Expression Winter 2005 by Debra Falzoi

Expression WINTER 2005

THE MAGAZINE FOR ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF EMERSON COLLEGE

YEP, IT’S GAY TV The groundbreaking television series Will & Grace, from creator and producer Max Mutchnick, Class of 1987, was the ﬁrst sitcom to feature an openly gay lead character from its inception.

The Mysteries of Autism Understanding a disorder that’s gone from footnote to front page

What Are You Reading?

Emerson’s distinguished literary experts reveal their favorite recent reads

Lesbian and gay programming is everywhere on the small screen, thanks in large part to Emerson’s TV trailblazers

A Winter Wonderland

The College’s campus overlooks Boston Common, which was established in 1634 as a militia “trayning ﬁeld” and for the “feeding of Cattell.” In wintertime, the public rink in the park (above) draws students and other Boston denizens for cold-temperature recreation. With snowfall reaching record-breaking levels in Boston this season, more and more skaters have discovered the Frog Pond rink.

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Expression WINTER 2005

THE MAGAZINE FOR ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF EMERSON COLLEGE

Memory Lane

‘Physical culture’ was all the rage in the early days of the College

Campus Digest

Boston mayor chooses Emerson campus for important address, theater professionals visit campus

The Mysteries of Autism

What is autism? Our communication disorders faculty and alumni shed light on the autism spectrum

What Are You Reading?

Emerson’s distinguished literary experts reveal their favorite recent reads

Yep, It’s Gay TV

Lesbian and gay programming is everywhere on the small screen, thanks to Emerson’s TV trailblazers

Alumni Digest

Preparation begins for Alumni Weekend 2005

Notable Expressions

Emersonians make waves in ﬁelds ranging from literature to ﬁlm to marketing

Class Notes

Read the news about your classmates

My Turn

A student explains the power of youth joined with political activism

Expression Executive Editor David Rosen Editor Rhea Becker Writer Christopher Hennessy Editorial Assistant Catherine Shefﬁeld

Cover photo: Will & Grace: Chris Haston/NBC Universal

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 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

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Memory Lane

In This Issue

Let’s Get Physical Well over a century ago, Emerson founder Charles Wesley Emerson lectured students on what was called “Physical Culture” – how a healthy body and mind affect all facets of life. He emphatically expressed his ideas on the topic in his writings and lectures, including one titled “On the Stomach and the Heart,” which was published in Emerson College Magazine (December 1892). Several excerpts follow:

Charles Wesley Emerson, founder of the College, believed the stomach should be “honored.”

‘Our aim in this college is to build up and strengthen the entire individuality, that the man shall be more of a man, and the woman more of a woman, for the education received here. We do not aim to educate one side of human nature and to cause the intellectual faculties to grow like a fungus on the brain.’ ‘We should begin to feel that the care of our bodies is a religious duty – that it is a religious duty to bring ourselves into right regulations with the fountain of health.’ ‘[The stomach represents] the feeding power of the universe. Man with all his boasted pride can have no life unless he draws it from the great reservoir of life every day. The stomach then is to be honored.’ ‘Now the ﬁrst act which I would mention in connection with the care of the stomach is that of maintaining it in the right position in the body…. I am prepared to say that by careful observation of persons, we ﬁnd that in the majority the human stomach is habitually carried too low in the body.’ ‘Do not drink anything for the purpose of quenching thirst except water…. Never drink cold drinks of any description within an hour of your meals. The stomach can digest nothing unless its heat is 98 degrees Fahrenheit.’ ‘What is the worst thing that a man can do so far as injuring the heart is concerned? To indulge in fear.’

Expression welcomes short letters to the editor on topics covered in the magazine. The editor will select a representative sample of letters to publish and reserves the right to edit copy for style and length. Send letters to: Editor, Expression, Ofﬁce of Public Affairs, Emerson College, 120 Boylston St., Boston MA 02116-4624; public_affairs@emerson.edu.

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There was a time, not long ago, when gay and lesbian characters and themes were virtually absent from television programming. That day is gone. With hit shows like Will & Grace and Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, TV has truly turned lavender. When you read this issue’s cover story, “Yep, It’s Gay TV,” we guarantee you’ll be surprised to learn about the many Emerson alumni who have played central roles in bringing about this entertainment and social revolution. Even if your life is not touched by autism, perhaps you’ve heard about it in the news or read contemporary novels like The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, which is narrated by a character who has autism. Emerson’s Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders helps prepare the next generation of speech-language pathologists who will treat some of the 1.5 million Americans with this disorder. Emerson boasts a stellar writing and literature faculty, many of whom have been published to wide acclaim. In this issue, we turn the tables and ask faculty members to name the books they’ve recently read that have moved them the most. Why not use their suggestions to prepare your own ‘mustreads’ list for a cold winter’s day? Alumni have been busy across the country gathering at informal networking and social events from Philadelphia to Atlanta to Washington, D.C., to Los Angeles. See the Alumni Digest section for all the photo coverage. Class Notes are coming in strong. Thank you for your submissions. Your classmates thank you, too. — Rhea Becker, editor

Campus Digest Fund started in memory of student killed in post-Red Sox celebration The College has established the Victoria Snelgrove Fund in response to the many alumni, parents and friends who have contacted the College wanting to make donations in her memory. Snelgrove, a 21-year-old broadcast journalism major, died Oct. 21 from injuries

sustained when Boston Police ﬁred pepper spray to disperse a crowd of people near Fenway Park after the Red Sox defeated the New York Yankees to win the American League pennant. Contributions to the Snelgrove Fund may be made payable to Emerson College and sent to Emerson College, Attention: Amy Meyers, 120 Boylston St., Boston, MA 02116-4624. Victoria Snelgrove

New ﬁeld now ready for athletic programs

Rotch Field, located a mile from campus, will become the home of the men’s and women’s soccer and lacrosse teams and will provide a practice venue for women’s softball.

The vagabond status of many Emerson athletic teams changes this semester with the opening of a multi-purpose outdoor athletic facility at Rotch Field in the South End. Located a mile from campus, at the intersection of Albany and Randolph streets, the facility has been built on city-owned land and will be administered jointly by the College and the city of Boston. It will become the home of the men’s and women’s soccer and lacrosse teams and will provide a practice venue for the women’s softball team and a location for intramural outdoor sports. A new one-

story brick clubhouse on the edge of the field will provide locker rooms for athletes and officials, a trainer’s room, a meeting room, an office for the field manager and storage. The entire area is fenced and landscaped and will be lighted for practice and competition after dark. Rotch has a FieldTurf synthetic surface. The city’s Parks and Recreation Department will continue to use the field for Little League baseball, youth soccer and other activities.

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Prominent theater professionals visit campus, give talks A variety of theater professionals made stops at the College during fall term 2004 to speak with performing art students about their craft. The artists visited as part of the College’s popular Performing Arts Forum, which consistently brings powerhouse performers and artists to campus for lively talks with students. The list of visitors includes: Esteemed actors Phylicia Rashad, who won a 2004 Tony for her performance in A Raisin in the Sun and who is

Performance artist Tim Miller (above) and actress Phylicia Rashad (right) on campus.

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widely known for her role as Claire Huxtable on The Cosby Show, and Ruben SantiagoHudson, who won a Tony for August Wilson’s Seven Guitars. Both actors were in Boston to appear in Wilson’s latest drama, Gem of the Ocean. Acclaimed solo performance artist Tim Miller, who was one of the “NEA 4” in the early ’90s that sued for public funding of the arts. His latest one-man show, US, was part of the lineup at the Boston Center for the Arts as part of the Theater Offensive’s Out

on the Edge festival of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender theater. Akiba Abaka, artistic director of Up You Mighty Race Performing Arts Company (UYMR). This past year Up You Mighty Race presented Abaka’s productions of Langston Hughes’s Don’t You Want to Be Free? and Black Power: Six Short Plays from the Sixties (including works by Ben Caldwell, Ed Bullins, Amiri Baraka and Douglas Turner Ward). Danila Korogodsky, theater designer and painter, and a professor of set design at California State University, Long Beach. He was born in Kaliningrad, Russia, to a theatrical family. After graduating from Leningrad Theater Institute in 1977, he worked for 10 years as a resident designer at the Leningrad Theater for Young Spectators. During the past 10 years, Korogodsky has designed more than 70 shows around the United States. Ilana Brownstein, dramaturg of Boston’s Huntington Theatre, where she also serves as editor of the Limelight Literary Guide, producer of the Breaking Ground Festival, and director of the Huntington Playwriting Fellows program. Her dramaturgy credits include productions at Actors Theatre of Louisville, Yale Repertory Theatre, Yale Cabaret, Ohio University’s MFA Playwrights Festival, the 52nd Street Project, the Dwight Edgewood Project and others. Boston playwright Melinda Lopez, author of the acclaimed Huntington Theatre production Sonia Flew. Lopez

has accumulated an impressive résumé of challenging roles on stage, coupled with powerful, well-crafted plays and one-woman shows she often performs herself. She is the recipient of the 1999 Charlotte Woodard Award, given by the Kennedy Center to “a promising new voice in the American theater.” Maximo Torres and Fred D. Klaisner, stage managers for The Lion King. Torres’s work as stage manager on Broadway includes Aspects of Love, The Secret Garden, Angels In America, Smokey Joe’s Cafe, Side Show, John Leguizamo’s Freak, Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake, Saturday Night Fever, Harlem Song, Baz Luhrmann’s La Boheme, and Wonderful Town. Klaisner’s work as a production stage manager includes the New York productions of George C. Wolfe’s Harlem Song (Apollo Theatre). Nationally, he has worked on Showboat (Chicago and on tour); Ragtime (Chicago); Scarlet Pimpernel; Fiddler on the Roof; and Jimmy Buffet’s Don’t Stop the Carnival (Bahamas). In addition, Chinese Theater Works of New York City, directed by Kuang-Yu Fong, illustrated the techniques of traditional Chinese performance of Peking Opera and Chinese shadow theater and their relationships to contemporary theater practice. Last term’s guests also included Bread and Puppet Theater director Peter Schumann and New Yorkbased performance artist Reno.

Boston mayor delivers annual city address from Emerson campus Boston Mayor Thomas Menino delivered his 11th annual State of the City Address on Jan. 11 at the College’s Cutler Majestic Theatre. The address was broadcast live by WCVB-TV (Channel 5) in Boston via the Di Bona Family Television Control Room in the College’s adjoining Tufte Performance and Production Center.

An overﬂow crowd of 1,500 state, city, business and civic leaders were on hand to hear the address in the theater and via a live video feed in the College’s Little Building Dining Hall. Prior to the mayor’s speech, Emerson President Jacqueline Liebergott delivered welcoming remarks in which she discussed the positive impact of higher education on the city. The mayor’s remarks focused on the Boston Public Schools,

health care services and public safety. Menino also applauded the championships won during 2004 by the New England Patriots and the Boston Red Sox and the success of the Democratic National Convention held in Boston during summer 2004. This was the second State of the City Address given by Menino at the Majestic. The ﬁrst was in 1999.

Boston Mayor Thomas Menino on stage at the College’s Cutler Majestic Theatre.

Broadcast personality Brudnoy leaves books, funds to College The late David Brudnoy, an Emerson honorary degree recipient, honorary brother of an Emerson fraternity and popular

New England radio personality, has bequeathed scholarship funds and personal items to the College. Brudnoy, who died Dec.

Radio personality David Brudnoy (right) with Boston television anchor Randy Price on the Emerson campus several years ago.

9, 2004, at the age of 64 after a lengthy illness, was active in a number of campus events over the years and was especially involved as an honorary member of Emerson’s Phi Alpha Tau fraternity. His last public appearance at Emerson was as moderator for last year’s Public Conversation campus dialogue event, sponsored by Phi Alpha Tau. Brudnoy received a doctor of humane letters honorary degree from the College in 1996. In 2000, he was honored with the John C. Zacharis Memorial Award during that year’s EVVYs ceremony. In accepting the award, Brudnoy stated: “There are three kinds of people in the

world: People who watch things happen, people who make things happen, and people who wonder what happened. Emerson students make things happen.” Brudnoy left $150,000 to the College for the purpose of establishing a scholarship fund, in his parents’ names, for needy students. He also left his personal library to Emerson, a core collection of leather-bound volumes and autographed ﬁrst editions, which will be housed in a separate room in the library dedicated to the Phi Alpha Tau fraternity. A memorial service for Brudnoy will be held at the Cutler Majestic Theatre in late February.

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AAutism u m t s i Au

The Mysteries of

by Christopher Hennessy

man learns to play complex works for piano by ear, even though he is blind and mentally retarded. A child who rocks himself incessantly. A boy or girl who won’t meet a gaze and is lost in his or her own world. These are some of the images commonly associated with autism, a sometimes-mysterious disorder that Emerson College undergraduate and graduate students in speech-language pathology learn to recognize and treat with a variety of different approaches. Graduate students work intensively, under clinical supervision, with autistic children in Emerson’s Robbins Speech, Language and Hearing Center. In short, autism is a neurological disorder that includes an array of conditions (see p. 8) affecting a person’s ability to communicate, to reason and to interact with others. Its effects can range from a complete lack of language

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Understanding a disorder that’s gone from footnote to front page

skills, to repetitive or obsessive behaviors, to socially awkward communication, like shouting in public. Autism is more visible than ever in our culture. A current best-selling novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, is narrated by a boy who has a form of autism called Asperger’s syndrome. The documentary film Autism is a World was recently nominated for an Oscar. Celebrated author and college professor Temple Grandin has just released a new book on autism and its use in decoding animal behavior. American publishers released nearly 650 books about autism from 2000 to 2003, about 20 percent of the books ever published on the subject, according to Library Journal. Actress Sigourney Weaver will play a woman with autism and obsessive-compulsive disorder in an upcoming film called Snow Cake. Along with a higher public profile, actual incidences of autism are on the rise.

“There is a signiﬁcantly higher proportion of individuals diagnosed with autism than there was ten years ago,” notes speech-language pathologist Emily Rubin, who holds a graduate degree in communication sciences and disorders from Emerson (MSSp ’98) and is director of Communication Crossroads, a private practice based in Carmel, Calif., that specializes in working with autistic children. The Autism Society of America estimates that autism rates are increasing 10 to 17 percent each year, suggesting autism could affect 4 million Americans in 10 years. An estimated 1.5 million people nationwide are currently diagnosed with the disorder. Autism is four times more common in boys than girls, but it is found equally in all walks of life and in all peoples of the world. Autism is ﬁve

‘Autism is more visible than ever in our culture.’

times more prevalent than Down’s Syndrome and three times more prevalent than juvenile diabetes. “Autism has gone from what used to be described as a relatively rare disorder to a relatively more common disorder,” says Krista Wilkinson, Emerson associate professor of communication sciences and disorders. “The reported incidence has changed just since I’ve been in the field from 1 in 1,000 down to 1 in 500 or even 1 in 250,” she says. Rubin has witnessed this increase first-hand. “When I graduated from the Emerson program I realized that the demand for speech-language pathologists with training and expertise specifically in autism was very, very high. I found myself overwhelmed with requests for therapy and consultation.”

A recent graduate of Emerson’s communication disorders program found herself ‘overwhelmed with requests for therapy and consultation.’

Learning to interact Experts agree that children with autism all share one trait: unusual social interaction. However, unusual interaction does not necessarily have to play into stereotypes such as a distant or aloof demeanor, experts agree. “Many people think of children with autism as withdrawn and uninterested in other people,” says Wilkinson, but that is not the rule. Rubin emphasizes that many of the characteristics children with autism display are in fact “extensions of normal developmental stages.” She uses the example of the small child who is shy and hides in the folds of her mother’s dress, which is a simple motor action that helps that child cope. “Typical children grow out of that as they learn strategies modeled by their caregivers that help them self-regulate. For autistic children, difﬁculty responding to the models of caregivers often leads to the use of more socially unconventional motor actions such as

‘American publishers released nearly 650 books about autism from 2000 to 2003.’

hand ﬂapping, rocking, or bolting from a situation.” She notes that toe-walking, often seen as a sign of autism, may also be seen in normal development. “A typically developing two-year-old may use toe-walking when they’re young. A child with autism may make it a habit,” she says. With no cure available, controversial approaches to dealing with autism have included a change in diet (e.g., “wheat-free”), intravenous injections of a hormone called secretin, intensive behavioral management, and even swimming with dolphins, reports Betsy Micucci, MSSp ’76, director of Emerson’s Robbins Speech, Language and Hearing Center. The Center, staffed by Emerson graduate student clinicians and supervised by licensed professionals, offers services to children with speech and language disorders, including children on the autism spectrum. The speech-language pathologist has become one of the most sought-af-

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A Primer on the Autism Spectrum

“Over time we began to ﬁnd some toys and routines that interested him....Suddenly he began to use words.”

As a spectrum disorder, autism occurs in a variety of forms: Autistic Disorder, also called “classic autism,” affects a person’s ability to form relationships with others, and respond appropriately to the environment. Individuals with autistic disorder can be “high functioning” (able to speak and interact with others), while those more severely affected can be nonverbal and/or mentally retarded. Those with Asperger Syndrome do not have a delay in spoken language development; however, they can have serious deficits in social and communication skills and may have obsessive, repetitive routines and preoccupations with a particular subject matter. Children with Childhood Disintegrative Disorder (CDD), also known as “regressive autism,” usually develop normally for two to four years before language, interest in the social environment, and self-care abilities are lost. Children with Rett Syndrome, which affects mainly girls, develop normally until 6 to 18 months of age, at which time their development regresses, followed by a deceleration of head growth, loss of purposeful hand movements, followed by the appearance of stereotypic clapping or hand-wringing behaviors. Children who show some symptoms of autistic disorder but who do not meet the specific diagnostic criteria for the other disorders are said to have Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (PDDNOS), also known as “atypical autism.”

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ter specialists in the treatment of chilportunities. Some children with autism dren with autism. (In fact, according may shout inappropriately when they to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, speak or they might approach a stranger between 2002 and 2012 an additional in a mall and ask him something personal, Wilkinson explains. “Or they may 26,000 speech-language pathologists will be needed to meet increasing be overly affectionate and go up and hug demand.) Speech-language pathologists every man with a beard they see.” work with autistic children on social Because of a tendency toward communication skills, depending on “restricted interest or repetitive behaviors,” where their particular disorder falls speech-language pathologists sometimes find “they first have to get the child’s on the spectrum. A speech-language pathologist might help an autistic child attention off a restricted interest, such acquire some spoken language, or aid as spinning the glue bottle round and another child who needs to learn a round, and onto something else,” says Wilkinson. What’s more, “There’s often more socially appropriate use of the language he already has. little motivation to communicate, beyond One of the first children Rubin the basics, like ‘I’m hungry’ or ‘I’m worked with, after graduation from tired’,” says Micucci. The clinicians at Emerson’s Robbins Center introduce the Emerson program in 1998, was a 17-month-old autistic boy named Ryan. various games they hope will engage “He was a very, very quiet little boy, and the child’s interests and even encourage he did not yet use any vocalizations the child to make requests: “I want that or words to communicate,” Rubin toy” or “Let’s play that ball game,” for recalls. “His parents were very young example. From there, they might work and scared and were concerned about on pairing that request with the ability to some of his unusual behaviors,” like simultaneously make eye contact. Ryan’s habit of crawling under tables to Micucci recalls one boy whose parents brought him to the Center for investigate how their legs were joined services. He would simply lie on the to the tabletop. Through therapy with floor, often kicking and screaming, she Rubin and other specialists, Ryan, now 7, is part of an integrated second-grade reports, and he had no language abilities whatsoever. “Over time we began to find classroom where he studies along with normally developing peers. He comsome toys and routines that interested municates through full sentences using him, and you could capture his attention picture communication, sign language and redirect him from falling on the and the written word, says Rubin. And floor,” she says. He particularly enjoyed while his ability to speak is just now playing with a child-sized parachute, a device therapists sometimes use. “He starting to emerge, Ryan can type and can use a palm-held computer device to liked to hide under it or be swung in it,” Micucci remembers. “From those kinds make requests, among other things. Micucci adds that the social chalof pleasures that he received from the lenges a child with autism faces can routine, he would ask us to do it again, come in many forms: an inability to and suddenly he began to use words express oneself or make eye contact, to do that. Before too long his interests an inability to enjoy conversation and began to expand, and he started picking interaction with others, and an acute up more words.” But acquiring language may be lack of motivation to seek out social opjust one goal. Abnormal social interaction leads some autistic children to have trouble entering peer groups. Wilkinson notes that Emerson’s clinicians, for

The Media ‘Does’ Autism example, might teach a child who physically pushes his way into a group of other children the appropriate ways to interact with his peers. What’s behind the rise? While some people believe the statistics signal that an epidemic is afoot, there is controversy surrounding the topic. Is the rise representing an actual increase in the number of people with autism, or is the greater prevalence a sign of greater understanding of the disorder, thus a higher number of diagnoses than before? Micucci argues that studies have shown that professionals have long known how to diagnose the disorder correctly, and so a change in diagnostic ability wouldn’t explain the increase. “We knew how to diagnose it [in the past], but we weren’t seeing what we’re seeing now.” Rubin believes, however, that “the incidence increase is in part due to a greater awareness of the condition and the greater diagnostic abilities of clinicians.” She adds, “There may also be other environmental, genetic and neurobiological factors [that are causing more autism cases], but there’s still so much we have to learn about that.” The increase of cases can especially be felt in the schools where speechlanguage pathologists work with students diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders. “Many of the school-based SLP’s [speech-language pathologists] out there are seeing more children with autism in their case loads,” says Rubin. Whether the increase is because of better diagnostic understanding or a sign that more people are being born with autism, “this rise means it’s crucial for speech-language pathologists to be familiar with autism as they enter the school system,” Wilkinson observes. Rubin adds, “If there’s one gift we as speech-language pathologists can give a child with autism, it’s the gift to communicate with others effectively.” E

Media depictions of autism often center on what’s been called a savant, such as the Raymond Babbitt character played by actor Dustin Hoffman in the 1988 Oscar-winning movie Rain Man. Babbitt could perform complex calculations in his head with astounding speed. While such depictions aren’t necessarily inaccurate, neither are they representative, says Emerson Associate Professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders Krista Wilkinson. In fact, other images abound: Time magazine once cheekily implied Microsoft’s uber-geek Bill Gates was autistic. In the Bruce Willis action flick Mercury Rising, a 9-year-old autistic boy is the target for assassins after he cracks a top-secret super code. And in perhaps one of the strangest uses of autism, the series finale of the 1980s TV drama St. Elsewhere revealed that the hospital and all its characters were simply the imagination of a boy with severe autism. A recent acclaimed book by Emerson Writer-in-Residence Margot Livesey, Banishing Verona, features a main character who has a form of autism called Asperger’s syndrome. Increased visibility of the disorder, however, doesn’t always mean enhanced understanding. “The media perpetrates a myth that children with autism are trapped, locked in their own world, are very aloof, disengaged and odd,” says Emily Rubin, MSSp ’98, an autism expert. That is not what she has observed over the years. “Children with autism often have a love of other people that is sometimes incomparable to even typical children,” she says with a laugh. “There’s often a love to interact; they’re just still struggling to figure out how.”

But the misunderstanding may go deeper, according to Rubin. She argues that a myth persists about people with autism, that their odd behaviors (like ﬂapping their hands) are caused by some underlying brain disorder. Rubin stresses, “If you look at why those behaviors are occurring, you’ll see that they are oftentimes signs that the child is feeling anxious or feeling dysregulated, trying to calm his or her body down.” She explains that for a child who is very stressed, rocking the body can be soothing. Wilkinson also criticizes the media for portraying “unproven approaches to responding to autism, like [injections of ] the hormone secretin, which gives parents unfounded hope.” But autism was once far less known and even more widely misunderstood. Thirty years ago, society’s “fear and anxiety” over autism created “a desire to keep [people with autism] out of our society. Now we want to bring them in and invite them to share their knowledge with us,” says Rubin. What has changed? Betsy Micucci, MSSp ’76, director of Emerson’s Robbins Speech, Language and Hearing Center, points out that the answer may lie in the disorder’s increased rate of prevalence. “It’s now a common diagnosis, and people are asking ‘why’.” Rubin argues that with greater awareness of the disorder, “We’re realizing that children with autism have great potential, and that children and individuals with autism often have wonderful splinters of intelligence and a capacity for social interaction.” Along with that realization, she notes, “comes greater empathy and greater interest.”

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What Are You Reading?

Emerson’s distinguished literary experts reveal their favorite recent reads

Winter is the perfect time to curl up with a great book. Emerson’s acclaimed literature and writing faculty – whose own work you may already know and enjoy – tell us about their favorite recent books. From novels to poetry, here are some top-notch diversions to warm you on wintry days. 10 Expression Winter 2005

Maria Flook A few books I have turned to recently for pleasure and for a shot in the arm are Mr. Beluncle by V.S. Pritchett, a hilarious novel of mid-century manners and business sense (or nonsense); A Bit on the Side, new stories by William Trevor; and the new novel, The Line of Beauty, by Alan Hollinghurst, the

author of another favorite of mine, The Swimming-Pool Library. The new novel received the Man Booker Prize for ﬁction. Maria Flook is a writer-in-residence at Emerson. Her latest novel, Lux (Little, Brown & Co.), was published in fall 2004. She is also the author of Invisible Eden.

DeWitt Henry I am reading and savoring [Emerson Associate Professor] Bill Knott’s The Unsubscriber, a dazzling, rich and thought-provoking collection of poems. Also the new biography of Shakespeare, Will in the World, by Stephen Greenblatt, is a well-written, imaginative and deeply informed study of Shakespeare’s life in relation to the plays. Garrett in Wedlock: A Novel in Stories by Paul Mandelbaum presents an afﬁrming vision of marriage and parenting forged

in chaos theory [Mandelbaum teaches in Emerson’s Los Angeles program], and What You’ve Been Missing by Janet Desaulniers (winner of the University of Iowa’s Press 2004 Short Fiction Award) offers deft stories of heart, also concerned with trials of love and mettle. DeWitt Henry is an associate professor in the Department of Writing, Literature and Publishing. He is co-founder of the literary journal Ploughshares and author of several books.

Don Lee I’ve seldom read a book with such delight as I have Banishing Verona by Margot Livesey. In the novel, Zeke, a shy housepainter with Asperger’s syndrome, and Verona, a pregnant radio show host with a wayward brother, begin an affair in London and then they’re immediately separated, setting them off in transatlantic pursuit.

With her luminous prose, Livesey makes both of these characters utterly charming, and we anguish for their reunion. Lovely, wonderful. Don Lee, MFA ’87, is editor of the literary journal Ploughshares. He has written a novel, Country of Origin, and a collection of short stories, Yellow (both published by W.W. Norton & Co.).

Margot Livesey I was utterly thrilled by Alice Munro’s sublime collection of stories Runaway. No one else portrays women’s lives in such depth and complexity and no one else makes me feel the weight of the whole life in such a comparatively few pages. Russell Banks’ new novel, The Darling, has a similar depth and complexity though Banks is working on a much larger canvas. His heroine, Hannah, is involved ﬁrst with the Weathermen and then with Liberian politics. Banks does a fantastic job of depicting that political engagement. Another transporting novel was Alan Hollinghurst’s The Line of Beauty.

Hollinghurst’s sentences are to die for, and he writes fabulously about that immensely tricky subject: sex. Margot Livesey is a writer-in-residence at Emerson. She is the author of a collection of stories and ﬁve novels, including The Missing World and, her most recent, Banishing Verona (Henry Holt and Co.).

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Gail Mazur War Trash is Ha Jin’s grueling ‘autobiography’ of a Chinese prisoner of war in South Korea during the Korean War. It is a most unsparing novel of the universal cruelty of the human animal in war and the exquisite universality of hope and sensitivity and pain. The First Desire is Nancy Reisman’s story of two generations of a Jewish family in Buffalo, N.Y., from 1929 to 1950, a social history from the Depression through World War II and the post-war boom, told through the wrenching displacements and ordinary, complicated pleasures of one small social group on

the brink of enormous change. The Displaced of Capital by Anne Winters and The Unsubscriber by Bill Knott are collections of poems that are surely among the best of last fall. Knott’s dazzling new poems and Winters’ ﬁrst collection in many years – these [artists] are both original and irreplaceable poets of our time. Gail Mazur is a writer-in-residence at the College. Her book Zeppoʼs First Wife: New and Selected Poems will be published by University of Chicago Press in fall 2005. Her most recent volume was a National Book Award ﬁnalist.

Jeffrey Seglin Among the books I’ve recently enjoyed are The Invention of Tradition, edited by Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger. I’ve been fascinated by the topic of truth and how different people can look at the same set of facts and construct their own unique versions of the truth. Individuals do this, societies do it, businesses do it. This collection includes an essay by Hugh Trevor-Roper on the Highland tradition of Scotland and how many of the things we think of as grounded in Scottish tradition (the kilt, the bagpipes, and so on) are relatively new developments. The Gay Talese Reader: Portraits & Encounters. Who needs to explain this as a choice? For the ﬁrst time Talese’s pieces are collected in one place, so you can read the classic Esquire stories

John Skoyles When I was Cool: My Life at the Jack Kerouac School by Sam Kashner is a memoir by the ﬁrst student who studied poetry at what is now the Naropa Institute in Colorado. It is one of the funniest books Iʼve read in years. Kashner gives hilarious portraits of Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, William Burroughs and others, including himself and his family. The Art Spirit by Robert Henri is a book by the teacher of many 12 Expression Winter 2005

– “Frank Sinatra Has A Cold” and “Looking for Hemingway,” along with “Origins of a Nonﬁction Writer” – in one sitting. A great read. Idyll Banter: Weekly Excursions to a Very Small Town by Chris Bohjalian is a collection of newspaper columns, written by the author of such novels as Midwives and Before You Know Kindness, for his local paper in Vermont. Many of the pieces are moving; all are personal. The cumulative effect is that of listening to a good storyteller invite you into his life for a spell. Secret Frequencies by John Skoyles. I know John Skoyles. John Skoyles is a friend of mine. You are no John Skoyles … and any doubts you had are proved by this recently published memoir.

Jessica Treadway artists, including Edward Hopper. It is ﬁlled with precise guidelines about how to proceed as an artist. It is not simply technical. The expansive nature of Henriʼs words is apt for writers, teachers, students and administrators; it provides useful and soulful truths about ways of seeing. John Skoyles is a professor in the Department of Writing, Literature and Publishing. He is the author of a memoir, Secret Frequencies(University of Nebraska) and three books of poems.

I loved Snow by Orhan Pamuk because it manages to combine the complexities of both politics and poetry in a suspenseful depiction of what happens in a Turkish town called Kars as it ﬁnds itself in the grip of a crippling snowstorm. Jessica Treadway is associate professor in the Department of Writing, Literature and Publishing and the author of the novel And Give You Peace (Graywolf Press) as well as a collection of short stories.

Risa Miller Books I’ve enjoyed recently are Mystics, Mavericks, and Merrymakers by Stephanie Wellen Levine. It is an outsider’s immersion into the lives of Hasidic teenage girls. The author applies feminist success-criteria to the girls and they come out as A-plus examples of young womanhood. The book contains some of the best and most hilariously rendered scenes of adolescent social posturing I’ve ever read. I sat up in bed and laughed out loud (and had to explain myself to my husband). Reading The Hazards of Good Breeding by Jessica Shattuck, I found myself thinking: a 21st-century John Cheever,

just as well written and maybe even smarter. But I donʼt remember Cheever being so astoundingly funny. Gilead by Marilynne Robinson. I love the language writers use when they write about sublime, divine experience. Risa Miller, MFA ʼ95, is an adjunct faculty member at the College. Recipient of the PEN Discovery Award, Miller is the author of Welcome to Heavenly Heights (St. Martinʼs).

Peter Jay Shippy My Football Book by Gail Gibbons. After my daughter returned from a weekend away at a wedding, her 6-yearold son told her that two things made him sad: When she goes away and that he doesn’t know the rules to football. Most of the books I found on football for kids feature pictures of heavily padded footballers in helmets that would terrify any parent of a 30-somethingpound 6-year-old. But Gail Gibbons has written and illustrated a terriﬁc children’s book that is one in a series of titles that includes soccer, baseball, football and basketball. Jeffrey Seglin is director of Emerson’s M.A. in Publishing and Writing Program and assistant professor of writing, literature & publishing. He writes a New York Times column on business ethics and has published two books.

Two books Iʼve been reading with much enthusiasm are The Stranger Hours Travelers Keep by August Kleinzahler and DeKooning: An American Master by Mark Stevens and Annalyn Swan. Kleinzahlerʼs poetry has always reveled in the barbarous beauty of the American language, and this, his tenth book, is his best. Stevens and Swanʼs massive biography of the ab-ex master is much like the painter – juicy, gritty and plosive. Peter Jay Shippy ʼ84 is an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Writing, Literature and Publishing. He is the author of Thievesʼ Latin (University of Iowa Press). His poems will appear in upcoming issues of American Letters & Commentary, The American Poetry Review, The Harvard Review, and The Iowa Review, among others.

Top Ten A faculty member or other Emersonian is chosen, from time to time, to select his or her Top Ten titles in literature, which appear on a poster created by the College Library and displayed throughout the campus. Last fall, Assistant Professor Frederick Reiken of the Writing, Literature and Publishing Department was featured on the ﬁrst poster (below). Reiken himself is the author of two novels, The Odd Sea and The Lost Legends of New Jersey. His selections are: To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf; Ulysses by James Joyce; One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez; The Beggar Maid by Alice Munro; Cloudstreet by Tim Winton; First Light by Charles Baxter; Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson; The Voyage of the Narwhal by Andrea Barrett; The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy; Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels; Beloved by Toni Morrison; Wonder Boys by Michael Chabon; And Our Faces, My Heart, Brief as Photos by John Berger; The Drowned and the Saved by Primo Levi; and The Spell of the Sensuous by David Abram.

Douglas Whynott I would say that of the 30 or so books I’ve read in the last six months, The Human Stain by Philip Roth was the most impressive and moving. I liked it so much that I read it again and took 30 pages of notes. Douglas Whynott is director of the M.F.A. in Creative Writing Program at Emerson. He is the author of A Unit of Water, A Unit of Time (Washington Square Press) and three other books. E 13 Expression Winter 2005

n the late 1970s, ABC received more than 100,000 letters of protest, blasting a show that never even aired. What could cause such an uproar? All it took was a simple rumor about a situation comedy called Adam & Yves that was to feature two gay men. Fast forward to the summer of 2003. Tonight Show host (and Emerson alumnus, Class of ’73) Jay Leno is given a makeover on national television by ﬁve openly gay fashion and lifestyle gurus from the breakout hit show Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, produced by another alumnus, Dorothy Auﬁero ’80.

Lesbian and gay programming is everywhere on the Chris Haston/NBC Universal

small screen, thanks in large part to Emerson’s Universal TV Network

TV trailblazers

ABOVE: Actor Sean Hayes plays the ﬂamboyantly gay Jack McFarland in the Emmy Award-winning television program Will & Grace, a show created and produced by Max Mutchnick ’87. LEFT: A straight man gets fashion tips from two of the Fab Five on the Bravo series Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, the hit show that Dorothy Auﬁero ’80 co-produced.

YEP, IT’S GAY TV By Christopher Hennessy

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Early milestones In the 1960s and ’70s, much of what could be called gay TV “was going on in a way that was unidentified, like Paul Lynde [the ‘Center Square’] on the Hollywood Squares,” says Randy Barbato ’82, producer of a 1996 groundbreaking VH1 cable talk show hosted by famed drag queen RuPaul. Like the notoriously flamboyant Lynde (who also played sarcastic Uncle Arthur on Bewitched), characters with stereotypically gay mannerisms were simply understood as gay, Barbato argues. But TV in its early years rarely spoke openly of gay issues or portrayed openly gay characters. The first gay men on TV were often depicted as either lonely and ashamed or mincing and effeminate. Sometimes early gay storylines revolved around mental illness, often connecting dysfunction with their sexuality. Gay characters were suicidal – or even homicidal. In an episode of the ’70s drama Police Woman, for example, three lesbians are murderers. Around the same time, a gay man is portrayed as a child molester on Marcus Welby, M.D. More positive portrayals of openly or obviously gay characters began to emerge on TV in the early ’70s, like Billy Crystal’s memorable Jodie Dallas on the satire Soap. In 1971, All in the Family became the first sitcom to tackle homosexuality when Archie Bunker discovers his drinking buddy is gay. Surprisingly, says the show’s creator Norman Lear, “this episode did not really upset [most] people.”

All in the Family later continued to push the envelope when Archie and Edith discover Edith’s cousin, who has died, was a lesbian. The episode includes a scene in which Edith tries to persuade Archie to let her cousin’s surviving lover have an heirloom tea set. A young Barney Frank, who would become the first openly gay member of Congress, once told Lear in a public chat they held at the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum in Boston, “As a young gay person in the ’70s, to see myself represented on television was very important.” Frank was one of many. Lear adds, “I recall [hearing from] a lot of people through the years, people who were clearly moved or vastly aided or affirmed because they themselves were gay, and it helped them come out of the closet.” A few years later, another groundbreaking show appeared on ABC. Hot L Baltimore, executive-produced by Lear and Rod Parker ’51, included what was arguably TV’s first gay couple, two

Showtime Networks Inc.

TV these days is awash with gay images, as shows with gay characters like Queer as Folk, The L Word and Will & Grace flourish on both cable and network TV. Instead of facing boycotts and letter-writing campaigns, gay-themed programming today is an integral and growing part of the TV landscape. In fact, media giant Viacom will make television history in June when it launches Logo, the first gay-themed, advertisersupported basic cable channel. The evolution of gay television has had a complicated and fascinating history, and Emerson alumni have been central figures in some of its most defining moments. From the first sitcom to tackle homosexuality (All in the Family) to the first show with a lesbian lead (Ellen) to the first show featuring an openly gay leading character (Will & Grace), Emersonian-produced or written shows have helped “gay” go from shame to fame on the small screen. “It’s not just the individual gay person who has come out of the closet, but the existence of gay people – in our lives, in our culture, in our families and extended families. That has all come out of the closet,” says Emerson alumnus and legendary television producer Norman Lear ’44 (All in the Family, The Jeffersons). “That’s what we’re dealing with now – the subject – and I think that is in great measure due to TV.”

A scene from Showtime’s The L Word, the ﬁrst television series to feature lesbian characters.

Milestones in Gay Television History 1970

1971

1972

1973

1977

Laugh-In becomes the ﬁrst prime-time show to openly acknowledge the subject of gay men and their lifestyle with an effeminate character named Bruce, who is the butt of many jokes.

In the ﬁrst season of the sitcom All in the Family, Archie Bunker learns that one of his drinking buddies is gay.

ABC airs That Certain Summer, a TV movie about a teenage boy who discovers his father is gay. It is the ﬁrst TV movie to deal with gay subject matter. Actor Scott Jacoby, who plays the teenage son, wins an Emmy.

Lance Loud, part of the PBS documentary show An American Family, comes out to his family – and the country.

Marcus Welby, M.D. portrays homosexuality as an illness. In the same year, the American Psychiatric Association publicly challenges this view.

All in the Family is nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Writing for an episode in which a character named Beverly LaSalle, a female impersonator, is killed by “muggers,” prompting main character Edith Bunker’s crisis of faith.

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Showtime Networks Inc.

Showtime’s Queer as Folk generated both controversy and raves for its graphic depiction of gay life.

residents of a seedy hotel in Baltimore. “Back then, in 1977, we never mentioned they were gay. You really couldn’t,” explains Parker. “We just played them as husband and wife.” Perhaps surprisingly, he adds, audiences were more upset that the show also included two characters who were prostitutes. Even though the couple was never called “gay,” Lear recalls hearing that low advertising sales had prompted the network to announce it wasn’t going to pick up the show for a full season. This was despite the fact that Michael Eisner himself, head of ABC’s programming department at the time, “out of affection for the show never missed a taping,” recalls Lear. In the ’80s, Parker executive-produced what he believes was the ﬁrst show with a main character who was gay (though not openly). The show, Love, Sydney, starred Tony Randall as a middle-aged artist living in New York – who happened to be gay. However, during the conservative era of Ronald

Reagan’s presidency, “we went backwards,” Parker explains. Pressure from the affiliates meant the show could never explicitly say the character was gay. “Even though it’s Tony Randall, they kept saying, ‘Don’t say he’s gay!’” recalls Parker. So Parker got “sneaky,” he says. In one episode, Sydney tells a beautiful woman who has fallen for him that they can never be together, as a framed photograph of his dead lover sits quietly in the background. The episode, slated as an hour special during sweeps, aired instead during the summer months. “They buried it,” Parker sighs. Parker also produced or wrote for other shows that brought gay characters to the small screen, including Maude and The Nancy Walker Show. In the latter series, which aired in the mid-70s, the main character’s secretary actually says he’s gay, something Parker believes had never been said before by a recurring character on a TV show. Out and proud In more recent years, Emerson alumni have brought to television an array of programs that have dramatically increased the visibility of gay and lesbian characters and issues, from gay marriage to AIDS. When MTV premiered The Real World in 1992, the show introduced to audiences Norman Korpi, the first gay reality-TV personality. Doug Herzog ’81, executive vice president of programming at MTV at the time, recalls casting the influential program: “We thought there absolutely should be room for [a gay person]. We were MTV – it was about expression and youth and forward thinking.” Herzog is cur-

rently president of Comedy Central. That thinking sparked a trend that has continued to this day as most reality TV shows now include at least one gay participant. The first winner of CBS’s Survivor reality game show was an openly gay man, Richard Hatch. Two years before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled in favor of gay marriage, cable channel A&E included a lesbian couple in its Married in America reality show in 2002. A year later, the winners of CBS’s fourth season of The Amazing Race, Chip Arndt and Reichen Lehmkuhl, without fanfare were called a “married” couple on that show. One of the most historic moments for gay people on television, however, came in 1994. “One of the things I am most proud of [regarding] The Real World is our casting of Pedro Zamora in the San Francisco house,” says Herzog, referring to the third-season location of the show. Zamora was HIV-positive as well as openly gay. “I felt like The Real World was doing something not only culturally relevant but important. It was telling a very significant story at a very significant time.” Zamora also married his partner during the show’s run. In 1996, the hit sitcom Friends, executive-produced by Kevin Bright ’76, brought to TV another milestone, the first lesbian wedding. (That same year an episode of Roseanne boasted a scene in which two gay male characters were married.) The Friends episode gueststarred Candace Gingrich, a lesbian activist and daughter of conservative politician Newt Gingrich, as the ceremony’s minister. Friends was such a hit, Bright recalls, that the studio deferred to the producers. “Surprisingly enough, it was not a big deal,” Bright

1977

1981

1987

1988

1989

The outlandish sitcom Soap introduces gay character Jodie Dallas (played by Billy Crystal), who dates a professional football player.

ABC premieres Three’s Company, in which John Ritter plays a man who must pretend to be gay around his landlord so he can live with two women as roommates.

Stephen Carrington (played by actor Al Corley) comes out on ABC’s evening soap Dynasty. He is the ﬁrst openly bisexual, and later gay, recurring character in a dramatic TV series.

Television dramas 21 Jump Street, The Equalizer and Midnight Caller feature AIDS as a storyline.

Primetime TV gets its ﬁrst recurring openly lesbian character, nurse practitioner Marylin McGrath (portrayed by Gail Strickland), when ABC’s medical drama Heartbeat premieres.

ABC reports a loss of $1.5 million in advertising when an episode of thirtysomething shows two gay characters in bed together.

16 Expression Winter 2005

says. “[The network] didn’t feel it was something gratuitous. They felt it was something very rooted in the series.” And as more producers brought gay recurring characters seamlessly into their shows’ lineups, gay themes on primetime network TV began to cause less controversy. About a year after the Friends episode featuring the lesbian wedding, an event shattered the relative calm that had been met by the occasional gay character on TV. In an episode of the ABC sitcom Ellen, starring Ellen DeGeneres, America witnessed the ﬁrst time a lead character on a primetime sitcom announced she was a lesbian. DeGeneres herself had also come out on the cover of Time magazine (“Yep, I’m Gay”) weeks before the episode aired. The coming-out episode resulted in a media frenzy, something alum producer Barbato explores in a documentary he co-directed, The Real Ellen Story. As the documentary demonstrates, evangelists and right-wing groups organized boycotts of Disney products (Disney owns ABC) and dubbed Ellen ‘Ellen Degenerate’. Even so, the episode pulled in 36.2 million viewers, and won an Emmy for Outstanding Writing for Comedy. (Emerson alumnus David Flebotte ’89, a producer for the show, was part of the writing team for that historic episode, and actress Joely Fisher, who attended Emerson, starred as Ellen’s best friend in the series.) DeGeneres’ announcement had signiﬁcant reverberations. Friends producer Bright believes DeGeneres “really tore [barriers] down. She was willing; she had a position of power;

Emersonians Make Gay TV History

Numerous Emersonians have been instrumental in bringing lesbian and gay themes and characters to television. They include:

Norman Lear ’44

president of Comedy Central, which continues to air gayinclusive shows like South Park and Drawn Together.

Created the inﬂuential 1970s sitcom All in the Family, which included a groundbreaking 1971 episode in which Archie Bunker discovers his drinking buddy is gay.

Rod Parker ’51 Executive producer of the early 1980s sitcom Love, Sydney, starring Tony Randall as a gay man. Prior to that he also produced the series The Nancy Walker Show, Hot L Baltimore and Maude, which all featured gay characters and storylines.

Doug Herzog ’81 Was executive vice president of programming at MTV in 1992 when he helped develop The Real World, which introduced audiences to the ﬁrst gay reality TV personality, Norman Korpi. The show later made TV history when its third season included Pedro Zamora, a gay man living with AIDS who married his partner on the show. Herzog is currently

Max Mutchnick ’87 Creator and executive producer of the historymaking sitcom Will & Grace, the ﬁrst show on television to feature an openly gay lead character from its outset. Will & Grace, which premiered in 1998, has won 12 Emmys.

David Flebotte ’89 Was on the writing team that produced the 1997 Emmywinning episode of Ellen in which DeGeneres’ character comes out as a lesbian. He is also a former executive producer for Will & Grace.

Joely Fisher Attended Emerson. She played Ellen DeGeneres’ best friend on Ellen.

Kevin Bright ’76 Executive producer of Friends, a show that made TV history with the episode titled “The One with the Lesbian Wedding.” He also executiveproduced the HBO show Dream On, which included an episode about the main character’s father coming out

and an Emmy-winning episode about a man dying of AIDS.

Dorothy Auﬁero ’80 Was a producer behind the breakout hit Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, which premiered on Bravo in 2003.

Randy Barbato ’82 Executive producer of documentary-style shows Totally Gay and the follow-up Totally Gayer, which aired on VH1, and Gay in Hollywood, which aired on AMC.

Mario Cantone ’82 Earned rave reviews as Anthony Marentino, an openly gay wedding planner and Charlotte’s conﬁdant on HBO’s wildly popular Sex and the City.

Scott Wittman Attended Emerson. Wittman and his partner Marc Shaiman won the Tony Award for Best Score for Hairspray in 2003, and shared a real-life kiss seen across the country during the Tony Awards telecast.

1990

1991

1992

1994

HBO airs the seminal AIDS movie, And the Band Played On, chronicling the early days of the AIDS epidemic.

A bisexual character kisses her heterosexual female colleague on the lips on NBC’s L.A. Law, marking the ﬁrst lesbian kiss on primetime network TV.

MTV’s groundbreaking reality TV show The Real World premieres, and includes openly gay cast member Norman Korpi.

The Real Word’s third season, set in San Francisco, includes gay and HIV-positive Pedro Zamora. The season included Pedro marrying his boyfriend.

In the face of conservative protests, PBS airs the ﬁlm adaptation of Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City, set in 1970s San Francisco.

CBS’s Northern Exposure becomes the ﬁrst sitcom to feature a gay wedding. The wedding is a non-event for the eccentric characters of ﬁctional Cicely, Alaska.

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Now Playing: Emersonians Make Gay Strides in Film

Gina Gershon (right), who attended Emerson, plays a lesbian ex-con in the cult classic Bound. She co-starred with Jennifer Tilly (left). Bound was written and directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski. Andy attended Emerson College.

by Gregg Shapiro ’83

Emerson College has long been known as a breeding ground for new comedians, turning out such talents as Denis Leary, Steven Wright, Anthony Clark, Laura Kightlinger and openly gay comedian Mario Cantone. But in recent years, Emerson alumni have made considerable contributions within the realm of lesbian/gay/bisexual and transgender (LGBT) ﬁlm, both in front of the camera and behind. Actress Jennifer Coolidge, who attended Emerson, has made a career of playing kooky characters in ﬁlms with gay subject matter, such as the

Jennifer Coolidge (right), who attended Emerson and boasts a résumé of quirky ﬁlm roles, plays one half of a dog-breeding couple with Jane Lynch (left) in the Christopher Guest ﬁlm Best in Show.

recent Testosterone. Coolidge also played lesbian character Sherri Ann in Christopher Guest’s Best in Show. Actress Gina Gershon, who also attended Emerson, starred as a bisexual rocker facing 40 in the movie Prey For Rock and Roll. In Bound, directed by another former Emerson student Andy Wachowski (of Matrix fame), Gershon starred as the hard-edged lesbian ex-con Corky who seduces her neighbor and plots to steal a stash of mob money. Additionally, there are numerous people working in behind-the-scenes capacities, who may not be household names but who nevertheless have had an impact on the world of queer film. Emerson alumnus Aaron Ryder ’94 produced the Julia Roberts/Brad Pitt vehicle The Mexican, in which James Gandolfini portrays Winston, a ruthless gay hired gun. At Focus Features in Los Angeles, Harlan Gulko ’95, West Coast director of national publicity, has worked on LGBT features, including Boys Don’t Cry, the Academy Award-winning film about Brandon Teena, a young woman who lived as a man and was eventually

murdered. Most recently, Gulko was involved in the campaign for director Ang Lee’s forthcoming Brokeback Mountain, in which in-demand young actors Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger portray a ranch hand and a cowboy who fall in love. Producer Sarah Green ’81 joined with Salma Hayek to co-produce the Academy Award-winning 2002 film Frida, which was notable for its queer content (e.g., the steamy tango danced by Hayek’s Frida Kahlo and Ashley Judd’s Tina Modotti). Green, who identifies as straight, says that she approaches queer subject matter in the “same way I approach straight subject matter – looking for the humanity.” LGBT subject matter “hasn’t really been taboo since I have been working,” she says. It is “far more common and unremarkable now.” At the forefront of the current wave of gay filmmaking, Randy Barbato ’82 and partner Fenton Bailey created the documentaries The Real Ellen Story and Party Monster. The team is also responsible for The Eyes of Tammy

1996

1997

1998

2000

Gay weddings are featured on the hugely popular sitcoms Roseanne and Friends.

The character of Ellen Morgan (played by Ellen DeGeneres) comes out in a starstudded episode of the ABC sitcom Ellen, and DeGeneres makes the cover of Time in a reallife coming out.

On ABC’s Relativity, two female characters share a 10-second kiss – and no afﬁliates pull the episode from their broadcasts.

NBC airs Will & Grace, the ﬁrst TV show that features an openly gay male lead character.

Openly gay Survivor contestant Richard Hatch wins $1 million on the CBS show.

Showtime adapts the UK hit drama Queer as Folk for American audiences. The show depicts graphic gay sex – and scores top ratings for the pay network.

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Barbato has also been able to tap into the Emerson community – both gay and straight – in Hollywood. “Some great Emerson alumni have worked at our company [World of Wonder], some great friends work in the media industry and have supported our projects. Now we just need an Emerson alumnus to head up a studio and give us a gazillion-dollar deal!” Gregg Shapiro ’83 is music editor at Next Magazine, and his music reviews, book reviews, theater reviews, movie reviews, feature stories and interviews also appear regularly in The Washington Blade, Outlines, Bay Area Reporter, Metro Weekly, Instinct, En La Vida, Xtra, In Newsweekly, Nightlines, Texas Triangle, Bay Windows, and Philadelphia Gay News, among other publications.

A gay explosion In the last few years gay characters on TV have blossomed – as doctors, cops, morticians and even good witches ﬁghting evil – on a host of cable and network shows. And then came what Vanity Fair called “The Year of Gay TV,” 2003, pointing to hits like Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, Queer as Folk and the continued success of Will & Grace. That year ABC broke ground by premiering It’s All Relative, featuring a married couple played by two openly gay actors. Producer Barbato calls this time in TV “that tipping point of all things being gay, this moment of ‘gay is good’.” In producing the 2003 documentary Totally Gay for VH1, Barbato recalls realizing, “The networks wanted shows with ‘gay’ in the title, and they wanted them to be totally gay.” The fear that had once come along with gay-themed content was gone. Bright remembers

Showtime Networks Inc.

Faye, 101 Rent Boys, and Hidden Fuhrer: Debating The Enigma of Hitler’s Sexuality, to mention a few, all of which have an element of queerness to them. Not one to shy away from LGBT subjects in his work, Barbato says, “My work is who I am. When I do it best, I pour my entire soul into it. And considering I have a big ol’ gay soul, I guess I never had any choice. It’s just been organic for me.” He adds, “The reality is that it’s the entertainment industry, and lots of gay people really know how to entertain.”

she had a successful television show. I think when it happened it was incredible television.” “Ellen certainly played a part in opening up this world,” says Max Mutchnick ’87, who back then was himself developing a show that would soon make TV history. Mutchnick’s Will & Grace was the ﬁrst show premised on an openly gay lead character. In 1998, when Will & Grace premiered, “all the boundaries were broken,” notes Bright, and the show was met with no real controversy. “The thing we were concerned with was the script,” explains Mutchnick. “We always felt that if the audience really responded to a character like Will [who is gay], the subject matter would become less of a concern for everybody involved.” Will & Grace proved that a show depicting the life of a gay man and his friends can thrive. In 2000, Will & Grace won the Emmy for Outstanding Comedy (one of 12 Emmys it has won), and over the years it has been nominated for 49 Emmys, 24 Golden Globes, 14 SAG Awards and 6 People’s Choice Awards. The show has enjoyed another kind of positive response as well. Mutchnick says that over the years gay and lesbian young people and adults have written letters saying the show “was a companion to them in tough times, when they were living in a world where they had very little to help them through.”

Queer as Folk, based on the British series, had its debut on Showtime in 2000.

2000

2001

2002

Main character Dr. Kerry Weaver (played by Laura Innes) comes out as a lesbian on NBC’s long-running medical drama ER.

Two gay male characters kiss for the ﬁrst time on primetime in an episode of Will & Grace, when main character Will kisses Jack on The Today Show to protest a ﬁctional NBC show’s decision not to air a gay kiss on prime time.

HBO debuts Six Feet Under, a drama featuring gay character David Fisher, the son of a mortuary owner.

Main character Willow loses her girlfriend, Tara, to violence in an episode of UPN’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Tara’s death causes an uproar from gay and lesbians fans who criticize show creator

2003 Joss Whedon for killing off the show’s lesbian character in the same episode that showed the two women in bed after having sex.

Gay couple Chip Arndt and Reichen Lehmkuhl, labeled “married” by CBS, win the reality TV contest The Amazing Race 4.

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Showtime Networks Inc.

lesbian-centered hits, Queer as Folk and The L Word, and HBO has enjoyed long runs for its gay-populated Six Feet Under and Sex and the City, whose cast included Emerson alum Mario Cantone ’82, the openly gay actor who portrayed the popular character Anthony Marentino, a gay wedding planner and conﬁdant to lead character Charlotte. The 2004 cable season included a total of 15 gay male, nine lesbian and two bisexual characters on cable dramas alone, reports the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD).

Jennifer Beals (left) and Laurel Holloman in The L Word, a popular Showtime series launched last year that explores the lives of a group of Los Angeles-based lesbians.

“a period of time where it seemed like every new show had the gratuitous gay character on it.” He believes that the trend was a sign that gay characters and storylines had become part of the fabric of television. “We’re embracing it now. It doesn’t have to be a big deal; we don’t have to make a statement with every gay character. It just is,” says Bright. Mutchnick says that Hollywood is always thinking of the bottom line. “As a business, the [TV] community saw that they could make money and that people weren’t afraid of this area,” he points out. Gay-themed shows and gay characters have especially blossomed on cable. Showtime boasts two gay- and

Lavender nation As perhaps the most telling sign of the power the gay and lesbian audience now wields, in June Viacom will launch Logo, the nation’s ﬁrst all-gay, advertiser-supported, basic cable channel. Logo will be available in major cities across the country, including Los Angeles, New York and Boston, and is projected to reach about 40 million homes by the end of the year. Tom Freston, co-president of Viacom and head of operations for MTV Networks (and parent of a current Emerson undergraduate), doesn’t anticipate widespread backlash. “It’s fair to say that [gay content on TV] has really reached a level in the last several years of being increasingly mainstream,” he told The Advocate magazine. The channel will be worth $1 billion, according to Viacom. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. In 2003, gay-themed pay-per-view cable channel ‘here! TV’ became the ﬁrst nationally available gay TV service in the U.S., available in 30 million homes. Viewers also have two satellite TV options, the Q Television Network and Divine HD.

It’s no surprise that so many companies want a piece of the action. As Entertainment Weekly noted in 2000, “After decades of being marginalized, demonized, or completely ignored, gays have finally found their way onto mainstream TV by becoming that most powerful of special interest groups: an audience demographic.” The buying power of the estimated 15-17 million lesbian, gay and bisexual adults is estimated at $513 billion for 2004, according to analysis by Witeck-Combs Communications and MarketResearch. com. The gay audience’s clout can also be seen in a recent move by Nielsen Media Research and GLAAD to work together to find better ways of understanding media usage of gay and lesbian audiences. More and more openly gay producers in Hollywood has also meant power in the hands of producers willing to make gay content. Some of the most prominent TV producers in Hollywood are gay, like Emerson alumnus Mutchnick (Will & Grace). Others include Kevin Williamson (Dawson’s Creek, which featured primetime’s first romantic gay kiss on TV), Alan Ball (Six Feet Under), Ilene Chaiken (The L Word) and Darren Star (Sex and City). The rise of gay visibility on television, of course, can also be gauged by TV’s impact on culture and society’s national dialogue on important issues. For Norman Lear, gay TV’s influence is clear. “The only serious debate going on is about gay marriage, gays on television,” he argues, noting even Iraq and the economy are not being discussed as seriously as gay rights. “I would say the whole issue has moved light years.” E

2003

2004

2005

Bravo’s Queer Eye for the Straight Guy rockets to international fame with a regular cast of ﬁve openly gay men who make over straight men.

ABC’s It’s All Relative becomes the ﬁrst network sitcom to feature a married gay couple, played by openly gay actors John Benjamin Hickey and Christopher Sieber.

The satellite TV service ‘here!TV’ is the ﬁrst nationally available gay TV service launched in the U.S.

Couple Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman kiss on national TV when accepting their Tony Award for the score of the musical Hairspray. The kiss is met with rousing applause.

The L Word becomes the ﬁrst series on TV about lesbians, airing on Showtime.

Viacom plans to launch Logo, the ﬁrst “24/7” advertisersupported, basic cable gay network.

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Timeline drawn in part from sources found at glbtq.com

Alumni Digest Boston

Washington, D.C.

The College’s Ofﬁce of Alumni Relations hosted a reception for alumni and friends following a performance of the Emerson Stage production of All of a Kind Family in November at the Cutler Majestic Theatre.

Iris Burnett ’68, MSSp ’70 (left), was interviewed by Margaret Carlson (second from left), political analyst and commentator for CNN and columnist for the Los Angeles Times, on political campaigns and the publication of Burnett’s book, Schlepper! A Mostly True Tale of Presidential Politics. Joining them are Emerson President Jacqueline Liebergott and Dean of Emerson’s School of Communication Stuart Sigman. The event was hosted at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., in October.

Philadelphia

Myra Gutin ’70, MA ’71 (back row; third from right), delivered a talk on “The Women of ’04 and Those Who Came Before” to an audience of alumni and friends in Philadelphia in October.

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New York

Jonathan Burkhart ’86, Mario Cantone ’82 and Harold Lubin ’65 at a post-show reception. More than 70 New York City-area alumni gathered in November to see Laugh Whore, the new stand-up show by Mario Cantone ’82 (center) at the Cort Theatre. The show is produced by Jonathan Burkhart ’86 with lyrics by Harold Lubin ’65. Rochelle Joseph ’81 was stylist and image consultant for the show. Attendees joined Mario, Jonathan and Harold at a reception following the show at the Whiskey Bar.

Chicago

Atlanta

A group of Chicago alumni met at Jake Melnick’s Corner Tap. In addition to catching up and sharing Emerson memories, Vice President of Academic Affairs Linda Moore updated the group on the state of the College and her goals. Amy Frankel ’85 is spearheading the new chapter and looks forward to programming a variety of Chicago events in the future. For more information on Chicago alumni happenings, contact Amy Frankel at Amy.Frankel@infores.com.

More than 40 Atlanta alumni enjoyed a Halloween ‘meet & greet’ brunch at Maggiano’s restaurant on Oct. 31.

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Los Angeles

Luciana and Michael Jay Solomon ’60 hosted an Emerson reception in their home to honor Emerson Emmy nominees. In attendance were (from left) Seth Bacon ’00 (nominee), President Liebergott, Solomon, Grafton Nunes (dean of the school of the arts) and David Levinson ’97 (nominee).

The Ofﬁce of Alumni Relations hosted a young alumni reception at the Cat and the Fiddle on Sunset Boulevard in November. More than 170 young alumni gathered to meet, greet and network.

In Los Angeles, Robert Madden (parent of a student in the Class of 2005), President Liebergott, and Luciana and Michael Jay Solomon ’60.

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Alumni represent college at inaugural rites Alumni represented Emerson at inaugurations of new presidents at various colleges around the country. Tom Bauer ’68 attended the rites at Thomas Jefferson University; Peter Brenner ’67, Fairﬁeld University; Robert Friend ’79, Connecticut State University; and Margie Graham Larson ’59, Loyola University and Louisiana State University. Peter Brenner ’67 (right) at the inauguration of the new president of Fairﬁeld University, the Rev. Jeffrey Paul von Arx.

Margie Larson ’59 of Baton Rouge, La., with William Jenkins, president of Louisiana State University. Larson also walked in the Loyola University presidential inauguration.

Trish Lawless ’81 dies; memorial gifts to TV network invited Trish Lawless, a member of the Class of 1981, died Oct. 24, 2004, after a battle with breast cancer. Classmate and close friend Ron Bostwick ’81 writes: “For many of us, friends made at Emerson are friends for life. Such was the case for me and Trish Lawless. After meeting for the ﬁrst time on Nov. 8, 1977, in front of her dorm room at 100 Beacon St….she and I stayed close until she died. During her 10month battle, she heard from

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many of her Emerson friends. Just another show of how strong the Emerson connection really is.” Trish’s family has asked that contributions in her memory be made to Boston Catholic Television, P.O. Box 9109, 55 Chapel St., Newtonville, MA 02460 or to WGBH-TV, where Trish worked since 1986.

Current students meet alums for networking The Student Alumni Association (SAA) is a new group on campus dedicated to encouraging and facilitating connections between students and alumni. Through programs such as Alumni Weekend and the New York Connection students have a chance to meet alumni from many different classes and career paths. The SAA will also plan social as well as community service events. The next one is a project with Habitat for Humanity on March 26. The SAA invites all alumni to join them and Graduates of the Last Decade (GOLD) in helping to build a dwelling for a needy Boston-area family. Please contact SAA advisor Amber Haskins at Amber_Haskins@emerson. edu or (617) 824-8274.

Get ready for Alumni Weekend 2005 Depending on your location, bracing winds may be blowing or temperatures may be warm and balmy, but here in Boston the Alumni Relations Ofﬁce wants you to think ahead to a rejuvenating and invigorating spring weekend. Save the dates of June 3-5, 2005, for Alumni Weekend. The weekend promises to be a special one for many reasons. Events will include: • the launch of the College’s 125th anniversary events • landmark reunions for classes ending in ‘0’ or ‘5’ • the 20th anniversary of the M.F.A. in Creative Writing • the 15th anniversary of the M.A. in Writing and Publishing • a master class in Global Marketing, and • ample opportunities to reconnect with friends. Whether you join us for one event or all events, for one evening or the entire weekend, stay in the residence hall or in a hotel, you’ll enjoy the warmth, laughter and camaraderie of your fellow Emersonians. The agenda will include formal events as well as free time to gather casually. You’ll have opportunities to relive the memories of your years in Boston and experience Emerson as it is today. Your weekend can begin on Friday with a tour of memorabilia

Save

t h e

and a buffet dinner. Then sample the work of current ﬁlm students or gather at an old College haunt. Go back to class Saturday morning with the popular Alumni College, as alumni and faculty lead you in discussions of engaging and timely topics. Have lunch with your classmates on Saturday afternoon, then tour the Campus on the Common. Saturday evening we will present the 2005 Alumni Achievement Awards to: Bob Tull ’50, Sam Presti ’00, Max Mutchnick ’87, Denise Kaigler ’85, Brent Jennings ’74 and Wayne Larrivee ’77. The celebration continues with dinner and dancing in the Grand Ballroom of the Hyatt Regency. Performing Arts Professor Harry Morgan ’59 retires this year after 45 years on the Emerson faculty. Join faculty members, fellow alumni and students on Friday evening to honor him and celebrate his lasting inﬂuence on generations of Emersonians. Wrap up the weekend by attending the Faculty-Alumni brunch on Sunday morning. This is a favorite event as former faculty members return to spend time with you. We will be sending you a detailed brochure containing the full agenda and registration material in April. Until then, you can check the website www.emerson.edu/alumni for

additional information. Contact your friends to make sure they know about the If you have questions or festivities and will join you in news you’d like to share now, please contact us by phone at Boston June 3-5. See you then! 1-800-255-4259 or e-mail at – Barbara Rutberg ’68, director, alumni@emerson.edu. Alumni Relations Your attendance will guaranSandi Goldfarb ’78, presitee the success of the weekend. dent, Alumni Association

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Date

June 3-5, 2005 Alumni Weekend Reconnect with old friends and faculty 25 Expression Winter 2005

Notable Expressions Television Entertainment Tonight (ET) correspondent Maria Menounos ’00 has landed several plum acting jobs in addition to her ET gig. Menounos will have a role on the big screen in 20th Century Fox’s new comicbook adaptation Fantastic Four. She has also appeared in multiple episodes of the WB Network teen drama One Tree Hill and guest-starred on an episode of the UPN’s sitcom One on One. Danica Sheridan ’94 has had acting roles in some of TV’s most popular shows, including Will & Grace, Married…With Children, Judging Amy, and Strong Medicine. She recently appeared in the NBC drama LAX, starring Heather Locklear and Blair Underwood. Sheridan has also had roles in feature ﬁlms, including Alex and Emma, directed by Rob Reiner. Jonathan Labovich ’93 is now the proud owner of an Emmy for his part as ESPN’s re-play producer on the production team of ESPN NFL Sunday Night Football. Labovich won, along with 14 colleagues, in the category for Outstanding Live Sports Series. Bill Burr ’93 has been climbing the comedy ladder by making regular appearances on The Dave Chappelle Show on Comedy Central. The comedian is beginning to make a name for himself

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A still from Imelda, a ﬁlm by Ramona Diaz ’83

on the stand-up circuit, headlining at some of the most popular comedy clubs in New York City. He’s also appeared on Late Night with Conan O’Brien.

Music The ‘indie rock’ band Syd, led by singer Syd (Erin Sidney ’04), along with bassist Dylan Allen ’04, enjoyed a 60-concert tour of clubs and campuses across the country last fall. Bassist Allen also directed the band’s 16mm music video for their song “The Bottom.” Syd’s song “Back Home,” from their latest CD Fault Lines, is featured on the NEMO 2004 Compilation Album, presented by Starbucks and available at more than 170 Starbucks locations in New England with proceeds beneﬁting the NEMO Foundation’s “Young at Arts” Scholarship Program.

Singer Erin Sidney ’04 of the ‘indie rock’ band Syd

Several songs from recording artist Morgan Page ’03 have recently been licensed to clothing and beauty stores across the country. Page ﬁrst had success with placing his music in Abercrombie & Fitch stores, which chose his song “Falling” to set the tone for stores nationwide. Other retailers are snapping up tracks, as his work is now included on playlists for perfume dynasty Sephora, Arden B, Saks Fifth Avenue and Macy’s department stores.

Theater Only days after graduating, Stefanie Tovar ’04 got the welcome news that she had scored the lead role in the touring production of Sesame Street Live. Tovar reports that she will tour nationally and internationally with the show “1 2 3 Imagine” for nearly a year. Tovar’s character, Sam (short for Samantha), is a mail carrier who takes the children in the audience, via their imaginations, to destinations around the world that she ﬁnds on postcards.

Film Clifton Powell ’78, a veteran film actor, received plaudits for his role in the movie Ray, a feature film based on the life of musical legend Ray Charles. The movie stars Jaime Foxx and has already received its fair share of Oscar buzz. Powell has appeared in many films, including Menace II Society, Deep Rising, Rush Hour, The Brothers and Never Die Alone. Screenwriter Jeff Arch ’76, who was nominated for an Academy Award for his screenplay Sleepless in Seattle, has moved to the director’s chair for an upcoming movie based on humorist Dave Barry’s book The Complete Guide to Guys. Arch also wrote the screenplay for the new movie and is executive producing.

Style writer Anna Kasabian ’72 has written her eighth book.

Imelda, a ﬁlm directed by Ramona Diaz ’83, won the award for best cinematography at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. Imelda is the documentary of the life of Imelda Marcos, widow of the late ex-president of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos. Marking the ﬁrst time that Imelda Marcos has agreed to tell her whole story, the feature documents Imelda’s controversial rise from humble provincial origins to become one of the richest and most powerful women in contemporary world history.

Literature The children’s magazine Moo-Cow Fan Club, which alumna Becky Ances ’98 launched while attending Emerson, has been nominated for Periodical of the Year on a Shoestring Budget by the Association of Educational Publishers. The AEP is a national, nonproﬁt professional organization for educational publishers that gives awards annually

Becky Ances ’98 is publishing a children’s magazine.

to recognize outstanding achievement. Ances and husband Ryan Wilson co-own the company that produces the magazine, which is headquartered in New Hampshire. Home and style writer Anna Kasabian ’72, who has 30 years of experience as an editor and communications professional, has finished her eighth book, New England Style, which includes a foreword by fashion mogul Tommy Hilfiger. Kasabian writes about food, interior design, crafts, home and garden preservation projects and architecturally significant buildings.

Jonathan Kranz, MFA ’95, is a ‘Dummies’ author.

When Phoebe meets the urban, stylish Melita, the girls spend a summer together, grow close and Phoebe encounters confusion over the true direction of their relationship. Jahn-Clough has written and/or illustrated 11 children’s books.

Christopher Helmuth, MFA ’02, has been awarded the 2nd Annual Grub Street Revision Fellowship for fiction from Grub Street Inc. Helmuth’s short story collection-in-progress, Camptown Races All Day Long, was selected from close to 100 manuscripts. During his six-month term as a fellow, Helmuth is serving as Grub Street’s writer-in-residence, holding office hours to Lisa Jahn-Clough, MFA ’94, has published her first provide free writing advice at Grub Street’s home base in young adult book, Country Somerville, Mass. Helmuth’s Girl, City Girl (Houghton Mifflin). The book tells the stories have appeared in, or story of young Phoebe Sharp, are forthcoming from, The Greensboro Review, Ascent, an eccentric girl growing up The Florida Review, The Misfriendless in rural Maine. sissippi Review (online) and Third Coast.

Jonathan Kranz, MFA ’95, has authored Writing Copy for Dummies (Wiley). The guide is designed to take readers through every step of a successful copywriting project, from direct mail, print ads and radio spots to websites, articles and press releases. Kranz heads Kranz Communications, a marketing communications and public relations business headquartered in Melrose, Mass. A political thriller by Gary Grossman ’70 called Executive Actions has been published by I Books and is being distributed by Simon and Schuster. The novel is set in New England in the midst of a presidential primary as ﬁctional Vermont congressman Teddy Lodge, a dashing Boston Brahmin, is running for the White House. Grossman, who is based in Los Angeles, is writing a sequel to Executive Actions. He is an award-winning documentarian and cofounder of Weller/Grossman Productions.

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Class Notes 1950 George Duchin reports: “I am walking on air.” His 16-yearold god-daughter, Francesca Catalano, will be appearing in a new series called Head to Toe, beginning in February.

1955 Barbara (Swartz) Rich writes: “I am ﬁlled with astonishment at how full my life is.” She married her partner, Andrea, in June, and she teaches Kripalu yoga in her own yoga studio. She is also a special education consultant/advocate working with families and school systems. Her four children are “all healthy, sane and lead interesting lives.”

1959

head, in 1995, and accompanied his wife on her Fulbright to China, then began teaching in 1999 for the University of Maryland at military bases in Bosnia, Germany and Turkey.

1962 Andrea Barison Becker is enjoying retirement. She is happily married and has four wonderful grandchildren and two cats. She writes: “I appreciate my Emerson training every day because as a docent in the local zoo, I teach classes and do amphitheater presentations.” She also volunteers for the Mental Health Association.

1971 Gary Arvidson’s Scandinavian bakery, Scandia Bake Shop, in Minneapolis was featured on the “Food Finds” program on the Food Network. “My work in front of the camera at Emerson helped to make the show easy,” he reports.

Margie Graham Larson represented Emerson College at the inauguration of a new president of Louisiana State University. She writes: “I wasn’t able to attend my own graduation, so this was the Alan Kania will be teaching a ﬁrst time I wore my college cap and gown – 40 years later!” journalism class at the University of Denver this winter. He is also on the founding Bob McHaffey directed Guys board of the International and Dolls for the Saint Jean’s Communications ForumPlayers in Manhattan. The America and was on the board show played for two sold-out of directors of the Denver weekends. Press Club.

1960 Carl Schmider has retired for the second time. He left Minnesota State University, Moor-

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In addition to his duties as director of government affairs for South Shore Hospital (Mass.) Rick Pozniak is an adjunct professor of organizational communication in the graduate school at Regis

Suzie Glantz ’65 poses with actress Julie Andrews at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Conn., where they both enjoyed the theater’s production of Where’s Charley.

College. On the family front, Rick’s daughter, Alexa, is a producer at Good Morning America and son Jonathan is an up and coming photographer in New York City.

1973 Joyce Ann Ashford has written and self-published two books, a children’s picture book called Mom is a Foreigner and a memoir called When White Men Cry. Mary Anne Fitzpatrick, deputy dean of the College of Letters and Science at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, has been named dean of the new College of Arts and Sciences at the University of South Carolina.

1974 Julie Goell just completed a run in London of her solo show, Opening Night Carmen. She also performed at the Comedie de Paris in December. She will teach “Clowning for Theater Professionals” this August in Maine and will be on the Colby College theater faculty next year. Luisa Johnson Martin is president/CEO of Bright Kids Learning Center. She has developed and owned four pre-schools in the northeast section of the Miami-Dade area. She recently received her doctorate in educational leadership from Nova Southeastern University. H. Jeffrey Rosen relocated with wife Pat and daughter Charlotte to Huntsville, Ala., where he will support the U.S. Missile Defense Agency as an external consultant to Boeing

Space & Communication Company’s Element Support Team.

an informal reunion of his beloved Rho Delta Omega frat in the summer of 2003.

1975

In February 2004 David S. Muhlfelder’s original screenplay, Why We Fight, was optioned by producer Todd Grodnick of Merrill Entertainment in L.A. In between, David has revived his acting career, ﬂying to Miami to play a small role in Dave Barry’s Complete Guide to Guys, adapted for the screen and directed by his old friend Jeff Arch ’76. The movie is currently in postproduction and being edited by Mark Faulkner ’75.

Frank Parrish married Eliza Guest Dame on Aug. 28. Although they were both undergraduates at Emerson, they did not know each other as students. They met in 2000 while planning their 25th class reunion. They live in Pembroke, Mass., and spend time at their homes in Campton, N.H., and on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia.

1976 Mark Bell, of Westﬁeld, Mass., has gone from technical work in television to writing for TV trade publications. He started a safety consulting company and is an internationally recognized expert on TV news truck safety. He attended

David Oziel is news director for Federalnewsradio. com at WTOP newsradio in Washington, D.C. His wife, Susan Yaffe-Oziel, is audiology director at the Family Healing Center in Rockville, Md. They have two children, ages 19 and 13.

Tony Smith ’70 is building high-end houses in Boulder, Colo., and sailing a 28-ft. sailboat off the East Coast. He is married and has two boys and would love to hear from “anyone who remembers me” at tsmith409@aol.com.

Colette Phillips has moved her company, Colette Phillips Communications, to a new location in Boston’s historic South End. After 25 years of service at the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners in Boston, Rick Taplin took a new position as systems administrator for the Minuteman Library Network in Natick.

1977 John Glynn presented a lecture last fall on “Utilizing References in Research: The Son of Man” at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Mass.

Bruce Starin ’73 has returned from Mumbai, India, where he was stationed for Sony Pictures Television International. Bruce recently launched a company, International Television Format Consultants, which is dedicated to sending TV production consultants on troubleshooting assignments anywhere in the world in 24 hours or less.

Chet Marcus is on the board of governors of the New York Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Chet writes: “If any Emerson College student or graduate is interested in membership in the academy in New York, e-mail me for details” at tryonpark@juno. com.

Irma S. Mann ’67 has been given the Entrepreneurial Champion Award by the Committee of 200. She is president of Irma Inc., a marketing strategy consulting company.

1978 David Breen, co-owner of VDA Inc., a design/fabrication company based in Somerville, Mass., recently completed the Theme Feature area of the new Jordan’s Furniture store in Reading. His company was the primary fabrication shop for the theme elements. Lisa Mackel-Wagner is proud to announce the birth of her granddaughter, Brianna Marie Wagner, born in December 2003. Paige Pollack is a Foley artist and voiceover actor. Her credits include the ﬁlms Kinsey and The Perfect Man (starring Hillary Duff). She writes: “I came out to California as a dancer and was trained to do ‘Foley’ by a woman who was a dancer….I have made a good living as an actor for 21 years.”

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In Memoriam

1937 1937 1939 1947 1948 1949 1951 1952 1953 1953 1953 1955 1960 1974 1976 1982 1996 2006

Ethel (Jacobs) Dretler of Marblehead, Mass. Dorothy (Ryan) Payzant of Fort Myers, Fla. Pauline Hinman of Panama City, Fla. Natalie F. Berglund of Portland, Maine Margaret Allen Cleveland of Indialantic, Fla. Alexander P. Alexander of Lynn, Mass. Patricia E. Sullivan of Plymouth, Mass. Edwin Zetterberg of Dover, N.H. Warren “Jack” O’Brien of Longboat Key, Fla. J.Barry Regan of Hope, R.I. George A. Ross III of New York, N.Y. Peggy Edelstein Koch of New York City, N.Y. Rev. Edmund Alfred Richards of North Adams, Mass. Stephen E. Collins of Arlington, Mass. Marianne Casey of Castleton, Vt. Patricia Lawless of Arlington, Mass. Beth (Medjuck) Benjamin of Toronto, Canada Victoria ‘Torie’ Snelgrove of East Bridgewater, Mass.

1982 Trish Lindberg was recognized as the 2004 New Hampshire Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and Council for Advancement of Support of Education. Regarding her many awards Trish says, “I would not be where I am today without the great education I received at Emerson from Bob Colby.”

1983 Chris Clavelli and Amy Gellman memorialized the death of their beloved son, Jess, by establishing the Jess Ilias Clavelli Comedy Award. Each year the $1,000 award goes to a student who demonstrates a gift for comedy writing or per-

1986 Russell Weisenbacher and his wife bought a house in Eastport, Long Island. Russell is now assistant principal of Islip High School. He writes: “I use the tools and tricks that Emerson taught me every day” in speaking to groups of people or in one-on-one conferences.

1988

forming. To date there are two Emerson Adjunct Professor award winners, Bradley Smith Danell Tomasella ’88, MA ’03 and Patrick Baker ’04. ’92, and Rex Trailer provide voiceover and narration Larry Dutra writes: “How is services for various industries it that a graduate of Emerson through their company, 21st with a major in business and Century Communications. organizational communication who graduated with a goal of getting into broadcasting ends up presiding over a thriving wine company in California?”

1984 Deb Guston, MA ’84, has joined Emerging Artists Theatre in New York City as a director and company manager for directors. The theater is a “premier showcase for the development and performance of new plays.” Stephen Jackson worked at various radio stations after graduation, in roles from beat

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reporter to news announcer to news director. He trained to be a chef and now works in restaurants in the Vancouver area. He also works in photography. He says a “warm hello” to his Phi Alpha Tau brothers and other friends.

1989 Andy Carlson married fellow Emersonian Libby Kozaczek in October 2004. Other Emersonians in attendance were: Todd Perlmutter, Jennifer Perlmutter, Andrea Kaovakis, Matt Pollack, Chris Black, Jeff Bell, Dan Mongeon and Phil Downes. The Carlsons live in Santa Monica, Calif. Lauren Palmer Clark passed away unexpectedly on March 5, 2004, in Dallas, Texas. A scholarship fund has been set up for her 11-year-old son, Palmer Addison Clark, c/o Millennium Bank, P.O. Box 814489, Dallas TX 75225. Diane (Savasta) Hawley and Rob Hawley ’87 are happy and healthy and living in Canton, Mass., with their 8-year-old son. After beating a diagnosis of leukemia, Rob is a happy multimedia specialist for the U.S. Army. Diane is working as a teacher’s aide in a second-grade classroom while pursuing a master’s degree in education.

Doug Holloway ’76 has been named a member of the board of directors of ValueVision Media. Holloway is president of Cable Investments for NBC Universal Cable.

Christopher Michel has two children and has started his own graphic design ﬁrm after being senior designer at Leo Burnett Chicago. He has been happily married for 11 years. Jeff Wise is communications director for Stowe Mountain Resort in Vermont. He had been the resort’s marketing manager for three years and the snowboard school manager for eight.

1990 Michael Brown is senior art director at Marketing by Design in Sarasota, Fla. He and his wife, Cindy, have three children. He is also a member of the Florida Air National Guard. He has “come across a few Emerson alums working on the Suncoast” and hopes to hear from friends and classmates at mab68@hotmail. com.

1991 Dorothea Coelho and David Cohen have married. Dorothea has a new show that will be airing this January on Animal Planet. She will be the host of Who Gets The Dog, a show where three adoptive families compete for the affections of a rescued dog. The dog, with the help of a team of experts, decides which family it would like to live with. David sold his ﬁrst script, Black Sabbath (co-written with Tony

Lord), to Summit Entertainment in spring 2003. In January 2004 Cohen and Lord’s second script, Head Games, was sold to Universal Pictures, to be produced by Mandalay Pictures. David’s agent is Emile Gladstone ’90. Debi Goldberg married Bill Gross on Oct. 23, 2004. Michele Rosenblum Sand ’91 was the maid of honor and Bebe Lerner ’92 was a bridesmaid. Also attending the wedding were Brittany Zucker ’91, Christine Cavalieri ’91, Wade Williams ’93 and Jenny Boyle ’93. Debi is living in Hollywood, Fla.

Denise Kaigler ’85 (right), senior vice president and chief communications ofﬁcer for Reebok International Ltd., met Jay Leno ’73 and wife Mavis Leno at the 16th Carousel of Hope Ball in Beverly Hills in October, where Jay served as emcee. The fundraiser beneﬁted childhood diabetes.

Jean Harper, MFA’ 91, has written a book, Greenhouse: A Memoir of Work, which was awarded the Mid-List Press First Series Award for Creative Nonﬁction. The book will be released this spring.

facet of the industry and has contributed to two industry books, Forms, Folds and Sizes and Bringing Graphic Design In-House.

1993

1992

Jon Kranz received his ﬁfth Digital Edge Award from the Newspaper Association of America in 2004 as senior producer for Landmark Communications. His radio music and arts program Gyroscope is syndicated on NPR stations nationwide. Jon would like to give a shout-out to all of his old Emerson and Charlesgate buds.

Jen Gotti is gearing up for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Italy. This past summer she oversaw The Today Show’s Olympic coverage in Athens. She has managed shows in Bangkok, Cambodia, Korea and Botswana. Jen has been with NBC for seven years and lives in Hoboken, N.J.

Katy (Berke) Henthorne married David Henthorne in 1995 after working with him at Hard Copy. Together they started their own business, Crew Company, in 1997. They work with an ‘incredible’ clientele of production companies, shows and studios. Katy and David live in Phoenix, Ariz., with their two daughters, Bethany, 6, and Leah, 4.

Edwin Strout’s new theater company, Joking Apart Theater, has just completed its ﬁrst season. The company, in Minneapolis, is dedicated to Sir Alan Ayckbourn’s work. Ellen Weaver has been working in the Boston advertising and direct marketing industry since graduation. She has worked in virtually every

Cynthia Zeuli has written her second novel, Succulent Crimson, to be published in hardcover.

Keith Ciociola was recently engaged to Gwendolyn Ruiz. The couple will live in Connecticut.

Timothy Rogers is in the process of working toward a doctorate in drama at the University of Manchester, in England, having already completed an M.A. from King’s College London and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Suzie Sims-Fletcher, MA ’93, is in China teaching Oral English, Language and Culture at Zhejiang Ocean University. She received the Centennial

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Heidi (Tibbetts) King ’94, MSSp ’97, and her husband, Ken, had a baby girl, Helena Rose, in November.

1995 Angel Connell was a delegate to the 2004 Republican National Convention held in New York City last summer.

Jennifer (Flynn) Perlmutter ’89 lives in Burbank, Calif., with husband Sean and 2-year-old son Jaco. After stints in TV and ﬁlm, she has found her “passion”: art. Her work is exhibited throughout Los Angeles and is part of several prominent private collections.

Fellows Award from Pennsylvania State this year. She continues to be a voice and speech consultant and a voiceover artist.

1994 Amy (Vlastos) Benoit and husband John announce the arrival of Kaelyn, born Aug. 26, 2004. Amy would love to hear from her former Emerson roommate Leslie Bird ’97 at amy.benoit@comcast.net. Ami Gourwitz Burns and her family have relocated from Boston to Chicago, where Ami is a producer of Judge Mathis. Her favorite co-productions with her husband, Craig Burns ’93, are their awesome sons, Justin, 6, and Joshua, 2. Jen Deaderick married Rembs Layman in May 2004. They have a new daughter, Rosalind Tupelo, and are living in Brookline, Mass.

32 Expression Winter 2005

Jeremy Desel picked up two more regional Emmy Awards and produced the second annual Lone Star Region Emmy Awards Show. He is in his sixth year as a reporter at KHOU-TV in Houston. Michelle Elbin married David Evasew in May 2004. Michelle and her husband opened the Upper Merion Dance and Gymnastics Center in King of Prussia, Pa., where they live. Michelle was director of Upper Merion’s Parks and Recreation Dance Program for three years prior to opening her studio. Wendy Ilene Friedman is taking broadcasting courses at New York University and recently produced and hosted a promotional video for the Affordable Art Fair New York at Pier 17. Jennifer (Murray) MacKenzie is employed by George Lucas’ Industrial Light and Magic as a digital effects artist. She is currently working on the ﬁnal Star Wars ﬁlm. She lives in Marin County with husband Sean.

Harlan Gulko has been named director of national publicity (West Coast) at Focus Features in Los Angeles. Focus is the independent film division of NBC/Universal. He has worked on the campaigns of Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind, The Motorcycle Diaries and the upcoming Brokeback Mountain. Old friends can write to: Harlan. gulko@focusfeatures.com. Deb (Kaplan) Jacoby and Michael E. Jacoby are thrilled to announce the arrival of their first child, Sarah Elianna, born Aug. 26, 2004. Deb and Michael were married in July 2000. They live in Tarzana, Calif. Deb works as a marketing coordinator for the BBC and Michael is a financial advisor. Deb can be reached at dark1130@yahoo.com. Silvia Rodriguez and her husband, Christian Larrea, are pleased to announce the birth of their first child Isabella, born in Quito, Ecuador, on Aug. 6, 2004.

Kevin Wynn has been promoted to the position of university spokesman and associate director of media relations at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. He and his wife, Jennifer Markham-Wynn ’94, a morning radio show host at WXLO (104.5 FM), recently celebrated the ﬁrst birthday of their ﬁrst child, Evan Emerson Wynn.

1996 Michel (Chella) Claudio and husband Tony welcomed their second child, Sophia, on Oct. 2. Michel continues to work as a sound designer and engineer in the Savannah and Hilton Head area. Craig Salters, MFA ’96, lives on Cape Cod with his wife, Tracy, and son, Jack. He is a reporter covering the town of Yarmouth for The Register, a weekly newspaper. Marlynn (Jayme) Schotland and Alain Schotland ’96 celebrated the birth of their ﬁrst son, Ethan, in May. Marlynn works as director of public relations for The Art Institute of Portland, Ore., and recently earned the ACE Award as the No. 1 PR director nationwide in the Education Management and Corporation system. Alain is the business systems developer for Standard Insurance Co. They would love to hear from Emersonians at mschotland@comcast.net. Serra Tunaman, MA ’96, gave birth to a daughter, Mina, on Oct. 13, 2003, in New York. Serra and her family are residing in Istanbul, Turkey. She can be reached at serra@tunestravel.com.

1997 Yoav Bar Ilan manages a successful magazine in New York City called The Real Deal, a real-estate publication targeted toward commercial real-estate prospects, including Donald Trump. The office is located in the heart of Manhattan, in Union Square. Chris Nicini and Tina (Gisone) Nicini ’98 live in East Providence, R.I., with their 1-year-old son, Lucas. Chris enjoys a career in television production, covering events like Celtics and Red Sox games and the Democratic National Convention. Tina is a full-time mom and works from home as writer and managing editor for a financial firm. Chris and Tina remain close with Joe Francazio and Christian White. Tanya Scott, MA ’95, and John Pent, MA ’97, recently celebrated their fourth wed-

Michael Teixeira ’94 and Kristen Tanzer Teixeira ’94 welcomed their ﬁrst child to the world, daughter Emerson. They live in Gloucester, Mass., and would love to catch up with old friends. Write to kristen teixeira@yahoo. com.

ding anniversary. They live in Rockville, Md., where Tanya designs and wholesales her own line of women’s shoes. John previously worked for the Discovery Health Channel and now has his own company providing continuing education to healthcare professionals.

1998 Maria Coder is studio supervisor at Times Square Studios in New York City, overseeing productions and events, including Good Morning America, The Insider and ESPN shows. She is also launching her own venture, an online writing service called SuperSentence. She was formerly with the Associated Press and founded an online women’s magazine called Redeﬁning Pink. Christopher Fernandez was married in September 2002 to Susan Kellar. They live in New Jersey and are expecting their ﬁrst child in April 2005. Chris’s editing work has been

seen on the NBA Finals, NFL Playoffs, World Figure Skating Championships and other major sporting broadcasts.

and post-production facilities in the country. The ﬁlm will be available on DVD in early 2005.

Jason Santo has been putting his Emerson education to good use running his own motion picture production company, Mindscape Pictures, in Boston. This past July Mindscape received national Katherine Gill was married to Charles “Jesse” Sandoz on Oct. distribution for its premier series of short films, called 16, 2004. Heather MacAyeal “Bent: Volume 1-3.” He has Hardy ’95 was in attendance. also started a website, MicroIn addition to her new huscinemaScene.com, devoted to band, Katherine has a new job independent, no/low budget as the accounts receiveable/ moviemaking. customer service coordinator for Marklin Candle, in ConChristy Schmidt-Noe, Esq., toocook, N.H. has joined the firm of Levin Cyphers in Toms River, N.J. Jill (Soiferman) Goodman and husband Larry welcomed their first child, Max Benjamin, on Sept. 22, 2004. Jill is an Lisa Allen Brown is living in attorney working in Norwood, Dorchester, Mass., with her Mass. husband and daughter. She is enrolled in the graduate Jason Miller was promoted to program at the Center for creative executive of Marvel Women in Politics and Public Studios, where he has helped Policy at University of Masdevelop such films as Spidersachusetts. She would love to man 2 and Blade: Trinity. hear from alumni, especially from the L.A. program at lisa. Lee Miller is pleased to a.brown@gmail.com. announce that the National Film Network has picked up Mary Ann Cicala was named his youth prison documenassociate director of Alumni tary, Real Time, for worldwide Relations at Emerson College. DVD distribution. NFN is the distribution arm of DuArt, one of the largest film labs

Gia Galligani is working as a producer for a new reality documentary show for ABC, Garden of Love in the City of Sin, airing in March.

1999

Betsy (Ward) Herald ’95 is a Boston realtor whose sales for 2004 so far total over $25 million, putting her in the Top Five Boston Real Estate Brokers. This year Betsy decided to give something extra back, so she hosted a Casino Night to raise money for Home Start, a Boston charity that ﬁghts homelessness in Boston. In attendance were Heather MacAyeal Hardy ’95 and Jon ‘Satch’ Satriale ’94.

33 Expression Winter 2005

Prior to that, she spent four years as community arts administrator at the Cambridge Arts Council, where she oversaw the Cambridge Street Performer program and co-produced the annual River Festival. She writes: “I have many wonderful memories of my experience at Emerson College, and I am thrilled to be working for my alma mater.” Brian Hodges married Lauren Fernandez (sister of Chris ’98) in 2002. They had their ﬁrst child, Allison, in May 2004. Brian works as an Avid technician providing on-site support for events, including the Super Bowl, Miss America and the NBA championships. Jessica (Deveney) Marino announces the arrival of Lily Anne Marino, born May 2, 2004. Jessica says she and her husband are having a

blast with their new baby girl. Jessica had been working as a speech-language pathologist in the Portland, Maine, area but will now stay at home with Lily and do per diem work.

2000 Michael J. Chmura has been re-elected to the board of directors of Friends of Ladders, which supports the work of the LADDERS autism clinic in Wellesley, Mass. Chmura is director of public relations at Babson College in Wellesley. Suzanne McNaught of Stoneham, Mass., became engaged to David Thistle. Suzanne is currently ﬁnishing a master of education degree and is working as a speech-language assistant for the Stoneham Public Schools. David is a police ofﬁcer in Stoneham. Sara Morling received her master’s degree in children’s literature from Reading University in England, then spent Rhoda Jordan ’00 and Eric Shapiro ’00 were married on May 28, 2004, aboard theyachtDestiny, in Newport Beach, Calif.

34 Expression Winter 2005

two years in New York working for the children’s division of Time Warner Book Group. Now she lives in England and works for a children’s ﬁction packager catering to U.S. and U.K. publishers. Alums interested in children’s ﬁction can e-mail SaraMorling@working partnersltd.co.uk.

Beth Royer’s poetry chapbook Radio Dreams, published in June 2004, won the Slipstream Press Annual Chapbook contest.

Adam Wocel is an account manager with Smith & Jones Advertising. After Emerson, he worked in ﬁlm, television, video and multimedia for a while, then got his M.B.A. from the University at Albany.

Susan Stevenson-Popp and Josh Shama are engaged and will be married in July 2005. Susan received her law degree in May 2004 from the Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law. She has begun a job at the U.S. Regulatory Commission. Josh is production manager for Double R Productions. They reside in Alexandria, Va.

2001

2002

Monica Azevedo gave birth to a son, Aiden Marco, on June 12, 2004.

Cathie Miller, MA ’02, was recently engaged to Gregg Bailey. She is a senior client manager at American Student Assistance in Boston; Gregg is an attorney. They live in South Boston.

Sheila Darragh has published a new poetry collection, Random Rhymes from a Random Mind. Anthony Fisher won Best Feature Screenplay comedy at the Moondance International Film Festival in Boulder, Colo., last May for his screenplay Life Among the Ruins. He also finished as a finalist at the San Diego Film Festival’s Screenplay Competition. Pfc. Kenneth Reynolds, U.S.M.C, left the entertainment industry and graduated from Marine Corps Recruit Training in September 2004 as a private first class and is now continuing with more advanced training at Camp Lejeune, N.C., and Naval Air Station, Pensacola, Fla.

Eric Wasserman’s ﬁrst booklength collection of short stories, The Temporary Life, will be published by La Questa Press in March.

2003 Adrienne Jozwick moved to New York shortly after graduation and has taken a position as assistant to the Chairman of Trident Media Group, a literary agency in Manhattan

with clients that include Jon Stewart, Dean Koontz, Janet Evanovich and Paris Hilton. Andy Leviss is sound engineer for the national tour of Sesame Street Live: Elmo’s Coloring Book. Previously, he had worked as assistant sound engineer for the national tour of the musical The Full Monty. Frederick Nnoma-Addison is working with an African-interest, nonproﬁt media organization in Washington, D.C., called The Africa Media-Image Project Inc.

Alicia Koscielniak ’02 graduated with a B.F.A. in dance and moved to Colorado, where she is a ballet teacher and Pilates instructor. She is planning to marry Steven Malouff of Denver.

2004 April Bartlett has been accepted into the highly competitive Carnegie Mellon M.F.A. Design program in the School of the Arts. She writes: “Thank you for all your support and contribution to my education! Every one of you plays a huge role in the state-of-the-art education Emerson offers.” Vanessa Leon is living in Southern California and working for Growing Generations, a ﬁrm that helps gay and lesbian couples become parents. One of the most monumental days of her life, she writes, “was the day gay marriage became legal in Massachusetts,” which was also her college graduation day and the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education.

Reed McDowell has been named investigative story coordinator for the nation’s highest rated nationally syndicated news magazine, Inside Edition.

Christopher Paul Moore, MA ’04, is associate project manager for MetLife Auto & Home’s corporate marketing department. One day before graduating from Emerson with his master’s, he proposed to his girlfriend, Christina Smith. They are now engaged to be married in May 2006.

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; 1-800-255-4259; fax: 1-617-824-7807. New job? Recently engaged or married? New baby? Moving? Recently ran into an old classmate? Received an award? Let us know. Visit www.emerson.edu/alumni to submit Class Notes, stay connected to other alums and more.

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

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My Turn The Next Generation Maggie Crowley ’05 finds that youth and politics go hand in hand I was 15 years old when I first met with my Connecticut state representative, John Piscopo, and thought I was prepared for any question he might ask about the bill I was lobbying for. I was not prepared, however, for his first and only question: “Why should I listen to you? You’re not old enough to vote.” Taken aback, I stammered that my parents also supported the co-parent adoption bill that would protect same-sex

Maggie Crowley ’05 at the Massachusetts State House, where she recently spent a good deal of time organizing young activists.

36 Expression Winter 2005

parents and their children. Trying to calm myself, I added that I was still a constituent and that I would be voting very soon. I managed to utter a few more arguments in favor of the bill before collecting my dignity and heading for the door. Last summer I got a call from my parents that brought back vivid memories of that day. “We just saw your friend Piscopo,” my dad announced. My parents and several other families had met with

the representative to urge him not to vote for a bill that would ban same-sex marriage. The representative told my parents that after his meeting with me several years ago, he started to reconsider his views because “if a young person cared about this so much, it must be important.” Clearly, my youth was an asset to my arguments. Today I travel throughout Massachusetts, encouraging college and high school students to speak out in support of same-sex marriage. When speaking with

younger students, I always make sure that they know how to respond to anyone who tells them their voices don’t count. I love the power that citizens of any age can wield by making themselves known to their elected ofﬁcials. Anyone can become a voice for change with just a letter or a phone call. And in small towns like the ones in Connecticut that Rep. Piscopo serves, citizens even have a chance to speak their minds when they see their public servants at the market, the farm stand or town functions. At the most local levels of our democracy, individual citizens play a crucial role in the political process. These experiences echo the Emerson slogan, “Expression necessary to evolution.” As I continue my work, the Emerson community has been a wonderful place to ‘call home’. Last winter and spring, I crossed Boston Common to spend four days at rallies outside the Massachusetts State House while legislators considered a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. I carried signs, led chants, and kept an eye on the anti-gay protestors. Each time we gathered there, I saw more Emerson students join the demonstrations. Many of them were students I recognized from classes but had never spoken to. As each long, frustrating day turned into night, there were familiar faces all around me. And I was grateful to be a part of this community. Maggie Crowley ’05 is an honors student double majoring in dance and political communication. She is a recipient of the Max Mutchnick Scholarship, which honors service to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community. She is currently working as youth and college coordinator for the Freedom to Marry Coalition of Massachusetts.

Why Emerson College? Because art and creativity matter Jacquelyn “Jackie” Borck of

Jacquelyn Borck earned her master’s degree in 1995.

‘I give to the Annual Fund each year in hopes tahat this money will help another theater educator ﬁnd value in his or her trade.’

Borck fondly recalls the classes Brookline, Mass., enrolled in she took at Emerson, especially a graduate program at those taught by Robert Colby, Emerson with the idea of Carol Korty, Leo Nicole, Nathaniel becoming a film writer. Warren White and Maureen Shea. Instead, the mother of two infants rediscovered a love “It was very hands-on and thrilling of children’s theater that had – the lighting, the makeup, the taken root in her as an actor in costumes – all of it,” she says. elementary school plays in her “We felt empowered and we hometown of Rye, N.Y. learned self-reliance, but the faculty was always there when we Since earning her M.A. in needed them.” 1995, children’s theater and education have been Borck says Emerson made Borck’s profession as well as a “huge difference” in her life her passion. by giving her the professional skills needed to become a In 1998 she co-founded the better teacher, director and arts ArtBarn Community Theater, administrator. an after-school performing arts program for children “I give to the Annual Fund each in grades K-12 in Brookline year in hopes that this money will that has enrolled more than help another theater educator 1,250 students and produced find value in his or her trade,” 42 shows. Today she is the adds Borck, who is a member of theater’s artistic director. the President’s Society of donors. “It’s hard to make a living as an “Our program reaches students artist. If I give to Emerson, which at a crucial time in their has given so much to me, then development,” Borck notes. perhaps another person will “Children enjoy words. We help get to go back to school, gain them develop reading and professional skills and give back literacy skills. There are many creatively to the world.” side benefits, especially for nonconventional students or those For more information about the with special needs.” Annual Fund and gift opportunities please contact: Martha Cassidy Krohn, Annual Fund Director, 120 Boylston St., 7th floor, Boston, MA 02116-4624; (617) 824-8543 or Martha_cassidy@emerson. edu. To learn more, visit www.emerson. 37 Expression Winter 2005on “Giving.” edu/alumni/ and click

“DO YOU HEAR WHAT I HEAR?”

Braving the bitter cold, members of the Emerson College Class of 1964 pose with their snowy creation for Emerson’s ﬁrstever Winter Carnival, the Frosty Frolic, held in March 1963. The juniors sculpted a replica of the dog who was made famous as the RCA logo. The students won ﬁrst prize in the Carnival’s snow sculpture contest. The Frolic included ice skating, a fashion show, and a winter formal called the Crystal Cotillion, held at the Kenmore Hotel.

Emerson College 120 Boylston Street Boston, Massachusetts 02116-4624

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