAGE, WAKEFIELD, MASS.

real. Whether I’m pitching a story, selling radio time or helping people finance a home, I’m selling ideas and concepts that respond to

have to take the initiative and get the job done.

people’s needs. That’s what Emerson taught me

“Emerson College is a very special place.

to do. Emerson also taught me how to succeed.

The campus has changed a lot, but the students

It’s a totally entrepreneurial environment. It

are the same. By contributing to the Annual

gives you resources to work with, and there

Fund, I’m supporting these students and

are people there to help, but in the end you

helping to perpetuate the Emerson ethos.”

For information about the Annual Fund, contact Emily Lane, Office of Institutional Advancement, Emerson College 120 Boylston St., Boston, MA 02116-4624; (617) 824-8543.

Acting for the Ages

A collection of Emerson student theater memorabilia was recently donated to the College Archive by Professor Emeritus Leonidas Nickole. The collection contains materials from the 1930s to the present. Above: items mainly from the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;50s.

Emerson College 120 Boylston Street Boston, MA 02116-4624

Non-Profit US Postage PAID Permit No. 902 Providence, RI