Hamilton Magazine - Fall 2023

HAMILTON Magazine

From Imagination to Creation

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Fall 2023

THINGS YOU’LL LEARN Cowboys Help Cowboys When he’s not roping or training horses, Mike Bruce ’69 is busy with the nonprofit he founded that helps cowboys and ranch families through difficult times. Check out his work and that of other alumni in the Because Hamiltonians section. PAGE 4

Samuel Kirkland Wrote Here After years hidden away in storage, the desk that once belonged to the Rev. Samuel Kirkland, founder of the Hamilton-Oneida Academy, has been uncovered and is now on permanent display. Follow its history. PAGE 20

Martin’s on a Mission This is a public service announcement. Dewayne Martin ’24, Hamilton’s second Truman Scholar, is committed to making lives better, starting with the people in his hometown of Miami. PAGE 36

It’s Time to Go Shopping Introducing the Hamilton Gift Guide, your source for exploring and purchasing products and services offered by members of the College community. Meet just a few of our entrepreneurs and their wares. PAGE 40

Women Can Be Unwavering Read an excerpt from a book co-written by Judy Silverstein Gray K’78 that tells of the relentless advocacy of Vietnam War-era POW/MIA wives, whose persistence ultimately changed policy so “no man is left behind.”

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On the cover

Colorful creations designed and produced by students using 3D printers in Burke Library’s new TECH Lab. PAGE 28 PHOTO BY KEVIN M. WALDRON THIS PAGE: Nancy Ross K’71 holds some of the commemorative rings she designed to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Kirkland College charter class.

PHOTO BY BOB HANDELMAN

COMMENTS

HAMILTON MAGAZINE FALL 2023 VOLUME 88, NO. 2 EDITOR Stacey J. Himmelberger P’15,’22 (shimmelb@hamilton.edu) SENIOR WRITER Megan B. Keniston ART DIRECTOR & DESIGNER Bradley J. Lewthwaite DESIGNER Kevin M. Waldron PRODUCTION MANAGER Mona M. Dunn PRODUCTION ASSISTANT Phyllis L. Jackson CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Jorge L. Hernández ’72 Evan Robinson ’23 STUDENT ILLUSTRATOR Eliza Pendergast ‘24 PHOTOGRAPHERS Alya MacDonald ’25 Zack Stanek Kevin M. Waldron WEB COORDINATORS Esena J. Jackson Katherine Rook ’10 SOCIAL MEDIA COORDINATOR Tim O’Keeffe

VICE PRESIDENT, COMMUNICATIONS AND MARKETING Melissa Farmer Richards

CONTACT Email: editor@hamilton.edu Phone: 866-729-0313 © 2023, Trustees of Hamilton College

Scan to read online edition.

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O SAY I WAS delighted by Steve Wulf ’s [’72] article in the Winter-Spring 2023 edition of Hamilton magazine would be an understatement. In addition to enjoying Mr. Wulf ’s precise and evocative prose, I reveled in his evocation of Norwich, N.Y., and of course Hamilton College.

The article particularly resonated with me as I grew up in Smyrna, N.Y., 12 miles from Norwich, and attended high school in Sherburne. My first job after graduating from Hamilton in 1977 was selling advertising at the Evening Sun. I played basketball and squash at the YMCA, which Steve accurately describes as a center of the community.

I came to know Judge Howie Sullivan when I returned to Norwich in the summer of 1979 after my first year of law school at Vanderbilt in Nashville. I was clerking for DA John Marshall that summer and would go over for motion days at Judge Sullivan’s court. He was friendly and encouraging.

I attended Hamilton during Cedric Oliver’s [’79] days on the basketball team and never missed a game during my years at Hamilton. I also remember Willie Jackson [’78] as a favorite player.

I returned to the area many times to visit my mother who continued to live in Smyrna. (Ask Steve if he ever saw the Smyrna Community Band concerts in the summer.) Visits included taking my sons to Cooperstown to the Hall of Fame and touring Hamilton. My mother especially loved walking in the Glen.

Enough rambling, but the article was a heartfelt homage to sports, Central NY, and Hamilton, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

David Kumatz ’77

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ESTERDAY MORNING, I was reading the Connections essay “My 10 Moms” in The Boston Globe Magazine (Sunday, May 14) by Hamilton 2016 grad Michael Nelson. The essay was accompanied by a photo of Michael in his cap and gown, “surrounded by some of the moms in his life,” proudly holding his diploma and his cane. Very moving essay. Then, having finished the magazine, I moved on to the Winter-Spring [2023] issue of Hamilton, and who should I find in the “Because Hamiltonians” section but Michael Nelson! I love seeing Hamiltonians out in the world making a difference!

Jennifer Matson Andrews ’88

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HE UPCOMING retirement of President David Wippman presents an opportune time for a reorientation of Hamilton’s priorities for its leadership. To my knowledge, Hamilton has never had a president of color. That, in itself, is a very disturbing fact. In these times our very democracy, our freedom to read, our freedom to elect a functioning and representative government, and our freedom to be safe in our communities are undermined by rampant gun violence and racist police. We in the Hamilton community need to make a statement that we will be involved in the

social upheavals of our time and that our leadership will encourage our students to see not only the beauty of literature but also the legacies of racism, sexism, and homophobia.

It’s time to abandon that “Oasis on the Hill” way of thinking. I submit that the search committee should find competent and qualified candidates who also have a record of social activism. Do not think this to be a compromise of standards.

There are many, many people of color who would do an excellent job, if only the searchers would be proactive in finding them.

Leonard L. Cavise ’67

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APPRECIATED your article on Gene Long’s goalie mask in the Winter-Spring 2023 edition. Gene is deserving of special recognition for the many ways that he contributed to athletics — including his pioneering work with goaltender facemasks and the mask’s impact on the sport of hockey in general.

Unfortunately, its author picked up and repeated an error from an earlier article on Gene Long’s face mask. I am cited as having been honored by the title All-American when that title was not accurate and continues to be totally inappropriate. I never received such an honor.

In 1956, NCAA hockey programs were divided into two groups: Large Universities and Small Colleges. In the 1950s, no Small College hockey player was recognized as All-American. It was not until the 1960s when a

COMMENTS

THE TRUSTEES David M. Solomon ’84, P’16, Chair Robert V. Delaney ’79, Vice Chair Linda E. Johnson ’80, Vice Chair

sprinkling of Small College playsaid it best: “I think you were and ers became recognized with are an All-American.”

All-America status. There were more recognized in the later ’60s.

HANK YOU for your piece Even though there were several in Hamilton on “The Process outstanding players at Hamilton of Teaching (and Learning) Writduring the 1960s, I believe the ing” [Winter-Spring 2023.] first Hamilton hockey player to After graduating from Hamilformally receive such recognition ton, I went to (and survived with was forward C. Michael Thomas a reasonable degree of honor) in 1971. The second was a defenthree years at Columbia Law seman, Kurt Ziemendorf, in 1976.

School. But never intending to I did receive All-East Small practice law, I went down to College recognition in 1958 and Washington and worked on Capi1959, but that was it. There was tol Hill for 17 years, most of no All-America recognition for which as legislative director for hockey at that time except perSenator Carl Levin. After moving haps for a few players on elite back to Long Island, N.Y., I “university classified” teams which worked as counsel to the newly we played, such as St. Lawrence, formed Nassau County LegislaClarkson, and RPI. Intercolleture and then as the government giate hockey in the 1950s was still relations person for Nassau Comin [the] middle stages of develmunity College. I am now opment by today’s standards. “retired, but not inactive” and live There were no NCAA Division I with my wife, Denise, of 38 years. or II or III categories until later Along with two others from the when the sport further expanded.

Class of ’73 who had also worked If there is anything that can in government, I recently did a be done to correct the “All-AmerZoom piece as the run-up to our ican” error, I would appreciate it.

50th reunion titled “Making Government Work: Views From Don Spencer ’59 Rooms Where It Happened.” (Yes, I can take credit for that title.)

Editor’s note: Don Spencer may And now for the business have played before athletes at part of this note. I can relate so colleges such as Hamilton were much to what you wrote. eligible for All-America honors, Although a government major at but that doesn’t mean he didn’t Hamilton, the writing and compost some impressive numbers in munication skills that I his day. In the 1958-59 season, developed there were crucial to the Continentals finished 8-9-1, my ability to effectively do my while Spencer racked up 444 government work. More than stops in goal and a .874 save perthat, they have enabled me to centage. Perhaps his friend and fellow Continentals hockey player develop a mini-career as an author. In a very real sense, writKevin Kennedy ’70, who was also ing has not only helped to give copied on this letter to the editor,

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me a way to make a living, but it has also given me a means to help enjoy living. I’ve written about 150 essays that are included in the three books that I have published. And, yes, given my very personal style (I consider myself a “poetic essayist”) and my lack of any real public notoriety, “self-publishing’ was really the only option for me.

Then again, offsetting the personal cost and stigma associated with self-publishing, it also gave me total creative control. That ability, for someone like myself who had to deal with the editing of “principals” during my working career, was very satisfying.

Again, thank you for sharing [the feature on writing] with readers.

Chuck Cutolo ’73

Send your letters, story ideas, and feedback to editor@hamilton.edu or Hamilton magazine, 198 College Hill Road, Clinton, NY 13323.

We welcome comments on topics discussed in the magazine or on any subject of possible interest to the College community. Please include your name and class year, and whether you intend for your letter to be published. We reserve the right to judge whether a letter

CHARTER TRUSTEES Aron J. Ain ’79, P’09,’11 Mason P. Ashe ’85 Richard Bernstein ’80 Peter B. Coffin ’81, P’14 Julia K. Cowles ’84 Mark T. Fedorcik ’95 Daniel C. Fielding ’07 Amy Owens Goodfriend ’82 Philip L. Hawkins ’78 David P. Hess ’77 Gregory T. Hoogkamp ’82, P’25 Lea Haber Kuck ’87, P’24 Sharon D. Madison ’84 Christopher P. Marshall ’90 Robert S. Morris ’76, P’16,’17 Daniel T.H. Nye ’88, P’24 Montgomery G. Pooley ’84, P’16,’19 Ronald R. Pressman ’80 Imad I. Qasim ’79 R. Christopher Regan ’77, P’08 Nancy Roob ’87 Alexander C. Sacerdote ’94 Jack R. Selby ’96 David Wippman ALUMNI TRUSTEES Betsy G. Bacot ’84 Aditya Bhasin ’94 Phyllis A. Breland ’80 Kathleen Corsi ’82, P’23 Eric F. Grossman ’88 Monique L. Holloway ’87, P’14,’18 Edvige Jean-François ’90 Kevin J. O’Donnell ’89, P’22,’25 Daniel I. Rifkin ’88, P’23 Lindsey Pizzica Rotolo ’97 William C. Schmoker ’89 LIFE TRUSTEES Henry W. Bedford II ’76 David W. Blood ’81 Harold W. Bogle ’75, P’14 Brian T. Bristol P’11 Christina E. Carroll P’90 Gerald V. Dirvin ’59, P’84, GP’17 Sean K. Fitzpatrick ’63, P’87 Carol T. Friscia K’77 Lee C. Garcia ’67 Eugenie A. Havemeyer GP’00 Joel W. Johnson ’65, P’93 Kevin W. Kennedy ’70 † A.G. Lafley ’69 † George F. Little II ’71, P’04 Arthur J. Massolo ’64, P’93 Donald R. Osborn P’86, GP’16 Mary Burke Partridge P’94 John G. Rice ’78 Stephen I. Sadove ’73, P’07,’10,’13 † Howard J. Schneider ’60, P’85,’87,’89, GP’21 Thomas J. Schwarz ’66, P’01 A. Barrett Seaman ’67 Nancy Ferguson Seeley GP’17 Chester A. Siuda ’70, P’06, GP’25 Susan E. Skerritt K’77, P’11 Charles O. Svenson ’61, P’00 Thomas J. Tull ’92, P’13 Susan Valentine K’73 Jack Withiam, Jr. ’71, P’16,’20 Jaime E. Yordán ’71 Srilata Zaheer † Chairmen Emeriti

is appropriate for publication and to edit for accuracy and length.

PRESIDENT OF THE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION John J. Christopher ’83, P’14

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BECAUSE HAMILTONIANS [...]

At Kirkland she majored in American and English literature before beginning what would be a three-pronged professional path. Semmes started out in London working in book publishing.

In 1981, she returned stateside and completed a master’s degree at Dartmouth, concentrating on gender studies and medieval history, while working in the college’s libraries. While there, she also

gained experience providing religious support to students. “I trained for this in the local hospital, which inspired a complete change in career direction for me,” she says.

In 2007, Semmes received a Master of Divinity degree from Starr King School in Berkeley, Calif., and earned hospital ministry certification from Stanford University Hospital.

“At age 52, I found my true calling in hospital ministry, the third stage of my career,” says Semmes, who is considering pursuing a private practice in spiritual counseling. “The calling to support people in their illness and spiritual journeys is fulfilled when observing the creativity and hope that people mobilize to their personal and collective benefits.” n

LEARNING AND EXPLORATION have always motivated Alex Ossola ’10. With each of her academic and professional pursuits, curiosity has remained a driving force — and her newest undertaking is no exception.

Ossola recently joined The Wall Street Journal as an audio reporter and producer of the Future of Everything podcast, which covers developments in science and technology. Previously she worked as a writer and editor at publications with a similar STEM and business slant — her articles have appeared in The Atlantic, National Geographic, and Popular Science, among others. While Ossola’s earlier work was largely writing-focused, she did venture into audio reporting as the creator of a podcast for a news website called Quartz.

Ossola honed her reporting skills and learned how to channel her curiosity at New York University, where she earned a master’s degree in science, health, and

environmental reporting. In many ways, she found the perfect union of interests she had discovered and pursued at Hamilton. As a comparative literature major and geosciences minor involved with The Spectator and WHCL, she was initially unsure what path to pursue. After working for AmeriCorps and a travel program, she returned to writing and journalism at NYU through a program that complemented her background in science.

When starting out in science journalism, Ossola recalls being wary of the expectation “that you have to know everything” right from the start. But as it turns out, she says, “You learn and you explore and you keep up with something that’s constantly changing.”

Indeed, she has found that the uncertainty behind curiosity is what keeps the field exciting and engaging. “Any job is a process of learning,” she says. “I want a listener or reader or whomever to learn along with me.” n

PROVIDE CARE

Suzanne G. Semmes K’72 AS A HOSPITAL CHAPLAIN in Santa Cruz, Calif., the Rev. Suzanne G. Semmes K’72 specializes in spiritual critical care support and clinical ethics for hospitalized patients and their families.

“My work includes administrative duties, scheduling as part of a team of three chaplains who cover the hospital 24/7, rounding with the medical interdisciplinary teams in Critical Care, and providing spiritual care, counseling, and grief support to patients, their families, and the staff of the hospital,” says Semmes, who has served in this capacity since 2012 at Dignity Health Dominican Hospital.

LEAD WITH CURIOSITY

Alex Ossola ’10

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RIDE, ROPE & CHANGE Mike Bruce ’69

COMPARED TO THE HECTIC OFFICES of Wall Street, the small city of Durango, tucked away in the southwestern corner of Colorado, might sound like the perfect place for a quiet retirement. But Mike Bruce ’69 has found plenty to keep himself busy after moving from New York almost three decades ago.

On any given weekend, for example, you might find Bruce competing against cowboys decades his junior in reined cow horse and roping. “My horse has the legs, so I don’t have to worry about running,” he laughs.

“But there’s always a bit of luck involved: working with a cow, a horse, and a human, you got three things that could go wrong.”

Aside from competing in roping, training horses, or hunting elk in the high country, the former hedge fund manager volunteers for the La Plata County Search and Rescue, has held leadership positions with local organizations, and six years ago founded the nonprofit Hal Coker Memorial Buckaroo Benefit Fund named after a late friend and roping partner. The fund helps working cowboys and cowgirls, and working ranch families experiencing health and accident-related emergencies.

“We’ve helped an awful lot of folks who were going to be forced into bankruptcy.

Our average grant is between $5,000 and $20,000, and we help roughly five to 10 families a year,” he says. Examples of support include funeral and transitional living expenses for widows; funds for cowboys whose work is suspended after they suffer broken bones; and wheelchair and access needs for a young ranch hand diagnosed with ALS. The fund started with a memorial roping event to benefit Coker’s widow. So many members of the cowboy community came to offer their support that Bruce and his

wife, Sandy, had the idea of creating a nonprofit organization to help families moving forward. To date, their efforts have provided more than $300,000 in aid to 24 cowboys and families in 11 western states; the fund has a current endowment exceeding $400,000.

“The fund became a passion for us after many ranch families welcomed us into their homes and included me in spring brandings,” Bruce says. “Being a part of the working ranch community, it was apparent that not only was the work dangerous, but most families had little or no medical insurance. The cowboy’s emphasis on self-reliance and independence can often lead to a reluctance to ask for help, hence our theme: ‘Cowboys Helping Cowboys.’”

Since graduating from Hamilton, Bruce has remained close with his alma mater,

first serving on the Board of Trustees and later funding the climbing wall in Blood Fitness Center. “Hamilton has been near and dear to my heart for years,” he says.

Though much has changed since his time on the Hill, he remains in touch with the place he once called home.

These days, the Bruces “live our lives in a very western kind of way … I wake up every morning at 5 o’clock, feed horses and cattle, move irrigation equipment around, and then come back to the house to have some breakfast and make a few calls to the East Coast.”

Being in a small community where they could make an impact was always important to the Bruces, and Durango has allowed them to do just that — while enjoying the peace and beauty of life in Colorado. n

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BANK LIFE

Charlie Boyer ’93 AS CO-CEO OF AMERICORD REGISTRY, Charlie Boyer’s ’93 work in stem cell preservation touches the very raw materials of life.

Americord is a leader in cord blood banking, a process of collecting and storing blood from the umbilical cord after a baby’s birth. According to Americord’s website, hematopoietic stem cells “saved” from the umbilical cord have been used since the 1970s in bone marrow transplants. Today, they are approved by the FDA to treat more than 80 medical conditions.

“These cells are ideal treatment for a donor baby with a high likelihood of matches for a baby’s siblings in cases of genetic disorders,” Boyer says. “Families have used the stem cells we saved to dramatically improve the quality of life for their child with sickle cell disease, for example.”

Boyer heads Americord’s strategic planning as well as runs day-to-day operations, taking responsibility for the business results including marketing, sales, lab operations, and research and development.

He comes to the stem cell field after more than three decades in management in the telecommunications and finance industries.

“I majored in computer science at Hamilton and was taught problem-solving skills that I transfer over to the various jobs where I’ve worked,” says Boyer, who plans to parlay his expertise on board positions in the future. “I still enjoy the focus on a company’s most efficient solution.” n

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CREATE WITH PASSION

Maryline Damour ’90 APPEARING IN FRONT OF THE CAMERA before a national audience was a dream come true for interior designer Maryline Damour ’90 — and one she hopes to repeat.

In March 2022, she was invited to share her design solutions on two segments of The Drew Barrymore Show. “Guests on the shows submitted problem spaces, and I redesigned them and did a reveal. I did a living room and a dining room,” she says.

Later that spring Damour appeared on a billboard in Times Square as part of an ad campaign for a handbag designed by Alexander Allen, set dresser for the Sex and the City sequel And Just Like That…

“It was a surreal experience seeing myself on a building,” Damour recalls.

A literature major at Hamilton, Damour had no idea what career path to pursue after graduation. “But the College’s focus on critical thinking made it possible

for me to be a management consultant and advise Fortune 500 companies on marketing and communication strategies,” she says.

Damour worked for 15 years at global firms, including Deloitte, Accenture, and E&Y, before finding her passion. “Buying my first house was what kicked my interest in design into overdrive,” she recalls. “I went to Parsons in NYC to study interior design.”

Today, as co-founder of the design firm Damour Drake, she manages a team of designers and serves as lead designer on interiors and garden projects. Her projects have taken her from her studio in New York’s Hudson Valley as far away as the Caribbean.

“I develop design concepts, create floor plans, and select finishes for additions and new homes,” Damour says. “I also love to decorate existing spaces using paint, wallpaper, and unique touches.”

Her enthusiasm and flair for the creative — plus her time in the limelight — have sparked another goal. “I’d like to be on a design show on TV and share my passion with others,” she says. n

BECAUSE HAMILTONIANS [...]

NURTURE YOUNG THINKERS Thomas Figueroa ’15

FOR THOMAS FIGUEROA ’15, graduating from Hamilton did not mean leaving school behind. Instead, he found himself increasingly drawn to a career in education, eventually leading to his current position as director of programs and partnerships at the Los Angeles nonprofit STEM to the Future.

In this role, Figueroa oversees the organization’s instructional programs and strategy, checking that everything runs smoothly — and ensuring that it will continue to do so. STEM to the Future helps

DESIGN SUSTAINABLY Lindsay Suter ’86

Black and Latinx K-8 students develop science, technology, engineering, art, and math skills while introducing them to social justice concepts through thoughtfully designed curricula. The organization’s academic focus dovetails with Figueroa’s previous roles as a tutor, educator, and computer science instructor.

As an example of how STEM to the Future develops socially conscious academic skills, Figueroa mentioned a lesson involving 3D design software, in which students practiced by creating wind turbines or solar powered cars. A health justice-centered group focused on school

lunches by surveying students, collecting data, and ultimately making informed recommendations to administrators.

Figueroa was initially involved remotely and part time with STEM to the Future, drawing on his experience as a teacher to help design lessons.

From there, he recalls, “I got progressively more involved until I joined full time last summer,” at which point he transitioned into the leadership role he has now.

For Figueroa, the best part of his job is simply to “be in community with folks,” he says. “Also, seeing the genius of third through fifth graders firsthand always motivates me to hustle.” n

SUSTAINABLE-DESIGN ARCHITECT Lindsay Suter ’86 built on his environmental issues honors with the Green Building Council’s Green Advocate Award in 2022.

The GBC is the premier nonprofit institution for the development of sustainable design in the U.S., and perhaps the world.

“It’s essentially their ‘lifetime achievement’ award for architects and community proponents of green building,” Suter says. “As I remarked to their board of directors: On very rare occasions, you receive a compliment that you end up spending the rest of your life trying to live up to! This is surely mine.”

As principal of Lindsay Suter Architects of North Branford, Conn., since 1999, he focuses his practice on sustainable-design principles and their integration with historical building types and the urban fabric. His work in the U.S. and abroad has been recognized with coverage, exhibits, and awards from the American Institute of Architects Connecticut, the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association, Boston Society of Architects, King Charles III

(then Prince Charles), The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Connecticut Public Television & Radio, among others.

Suter recognizes that his Hamilton education did not directly influence his career choice. “Architecture is a very technical profession, and that was not the point of my undergrad experience,” he says. “I do believe strongly, though, that Hamilton provided me with skills, exposure, and habits that are the foundation of any good professional.”

What’s next for Suter? He’s winding down his practice to focus on teaching, having just taken a position at the University of Hartford.

“Teaching architecture studio and sustainable design is gratifying in many ways, especially when encouraging the success of students who come from subcultures that might not support things like gender equality or prioritize environmental concerns,” Suter says. “It’s challenging in ways I’m not used to, but very rewarding.” n

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SUPPORT THE UNBREAKABLE Bob Kinkel ’79

As co-creator of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra (TSO), Bob Kinkel ’79 continues to spread messages through song — this time one of hope for the people of Ukraine.

“Unbreakable” was written in 2014 by recording artist/songwriter/producer Dina Fanai (aka Avalona) and writer/producer Andrey “Jandy” Prudnikov following the Russian takeover of Crimea. The song was never released, but when the war escalated to an unthinkable level, Kinkel became passionate about sharing it. We asked him to share his thoughts on this endeavor.

First off, tell us about how you became involved with this project?

Dina and I know each other from TSO, where she was a singer then head of artist development. We are partners in all aspects of life: we live, write, and produce together and were married in May. I was involved in the project from the beginning; we had brought Jandy over from Ukraine to work with us on some projects, and this track evolved during that period.

What is the song about and how does it move its message?

“Unbreakable” is about finding a light deep within and having the strength to rise through the ashes within even the darkest of moments. The lyrics are the message: “Never giving up in this lifetime, Never bowing down in my armor, Never turn away, Eye to eye now, You will fall …

I’m Unbreakable.”

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Why did you decide the song needed to be released and how did that happen?

Has the song’s relevance changed as the war continues?

In 2014, we had gotten the song to a strong demo level and set it aside. When Russia invaded, we decided it was time to put on the finishing touches and get it out into the world. In summer 2022, I played the song for Jaewon Peter Chun, president of World Smart Cities Forum, when we all attended a salon to support Ukraine. After hearing its powerful message, Peter joined us, deciding to use “Unbreakable” as the theme song for his initiative to rebuild in Ukraine.

The team partnered with video director Alexander Yuffa, who was working in the war zone to create a music video/documentary showing not only the pain and destruction but the courage and strength of the Ukrainian people. He added the opening of the video, which recreated the story from the journal of a boy from Mariupol.

The song is more relevant than ever. The scope and viciousness of the war over the last year-and-a-half is unbelievable. In 2014, the Crimean takeover had the threat of war with Russian troops waiting at the border.

This time it is a full-scale invasion with the beautiful cities of Ukraine being destroyed.

With the fighting involving the entire country, people need hope. The children in the video who say they’re “unbreakable” are all from the refugee center in Bulgaria where the director teaches filmmaking as part of the program to help children through the trauma. We are also in the process of recording the song in Ukrainian.

What were your thoughts at the time about the situation in Ukraine? Why is this personal for you?

Our first thoughts when we heard of the invasion were for our friend, Jandy. Where is the fighting? Where is he? Are he and his family safe? As time went on, we realized that a lot of people we know are from Ukraine and many still have family there.

Working with the film crew and editors that were in Ukraine gave us the perspective of the reality of being there and trying to keep life as normal as possible. The editors would tell us, “We can’t work today, we have no power and we’re hiding under our desks because we’re being shelled.” One woman happened to be filming while she was driving to work when a shell exploded in the highway in front of her. She and all the other drivers around her turned around as debris fell on their cars. Watching the video footage connected me to what they were experiencing and seeing how easily that could relate to us.

‘Unbreakable’ is about finding a light deep within and having the strength to rise through the ashes within even the darkest of moments.

How do projects like this one impact your own work as a musician?

Using the power of music to help make life better in the world has always been central to what we do. Individually and through our LLC Power of Music Global, we work closely with other organizations like Daniel’s Music Foundation, which provides free music lessons to people with disabilities, and Runway of Dreams, which is revolutionizing the fashion world with adaptable clothing for the disabled. n

H Watch the video for “Unbreakable.”

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RECENT NEWS HIGHLIGHTS From across the Hamilverse

1 SCHAMBACH CENTER

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack ’72, P’00 and U.S. Rep. and Committee on Agriculture Chairman G.T. Thompson kicked off the 2023-24 Common Ground series in September with the discussion “Bipartisanship in Agriculture and Rural Policy.” Edvige Jean-François ’90, executive director of the Center for Studies on Africa and Its Diaspora at Georgia State University, moderated.

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2 KIRNER-JOHNSON BUILDING

This fall, when the F.I.L.M. Series screened Robert Wiene’s The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) and Alfred Hitchcock’s Blackmail (1929), attendees experienced more than two classic films. Adding musical accompaniment were members of the Anvil Orchestra, described by critic Roger Ebert as the “best in the world at accompanying silent film.”

4 3 MOLLY ROOT HOUSE

4 THE LITTLE PUB

Gently used refrigerators, microwaves, furniture, kitchenware, storage solutions, lamps, and more were up for grabs at the annual Cram & Scram event in late August.

The items, left behind by students when they moved out last spring, not only avoided the local landfill; they sold at a fraction of their retail value.

WANT MORE HAMILTON NEWS? Visit hamilton.edu/news.

And if you’re not receiving our monthly Hamilton Headlines in your inbox, send a note to editor@hamilton.edu, and we’ll add you to the list.

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Former Director of Alumni Relations Sharon Rippey P’12, who retired last winter after 25-plus years at Hamilton, was celebrated in June at a Reunion Weekend reception where she was named an honorary Kirkland College alumna.

5 WELLIN MUSEUM

The exhibition “Rhona Bitner: Resound,” which will be featured through Dec. 9, marks the artist’s first museum survey and brings together original photographs from the 1990s with newly produced chromogenic and archival inkjet prints. Bitner’s work offers an intimate view of the architecturally rich interiors of music, dance, and theatre venues, among other bodies of work.

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6 DAYS-MASSOLO CENTER

To celebrate Pride Month in June, students hosted weekly community-wide Pride-in-thePark luncheons on campus and 32 headed to Manhattan for the New York City Pride Parade to celebrate sexuality and advocate for social and political change.

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7 COMMONS (and McEwen Dining Hall) 8 7

Parkhurst Dining, Hamilton’s new food service provider, and the Hamilton Sustainability Coordinators have introduced green to-go containers to College Hill. The new program not only offers students the convenience and flexibility of taking a dining hall meal to-go, but also reduces the impact on the environment since containers are returned and reused.

8 ROOT HALL

Work continues on a comprehensive renovation and modernization that will bring the departments of Africana Studies, Classics, Religious Studies, and Women’s and Gender Studies into a shared building. In addition to new classrooms, meeting spaces, and offices, the project includes accessibility features, including an elevator, and a new insulated roof, energy efficient windows, LED lighting, and geothermal wells for heating and cooling.

Root Hall is expected to reopen this spring.

ILLUSTRATION BY TOM WOOLLEY

FALL 2023

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CURRICULUM

Tracking Climate Change Through AI

A

Heather Kropp

Adam Koplik ’25

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H A M I LTO N

RTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE and climate change are two of today’s foremost hot-button issues. This summer, Adam Koplik ’25 and Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies Heather Kropp used one to explore the other by employing machine learning to measure vegetation change in the Arctic.

The project originated with Kropp, who specializes in the intersection of environmental studies and data science. For Koplik, it was the perfect opportunity to combine his burgeoning interest in environmental studies with his established computer science skills. Last spring, he took Kropp’s Environmental Spatial Analysis course, which introduced him to Geographic Information System (GIS) software. “That piqued my interest, because it requires an expensive license,” he says. “So it was really cool to have that opportunity.”

Through this course, Koplik got to work with both the software and Kropp, two connections that facilitated his participation in summer research. Much of Koplik’s effort concentrated on training an algorithm to better identify different elements of satellite images — shrubs, water, trees, and tundra, for example. To do this, he first labeled these elements by hand before feeding the marked images to the computer.

For this “training” process, he says, “the algorithm takes each pixel in the image and uses the surrounding pixels, with the surrounding squares, to guess which category it fits into.”

By constantly fine-tuning the program in this way, Kropp and Koplik developed a code capable of identifying change over time in satellite images. They are using

two sets of images, one from the 1970s and the other more recent, to understand how climate change and rising temperatures have affected terrain and vegetation in the Arctic over the past 50 years. As the training process continues, the algorithm will become more and more accurate. “So we’re hoping that will result in a good data set,” Koplik says.

This summer’s focus was mostly on the earlier set of images, given the time and effort needed to adequately develop and train the computer algorithm. And although outcomes are still in the works, an abstract on the research was accepted, and Kropp will present on the project at the American Geophysical Union fall meeting in December with Koplik as a co-author.

Entering Hamilton, Koplik planned to study computer science; however, Hamilton’s new data science concentration allowed him to pursue a course of study more aligned with his interests. “This is the perfect balance for me — a little less hardware coding and more cool results, more very fine coding, which I like,” he says.

The insight-oriented angle of data science fits productively with environmental studies, an area in which Koplik found himself taking more and more classes as time went on. “I’m passionate about climate change, and being able to research it in a way I’m good at is really cool,” he says. n — Updated from an article by Evan Robinson ’23 for Hamilton’s website

CURRICULUM At Hamilton, students in environmental studies

Topics of Conversation

gain knowledge, skills, and perspectives to understand the causes and consequences of — and potential solutions

T

HIS YEAR, HAMILTON WILL OFFER more than 30 courses as part of its Environmental Studies Program (some cross-listed in other academic departments), plus several dozen others throughout the curriculum that address issues ranging from renewable energy to regenerative agriculture to climate change.

Some of the courses are so popular that multiple sections are offered; others are waitlisted. Here’s just a sampling:

•

AGRICULTURE & EMPIRE IN THE GLOBAL SOUTH

•

COASTAL ECOLOGY & FOOD SYSTEMS

•

ARCHITECTURE & THE ENVIRONMENT

•

ENVIRONMENTAL DATA SCIENCE

•

BLUE HUMANITIES

•

BIODIVERSITY: CRISIS & SOLUTIONS

Explores global patterns of biodiversity and the biological processes driving these patterns and examines how people are threatening biodiversity, causing a new mass extinction event. For each threat to biodiversity, we will also discuss conservation and restoration strategies.

In lab, we will quantify biodiversity in campus forests and develop recommendations to guide the College’s conservation and restoration efforts.

•

BIOPROSPECTING & THE ECOLOGIES OF MEDICINE

•

CARBON FOOTPRINTS & SUSTAINABILITY

•

CHANGING ARCTIC ECOSYSTEMS

•

CLIMATE CHANGE

Investigates the scientific, social, economic, and political dimensions of anthropogenic climate change, including our scientific understanding of its causes, its local and planetary human and ecological impacts, and the potential for technological, social, and policy solutions.

Examines the roles of public policy and international negotiations in developing equitable mitigation and adaptation strategies to combat the totalizing problem of our times.

•

CLIMATE FICTION & FILM

Focuses on the application of statistical programming for big data associated with ongoing environmental issues.

Students will learn the fundamentals of applying statistical modelling and machine learning for making predictions and inferences for environmental data, as well as considerations of data science unique to environmental data including spatial, temporal, ethical, and justice concerns.

•

ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS

• ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS •

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE & SOUNDSCAPE

Environmental injustice almost always involves the loss of the diversity of sounds, acoustics, and music in the soundscapes of Black, Brown, Indigenous, people of color, and global south peoples.

Students will engage the environment as an acoustic artifact and consider how colonialism is threatening the social, cultural, economic, and political dimensions of soundscapes.

• FOREVER WILD: THE CULTURAL & NATURAL

HISTORIES OF THE ADIRONDACK PARK

•

A GLOBAL HISTORY OF OIL

•

GLOBAL WILDLIFE TRADE

•

PUTTING DOWN ROOTS: ENVIRONMENTAL APPROACHES TO CLASSICAL ANTIQUITY

to — the world’s pressing environmental challenges.

Addressing these necessitates an interdisciplinary approach, and the environmental studies curriculum fully embraces this.

— AARON STRONG, assistant professor of environmental studies

•

RENEWABLE ENERGY SYSTEMS

Explores the scientific, technical, and policy dimensions of renewable energy technologies. Utilizes case studies of solar power, wind power, electrification, electric vehicles, and battery technology. Reviews the current state of policy avenues for deployment of these technologies and the social and political challenges involved. The course will connect with area stakeholders engaged in renewable energy deployment around Clinton.

•

RESILIENCE & COLLAPSE: ARCHAEOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON PEOPLE AND THE ENVIRONMENT

•

SEED TO GUT: AN INTRODUCTION TO REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE FOR FOOD JUSTICE

Regenerative agriculture allows us to change our food system and build food sovereignty through biological diversity in agriculture as a social justice methodology. Students will learn how these tools interconnect to assist in the mitigation of today’s climate crisis and become a catalyst in building solidarity for land and food equity. Class participation includes local community field trips, documentary film reviews, and food tastings.

FALL 2023

13

Us Ke ing v of in a d Sp livi Wa igit at otl ng ldr al c th e as ight veg on s am an n er H in et its am g t atio app a t n, ed hat in ilt he iti on Co m ' al a th s b ta rec lleg kin ese ee n rg en e’s g m t im et tl . ( y a vas he age od Fo flo s ifi t n r m no ar ra of ed or unc ray a k cam to c e o of ed f t ey c pu apt W its ree ha s s ur al dr goa s, fl rac cen e in on l t ow te es fra 's o r er r in . “ re In d im ea s, ag ch gr man fra lig h r a es ca s s y o ed t, H ,s ee rbo es, f th ligh am ha n n and es t s ilt e tr o m eu ilt tra shr pho on n gr u on lit b a t gl .e y b s is os,” y re phi du fle c d y h e /in 20 sp e e c fr 30 ec not ts o sign ar i e a er ed , 20 lly s. ff .) ye ap ar pr s e op ar rilie r

SEE ING INF RA RED

SHOW AND TELL

SHOW AND TELL

NANCY L. FORD

FIELD WORK

Heal the Land and Understand

T

HIS FALL, HAMILTON welcomed Brianna Burke as a visiting associate professor of environmental studies and the first faculty fellow hired as part of the College’s new interdisciplinary initiative focused on Native and Indigenous studies.

For the past decade, Burke’s teaching and research have explored the connections among environmental justice, American Indian studies, climate change, and animal studies. She was born on Macy reservation in Nebraska, home of the Omaha Nation, and earned her master’s

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H A M I LTO N

degree and Ph.D. from Tufts University following her undergraduate career at St. Michael’s College in Colchester, Vt. While teaching at Hamilton, Burke will remain an associate professor of American Indian studies and environmental humanities in the English Department at Iowa State University of Science and Technology, where she has taught for the last 12 years.

Hamilton magazine asked Burke about her background, what brought her to Central New York, and what she hopes to accomplish while here.

(Responses edited due Scan to read the full interview. to space.)

H

What initially sparked your interest in Native American and Indigenous studies?

When I was born, my parents were living with an Omaha family and had been for some time. As a kid, I was raised by that family — particularly my grandmother — while my parents worked. I went to dances and ceremonies and was raised in an American Indian church, which gave me a completely different worldview and background from so many other kids.

Throughout college and graduate school, advisors and professors encouraged me to pursue studying Native and Indigenous peoples because of this background, and I came to see that I am a good translator, can be a good advocate, for American Indian peoples. I also feel a duty to the community

FIELD WORK Brianna Burke, Hamilton’s first faculty fellow to focus on Native and Indigenous studies

that raised me and the tremendous gifts they gave me, and I try to honor them in the work that I do.

Was there a moment or experience that prompted you to pursue this field in tandem with environmental studies?

I have always been interested in environmental issues. I was raised with a traditional worldview where the world operates according to different principles than most Americans are raised to understand — everything is alive and sentient and therefore has rights, and I’m just one piece of a great big puzzle. There isn’t a special quality that makes humans more special than or ascendant to any other species. I became interested in environmental justice in particular when I realized that the people who raised me did not have access to their sacred places. Their sacred place was behind a fence in the nearby farmer’s field, and they had to ask permission to go there. The river that ran through their lands was dammed, and they did not get any proceeds from the electricity it generated. I learned very early that access to place, “resources,” and rights were not equally distributed — that racism and inequality dictate how these things are distributed.

What aspects of this position piqued your curiosity?

I wanted to grow professionally and work in service of a community. I’ve always been a community builder, so being able to do that here on campus and with local communities interested me right away.

Hamilton is on land that traditionally belonged to the Oneida Nation, and it began as the Hamilton-Oneida Academy; the relationships at the foundation of this institution should be honored and healthy.

Since I am a Fellow here, teaching is just one component of my job. I am also building connections between the many faculty teaching Native and Indigenous

In the United States, American Indian reservations are the most biodiverse pockets of our country. When we’re thinking about species, extinction, and conservation, we are going to have to rely on the friendship of those nations to help us heal this land and rebuild biodiversity.

species, extinction, and conservation, we are going to have to rely on the friendship of those nations to help us heal this land and rebuild biodiversity.

What courses will you teach and why did you choose those?

All of my classes reside at the nexus of Native and Indigenous studies, environmental studies, and literature. This fall I am teaching Indigenous North American Literature. In the spring, I will teach Decolonizing the Anthropocene and Multispecies Kinship. The best way to learn about anything is through stories: we are a species that tells stories, that creates stories and makes them material in the world; who we are, how we behave, how we see — as individuals and as a society — are rooted in the stories we tell about ourselves and the world.

What are your goals? studies on campus, co-teaching Native and Indigenous studies content in any course that will have me, and creating campus-wide programming to bring Native and Indigenous speakers, artists, and activists to campus to work with students.

Why is it important for academia and society as a whole to engage with and understand Native American and Indigenous perspectives?

I trace climate change back to colony and empire, that set of ideologies and the vast reordering of ecologies that happened as a result. If we’re going to meet this crisis with any kind of understanding, we have to trace it back to its roots and invite all voices to the table. As a country, we have not done that. In particular, we are going to need Indigenous nations and their leadership. To give one small example: In the United States, American Indian reservations are the most biodiverse pockets of our country. When we’re thinking about

To be of service to this community and to the Oneida Nation, to help build programming across the curriculum, so that students encounter Native and Indigenous studies or issues in multiple courses that they take. And simply to make relationships stronger — to honor the land acknowledgment statement in practice on campus on a daily basis.

Other institutions out west have started to build these kinds of relationships and initiatives, but the fact that are about eight to 12 institutions elsewhere that want to hire someone to do what I’m already doing here shows that Hamilton is at the forefront of this. Our country is at a pivotal moment in which there is an upswell of support for some kind of reckoning, similar to Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation. This momentum could peak or it could fade, and I hope that what we’re doing here at Hamilton is taking advantage of that peak and maybe even helping it gain momentum. n — Meg Keniston, Jorge Hernández ’72

FALL 2023

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FIELD WORK

Is Brain Fog Limited to Humans?

A

S ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR of Biology Andrea Townsend was investigating how infectious disease affects the problem-solving performance of American crows, she was surprised to discover how few studies compared the effects of disease on cognition in other species. Further intrigued by the fact that many people Townsend knew who had contracted COVID also reported experiencing brain fog, she decided to bring existing studies together for comparison and examination.

Working with several fellow researchers, Townsend recently published “Infectious disease and cognition in wild populations” in Trends in Ecology & Evolution. The article explains how learning, memory, and problem-solving are impaired by infection, not just in humans, but in species throughout the animal kingdom. The reasons vary — from damage by a parasite, immune response to infection, lack of motivation of sick individuals to perform a cognitive task, malnutrition, or even alterations to the host microbiome.

“I think one surprising thing for me was how little is known. We’re seeing an accelerated emergence of all of these infectious diseases, and yet we know very little about how disease might affect cognition and the implications of this for wild animals as well as for humans,” she says.

Cognitive impairment linked to disease has the potential to affect entire ecological communities. For example, bees infected with some pathogens have

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difficulty learning the smells and colors of the most productive flowers. “This is really a bad outcome, if you are a bee, because foraging success depends on the ability to efficiently find the most productive flowers,” Townsend adds. This could have negative consequences for bee populations, and also for the flowers, which rely on bees for pollination.

As wild animals continue to be affected by a changing climate and disturbed environments, cognitive impairment may exacerbate the effects of disease. In disturbed environments, animals tend to be stressed, and stressed animals are more likely to get sick, which could impair their cognitive abilities. At the same time, these abilities could be especially important in changing, stressful environments, where cognitive skills — such as flexible decision-making and innovation — could give them a behavioral buffer.

“So, here you might have a snowball effect where animals in stressed environments are more likely to get sick and their cognitive abilities are impaired.

Then they are less able to deal with these stressful, changing environments because of their impaired cognitive abilities. It could increase the costs of environmental change for some wild animals,” Townsend explains. n — Excerpted from an article on EurekAlert!, news from the American Association for the Advancement of Science

FIELD WORK

No One-Track Sabbatical

I

F YOU NEED ANY PROOF that learning is a perpetual process, just ask Professor of French Martine Guyot-Bender about her sabbatical. She is coming off a semester in Cambodia and France, where she studied both contemporary emerging Cambodian film and the cultural history of the railroad in France, a combination of topics that — illuminating as it was — reminded her largely of how much there is to learn.

Guyot-Bender began with a fellowship funded by the Center for Khmer Studies, an organization that she says aims to encourage and broaden research on historical and cultural aspects of Cambodia. While there, she interviewed a dozen or so up-and-coming filmmakers while studying the work of Rithy Panh, a renowned documentary

Lights, Camera, Sensitivity?

W

HETHER YOU’RE A FAN or a critic of Disney films, Professor of East Asian Languages and Literatures Zhuoyi Wang raises some challenging questions in “From Mulan (1998) to Mulan (2020): Disney Conventions, Cross-Cultural Feminist Intervention and a Compromised Progress.” Originally published in a 2022 edition of the journal Arts, Wang’s article is now an animated video thanks to SciPod, a company that shares peer-reviewed research as content accessible to wider audiences.

director with whom she was already familiar and founder of the Bophana Audiovisual Center in Phnom Penh where she spent most of her time. Dating back to her dissertation, Guyot-Bender has been interested in how the memory of war is represented in texts, films, novels, postcards, maps, and monuments, she explains, an orientation with which Panh’s work — which examines the aftermath of the Khmer Rouge regime — aligns exactly.

Many of these new filmmakers, Guyot-Bender notes, have been influenced

by Panh. Some of their films and his now feature in her Picturing War course, which focuses on the written and pictorial representations of wars, she says. To learn about these themes in the Cambodian context, her research involved interviews and “a lot of coincidences,” Guyot-Bender says.

“One person introduced me to someone else, who showed me another film … it’s amazing how much I got to learn about in

such a short time, because people were so willing to share,” she adds.

Though she traveled to southeast Asia with film in mind, the trip took on additional relevance later while Guyot-Bender was studying the cultural history and place of trains in France. This second portion of her sabbatical was geared toward her course All Aboard! Trains in French History. “The history of trains in Cambodia is very complex,” she says. “My class will now include a unit on the impact of trains in the colonial expansion.”

Reflecting on her work over the previous few months, especially Cambodian cinema, Guyot-Bender spoke humbly about her status as a scholar in a region where she is an outsider. “I know my limits, I know what I can say and feel confident about—but these are complicated issues, and I still don’t know enough,” she says. “But I can now put it on the map, I can talk about the colonial period, I can make a link to the horrible wars that followed … if I’m prudent, I can explain some things.” n — Evan Robinson ’23

Directed by the feminist filmmaker Niki Caro, Disney’s 2020 live-action remake of its 1998 animated film Mulan set out to be a more gender progressive and culturally appropriate adaptation of the legend of a Chinese girl who disguises herself as a man in order to join the army.

“Contrary to the film’s intended effect, however, it was a critical and financial letdown,” Wang writes. “The film was criticized for a wide range of issues, including making unpopular changes to the animated original, misrepresenting Chinese culture and history, perpetuating Orientalist stereotypes, and demonizing Inner Asian steppe nomads.”

Wang notes that the problems go beyond a simple case of artistic inability or cultural insensitivity. He argues that the goals of cultural appropriateness, progressive feminism, and financial success are often at odds. And while the remake did achieve some progress in addressing these issues, the question remains: What challenges must be overcome to bring about necessary changes in crossWatch the video of Wang’s analysis. cultural filmmaking? n

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HILL IN HISTORY

The Tales a Desk Could Tell

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HILL IN HISTORY

P

icture an evening in the late 18th century. A man sits alone at a desk lit only by the soft glow of a candle. The room is quiet but for the light scratching of quill on paper. The man pauses to ponder a thought and then resumes writing the manuscript that would become the crowning achievement of his life’s work.

The man is the Rev. Samuel Kirkland, missionary to the Oneida Indians. The document he is drafting will become his 15-page “Plan of Education for the Indians.”

The desk is quite possibly the one recently refurbished and put on permanent display in Hamilton’s renovated Burke Library.

But first, let’s return back 230 years. In 1793, Kirkland traveled from his Central New York home to Philadelphia, then the nation’s capital, to present his plan to President George Washington, who “expressed approbation,” and to Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, who consented to be a trustee of the new school and lend it his name. The HamiltonOneida Academy was chartered in 1793 to educate Oneida children alongside those of the white settlers streaming into the region. Nineteen years later, in 1812, the academy became Hamilton College.

Like the College itself, Kirkland’s desk has an interesting history. Records indicate that sometime after his death in 1808, the desk was gifted to Edwin C. Dennison, a college janitor who lived at the foot of College Hill on a farm with his wife,

Weltha. They were free African Americans originally from Connecticut.

The couple passed the desk on to their nephew, Charles W. Robinson, a barber in nearby Waterville, N.Y. Active in the Colored Movement and the Republican Party, Robinson was known for his dramatic and sympathetic speeches. Described in the Western Echo as “a man of culture and refinement whose reputation extends throughout the state,” he addressed the Colored Mans Convention of the State of NY in 1880. He and his son-in-law were also active members of the “base ball nine,” a Black baseball team from the area.

Robinson often spoke at the Waterville Lyceum, where he may have come to know H.P. Bigelow, Class of 1861, who was a member there. A local community leader and businessman, Bigelow purchased the desk from Robinson in 1876 and gifted it to Hamilton College.

Although the desk is believed to have been held for a time in the Historical Room, little is known about where it was stored, used, or displayed on campus throughout the ensuing decades. In fact, at some point no one may have been aware that the desk had once belonged to the College’s founder.

In 2019, the desk was discovered in storage in the basement of Bristol Center. Director and Curator of Special Collections and Archives Christian Goodwillie uncovered an inscription

scrawled in pencil on the underside of the bottom left drawer that offered clues to its provenance (see above).

With its historical significance confirmed, the desk underwent inspection by an art conservator. According to the report, “The desk has been restored and refinished at least twice in the past fifty years. Examination using long wave ultraviolet light reveals a relatively recent clear synthetic coating applied over an earlier shellac coating that may be less than fifty years old. A number of repairs have been noted. For the most part, these appear to be less than one hundred years old and must date to the time that the desk had been returned to the college.”

Careful research informed the latest restoration of the desk, which is constructed of cherry, tulip poplar, and white pine. Work included replacing original missing hardware and hinges, repairing split beaded molding, removing existing coatings, and refinishing.

With the renovation of Burke Library’s first floor this summer, a display case was installed to serve as a permanent home for the desk and other College artifacts, including Kirkland’s Windsor writing armchair and Alexander Hamilton’s lap desk. n — Stacey Himmelberger Thanks to Jeremy Katz in College Archives and Christian Goodwillie in Special Collections for sharing background.

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THE BIG PICTURE

Greased Lightnin’?

ITS DAYS OF BEING AUTOMATIC, systematic, and hydromatic may be long gone, yet if you tap into your imagination, you just might be able to picture this vehicle in its heyday cruising up and down College Hill Road. But how did it end up in the depths of the Kirkland Glen? How long has it been there? And who once sat proudly behind its wheel?

We would love to know this car’s story. If you have any information, please write to editor@hamilton.edu. (And thanks to our friends at Clinton Auto who’ve identified the car as a 1957 Pontiac!)

PHOTO BY KEVIN M. WALDRON

VOICES

TRANSITIONS

NANCY L. FORD

President Wippman to Retire

P

RESIDENT DAVID WIPPMAN has announced that this will be his last academic year at the helm. He will retire on June 30, 2024, after eight years as the College’s 20th president.

“My time at Hamilton has been the most satisfying of my career,” he said in a news story that appeared on the College’s website. “I have watched with pride as entering classes have set records for quality, selectivity, and diversity; new and renovated buildings have enhanced an already beautiful campus; teacher-scholars of the highest caliber have made Hamilton their home; and trustees, alumni, parents, and friends have given generously of their time and resources.”

Throughout his tenure, the College set new benchmarks in student recruitment, including applications, selectivity, and yield; socioeconomic, racial, ethnic, and geographic diversity; and test scores and class rank. The number of first-generation-to-college and Pell grant-eligible students also increased.

In addition, as nearly half of its professors began reaching retirement, Hamilton hired and promoted many extraordinary teacher-scholars and added seven new professorships, including two endowed positions in computer science.

The College also adopted several new programs during Wippman’s tenure. These

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include Digital Hamilton, an initiative to expand digital learning using advanced technologies across disciplines; the ALEX (Advise, Learn, EXperience) program, a coordinated network of academic centers, resources, and advisors; and Common Ground, a program “to explore cross-boundary political thought and complex social issues.” Wippman modeled Common Ground’s call for active citizenship and intellectual engagement by co-authoring more than 40 op-eds since 2019 on issues pertaining to higher education.

The president also prioritized Hamilton’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion by appointing the College’s first vice president for DEI; dedicated a new health and wellness center that greatly expanded programs and resources for student well-being; and initiated renovations to facilities for the humanities, athletics, and recreation. Three new plans — focused on climate action, land and forest stewardship, and sustainable practices — renewed Hamilton’s commitment to reducing its impact on climate change and provided a roadmap for achieving carbon neutrality by 2030.

“From his first days on campus, [Wippman] embraced Hamilton’s long-standing commitments to access and opportunity, and the College’s mission to prepare students to become active citizens by encouraging them to confront new ideas and consider other perspectives,” said Board of Trustees Chairman David Solomon ’84, P’16.

In addition, Solomon said Wippman successfully navigated unexpected challenges, including the global pandemic that forced colleges and universities to pivot to

online instruction and resulted in economic uncertainty. The president formed a COVID-19 task force that put in place protocols that allowed the College to reopen safely in the fall of 2020, thereby enabling students to graduate on time. All told, Hamilton invested more than $20 million in testing, personal protection equipment, quarantine and isolation, and other measures to protect its students and employees.

In order to fund many of these initiatives and ensure that a Hamilton education remained accessible to students from all financial circumstances, Wippman launched the Because Hamilton capital campaign, a five-year public effort to raise $400 million. That effort concluded successfully in June, exceeding its goal. n

SEARCH UNDERWAY FOR OUR 21ST PRESIDENT A presidential search committee, co-chaired by Vice Chairs of the Board of Trustees Bob Delaney ’79 and Linda Johnson ’80, began meeting over the summer to develop a deep understanding of the opportunities and challenges facing the next president, and the qualities and experience ideal candidates must possess.

The committee of trustees, administrators, faculty, and students is working with executive search consultants from Isaacson, Miller, who have released a comprehensive position profile and conducted several listening sessions with members of the campus community. Hamilton’s 21st president could be announced as early as December.

For updates on the search process, visit hamilton.edu/presidentialsearch.

QUOTABLES

I’ve grown up with this looming fear and being told, ‘Your generation is going to fix the world.’ It puts a lot of pressure on us.

Greta Garschagen ’23, in the July 19, 2023, New York Times article “Working 9 to 5, Hopefully” that included comments from 17 recent college graduates on how they feel about entering the workforce.

Derek Jones, now professor of economics emeritus, when asked what he will miss most about teaching. He retired in June after more than 50 years on College Hill.

Interacting with students and free riding off their energy.

President Biden displayed geopolitical ignorance when he committed recently to one day welcoming Ukraine into NATO. Russia now has an incentive to prolong the conflict indefinitely.

With the sexual revolution well underway, we were also the first to enjoy the abolition of parietals — you could have a girl in your room, day or night.

If only there’d been enough of them to go around!

From the Class of 1973 Half-Century Class Annalist Letter written

by Roy Schecter ’73 and delivered by Stuart Hamilton ’73 during Reunions in June.

William Rampe ’24, in the July 18, 2023, Wall Street Journal article “When Will the War in Ukraine End?” in which students shared opinions on NATO, Crimea, and America’s role in the invasion.

A gifted teacher and an inspiration to so many.

I’m sure he’s on an amazing journey in time, space, and power.

Barbara Bennett Burklund ’81, replying to a July 31, 2023, post on the Class of ’81 Facebook page announcing the passing of Professor of Religious Studies Emeritus Jay Williams ’54, P’83, GP’11,’19.

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VOICES

VIEW FROM COLLEGE HILL

‘Holistic Admission’ in the Wake of Court’s Affirmative Action Decision

BY MONICA INZER Vice President for Enrollment

NANCY L. FORD

T

In June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that colleges and universities must significantly limit how race is used in the admission process. Because that decision has prompted questions about selective college admission, Hamilton magazine asked Vice President for Enrollment Monica Inzer to share her thoughts.

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he recent ruling by the Supreme Court will not deter us from our mission or goal to provide access to talented students and create an environment where people from all backgrounds can interact and learn from one another; on the contrary, it may bolster these cornerstone values.

Hamilton has had a long-standing commitment to being a school of opportunity, and the College strengthened that commitment about a dozen years ago when we aligned our admission practice with our mission and joined roughly three dozen colleges in the country that fully meet families’ financial need with generous financial aid and at the same time admit the most qualified students regardless of their ability to pay our price. This practice, widely known as “need-blind admission,” put an important stake in the ground for providing access to Hamilton for students who wouldn’t otherwise have that opportunity and is one of many important steps we’ve taken to ensure the College is attracting, enrolling, and graduating students from different geographic origins, cultures, experiences, socioeconomic backgrounds, races, and ethnicities.

While colleges are no longer permitted to consider “check-the-box” answers to race or ethnicity questions when reviewing applications, we can and will continue to strive to recruit the most talented and diverse candidate pools we can find. At

the same time, when applicants choose to share experiences and backgrounds that shape who they are and what they will bring to our community, we will responsibly consider that information. Context matters. Where students live and learn matters. What students have done with the resources available to them matters.

To be clear, no one ever gets admitted to Hamilton for one reason alone — whether it is race, ethnicity, where they’re from, a standardized test score, athletic ability, financial need, wealth, or whether or where their parents went to college (including Hamilton). The court’s decision and the questions that have arisen since misunderstand selective college admission and overestimate the influence and impact of any single factor on the admission decision. In fact, the considerations are innumerable.

Students who are invited to join our community earn admission first and foremost in the classroom, and we are fortunate to have thousands of candidates who meet our criteria. With an acceptance rate of 12% (in each of the past two years), Hamilton’s admission committee must make distinctions among academically strong and talented students from all over the world as we work to shape our community.

All of this is often described as holistic admission. For years I’ve thought that to be the most overused phrase in college

VIEW FROM COLLEGE HILL

To be clear, no one ever gets admitted to Hamilton for one reason alone — whether it is race, ethnicity, where they’re from, a standardized test score, athletic ability, financial need, wealth, or whether or where their parents went to college (including Hamilton).

The court’s decision and the questions that have arisen since misunderstand selective college admission and overestimate the influence and impact of any single factor on the admission decision.

In fact, the considerations are innumerable.

admissions and at times have asked our Hamilton admission officers to refrain from using it in presentations. I worried it might sound vague and add to whatever misperceptions families may have about selective college admission and how decisions get made. However, at this moment I can’t think of a better way to describe our selection process, and it is more incumbent upon us than ever before to define it. In many ways, it is exactly what the Supreme Court has said is permissible; it is what admission offices have been doing for years; and it is what we will continue to do.

As a first-generation college graduate, I know first-hand just how much education changes lives. Perhaps that is why I work in admissions, and it certainly is why I have done it at Hamilton for the past 20 years.

The investments Hamilton has made in our students — and the generous ways our alumni have endorsed the College’s commitment to access and opportunity — have made Hamilton stronger and helped us attract the largest and most diverse applicant pools in our history. Applications to the Class of 2027 were submitted from nearly 10,000 students from 146 countries and all 50 states.

It is true that the admission skies just got a little cloudier to navigate — for families and for colleges — and the impact of the recent court ruling and how we rise to meet these new challenges will be assessed over time. It is also true that

Hamilton’s admission team is up to the task. We will never take for granted what a privilege it is to admit this College’s future generations and to do our work at a place that values bringing people together from different backgrounds to think for themselves and learn from one another. n

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Perhaps the most striking new features to greet visitors entering the renovated Burke Library are bright orange modular couches and a long serpentine shelving unit. Displayed here are books by Hamilton faculty members, student publications, and recommended reading from the College’s collection.

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B U R K E LI B R ARY

A Space of KEVIN M. WALDRON

Creation

BY Stacey J. Himmelberger P’15,’22

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— JOE SHELLEY Vice President for Libraries and Information Technology

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NANCY L. FORD

The remodel improved access to library resources, technology, and service points, while adding better study spaces, innovative teaching and learning areas, digital media facilities, and a new maker space.

W

alk through the first floor of the Daniel Burke Library, and you may be a bit surprised. First, no one will shush you for talking — in fact conversation and collaboration are encouraged. Need to take a break from writing that paper? There’s a spot where you can grab a drink, snack, or even a sandwich to eat while you work.

And if you can’t decide between making a podcast or designing a 3D model for a final class project, venture into TECH Lab, Hamilton’s first makerspace, and learn to do both.

Today’s Burke Library is more than a place to study or read a book — although there are plenty of those, too. This summer the library underwent a major renovation to its 17,000-square-foot first floor.

In addition to new digital tech features, the project included upgrades that make the space more flexible, accessible, and energy efficient. Even the furniture — from the long meandering bookcases to the tables with accompanying bright orange chairs — reflect a sense of innovation and creativity. The $5.15 million project was completed with major funding provided by The George I. Alden Trust.

“The library has always been a makerspace — a place of discovery, knowledge, and experimentation,” says Associate Director for Digital Innovation, Learning & Research Nhora Serrano. “We don’t see this as an IT place; it is a modern library, a space of creation where any humanist can come to tinker with ideas. A place for everyone.”

NANCY L. FORD

IN THE TECH LAB Instructional Designer Ben Salzman ’14 helps Chinkhuslen Batbayar ’25 navigate what appears to be a precarious situation while wearing a virtual reality headset.

Above left: Lula Dalupang ’26 examines a structure made on one of four 3D printers.

F A FL AL L 2L 0 22 03 2 3

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Digital Media tutor Miley Xu ’25 and Alex Ruffer ’25 chat as others take to creating in the TECH Lab.

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Hi! TECH Lab TECH Lab is Technology Exploration and Collaboration at Hamilton. The space, equipped with VR/AR tools, 3D design and printing equipment, and four soundproof production booths, is designed to connect students with learning and research opportunities as they explore what is — and reimagine what’s possible — using the latest digital resources.

For example, students might explore what creating images in Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator might add to their thesis project.

They might collaborate on a podcast in one of the production booths, or create a jointed foot skeleton using one of the 3D printers.

Others are honing skills in drone surveying or photogrammetry in order to partner with professors on their research.

“Not everyone is going to pursue a career using virtual reality or augmented reality, but all students should be aware of the digital possibilities,” Serrano says. “Thanks to these new spaces, we can provide opportunities for students to further explore the digital landscape and map a path suited to their personal interests and goals.”

Read more about TECH Lab.

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NANCY L. FORD

The Stryker All-Night Reading Room now has a movable glass partition designed to improve programming use.

Peer Tutors: ‘The Heart and Soul’ TECH Lab isn’t just about having the latest gadgets. Students are supported by a professional staff and 25 digital media tutors trained and coordinated by Instructional Designer Bret Olsen.

“Peer-to-peer instruction is the heart and soul of our model,” Olsen says. “Digital media tutors, data science tutors, and research tutors help guide the program and bring fantastic ideas. Students understand tutors and develop a level of comfort working with them. The on-the-job training allows tutors to grow and expand their leadership potential.”

Although the library’s educational technologists, instructional designers, and research librarians remain committed to supporting academic classes, much of the work that happens in TECH Lab is student-driven — and the team is always on the lookout for cool opportunities to share.

For example, did you know you can use an open-source tool called TimelineJS to build visually rich, interactive timelines using nothing more than a Google spreadsheet?

The TECH Lab tutors can show you how!

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Among the enhanced collaborative workspaces is the Couper Classroom.

Here, LITS professionals teach classes and conduct workshops, and student digital media and research tutors gather for training and meetings (like the one shown here). When not hosting events, the room’s banks of computers are available for student use.

Collaboration & Accommodation

Gregory Parizhsky ’26 and Kate Bondarenko ’24 work with Research Librarian for Digital Initiatives & Experiential Learning Alex Wohnsen (left) in a soundproof production booth. Four such spaces provide equipment where students might record a podcast, or they can pull down a green screen to produce video. The booths also provide private spaces for students to engage in Zoom interviews with a potential employer or healthcare provider.

NANCY L. FORD

Creating spaces for collaboration — while ensuring accessibility and sustainability — were top priorities for the renovation and have been infused into nearly every aspect of the project, according to Director of Learning and Research Services Beth Bohstedt. The TECH Lab, service desks, and collection exhibits are fully accessible.

“The new spaces are also flexible enough to be used for future needs that we can’t imagine yet,” Bohstedt says.

Other updates to the Burke Library include: • LED lighting to improve energy

conservation • Modified bathroom to make it fully

accessible • New offices for LITS staff • Upgraded finishes (new furniture,

carpet, ceilings, and help desks) • And soon to come … two digital kiosks

(to be located at the library entrance and outside TECH Lab) that will highlight collections, programs, services, and projects underway.

Elise Kwon ’26 (center) studies with Andrew Castlen ’26 and Clara Fu ’26 in the library’s new seating area.

NANCY L. FORD

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NANCY L. FORD

Dewayne Martin ’24, a public policy major from Miami and Hamilton’s second Truman Scholar, is committed to working for change.

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THIS IS A PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT …

DEWAYNE AIMS TO CHANGE

MARTIN LIVES M

ANY YOUNG PEOPLE have grand aspirations to change the world; not all actually do. Dewayne Martin ’24 has such aspirations in abundance and is already proving that he’s willing to see them through.

In recognition of his work and potential, the Miami native was named a Truman Scholar, a national honor that acknowledges academic success and leadership accomplishments, as well as the likelihood of pursuing a career in public service. He becomes only the second Hamilton student to receive the award; the first was Frederick Nelson ’80.

Each Truman Scholar receives funding for graduate studies, leadership training, career counseling, and special internship and fellowship opportunities within the federal government. A public policy major who spent last spring studying abroad at Oxford University in the United Kingdom, Martin intends to pursue degrees at Harvard Law School and Harvard Graduate School of Education.

“I feel like I was always public service oriented,” says Martin, who came to Hamilton as a Posse Foundation scholar.

“Because we lived in wretched conditions, it was not a choice whether to pursue public service — it was that public service was the only way to save the lives of our people.”

During his senior year of high school, Martin became involved with local education when his school board denied students the right to join climate protests during a day school was in session. “I wondered, ‘What can we do to make sure there is never another moment when students go to a board that exists because of them and are met with the kind of apathy we saw that day?’” he says.

As it happened, the climate protests coincided with school board elections. With three seats up for grabs and no incumbents running, Martin saw the opportunity to get students involved. He began organizing and facilitating student-led discussion forums — an effort that eventually led to him founding the Youth Education Coalition, Miami — that resulted in each one of the candidates making on-the-record promises that they would stand by increased student power on the board.

On the back of this success, Martin became involved with an organization

By Evan Robinson ’23

called Men4Choice, which encourages informed male activism in support of reproductive rights. “It was a time when I was thinking about this issue but realizing that I hadn’t done much about it despite how much I cared,” he recalls.

Martin’s involvement with Men4Choice is ongoing; this past summer he served as a youth organizing coordinator in Washington, D.C. He also continues his work as community outreach coordinator with the Miami Dade Urban Debate League, where he mentors high-schoolers in debate, college readiness, and community organizing.

Though his studies and work have taken him far from Florida, Martin remains focused on the area where he began his passion for public service, the city he calls home. “I think Miami is ground zero for what the future of our country looks like,” he says, citing the threat of climate change alongside social, political, and technological upheaval. While interning with the Miami-Dade Democratic Party, he also realized that collaboration between the public and private sectors is “at an all-time high” in the city. Officials

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are largely concerned with bringing in the right people to answer questions such as “How do we solve problems of environmental catastrophe in a way that provides economic opportunities for people in our community?” Martin says.

Also of concern to Martin are the displacement and migration of Miami’s Black residents, a pattern that struck him during a recent trip home for his uncle’s funeral.

“I was at my family’s church home, New Birth Baptist Church, and I looked into the crowd and realized that 25% of my family doesn’t live in Miami anymore,” he explains.

Awareness of this development brought with it the recognition of historical continuity. “This is not the first time this has happened,” Martin says, “but these are unique circumstances, and the simultaneous novelty and familiarity help create a mechanism to activate people.” This mechanism is something Martin calls “archival agency,” the force by which people understand that they’ve been displaced before and learn what kind of political/economic power is lost and gained in those moments.

These personal and historical aspects are very important to Martin, and he is devoting this year to a Senior Fellowship project that involves fostering archival agency within his family. His goal is to trace his family back to its last moment of displacement — Ormond Beach, Fla. In the early 20th century, Martin explains, Ormond Beach was a “testing ground, in the same way that Miami is currently becoming.” With that context as a backdrop, he plans to uncover what led to his ancestors being displaced from the area before mapping their particular stories onto what he calls “the meta-history of Black migration at that moment.”

Encouraging archival agency is also a means of combating historical erasure.

“For Black folks who are descendants of slaves, we have lost history time and again,” Martin says. “And because political power

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For Black folks who are descendants of slaves, we have lost history time and again. And because political power is grounded in having history and being in a geographical place for a certain period of time, we have often lost both our power and our place. is grounded in having history and being in a geographical place for a certain period of time, we have often lost both our power and our place.”

This, too, is where the right kind of education is crucial. “It’s less about re-educating people and more about showing them that these stories already exist and already embody how you connect the narratives of your life,” he adds.

For his project, Martin hopes to conduct interviews with family members in front of the house built by his great-grandfather when his family first moved to Miami from Ormond Beach. “This way, it will be grounded in place, helping [family members] to connect their lives to the largest story of our family’s history,” Martin says.

Locating oneself in history can be a powerful tool for activism, one that can produce a willingness in people who oftentimes are not passive politically, but tired politically, Martin says. Illustrating continuity and a longstanding lack of progress can provide just the impetus needed to reanimate political agency that may otherwise lie dormant.

Already, Martin has witnessed the efficacy of this strategy firsthand. Gathered

with loved ones after a funeral, he recalled the experience of telling their family history to a captivated audience. “They told the kids to be quiet and listen, and [they] soon were motivated to ask: what should we do next?” he says. “That moment showed me the power of history and connecting people to their history, especially in my community.”

At Hamilton, Martin has been involved with Student Assembly since his first year and is currently a staff writer for The Spectator. Although he stays busy in college, it has been difficult to disengage from events back home. In the spring of 2021, the Miami-Dade County superintendent resigned, leading to a rushed nomination process in which Martin wanted to ensure student participation. From 1,400 miles away in Clinton, N.Y., he facilitated a student sit-in at the next hearing in order to show student presence.

Supplementing this perpetual focus on hometown politics is a strong commitment to classroom learning. In fact, Martin emphasizes the value of instructors who are willing to shape a curriculum in a way that contributes to practical work, naming Joel Winkelman in government, Doug Ambrose in history, Todd Franklin in philosophy, and former chaplain Jeff McArn as influential mentors. “All of these people have played a critical role in allowing that connection between practical work and the theory that often only comes at universities,” he says.

Now in his final year at Hamilton, Martin is eager to engage with the campus community — especially after being abroad during his junior year. “For me, the critical thing I will be asking folks is: how do you see your future, your career and impact, in a world ridden with climate urgency?” he says. “For our generation, it’s less a question of what you want to do with your future as it is how we can contribute to solving this common human problem.” n

DAN STEMEN

Fred Nelson ’80, Hamilton’s first Truman Scholar

SETTING AN EXAMPLE OF

PUBLIC SERVICE

F

REDERICK NELSON ’80 fulfilled the mission of the Truman Scholarship Foundation by pursuing a varied and distinguished career in public service. A history major and president of the Root-Jessup Public Affairs Council while on College Hill, he was named Hamilton’s first Truman Fellow in 1978.

In 1980, he graduated as valedictorian of his class.

Like his father, the late Judge David Nelson ’54, Fred Nelson went on to graduate with honors from Harvard Law School where he earned the award for best oral advocate, as his team won the Ames Moot Court competition, and served as executive editor of the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy.

Nelson split his career primarily between his home state of Ohio and Washington, D.C. After a stint as majority counsel with the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on criminal

law, he became perhaps the youngest person to hold the post of deputy assistant attorney general for the U.S. Department of Justice (Office of Legal Policy) during the Reagan administration. He also served as associate White House counsel to President George H.W. Bush.

In the early 1990s shortly after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Nelson became a legal specialist for the American Bar Association’s Central and East European Law Initiative. He worked on legal reform issues with the office of the Counsel to the President of Ukraine in Kiev and with the Committee on Legislation of the Supreme Soviet in Moscow. Before and after his White House stint, he practiced civil litigation with the Cincinnati law firm of Taft, Stettinius & Hollister.

When Nelson decided to return home permanently, he accepted a post as the first chief of staff and legal counsel to U.S. Rep. Steve Chabot (R-Cincinnati). Other roles included running a public policy development consulting firm aimed at addressing complex issues from differing ideological perspectives and appearing as a regular panelist on the ABC affiliate’s public affairs TV roundtable Hotseat.

Nelson won election as a Hamilton County (Ohio) Common Pleas Court judge and from 2003 to 2009 handled felony cases ranging from murder allegations to white collar crime charges and also complex civil cases including constitutional law disputes, malpractice and personal injury claims, and commercial contract matters. He later became senior adviser and director of major litigation for the Ohio Attorney General’s Office before Governor Mike DeWine appointed him judge of the Ohio Tenth District Court of Appeals; his term concluded in 2021, and he continued service thereafter as a visiting judge by appointment through the Ohio Supreme Court. n

WHAT IS THE TRUMAN SCHOLARSHIP? While many are immortalized in structures of bricks and mortar or marble, the legacy of the 33rd U.S. president continues in a living memorial: the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation.

Dedicated to education and public service, President Truman often spoke about the importance of promoting young leaders and envisioned a program that would encourage educated citizenship and political responsibility.

A 1975 Act of Congress authorized the foundation to “award scholarships to persons who demonstrate outstanding potential for and who plan to pursue a career in public service,” and to conduct a nationwide competition to select Truman scholars. The foundation awarded its first scholarships in 1977-78.

Each year hundreds of college juniors compete for roughly 60 awards. The selection process requires that candidates have a strong record of public service, as well as a policy proposal that addresses a particular issue in society.

Many of those chosen as scholars go on to serve in public office, as prosecutors and public defenders, as leaders of nonprofit organizations, and as educators.

— Excerpted from the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation website

View and share the story of our Truman scholars.

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Unwrap the Hamilton Gift Guide

From us, to you:

BY Meg Keniston and Stacey J. Himmelberger P’15,’22

F

rom artisanal crafts and tasty treats, to cutting-edge everyday home

solutions and gaming adventures, Hamilton’s Gift Guide showcases the

creativity and ingenuity of our community.

Check it out at hamilton.edu/giftguide.

In this season of giving — and to help you find the perfect gift for that person who has everything — we’re offering you both shopping inspiration and the opportunity to support Hamilton and Kirkland alumni, students, and parents. To get you started, Hamilton magazine is pleased to introduce you to several of the alumni entrepreneurs and the exceptional items you can find in

our gift guide.

H Scan to view the gift guide.

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V I S I T hamilton.edu/giftguide

For the Graduate: KIRKLAND AND HAMILTON RINGS

AS A LITTLE GIRL, Nancy Ross K’71 loved nothing more than combing through her grandmother’s jewelry box searching for treasures. When she got a little older, she’d save her babysitting money to buy small wearable antiques — stack rings were a favorite long before becoming the trend they are today. That passion for coming up with the perfect way to accessorize led her to a career as a jewelry designer, consultant, and styling advisor. She also serves as an adjunct professor at New York City’s Fashion Institute of Technology.

Ever appreciative of the education she received on College Hill, it came as little surprise when Ross proposed an idea for marking the 50th anniversary of Kirkland’s Charter Class — commemorative rings. “The Kirkland College Everlasting Eternity Ring honors the founding principles of a Kirkland education: growth and knowledge for each stage of a woman’s life noted in the symbolism of the apple and the apple blossom, with a small diamond in the center of the blossom to signify eternity,” she says.

Because Ross loves the flexibility and style of stacked rings, she came up with a second option as well, which can be worn with the eternity ring or separately. “The Kirkland College All-Blossom Eternity Band Ring features a small diamond in the center of each blossom,” she adds.

When the Kirkland rings were made available for sale during Reunion Weekend, it wasn’t long before Hamilton graduates felt a little envious. That’s when Ross recreated a third option: the Hamilton

Enduring Eternity Band, which features “the key symbols of Hamilton College: Alexander Hamilton’s tricorne hat and the Chapel steeple, each with a small sapphire in the center of the motifs. The design is in honor of the Hamilton motto to ‘Know Thyself,’ with the mission to prepare graduates to effect positive change in the world,” Ross says.

Saying Thanks!

For her work on the Kirkland Charter Class 50th Reunion Planning Committee and marking the occasion with the commemorative rings, Ross was awarded a 2022 College Key Award, which “recognizes alumni, parents, or friends of Hamilton who have performed a service or activity that has directly benefited a specific volunteer program or the College.”

WHERE YOU’LL FIND IT Each of Ross’s rings is custom crafted in the precious metal of your choice, responsibly sourced, and made in New York. Individuals can personalize rings with their initials or year of graduation.

To learn more, contact Nancy Ross K’71 at nrossco@aol.com.

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How It Works Sweetflexx was independently tested by Yale University’s John B. Pierce Laboratory in a proof-of-concept study. The testing involved two 30-minute walks on a treadmill with and without the resistance leggings on separate days. Results showed that wearing Sweetflexx for a day resulted in an extra 255 calories burned when compared to the control.

Shriver’s entrepreneurial skills earned him the grand prize at Hamilton’s 2018 Pitch Competition. He also won the 2017 CTNext Entrepreneur Innovation Award and the 2018 Orthopedic Foundation’s Innovation Award, and has been featured in Forbes, POPSUGAR, and In Touch.

WHERE YOU’LL FIND IT Looking for that perfect gift for that person on the go? Shop the range of products and read reviews at sweetflexx.com. “Sweetflexx is designed for those who juggle multiple responsibilities,” Shriver says.

“Activewear with built-in resistance bands transforms everyday activities into effective workouts. Your loved ones can squeeze in exercise while they go about their busy day.”

For the Fitness Fanatic: SWEETFLEXX

AFTER GRADUATING FROM HAMILTON, McCullough Shriver ’13 quickly realized that finding time to work out as life responsibilities grew was hard, and it was only going to get harder. So he decided to reinvent the gym by combining light resistance bands into clothing. Or, as he likes to say, “Wear your gym!”

Sweetflexx is activewear that allows wearers to engage their muscles more effectively during workouts or everyday activities and chores. Though he once had his doubts about whether this would work, Shriver says, “I can now proudly look at my

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inventory and team, knowing that all of this originated from an idea and a drawing in my notebook and the belief in myself.”

Shriver’s Hamilton experience gave him an advantage from the start. “Having learned Chinese during my time at Hamilton has been absolutely crucial with my work in the supply chain,” he says. “Early on, many manufacturers shied away from a complicated product, but by speaking Mandarin with one, we quickly developed a friendly relationship that allowed them to take on my project.”

V I S I T hamilton.edu/giftguide

For the Healthy Eater:

SPOONFUL

WHEN BRADLEY GIFFORD ’15 was entering high school, his pediatrician discovered that he had unusually high blood pressure and was at risk of hypertension.

An active lifestyle and some adjustments to his eating helped, but Gifford was still eating mostly processed foods high in salt and sugar. It wasn’t until he was at Hamilton, where he played on the basketball team, that he began realizing the real impact his lifestyle choices were having on his physical and emotional health.

After graduation, Gifford started paying more attention to what he was putting into his body and the subtle ways more or less of certain foods made him feel, sleep, think, and move. Inspired by each new discovery, he joined a lifestyle-focused fitness company called Dogpound where he oversaw social media and marketing. He also made some discoveries. “The wellness industry is flooded with products that are designed to conjure feelings of FOMO but rarely provide people with the real tools they need to meet their goals sustainably,” he says.

That’s when Gifford decided to start at the beginning — breakfast. He created Spoonful overnight oats to give busy people an option for combining taste, health, and convenience. “Delivering a fresh, delicious, nutritious breakfast is no easy task, but we believe Spoonful is the breakfast you deserve to help you get to where you want to be every single day,” he says.

Spoonful’s products are vegan, dairyfree, antioxidant and probiotic-rich overnight oats with 15-20 grams of protein. The company carefully sources ingredients free of preservatives and artificial sugars and

sweeteners, and works with chefs, dieticians, and food allergen specialists.

Don’t Forget The Toppings The Toppings is a newsletter produced

by Gifford designed to “sprinkle something on top of your regularly scheduled health and fitness content to examine the relationship between brands, consumer products, and our collective understanding of wellness. Spoonful will share pieces that present being well as the vulnerable learning experience it truly is with stories from relatable sources.”

WHERE YOU’LL FIND IT Spoonful overnight oats is available at a variety of grocery stores and cafés in the New York City area. It comes in three flavors: chocolate peanut butter, cinnamon apple, and ripe banana. Visit spoonful.life to view and order products, and sign up for the free newsletter.

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For the Artisanal Admirer: JILL ROSENWALD STUDIO

WHERE YOU’LL FIND IT ONCE UPON A TIME on a sidewalk in New York City, sandwiched between hot dog stands and break dancers, there stood a cardboard box covered with clay jewelry made on College Hill by Jill Rosenwald ’83, who was standing nearby ready to make a sale.

An art major at Hamilton who studied ceramics, Rosenwald knew she enjoyed the hard work of creating things but didn’t necessarily envision a career in the field. After graduating, she stayed on campus and used the ceramics studio to make the jewelry she sold in the city on the weekends. Surprised by how well her items sold, the artisan was inspired to make other pieces like wall art and functional pots that soon caught the eyes of buyers from Neiman Marcus and Barneys. Today, she is owner and creative director at Jill Rosenwald Studio in Fort Point Channel in Boston, and her work can be purchased online and found at stores in more than 20 states, Washington, D.C., Canada, and the Caribbean.

Rosenwald and her colleagues are self-described “big champions of patterns and color.” Every piece of pottery is made to order — handcrafted on the pottery wheel then drawn and painted by their skilled artisans. They use a creamy white earthenware that provides a smooth white canvas for their colorful patterns. Each piece is finished with a coat of glossy clear glaze and a 14-karat gold rim.

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Artful Connections Rosenwald aims to bring “a little piece of happy into peoples’ lives,” and her products aren’t the only way she accomplishes that.

In 2006, she launched Design Salon, which “provides a means for Boston-area female designers to meet, share best practices, and learn from each other in order to achieve their personal goals.” She also works with Aid to Artisans, an organization that works to create economic opportunities for artisan groups that Rosenwald and others mentor. Through this effort, she has helped groups in Central America get their products into mainstream retailers such as Crate & Barrel and West Elm.

Visit jillrosenwald.com … and if you’re looking for an endorsement, Annie Graves from Yankee magazine wrote in 2021: “Rosenwald’s handiwork is instantly recognizable in stores from Cape Cod to California. It straddles an almost impossible divide, managing to be both bold and noncombative.

While these are ceramics with big personalities, they play well with others, too — not just each other, but also a client’s decor. Here are ikatpatterned bowls shaped like beehives, tapas trays that relax in a Delftblue haze, vases splashed with pink diamonds or chartreuse plaid. They embody positivity, a feeling of visual happiness.”

V I S I T hamilton.edu/giftguide

For the Gaming Enthusiast: ASTRONAUT: THE BEST

GROWING UP, Mike Sennott ’09 often dreamed of playing video games that didn’t exist yet. Before, during, and after his time on College Hill, he worked tirelessly to bring the worlds of his imagination to life. That happened this August when he released Astronaut: The Best, an occult management adventure that uses procedural narrative to create a comedic moral laboratory for players.

“Astronaut: The Best both looks and plays very differently from any other game out there,” Sennott says. “Players are charged with managing a proper space academy using lies, witchcraft, and hard work. Your astronauts aren’t just collections of stats: they’re screwups. Players must guide their procedurally misfit recruits through a rogue-lite web of scandals, challenges, and space-shatteringly meaningful choices. Turn them into national heroes by any means necessary or your bosses will see you dead in a ditch.”

Sennott’s artistic goal with Astronaut was to create a lighthearted and humorous space for players to explore their values and priorities. “Blending procedural narrative, a focus on role-playing, and accessible management gameplay, it constantly encourages players to boldly experiment by making failure fun,” he explains. “In this way, we sought to let players explore a complex real-world system by encoding it into a game system: leadership is tough, and the right people for a job aren’t always the best at it.”

Sennott has worked on games as a designer, writer, composer, engineer, and quality assurance lead, and has published

other games for iOS and Steam. While earning a master’s degree in interactive media from the University of Southern California, he co-founded Universal Happymaker, a four-person studio dedicated to experimental narrative games.

Over the last eight years when they weren’t at their day jobs, the team chipped away at developing Astronaut.

“A creative writing class at Hamilton inspired me to go into writing (and subsequently game design) as a career, and I developed my first game during my senior year,” he says. “My computer science thesis at Hamilton was researching procedural narrative, and many of my games since then have aimed to innovate new techniques in that field, including Astronaut: The Best.’”

and a sophisticated procedural narrative structure that ensures no two missions are ever the same.” The game contains references to both adult situations and deep-cut philosophy jokes and is not recommended for children.

WHERE YOU’LL FIND IT Astronaut: The Best can be purchased via Steam for the PC and Steam Deck platforms. Search for it at steampowered.com.

Who Should Play?

According to Sennott, this game features “a strikingly offbeat art style inspired by midcentury cartoons and space race propaganda, thrilling middle-management gameplay, set behind a stately desk, a surreal world full of scandals, challenges, and space-shatteringly meaningful choices,

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For the Matcha Maven: SENBIRD TEA

FOR CELIA YU ’13, the mentors she met at Hamilton played a role in fostering her passion for Japanese culture and tea.

“I majored in psychology with a minor in Japanese and was fortunate to develop sincere relationships with Professors Masaaki Kamiya and Kyoko Omori. Their guidance and influence were instrumental in my decision to immerse myself deeper into the richness of Japanese language and culture by studying abroad,” Yu says, noting that others close to her advised against traveling to Japan due to radiation concerns following the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.

“My professors instilled in me the courage to carve my own path, to weigh the risks, and to be accountable for my decisions.”

After experiencing Japanese traditions and encountering the warmth of the people she met while abroad, Yu’s love and appreciation only grew. Senbird Tea was born in 2018 after she and co-founder Sho Tasaki traveled to Japan to visit family-owned farms and master craftsmen who taught them the art of making tea in small batches. Their collection includes organic green tea, herbal tea, and handcrafted teaware and exudes the duo’s steadfast commitment to wellness, sustainability, and community as they work to “deliver authentic and delicious Japanese tea experiences to tea lovers around the world.”

What sets Senbird Tea apart? Forbes contributor Christopher Marquis said it best in an April 2023 article: “Single-use teabags produce significant waste, and large amounts of plastic tea bags go into landfills. With the growing demand for high quality tea and matcha, consumers are moving away from tea bags but also struggling to find quality tea from a brand

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they can trust. … Senbird Tea offers avid tea drinkers the Japanese tea experience with an eco-friendly approach that is also zero waste.”

From Yu: “Our innovative, refillable tea tins are not just containers; they are an invitation to a fresher, more flavorful tea experience. Engineered to lock out moisture and light, they preserve the richness, aroma, and integrity of our teas, ensuring every cup brewed is as fresh and flavorful as possible.”

Tea Ambassadors “We actively engage in educational tea tastings and educational sessions at various events, from pop-ups and Japanese markets to wellness engagements, and through partnerships with non-profit

WHERE YOU’LL FIND IT In addition to shopping Senbird Tea online at senbird.com, you can find Yu’s products at a showroom in New York City and in Japanese markets throughout the Big Apple, as well as at some renowned Japanese restaurants.

organizations,” Yu says. “We take pride in being an ambassador of tradition and cultural richness. Being proud members of ‘1% for the Planet,’ we channel a portion of our sales to environmental causes, a testament to our dedication to sustainability and our resolve to give back to the planet.”

V I S I T hamilton.edu/giftguide

For the Perfectionist: THE NICER SLICER

SANDY SCHIRMER ’80 was a big fan of the Slice-a-Slice of the 1940s and ’50s, a tool that could cut a slice of bread in half.

“It was a staple in our family kitchen that we used to make sandwiches and snacks,” Schirmer says. “With a house full of kids, it was especially good for making treats to take on picnics, to the beach, or on long car trips. Toasting bread before slicing it thin kept the outside crisp and the inside soft — meaning no soggy sandwiches in transit.”

When the Slice-a-Slice was no longer available, Schirmer envisioned creating an upgraded version. What began as a hobby turned into a business featuring the Nicer Slicer, a dishwasher-safe product made from 20-gauge brushed stainless steel that Schirmer says “improves taste while cutting calories and cost.”

While it’s most often used for breads and bagels, the Nicer Slicer can be used in a variety of ways, including creating cutlets

from boneless chicken breasts and cutting hamburger patties that are too thick down to a portion-controlled size.

Poilâne Endorsed A few years ago, Schirmer won the opportunity to talk with a European chef and picked Apollonia Poilâne of the famed Poilâne Bakery in Paris. Poilâne’s family toasts their famous sourdough with two thin slices inserted in the same slot of the toaster, achieving the same result the Nicer Slicer provides. “She understood the tool immediately, thought it was quite cool, and very graciously talked to my team for well over an hour,” Schirmer says.

WHERE YOU’LL FIND IT Order your own Nicer Slicer, as well as find recipes and tips about using the product, at thenicerslicer.com.

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For the Sports Fanatic: BASEBALL BBQ

WHEN A FRIEND’S DAD took the handle from a cracked baseball bat to repair a broken grill fork, Brett Mandel ’91 and his friends patented the concept and now produce fun and functional bat-handle BBQ tools and cutting boards.

“We launched our efforts for Father’s Day just after pandemic lockdown, which delayed inventory shipments and complicated our efforts to find suppliers and workers, but our high-quality products captured the imagination, and we were able to secure coveted MLB licensing just a year after we started selling, which dramatically expanded sales,” Mandel says.

Baseball BBQ products are also officially licensed by the Major League Baseball Player’s Association, which grants the company permission to put the name, number, and signature of any MLB player on their tools and cutting boards.

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“After a 33-year-old career minorleaguer made his major league debut, I posted a silly note on social media about how all of his fans could now buy Baseball BBQ products engraved with his name on them,” Mandel says. “His father made a purchase. It was incredibly moving to think that our little company would provide a keepsake for this man’s proud family to memorialize his brief appearance on a major league roster.”

WHERE YOU’LL FIND IT

Giving Back A portion of every Baseball BBQ purchase goes to support Pitch In for Baseball & Softball, a non-profit organization that reduces barriers to play and promotes youth development by providing equipment to leagues, schools, and organizations around the world to start, continue, and/or expand their programs.

Visit BaseballBBQ.com to see what’s available. “Our products are unique and can be customized so they are a lot of fun to give and receive, but it turns out that the bat handle is wonderfully ergonomic and makes a really high-quality grill tool, so Baseball BBQ products are perfect for casual fans or serious grillers,” Mandel says.

For the Family:

KRISTOFERSON FARM AND CANOPY TOURS NORTHWEST

FOR OVER A CENTURY, Mona Campbell ’85 and members of her family have embraced sustainable and organic farming practices as stewards of the historic Kristoferson Farm, located on Camano Island, a little more than an hour north of Seattle. When life circumstances brought her and her siblings back to manage the farm, Campbell, armed with a master’s degree in landscape architecture from Harvard and a renewed appreciation for green spaces after living in New York City, began thinking about ways they could invite others to experience this place they loved.

Following her own zipline excursion in Canada, Campbell thought something both fun and educational could be a beneficial addition. After a few years of research, building, and implementation, they launched Canopy Tours Northwest, a zipline tour.

Canopy Tours was just the beginning for Kristoferson Farm. They then developed Terra Teams, a team-building program, and now welcome thousands of visitors a year for ziplining, team outings, lavender workshops, farm-to-table dinners, special events, wreath-making workshops, and more.

WHERE YOU’LL FIND IT Heading to the Pacific Northwest? Be sure to plan a visit by checking out the events and activities at kristofersonfarm.com.

Because the zipline tour is low-impact — guests only need to be able to walk up stairs and on a path — the farm has become an accessible place to help people cross off a bucket list item and celebrate big moments.

“One of the neatest things has been seeing these multi-generational families all zipping together, doing something new and different,” Campbell says. “It’s a beautiful thing to see happen. I didn’t anticipate that at all when we opened the business. Being a part of something that pushes people a little outside their boundaries and makes them feel empowered and have a new sense of self after is a wonderful experience for us.”

WANT TO SEE MORE PRODUCTS OFFERED BY MEMBERS OF THE HAMILTON COMMUNITY? Visit hamilton.edu/giftguide THE HAMILTON GIFT GUIDE makes it easier than ever to shop products offered by Hamilton and Kirkland artists and artisans, brewers and winemakers, service providers, and other small business owners. Your support encourages their success and fosters the creativity and ingenuity found within our community.

There is no cost to be included in the guide, which is visible to the public, however listing is available only to businesses owned or managed by Hamilton College or Kirkland College alumni/ae, parents, students, faculty, and staff. New entries will be accepted throughout the year. For more details, visit hamilton.edu/giftguide.

To give the gift of a book authored by a member of the Hamilton/ Kirkland community, visit the searchable Bookshelf page on our website, hamilton.edu/bookshelf hamilton.edu/bookshelf..

AND COMING SOON …

The Hamilton Small Business Directory will launch in 2024. This companion to the Hamilton Gift Guide will serve as a resource you can use to support Hamilton and Kirkland alumni-owned businesses in your local area, find restaurants and shops in cities you visit, or help you connect with alumni with similar interests.

It’s another way we hope to promote small business growth and celebrate the innovative and entrepreneurial spirit of alumni everywhere.

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Written by Judy Silverstein Gray K’78 and Taylor Baldwin Kiland, Unwavering: The Wives Who Fought to Ensure No Man is Left Behind (Permuted Press, 2023) tells of the relentless advocacy of Vietnam War-era POW/MIA wives, whose persistence outlasted repeated warnings from the U.S. government to “keep quiet.” These women waged their battle behind the scenes amidst the backdrop of cultural, social, and economic upheaval — a time when women could not obtain a credit card without their husband’s signature. Despite the stonewalling they encountered, the women persisted, taking their case to the Paris Peace Accords and world leaders there.

Testifying before Congress, they moved to the frontlines of diplomacy and made the POW/MIA issue central to peace negotiations. Ultimately these women changed policy so “no man is left behind.”

Gray, a former correspondent for The Tampa Tribune and author of five books on military topics, is a retired Coast Guard chief petty officer and the third generation in her family to serve in the U.S. armed forces. She links her longtime interest in history and storytelling to her Kirkland classes, internships, faculty, and friends: “They encouraged and inspired me, breathing life into the narratives of innovators and unlikely trailblazers. I’m grateful it became a lifelong fascination.”

Following is an excerpt from the book.

ILLUSTRATION BY CODY CORCORAN

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INTO THE JUNGLE July 1973

T

HE SIGNING OF THE PARIS Peace Accords on January 27, 1973, and the subsequent live television coverage of the release of the longest-held group of POWs in the nation’s history six months ago lifted the collective mood in America. It was a celebratory moment for the nation, after an endless war. The returning POWs were feted with homecoming parades, lifetime passes to Major League Baseball games, free cars and vacations, keys issued by the mayors of their hometowns, and a celebrity-studded White House dinner. In contrast, other Vietnam veterans were greeted at American airports with derision, accused of being “baby killers,” spit on by fellow citizens. Americans did not seem to care about their service and sacrifices. The POWs are seemingly the only heroes of this unpopular and divisive war.

While the returned POWs and their wives revel in the lavish celebration, the wives of the missing were only able to watch the White House gala on television. They were not invited to Mrs. Nixon’s tea nor the president’s star-studded dinner in May. Pat Mearns purses her lips, “It hurt like hell.”

What about the missing men? They have not been accounted for, including Marian Shelton’s husband, Air Force Capt. Charles Shelton, missing since 1965. Who is searching for him now that the United States has withdrawn all troops from Southeast Asia?

Marian is.

In a small plane above Laos, she drinks in the peaceful scene below. Surveying the patchwork of muddy brown and beige rice paddies, she notices the landscape seems covered by a thin, glistening layer of moisture. In the distance, lush hillsides glimmer.

As the aircraft glides northeast, hills give way to mountains — dense and dark, and

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Joan, Lea Ann, Michael, Marian, John, and Charlie Shelton in Louisville, Kentucky, 1973.

(Photo courtesy of the Shelton family.)

the vast paddies shrink into tiny squares carved into the mountainsides.

The little plane is heading toward Sam Neua, a provincial town in northeastern Laos near the North Vietnam border. This is where Charles Shelton disappeared eight years ago. She believes he might still be alive, here.

Marian has spent the last six weeks in Southeast Asia on a pilgrimage to find out. She is going to the spot where Charles vanished. The odyssey has led her to faraway places she never expected to see while growing up in rural Kentucky: Tokyo, Taipei, Phnom Penh, Saigon, Bangkok, and Vientiane. VIVA, the organization behind the wildly successful POW and MIA bracelet campaign, is sponsoring her trip. Gloria Coppin, the wealthy Los Angeles socialite chair of VIVA’s national advisory committee since 1966, planned the route. The goal is to meet with as many Communist party heads as possible. The fate of Marian’s missing husband lies somewhere in these jungles.

She is not alone. Trailing her every move is a reporter from a Louisville, Kentucky, newspaper, and Edgar Buell, an agricultural advisor for the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID. Marian hopes Buell can help her dig up something, anything, about what happened to her husband.

Buell has been living among the Laotian people since 1961 and has become a fierce

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ally of the Hmong highlanders, resistance fighters backed by the CIA in their battle against the Communist Pathet Lao. Buell, who the Hmong call “Uncle Pop,” is also working closely with the CIA’s airline, Air America, which ferries supplies to the Hmong. He may be just the right person to uncover facts about the husband who disappeared on his 33rd birthday in April 1965.

The day he vanished, Charles was flying covert photo reconnaissance missions over the mountainous jungles of Laos. Marian was managing the home front on U.S. Air Force Base Kadena on the Japanese island of Okinawa, raising the couple’s five rambunctious young children. She was blissfully unaware of the risks associated with the Laotian missions her husband flew. Known for her naiveté, she questioned little. That is, until her husband went missing.

Growing up, it was best not to ask too many questions until Marian’s father sobered up. The family home in Owensboro, Kentucky, a small, predominantly white town nearly one hundred miles southwest of Louisville, was tense. Marian Vollman was the youngest of seven children — six girls and one boy — born to Carl and Mary Catherine Vollman, both Catholic. Carl was a sheet metal worker and Mary Catherine a homemaker. They lived in a small house, where the girls shared bedrooms and menstrual cycles. Owensboro was notoriously

the site of the last public hanging in the United States when a young Black man convicted of raping an old white woman was executed in 1936, in front of 15,000 spectators. Besides that gruesome milestone, the town had little of note: it produced furniture, cars, and electric bulbs, and processed tobacco. After high school, most kids went to work at one of the local manufacturing plants and settled down. Marian was the rare resident who left.

Marian was just thirteen when she fell in love with Charles Shelton. The couple met on a tennis court. Their attraction was instant. A hillbilly who lived outside town in a home with no plumbing, Charles was also one of seven children. Unlike Marian, he was a Southern Baptist. Not particularly tall, his trim and sturdy frame — like a tree stump, some said — was topped with sandy blond hair, green eyes, a square jaw, and an easygoing and reassuring smile. Also blonde and green-eyed, with an almost cherubic smile, Marian could have been his sister.

She was seventeen and pregnant when she married Charles, soon after graduating from high school. The first in his family to attend college, Charles was leaving Owensboro for the University of Evansville. Then, he would train to be an officer and an aviator in the U.S. Air Force. The life of a military wife was much more exciting and adventurous than a future in Owensboro.

Marian had lost her only brother, Buddy, during World War II. A Navy sailor, he died when his ship was sunk in the Pacific.

His remains were never recovered. Marian claimed meeting and marrying Charles helped her get over the loss. But had she considered the risks of Charles’s chosen career?

The couple embraced itinerant military life. More than a decade later, after tours in Germany, South Carolina, Colorado, and Texas, Charles was a seasoned aviator, on his second deployment to Southeast Asia, rotating in and out of Udorn, Thailand, every thirty days.

I KNEW CHARLES WENT DOWN IN A JUNGLE, YET I HAD NO IDEA WHAT KIND OF JUNGLE IT WAS. I CAN SEE WHY THEY CAN’T GET HIM OUT. Captain Shelton spent Easter of 1965 with his family in Okinawa. Nine days later he was flying the lead plane on an aerial mission, a single-seater RF-101C “Voodoo” reconnaissance jet that held up to six cameras in its nose and could fly at low altitudes.

The assignment: to capture photos of the Communist Pathet Lao headquarters. Not an easy task, as they were warehoused in a jumble of massive caves near Sam Neua.

Passing over the target, Charles descended to 3,000 feet. As he was lining up to snap his first shot, he was hit by ground fire.

Back on Okinawa, Marian was sipping a cocktail at the squadron commander’s home expecting Charles to walk in the door to celebrate his birthday. While the adults drank, the kids were sent to play in a bedroom where nine-year-old Johnny Shelton and eight-year-old Michael were transfixed by an extensive and colorful vinyl album collection. Wandering toward the living room, ostensibly to find the bathroom, Johnny caught a glimpse of his mother, surrounded by guests, crying and shaking in her flowery mu-mu. Johnny’s eyes widened as he watched them try to comfort his mother.

Captain Shelton was forced to eject from his plane. His wing man saw a good “chute” and an F-105 pilot rushing to assist with the rescue spied Shelton on a steep, sloping hill about thirty to forty yards from his parachute, which was caught in a tree.

Search and rescue (SAR) helicopters picked up an intermittent signal from his beeper — a device worn by air crews that emits an electronic signal to rescuers. However, the signal was weak, the weather was bad, and the sun was sinking. Those factors made it difficult to pinpoint his exact location. SAR crews vowed to return in the morning when the weather improved.

Johnny ran to tell his four siblings that their dad’s plane had been shot down.

Twelve-year-old Lea Ann, the oldest of the five Shelton children, did not believe him.

“I told him to git out! And then he came

back in and was telling me some more. ...

So, I thought there must be something to this story. I went into the front room where Mama was, to get her word on it. I couldn’t even get to her. She was covered up with people, handing her drinks. And pills.”

Everyone was consoling Marian, but no one thought to console her children.

A team was expected to rescue Charles before midnight Okinawa time, Marian was told. She believed it. She had to. She could not face the prospect of another family member lost in war.

SAR helicopter crews searched for several days. But Captain Shelton seemed to have been swallowed up by the jungles of Laos. He was never heard from again.

Hmong guerilla fighters working with the CIA reported that Charles was captured by the Pathet Lao and held in a warren of caves near Sam Neua. But the American ambassador to Laos, William Sullivan, was reticent to authorize rescue attempts.

Sullivan was running a clandestine war for President Johnson in this nation he called a “landlocked, lousy little place.” And, while he was concerned about the American captives, he did not want to strain his meager search

and rescue resources. Even less did he want to expose the covert war he was running, he admitted. “... I am consciously jeopardizing entire Air America [CIA] operation in this country and am risking severe embarrassment to both U.S. and Lao governments.”

Embarrassing the U.S. and Lao governments is of no concern now, in August of 1973. Marian wants answers. She is not afraid to speak out. Neither a diplomat nor an intelligence professional, she is serving in both roles. Stepping out of the small plane, Marian and her companions visit one of many small villages where Buell and USAID provide food and medical support to refugees. Then, they board a helicopter that whisks them to an even more remote location, the mountain valley of Houayxay, where Buell wants Marian to meet families who have emigrated from Sam Neua, the last place where her husband was seen alive.

Thick white clouds hang over the mountaintops as the Americans walk through the village. Banana trees droop over muddy roads as ducks wander aimlessly. Marian and Buell drop onto straw mats around a table at a village home, where they are served a hot corn whiskey, called “lau lau.”

Marian proffers her hosts a picture of Charles. Buell interprets. The women draw blanks. No one recognizes her husband, but they have seen Americans in the caves of Sam Neua as recently as last year. Do not give up searching, one woman tells Marian.

If Charles is alive, he will be in those caves.

Marian hands her a POW bracelet inscribed with her husband’s name.

The meeting produces no leads but Marian refuses to give in to disappointment.

“This has been the best thing on the whole trip,” Marian admits. “Just to get up here and see what’s happening. I knew Charles went down in a jungle, yet I had no idea what kind of jungle it was. I can see why they can’t get him out. n

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Bookshelf Lynn H. Butler K’75

Flames Against the Dark: Saving America’s Sacred Sites (Colfax, Wis.: Hayriver Press, 2022).

F

rom the Camargue in France, to Sleepy Hollow in New York; from the Maine coast to California, Butler and her camera have roamed countryside after countryside — often on horseback — to inspire others to witness and conserve the treasures of the natural world. In this stunning volume of photography, she turns her lens to ancient

origins and living legacies as embodied in North American sacred sites and the native peoples who revere and preserve them.

Far more than a written documentary alone, this collection of images brings to life the elusive spirit of traditional holy sites, among them Wisconsin’s Black River Falls, with its secret rock art, disclosed to the

Images from Flames Against the Dark: (Left) Crossing California’s Carmel River; (Below) Hidden caves by starlight at Wisconsin’s Black River Falls

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outside world for the first time since the last Ice Age; Hands Rock and the painted caves near its base in the Esselen tribal region of California; a 2,000-year-old astronomical “computer” in Minnesota oriented to the Pleiades constellation; and the red sandstone cliffs of the Canyon de Chelley in Arizona, the final refuge of the Anasazi, which still reverberates with the energies of this vanished race.

Not only does Butler capture many of her photographs while maneuvering on the backs of moving horses, she also uses a long exposure method that gives her images a painterly effect. Throughout the book, she mixes these dynamic, almost mystical, photographs with candid shots of events, such as a trip to Washington, D.C., where Native American chiefs met with members of Congress in the Indian Treaty Room to champion saving a sacred site area from commercial development.

The editors of Newsweek nominated images in Flames Against the Dark as “best art photography” for the ICP Infinity Awards.

Throughout her career Butler has held more than 45 solo exhibitions. Her photographs are in many permanent collections, from New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art to Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, and have appeared in such publications as Life, Geo, Aperture, and The New York Times. n

WILL A. BEEBE ’80. Soccer Giants of Brazil: One American’s Take on Samba Soccer Culture (Great Goal Books, 2023).

BRENT CEBUL ’03. Illusions of Progress:

Business, Poverty, and Liberalism in the American Century (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2023).

FRANK COSTIGLIOLA ’68. Kennan: A Life between

Worlds (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2023).

CHRISTIAN GOODWILLIE, director and curator of

special collections and archives. Richard McNemar: Frontier Heretic and Shaker Apostle (Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana University Press, 2023).

JUDY SILVERSTEIN GRAY K’78 AND TAYLOR BALDWIN KILAND. Unwavering: The Wives Who Fought to Ensure No Man is Left Behind (Brentwood, Tenn.: Permuted Press, 2023).

DOUGLAS HYDE ’65. Footnotes (Bloomfield, Conn.: Antrim House, 2019).

R.T. LUND ’77. Who Are You?: A Lake Superior Mystery (Mineral Point, Wis.: Little Creek Press, 2022).

BRETT H. MANDEL ’91. Philadelphia, Corrupt and Consenting: A City’s Struggle against an Epithet (Philadelphia: Temple University Press: 2023).

RICHARD MEIER ’88. A Duration (Seattle: Wave

Books, 2023).

TIM NORBECK ’60. Almost Heaven (Why Not Books, 2023).

JOSH SIMPSON ’72 AND SUE REED. Josh Simpson: 50 Years of Visionary Glass (Atglen, Pa.: Schiffer Publishing, 2022).

JUSTIN B. STEIN ’01. Alternate Currents: Reiki’s Circulation in the Twentieth-Century North Pacific (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2023).

MAHALA DYER STEWART, assistant professor of sociology. The Color of Homeschooling: How Inequality Shapes School Choice (New York: New York University Press, 2023).

Cameron McWhirter ’86 and Zusha Elinson

American Gun: The True Story of the AR-15 (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2023).

T

he authors, both Wall Street Journal reporters, tell how an amateur gun designer pursuing a hobby in his garage would invent a rifle that has become what they call the “fulcrum of America’s great gun divide.” In the 1950s, Eugene Stoner aimed to devise a lightweight, easy-to-use weapon for American soldiers and their allies during the Cold War. The Marine veteran achieved his goal with the AR-15 rifle.

But how did the same gun, which under the name M16 would become standard equipment in Vietnam, evolve into the weapon of choice for troubled individuals intent on killing fellow American schoolchildren, concertgoers, and grocery shoppers? To answer this question, McWhirter and Elinson follow Stoner as he struggled to win support for his invention. Initially shunned by gun owners, the rifle’s popularity would take off thanks to what the authors describe as “a renegade band of small-time gun makers.” And by the 2000s, the firearm would land in the hands of mass shooters, prompting widespread calls for proscription even as the gun industry embraced it as a financial savior. “[Written] in calm, precise language that allows the authors’ exhaustive research to shine through, ... you can feel the tension building one cold, catastrophic fact at a time,” notes The New York Times Book Review. “Among the authors’ feats of reportage was getting gun company executives and entrepreneurs to speak candidly on the record, a virtually unprecedented achievement.”

In what is both a biography of the inventor and his invention, American Gun takes a deep dive into the U.S. gun culture, revealing the appeal of the AR-15, the havoc it wreaks, and the politics of reducing its toll. n

Bill Delaney ’73

Hidden Variables: A Quantum Comedy (Baton Rouge, La.: Connelly Press, 2022).

T

he author, an ex-TV reporter, spins this hilarious metaphysical detective story about immortality, lousy jobs, murder, and quantum physics. Author James Patterson writes in a review: “If the idea of a paranormal mystery tickles your funny bone then this is definitely your book. In spades. Hidden Variables is like nothing you’ve ever read (in a good way). It’s very, very funny.” Kirkus Reviews calls the novel: “funny, inventive, and engagingly mysterious. It’s a heady, absurd parable about the dying towns, media conglomerates, and dead-end freelance work that make up so much of the American landscape. A cerebral and amusing novel that revolves around a quantum mystery.” n

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Prosper Mérimée (translated by Laura Nagle ’99) Songs for the Gusle

(Philadelphia: Frayed Edge Press, 2023).

PAVITRA SUNDAR, professor of literature.

Listening with a Feminist Ear (Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Press, 2023).

MICHAEL TENNANT ’04. The Power of Empathy: A

S

eems that “fake news” came long before the advent of social media. In this book, Nagle offers the first complete Englishlanguage translation of La Guzla, a literary hoax that dates back to the 19th century. Originally published in 1827, La Guzla purported to be a collection of folktales, ballad lyrics, and travel stories compiled and translated into French by an anonymous traveler returning from the Balkans. However, it was revealed that the stories were the fictional accounts of a young civil servant named Prosper Mérimée. “In these dramatic tales of love, war, and encounters with the supernatural, Mérimée has given us both a treasure trove of ‘fakelore’ and a satirical portrait of a self-appointed expert blissfully unaware of how little he understands the cultures he claims to represent,” notes the publisher.

Yet both the book and its author went on to success. La Guzla was a surprise bestseller with excerpts translated into several European languages. Mérimée (1803–70) would become a major figure in the French Romantic movement. He is remembered as a pioneer of the novella, most notably Carmen (1845) and Colomba (1840). His story of Carmen served as the basis for the libretto of the opera of the same name by Georges Bizet.

Along with footnotes explaining the historical and sociological context of the author’s “discoveries,” this new translation includes Mérimée’s preface to the 1840 edition of the work, in which he confesses to the deception, as well as a translator’s note by Nagle, who discusses the work’s background and the challenges of translating it. n

Thirty-Day Path to Personal Growth and Social Change (San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2023).

JAMES N. WEISS ’71. The Surfer and the Sea Lion: A Conversation About Being (iUniverse, 2021).

PETER WELTNER ’64. A Last Hike In and A Last Look Back (Seattle: Marrowstone Press, 2023).

OLIVIA WOLFGANG-SMITH ’11. Glassworks (London: Bloomsbury, 2023).

RABBI MICHAEL ZEDEK ’68. Taking Miracles Seriously: A Journey to Everyday Spirituality (Toronto: Sutherland House Books, 2023).

For descriptions of books listed, and links to where you might purchase them, visit hamilton.edu/bookshelf.

Lowey Bundy Sichol ’96 and Kathleen King

Cookie Queen: How One Girl Started Tate’s Bake Shop (New York: Random House, 2023).

I

f you’ve ever bit into a crispy Tate’s cookie, you’re in for another treat. From the author of award-winning entrepreneurship biographies for kids comes this picture book that tells the story of 11-year-old Kathleen King, who sets out to make the perfect chocolate-chip cookie. Little did she know her mission would inspire the worldrenowned Tate’s Bake Shop cookie.

“This [book] is extra special because I co-authored it with Kathleen. It’s illustrated by the amazingly talented New York Times bestselling illustrator Ramona Kaulitzki,” Sichol says. “Also included in the

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back of the book is a special cookie recipe from Kathleen — one that she made as a young girl with her beloved father, Tate!”

Books in Sichol’s From an Idea to... series focus on how companies like Disney, Google, Nike, and Lego got their start. Another book, Idea Makers: 15 Fearless Female Entrepreneurs, brings to life women and the lessons they learned through determination and passion. Her goal is to introduce kids to the concept of business while inspiring young entrepreneurs and inventors.

Since 2019, Sichol has visited 200+ schools to meet with elementary-aged

children. Through her Authors Inspire program, she has donated over 5,000 of her books to Title 1 schools and provided dozens of free author visits.

The author is the recipient of literary awards from the National Science Teachers Association, Children’s Book Council, International Literacy Association, Junior Library Guild, and Texas Bluebonnet Award MasterList. n

ADAM J. BROCKWAY

Show Up

FINAL THOUGHTS

Evan Smith ’87 offered the following address to the Class of ’23 at the Baccalaureate ceremony last spring. Co-founder of The Texas Tribune, where he served as CEO from 2009 to 2022, Smith is a senior adviser at Emerson Collective, which advises local news nonprofits throughout the country and advocates for strengthening democracy by informing communities. He had previously spent nearly 18 years at Texas Monthly as the magazine’s president and editor-in-chief.

I

T’S AN HONOR and a trip to be here. sheep, I’d try to recite the names of the 100 I first arrived on this campus 40 years U.S. senators. By the time I got to Jesse ago as a nameless, aimless graduate of a Helms, I was usually drifting off. So when big public high school in the suburbs of I registered for classes my first semester as New York. Based only on the picture of me a first-year student here, I took everything in the freshman facebook — feathered hair in the Government Department I could get parted down the middle, mid-pubescent my grubby mitts on. I literally mainlined mustache, Police concert government classes. This T-shirt — you would not continued in my second have pegged me then as the semester and for the entire person who’d be giving this next year — after all, there speech today. I certainly was no requirement that wouldn’t have. But you I take boring subjects like know, Hamilton made me science, so why not? As I’ve into who I am, just as it’s learned to say in Texas: made you into who you’ll Dance with the girl that become. You may not know brung you. it yet, but trust me. It’s My junior year, when happened. all my friends were in Let me say a few words Barcelona studying Evan Smith in Hamilton’s 1983 about, in my case, the architecture or Florence New Faces directory becoming. I was a political studying art, I went on junkie growing up — the kind of kid who Hamilton’s Washington, D.C., program to read Time magazine when everyone else work on the uppermost floor of a congreswas reading Sports Illustrated. When I sional office building signing letters with couldn’t fall asleep, instead of counting a signing machine and in the basement of

the Federal Election Commission doing God knows what. The nation’s capital. My dream come true. Except I hated it. This was the most miserable place, and these were the most miserable people I ever could have imagined. I couldn’t wait to get back to Clinton. And when I did, I was heartsick.

I’d always wanted a career in politics. It was too late to switch my major. I whined and moaned to everyone who would listen.

One of those who did was Lea Haber [’87, P’24], who is now a Hamilton trustee.

She was on the Washington program with me, and she was the incoming editor of The Spectator. After I told her about my sinking spell, she took pity on me and offered me a column in the newspaper — if I didn’t want to work in politics anymore, at least I could write about it. I accepted, and I liked doing it, and I was launched. I’m happy to say that, as a result of that pivot, I’ve been a journalist for the last 36 years. She is responsible.

But I also have to give credit to a few other people on this campus at that time: the late Misty Gerner, the late Fred Wagner,

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FINAL THOUGHTS This photo of Smith getting his photo taken appears in the 1987 Hamiltonian yearbook.

the late Sid Wertimer, Gene Tobin, Frank Anechiarico [’71], and Ted Eismeier — professors who gave me confidence, taught me to write, taught me to think critically, and made me appreciate that there was a world beyond my front door. As hard as it is to fathom, it was in this tiny community that I expanded my world view and my horizons — which is what every excellent institution of higher education should do.

This weekend is when we celebrate your own version of life-changing progress. Let’s acknowledge what you 500 amazing people, you graduates, have done: You’ve moved from start to finish, from talking about it to actually doing it. You’ve accomplished something truly significant against a backdrop of truly unbelievable events.

The majority of you entered as firstyear students in 2019, the fall before everything shut down. For more than two years you endured a public health emergency the likes of which we haven’t seen for a century — maybe ever. Your freshman and sophomore years an economic downturn put millions of Americans out of work — perhaps members of your own family.

At the end of your freshman year, George Floyd was murdered; the resulting reckoning over systemic racism continues to this day. In your sophomore year we had a hot mess of a presidential election followed by an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol that put our democracy at risk — it remains at risk two years later. I could go on.

Seriously, the firehose of catastrophe and calamity has been turned up to the highest setting during the time you’ve been on this campus. And yet here you are.

You had plenty of excuses to hit pause.

You had any number of reasons to be derailed. But you didn’t and you weren’t.

You stuck with it. Way to persevere. Way to be resilient. I don’t think we can say that often enough to the Class of ’23.

Having graduated, all of you on Monday get to join the ranks of those of us trying our

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H A M I LTO N

best to make sense of an often confusing, increasingly cruel, and dynamically changing world. What’s the word I’ve heard my own kids, who are not much older than you, use to describe this? Adulting. Adulting is your reward for making it to the other side.

Actually, we’re the ones being rewarded.

The rest of us. Your presence in all our lives — as colleagues, neighbors, friends — translates into fresh eyes, boundless energy, and another set of hands deployed to solve the problems created by the generations that came before you.

God, we’ve screwed things up, haven’t we? Screwed up the environment. Screwed up equity. Screwed up the economy.

Screwed up voting.

I’m galled by many things but particularly about the way we’ve made partisanship a virtue and compromise a vice, as if talking to someone who disagrees with you is a fate worse than death. The way we’ve let the misinformation virus out of the test tube — giving oxygen and airtime to ridiculous conspiracy theories — so that when we’re battling an actual virus, people don’t know who to trust or what to believe. The way we’ve created a generation of low-information and no-information Americans who either choose not to participate in public life or, God love ’em, do anyway. The way we’ve politicized the simplest things: Public Health. Renewable Energy. Sports.

We’ve lost our way, and we’ve lost our minds. We make everything about what’s

good for us individually when it ought to be about what’s good for all of us — the common good. The answer to every question is not subject, verb, liberty, and nor is it subject, verb, grievance. We’ve become too hard and too soft all at once. We have to get over that and get over ourselves and re-center. We have to promote and elevate the value of something larger — the value of community. It’s on you and yours to succeed where me and mine have failed.

What will it take? It’s helpful to remember that the blessings of citizenship come with obligations and responsibilities.

Civic participation and civic engagement.

Kindness, compassion, charity. Honesty.

Decency. Morality. Fairness. Cheerfulness and equanimity — an even keel — when things don’t go your way. Humility when things do. Perspective. If the last couple of years taught us anything, it’s to take pleasure in small victories, to be grateful for what’s working in your life, and to be forgiving of others and of yourself.

Perhaps the biggest obligation and responsibility is that you acknowledge reality — that you accept the world you’re living in. Another way we’ve screwed up is we’ve allowed people to live in an alternate universe that exists only in their heads, one in which truth is subjective. The late Pat Moynihan, the longtime U.S. senator from this state, admonished us that we’re entitled to our own opinions but not our own facts. He must be spinning in his grave. The 2020 election was not stolen. The pandemic was not a hoax. Climate change is real.

There: I said it. Now you can tell your kids that your baccalaureate speaker was a woke lunatic from the fake news media.

In fact, what I am is someone who believes in telling it like it is. We need more of that. We need more facts, reality, and truth. We need more good information to push out the bad.

But who’ll provide it? This is my sweet spot, and here’s my spiel. Since 2008, a

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quarter of the nation’s newspapers have shut down. By 2025, it will be a third.

Seventy million of us in this country — onefifth of us — have no local news source or one about to topple over. Many of those 70 million are people of color. The majority live in counties where the median household income is below the national average.

We live in two Americas: one informed, one not. No wonder voter turnout is low and polarization is off the charts. No wonder conspiracy theories are out of control.

Making matters worse, we live in the United States of Confirmation Bias. We put ear buds in our ears as we make our way through our day to keep the outside world out. We self-exile. We curate our cable channels and our social media feeds and our satellite radio dials so the only voices we hear are ones already in our heads. We can go a lifetime without encountering a point of view different from our own.

This is what’s killing us. It’s the poison coursing through all of our veins. Believe me when I tell you that robust, reliable, credible, nonpartisan, nonprofit news — journalism in the public interest — is the antidote. This is how I spend my every waking minute these days: Trying to strengthen the news ecosystem, that antidote, from coast to coast and border to border and, in the process, strengthen our democracy. Any of you who want to join me, put up a hand.

I’m conscious of the time. You and your families need to get down to the Rok. There’s a Utica Club with your name on it.

But before I go, I want to do what everyone who’s ever been up here has done, and that’s offer some advice on the way out the door. The hack here is that these two bits are lifted from other people — with credit, of course.

The first I’m going to borrow from Glen Powell, the actor who played Hangman in Top Gun: Maverick. You probably were not expecting that. He was the commencement speaker two weekends ago when my son

… we live in the United States of Confirmation Bias. … We curate our cable channels and our social media feeds and our satellite radio dials so the only voices we hear are ones already in our heads. … This is what’s killing us. … Believe me when I tell you that robust, reliable, credible, nonpartisan, nonprofit news — journalism in the public interest — is the antidote.

graduated from the University of Texas.

Glen, who is not just a Texan but more importantly an Austinite, told the assembled students that when you go to a party at someone’s house, bring queso. Very on brand. But also very deep. You can take that to mean carry delicious melted cheese with you wherever you go, but I choose to believe it was metaphorical queso. It was about being courteous and showing gratitude — about not taking anyone or anything for granted. About not showing up to life empty-handed. Sidebar to this: Glen also said always write thank-you notes. I think in that case he actually meant write thank-you notes. But it’s basically the same point.

The other bit of advice is from someone you’ve never heard of. It was the summer of

2000. I was in the office of my boss, Greg Curtis, at Texas Monthly. Greg had been the magazine’s editor for 19 years and was retiring. I’d been his deputy for many years and in a few weeks would succeed him.

What wisdom did he have for me as I took on this awesome job?

What I couldn’t help thinking about at the time was the peaceful transition of power in this country every four or eight years.

Hilarious, right? The outgoing president writes a handwritten note and leaves in it the drawer of the resolute desk in the Oval Office. What I was essentially asking Greg was, what would you write in that note?

He was a man of few words, but even by that standard his answer was cryptically brief. “Show up,” he said.

At first I didn’t get it. Show up? You mean like, come to work? After a beat or two I understood where he was coming from. He meant, show up, be present, don’t waste a day or a minute or an hour. If you’re gonna take the job, do the job. Arrive at the office every day like a batter in the on-deck circle, in uniform, swinging a bat with a donut, waiting for your turn at the plate. Be eager to get in the game. And when you’re in the game, play your heart out. Show up.

I’ve always tried to do that. I’ve always tried be as present I can be in every meeting, at every event, in every interview. In this speech. It’s a sign of my seriousness and my commitment, and in my experience it’s almost always noticed.

From Greg to me, from me to you, that’s my message to the stout and stalwart members of the Class of ’23: Show up. We need your attention and curiosity and creativity.

We need your enthusiasm and idealism and pragmatism. We need you to tell us which things are lit and which are mid. You’re the ones we’ve been waiting for. More importantly, you’re the ones you’ve been waiting for. The solution to all of our problems, the enabler of all of our aspirations, the answer to all of our prayers … is you. You got this. n

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‘Root’ed at Hamilton THERE’S ELIHU ROOT HOUSE, Root Hall, Root Residence Hall, and of course Root Glen. You may even remember Root Homestead, which housed the Root Art Gallery before it became the Anderson-Connell Alumni Center in 1982.

The latest campus building to honor the family of Nobel Peace Prize winning statesman Elihu Root, Class of 1864, is the beautiful Molly Root House. Previously home to Molly and Elihu Root III ’36, the building became headquarters for the Department of Art History in 2006.

PHOTO BY SAWYER KRON ’25

HAMILTON 198 College Hill Road Clinton, NY 13323

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A Pot of Golden Opportunity What happens when a spectacular rainbow suddenly appears on campus?

If you’re Alya MacDonald ’25, you run back to your room, grab your camera, and capture this shot that received over 1,600 likes on Instagram!

MacDonald and eight other students work as digital media interns in the Office of Communications and Marketing. Check out “Campus Moments” on the College Instagram and Facebook every Saturday to see their snapshots.

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