Mount Holyoke Alumnae Quarterly Fall 2007 by Alumnae Association of Mount Holyoke College

Fall 

Alumnae Quarterly

Fear Itself My Struggle with Panic Disorder

Ethical Capitalists: 8 • Fund Your Dreams: 12 • All About Globalization: 19 • Talking About Dying: 21

Cover photo by Scott Suchman Fall 2007 • Volume 91 • Number 3 Managing Director of Print and Online Magazines Emily Harrison Weir

Executive Director W. Rochelle Calhoun ’83 ex officio without vote

Staff Writer Mieke H. Bomann

*Executive Committee

Class Notes Editor Erica C. Winter ’92 Designer James Baker Design Quarterly Committee: Linda Giannasi O’Connell ’69 (chair), Kara C. Baskin ’00, Maya Kukes ’95, Meg Massey ’08 (student rep.), Charlotte Overby ’87, Amy Springer ’87 (faculty rep.), Hannah Wallace ’95, Mary Graham Davis ’65, ex officio with vote; W. Rochelle Calhoun ’83, ex officio without vote

Alumnae Association Board of Directors *President Mary Graham Davis ’65 *Vice President Linda Maria Yu Bien ’75 *Clerk Sandra A. Mallalieu ’91 *Treasurer Linda Ing Phelps ’86 Alumnae Quarterly Linda Giannasi Matys O’Connell ’69 Alumnae Trustee Ellen Cosgrove ’84 Alumnae Relations Cynthia L. Reed ’80 Classes and Reunions Susan Swart Rice ’70 Clubs Lily Klebanoff Blake ’64 Director-at-Large Maureen McHale Hood ’87 Nominating Chair Jill M. Brethauer ’70 Young Alumnae Representative Lisa M. Utzinger ’02

The Alumnae Association of Mount Holyoke College, Inc., 50 College St., South Hadley, MA 01075-1486; 413-538-2300; www.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu. Ideas expressed in the Quarterly are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official position of either the Alumnae Association or the College. Published in the spring, summer, fall, and winter and copyrighted 2007 by the Alumnae Association of Mount Holyoke College, Inc. Periodicals postage paid at South Hadley, MA 01075 and additional mailing offices. Printed in the USA by Lane Press, Burlington, Vermont. The Alumnae Association of Mount Holyoke College serves a worldwide network of diverse individuals, cultivates and celebrates vibrant connections among all alumnae, fosters lifelong learning in the liberal arts tradition, and facilitates opportunities for alumnae to advance the goals and values of the College. Comments concerning the Quarterly should be sent to Alumnae Quarterly, Alumnae Association, 50 College Street, South Hadley, MA 010751486; tel. 413-538-2301; fax 413-538-2254; e-mail: eweir@ mtholyoke.edu. (413-538-3094, ecwinter@mtholyoke.edu for class notes.) Send address changes to Alumnae Information Services (same address; 413-538-2303; ais@mtholyoke.edu). Call 413-538-2300 with general questions regarding the Alumnae Association, or visit www. alumnae.mtholyoke.edu. POSTMASTER: (ISSN 00272493) (USPS 365-280) Please send form 3579 to Mount Holyoke Alumnae Quarterly, 50 College Street, South Hadley, MA 01075-1486.

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Doing Well by Doing Good By M i e k e H . Bomann

Alumnae are helping to make “ethical capitalism” a growing segment of the economy.

8 Cash Back by S u s a n R . Bushey ’96

The college and the Alumnae Association award nearly $50,000 each year to help alumnae reach their goals, and any MHC alum may apply.

Fear Itself By K a r a C . Baskin ’00

In this first-person essay, the author shares her struggle with panic disorder.

What Everyone Should Know About: Globalization By V i n c e n t A . F e r a r ro

MHC’s popular politics professor inaugurates a series of pieces by faculty on timely topics.

Final Frontier By E m i ly H a r r i s o n W e i r

Camilla Rockwell ’72 has made a joyous documentary encouraging everyone to start talking about the end of life.

2 Viewpoints 4 Campus Currents 24 Off the Shelf 27 Alumnae

Matters 34 Class Notes and Miniprofiles 40 Insert: Our Web site— What’s New and How To 74 Bulletin Board and Travel 81 Last Look By K a r e n J o c h i m s e n ’ 9 4

MHC: an unexpectedly great “Boot Camp” for New Moms

Check it Out Online.

Continue the Conversation Miss those lively dinner-table discussions with your MHC pals? Wondering what your classmates are talking about now? Join an Alumnae Association online discussion group. Groups are formed around topics that include everything from current events to careers, from reading to horse racing. You can also join a class or club discussion group. It’s easy to sign up—all you need is a password. Don’t see what you’re looking for? You can start a discussion group of your own. Get the conversation going at http://www.alumnae. mtholyoke.edu/connect/.

viewpoints

No Guarantees

When I read Corinna Yazbek’s article “Coming Out About Class”(summer), I yelled out to my husband, “Yes! Finally someone knows how I feel!” Coming from a workingclass family to Mount Holyoke, I had to deal with class misperceptions. I had friends who didn’t understand why, when I had only $20 in my bank account, I couldn’t just call up my parents for more money. An adviser expressed confusion when I revealed that I had no idea what an independent study entailed; I had never attended a private school where an independent study was part of the curriculum. I was willing to endure those little embarrassments because I fully believed that I would be leading a stable, middle-class life after I received my Mount Holyoke degree. However, in the seven years since leaving Mount Holyoke, I have ridden the highs and lows of the job market (and my savings account), from working in a cushy job at a university to a backbreaking job in retail. Like Yazbek, I think,

“I didn’t go to Mount Holyoke to do this.” Thank you, Corinna Yazbek, for telling those of us struggling that “a Mount Holyoke degree is no guarantee that we will never … have to do whatever it takes to earn enough money to survive … and this is all okay; it doesn’t mean we’ve failed.” Gabriela Valdez Burgman ’00 Woburn, Massachusetts

Questioning Themselves

I truly enjoy every issue of the Alumnae Quarterly, but the articles by Katie Alton ’05 and Corinna Yazbek ’01 have prompted me to finally get off my duff to thank the Quarterly staff for printing articles from fabulous young alums. It’s a joy to see these women questioning themselves, their surroundings, and their core beliefs. Young women like Katie and Corinna make me even more proud to be an MHC graduate! Candy Moot ’75 Montpelier, Vermont

Limits to Tolerance

The summer Quarterly letter from Suzanne Corriell ’00 and Regis Ahern ’01 was a stunner.

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Not living in the Boston area, I never saw the newspaper article about the undergraduate who has undergone gender reassignment surgery to become a male. I have very much come to terms with the fact that the world is, by sexual persuasion, a very different place from what it may have been when I attended Mount Holyoke. From what I can figure out, there is a tolerance that is a credit to the institution. However, I cannot agree more strongly with the writers that the young woman who is now a young man has absolutely no business attending Mount Holyoke. Without a doubt, the surgery was done after the kind of agonizing soul searching that very few of us have had to undergo. But Mount Holyoke’s alumnae and undergraduates have repeatedly made it plain that the college is to remain a woman’s college. I support the writers’ statement: “There is a limit to tolerance and acceptance; there is a point at which Mount Holyoke must demand that its mission be respected.” Sylvia Smith Campbell ’52 Denville, New Jersey

… Or Not

I vehemently disagree with the viewpoints of Ms. Corriell and Ms. Ahern. Mount Holyoke is not going coed passively; it is providing a much-needed support network and a safe space for transgender students. Above all, a female-to-male transgender individual’s experiences as a woman are not erased just because she becomes a man. Transgender students at MHC are going through the process of selfdiscovery while attending college. To force a student to leave during this period of gender exploration would be a terrible blow, forcing the student away from a wonderful and supportive community. In my opinion, it is the option of the student to decide whether or not to remain at a women’s college. Mount Holyoke provides transgender students with a safe space. Those of you familiar with the story of Brandon Teena (a transgender youth killed in Humboldt, Nebraska, because of his gender identity) will recall that the outside world is not kind to those who transgress gender boundaries. There

is not a limit to tolerance and acceptance. Mount Holyoke is a supportive place for transgender students and I am proud to have it as my alma mater. Molly Hazelton ’02 New York, New York

Safety Issues for Big and Small

Two issues: First, I found the picture of the class of 2007 (summer) disturbing. Even with full views of only the first row and ends of rows, there appear to be a lot of overweight people in this picture! What is the college doing to encourage wellness, exercise, and healthy eating among students? Second: The article on nanoscience says nothing about the very real safety issues inherent in nanomaterials. Exactly because of the exceptional ways in which nanoscale materials behave, there is an urgent need to ensure that we fully understand their effects on the human body, other organisms, and the environment as a whole before we employ them. Someone must develop extensive testing for the unintended effects before release of new nanomaterials. Such

testing may require creative thinking, since common tests used for conventional materials (food, drug, and cosmetic tests) may not be sufficient. We must not let the market alone determine how nanomaterials are used. Susan Bobbe Van Hemel ’65 Washington, D.C.

Fiftieth Reunion Class Remains at Reunion I

I write with important news about upcoming reunions. The Alumnae Association previously announced a new pilot program for reunion, to commence in 2008. We based the new format on the recommendations of our Reunion Ad Hoc Committee, which spent a year and a half gathering extensive alumnae feedback about reunion. The committee, with board approval, recommended that we continue to hold Reunion I during commencement weekend. Classes would include the 2nd, 5th, 10th, 15th, 20th, 25th, 70th, and 75th reunion classes. Reunion II would be held the following weekend, and would include the 30th through the 65th reunion classes. Classes

were divided in this way in response to numerous surveys where you let us know you wanted reunion programming tailored to the specific preferences of your classes. While the response to the new format was largely positive, a number of alumnae and students raised concerns. These focused primarily on the historic relationship between the 50th reunion class and the graduating class. This intergenerational legacy includes a 50th reunion class gift to seniors, the presence of the 50th class during the laurel parade, and social events between the two classes. After carefully considering the feedback, the Alumnae Association staff and board and the Ad Hoc Reunion Committee decided to move forward with the anticipated three-year pilot program with one significant change: we will keep the 50th reunion class in Reunion I. The rest of the pilot program remains the same, and will feature enhanced programming based on your requests. Please keep in mind that the new format is an experiment.

viewpoints

We welcome letters reflecting the varying viewpoints of the Mount Holyoke community. Letters should be no more than 300 words, and we reserve the right to edit them for accuracy, clarity, and to meet space needs. Letters addressing topics discussed in the previous Quarterly are given priority. On any given topic, we will print letters that address it, and then in the next issue, letters that respond to the first letters. After that, we will move on to new topics. Send your thoughts, with your full name and class, to Mieke H. Bomann, 50 College St., South Hadley, MA 01075-1486. Send e-mails to mbomann@mtholyoke.edu.

Your feedback and comments will guide us in our future planning. In the meantime, here’s what to expect next year: For classes fewer than 30 years out, we’ll offer practical programming, such as finance and career workshops, expanded programs for families and children, and opportunities to connect with professors and alumnae from other classes. For classes more than 30 years out, we’ll create more opportunities for class socializing, and deepen the academic content of the Back-to-Class offerings, which will also include workshops on life and career transitions, health, retirement, and travel. Each reunion will include class dinners and social hours, an alumnae parade and alumnae meeting, and Teen Scene. Each weekend will also offer a chance to meet with the college president. We are excited about creating special programming to celebrate and honor all generations of alumnae—and we look forward to seeing you next spring. W. Rochelle Calhoun ’83 Executive Director, MHC Alumnae Association

Mou n t Ho lyo k e Al u m na e Qua r t e r ly

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Gardeners (left to right) Sarah Lince FP’09, Morgan Lindsay ’09, and Ally Neher ’07

One Garden’s Beginnings

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“The main obligations of the gardener are to be mindful of the garden’s needs and to be observant each day of what is going on in the garden.” Those words from the late U.S. poet laureate and thoughtful gardener Stanley Kunitz were particularly relevant to the work of three MHC interns this summer who planted and cared for the Mount Holyoke Student Garden. Hatched as an independent study by two students long since graduated, the project and its supporting hands have been given a small piece of land by the college for a pilot program that is just beginning to define its vegetative and curricular goals. The three interns—Sarah Lince FP’09, Morgan Lindsay ’09, and Ally Neher ’07— were paid by the Center for the Environment to make the garden’s first season a productive one. A founding gift from the class of 2007 helped launch the project. Acorn squash, pumpkins, potatoes, basil, parsley, dill, and cilantro grace the plot’s half acre at the south end of Prospect Hill, next to the college’s botanic garden nursery. The vegetables and herbs were sold to Dining Services in the fall. Thus, students had a bigger taste of truly local produce, which is rapidly becoming a mantra for consumers of all stripes concerned with transportation costs, freshness, and support of community producers.

Mieke H. Bomann

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Pa r k s : D e b Wr i g h t

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The garden’s underlying vision, “crops for closer community,” is based on keeping the garden studentoriented, related to local farming, and research friendly. The interns are already comparing soil sections that have been amended with compost with those more traditionally fertilized, and noting hungry insects. Professors have expressed a healthy interest in the garden, too. The interns point to a small patch of mustard greens and cabbages being investigated for particular bugs by Stan Rachootin, professor of biological sciences. Beth Hooker, a visiting assistant professor in the same department and an adviser for the project, will use the garden for research in her sustainable agriculture class. “The possibilities are endless,” says Lindsay, who adds that the goal is not only to bring the garden into the classroom but also to bring interfaith conversations, a harvest festival, and discussions of land and justice into the garden. The project joins a raft of college-sponsored community garden projects across the nation, some of which the interns have visited when they are not weeding, experimenting with irrigation methods, or thanking their lucky stars for anti-deer fencing. Whatever the garden’s ultimate composition, students can hope to find the inspiration, understanding, and transformation that Kunitz came to know in his garden. For, as he noted so profoundly, we are ultimately all candidates for the compost pile.—M.H.B.

Suzan-Lori Parks ’85 (left) and her sister Stephanie Ellen Parks (right) help move their mother, Francis Parks, into her new residence hall. She is one of thirty new Frances Perkins Program students; two other new FPs also had their daughters’ help moving in.

Chem Labs Go Greener As Darren Hamilton, associate professor of chemistry, enthusiastically relates, the department is in a multidimensional process of enhancing its teaching labs with the more efficient use of nontoxic and recyclable materials; focusing on more efficient technologies like microwaves instead of hotplates to carry out basic experiments; and having students make better use of chromatography and nuclear magnetic resonance imaging, state-of-the-art instruments that are currently underused. “Using a glass flask, solvent, and a hotplate for recrystallization tends to leave our students with the idea that everyone does it like this,” says Hamilton, a British-born and educated organic chemist who has led the charge to reevaluate the teaching labs. While it’s still important that students know how tried-and-true procedures work, he says, “we want to look like the outside world.” Part of the department’s efforts relate to an academiawide movement to “green” chemistry, which involves using less-toxic solvents and thinking critically about the scale of experiments and how much waste they produce. A clean working environment is not only safer but mimics the functioning of pharmaceutical companies such as Merck, Pfizer, and GlaxoSmithKline—places MHC chemistry students routinely intern and work.—M.H.B.

B y t h e n u mb e r s

Introducing the Class of 2011 How many students applied

3,194

How many were accepted

1,671

How many enrolled

522

How many are African American, Asian American, Latina, and Native American

121

How many states are represented

How many countries are represented

Mou n t Ho lyo k e Al u m na e Qua r t e r ly

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I n s e ssi o n

Thinking Critically As conversation jumps from Academy Award winner Helen Mirren to Salman Rushdie’s novel The Satanic Verses to the sexualized concept of “the Orient,” Five College visiting assistant professor Constantine Pleshakov pushes the far-reaching, all-inclusive dialogue even further. In Critical Social Thought 252: Literature and Politics, everything is up for discussion. The syllabus for the class reads like a Who’s Who of twentieth-century novelists and includes not only Rushdie but also Yukio Mishima and Arundhati Roy. Students relate the literature to its historical context, approaching the novels as forums for political change. “Literature is politics, remember that,” Pleshakov repeats. What were the novelists’ causes? What were their solutions to the problems of the twentieth century? How do their stories reflect social realities?

Offering an interdisciplinary major, the Critical Social Thought (CST) program prompts students to turn intellectual traditions upside down for a new look at social realities through the colorful lenses of history, anthropology, culture, and language. One cold day last winter, class discussion revolved around Edward Said’s Orientalism as students discussed its place on the class syllabus. It’s not beach reading, but it’s useful in a theoretical way, claimed most readers. The book addresses the question of “Orientalism” as a construct and how this construct fits into our culture—from foreign policy to vacation destinations. This is critical social thought at its organic roots: taking social theories and using them as a jumping-off point, rather than a destination. The conversation is lively and intelligent, with Pleshakov alternating

between a precarious perch on his desk and pacing the crowded room, eyes widening as he emphatically nods the debate along. “I was skeptical at first, jumping right into a 200-level critical social thought course with no prior experience,” says Natalya Goykhberg ’07. “As it turns out, CST is

a combination of every discipline I have studied— philosophy, politics, literature, international relations, and history.” Lauren Senchack ’07 concurs. “I’m not an English major, so I was initially concerned about the level of discussion, but Pleshakov has a wonderful way of validating every person’s opinion.”— Stephanie Miedema ’07

Beaming Over the New Dorm Students, faculty, staff, and alumnae signed their names or left written sentiments on nine pieces of structural steel that became part of the new residence hall this summer. Traditionally, the steelworkers sign the final piece of steel erected in a building, says John Bryant, director of facilities management. But the act of leaving a mark on the world is so popular at MHC that nine beams were ultimately offered and indelibly marked. Other buildings on campus are also repositories of names and messages, including Blanchard, where the plywood under the rotunda is a veritable signature scrapbook. The new hall will open to students in fall 2008.

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B e a m : Pau l S c h n a i t tac h e r • P l e s h a ko v : A n d r e a B u r n s

Critical Social Thought 252: Literature and Politics

Mc M e n a m i n : Pau l S c h n a i t tac h e r • K i m : B e n B a r n h a rt

Studying How Students Form Career Plans Standing at the podium in a Kendade classroom, Grace June Kim ’07 was not visibly nervous. But her presentation in the college’s second annual Senior Symposium was the culmination of ten months of research and fieldwork, and naturally, she wanted it to go well. The symposium illuminates the academic passions that seniors have cultivated in the company of their professors and peers. Ninety seniors from twenty-seven departments were showcased this year, including Kim, whose topic was, “Adolescents’ Pursuit of Career Possible Selves: Examining the Relationship Between Social Capital and Procedural Knowledge.” Kim grew up in the Bronx, New York, a daughter of immigrant parents from South Korea and the first in her family to go to college. A psychology and French double-major, her interest in how first-generation

students construct their career plans was sparked both by her own experience and the work of her adviser, Associate Professor of Psychology Becky Wai-Ling Packard, who is investigating how young people transition from high school to college or work. “I wondered why I was able to come to a renowned four-year college while others in my own community in the Bronx were not” going on to college at all, says Kim. So she devised a study examining twenty high school juniors and seniors with different socioeconomic backgrounds and whose parents’ academic experience was varied. Over a five-month period, she examined how each student went about getting information on possible careers and the steps required to meet those goals. “I wanted to know how their social network of support, and the information derived from it, affected the quality of their plans for the future,”

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Student edge

she explains. Previous research in the field had led her to expect that students’ methods of obtaining information would be quite different depending on whether or not their parents had gone to college. Her findings substantiated that. The more interesting outcome was that there was little difference in the quality of the students’ final career plan, which compelled her to analyze the type of support those networks were providing. “First-generation students were rather strategic in information acquisition,”

she learned. “They know that they can’t rely on their family for essential sources of information, and they branch [out].” Kim ultimately plans to pursue a doctorate in psychology, and Packard thinks there’s plenty of room in the field for motivated scholars like Kim. “I can see there is a real need for individuals in psychology who are focused on class and cultural/racial backgrounds, and certainly for those interested in studying adaptive strategies rather than failures of certain groups of people.” —M.H.B.

Rock and Roll Mark McMenamin, a paleontologist and professor of geology at MHC, spent three weeks this summer studying rocks in the Boston Basin near Hingham, Massachusetts. But they weren’t just any rocks. These rocks were fossils of some of the oldest complex life forms on the planet. McMenamin and a group of geology students from across the country, together with a colleague from the University of Pittsburgh, determined not only that these 575 million-year-old fossils of the softbodied organisms called the Ediacara biota were exactly that (which had been in question) but also that they had lived in beach environments, and not just in deep water, as is the general consensus among paleontologists. An abstract with the group’s findings will be presented to the Geological Society of America’s annual meeting in November and “will shake things up quite a bit,” says McMenamin. —M.H.B.

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Doing Well by Doing Good

Opening the Door to Ethical Capitalism by Mieke H. Bomann

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Left: Sheila Marcelo’93

•

Vi jaya Pa s ta l a ’ 8 9 i n d i s c u s s i o n w i t h t r i b a l l e a d e r s i n t h e In d i a n s tat e o f G u ja r at.

heila Lirio Marcelo ’93 needed help. An entrepreneurin-residence at TheLadders.com, an online job site for upper-level business managers, she was busy trying to get her own Internet start-up off the ground. But first on her to-do list was finding a nanny for her two boys, one of whom also needed a tutor, and personal care for her father, who had undergone heart surgery. Her two dogs also demanded some regular exercise. The convergence of those personal needs, combined with a desire to find work she was passionate about, helped her to formulate Care.com, a Web-based service company aimed at people who need outside help for some of life’s most important tasks, but who don’t have the time or the information resources to get it. “I really wanted to focus on [building] a for-profit company that had a social mission,” she explains. “So I started looking at families and children.” Capitalism With Heart Marcelo is one of a small but growing number of contemporary entrepreneurs who believe that work should mean more than a paycheck. A new magazine dedicated to this emerging ethical capitalism movement, motto, outlines it this way: “Profitability drives possibilities. Companies play a growing role in our society, and they should be a force for good.” Marcelo adds that brainstorming and partnering with other people who share your passion are essential in making a business with a social mission successful. Additionally, it helps to have a joint law and business degree from Harvard University, as she does, but Marcelo notes that it’s key to find a financial partner who understands your values.

She found all of the ingredients she needed to form her own company at TheLadders.com, where colleagues agreed to support her as she wrote up her business plan (Planning tip: “If you can’t convey what you want to do in fifteen PowerPoint slides, then it’s probably more complicated than it needs to be.”), and then gave her a chunk of the $3.5 million needed for start-up. Founded in 2006, Care.com offers to subscribers in all fifty states the names of tutors and child-care, petcare, and senior-care providers, and

After nearly twenty years of establishing farmer networks and producer cooperatives for the World Bank, the Aga Khan Foundation, and the Asian Development Bank, Pastala saw a growing demand from urban dwellers for natural and organic produce. She sensed an opportunity, and in 2006 established UTMT. Its goals include sourcing markets for organic agriculture, providing startup capital and credit for subsistence farmers, and, eventually, branding selected products.

“Companies play a growing role in our society, and they should be a force for good.”

is expanding its services and client base daily. Marcelo has twenty-two employees and generates income through an annual fee paid to the company by thousands of serviceseekers. Linking Poor Farmers to Agribusiness A need for more challenging work and the at-home requirements of her first child spurred international development officer Vijaya Pastala ’89 to establish Under The Mango Tree (www.utmt.in), a certified organic agricultural trading company. Headquartered in Mumbai, India, the firm aims to link poor agricultural producers with sustainable urban markets in India and the rest of the world.

“My objective is to run UTMT as a profit-making company with ethical values and social consciousness,” writes Pastala in an e-mail. She focused on naturalresource planning in developing countries for her master’s degree in regional planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. One of the company’s first big pushes is a partnership (still in the works) that will link Anil Starch, one of India’s largest maize companies, with a network of 10,000 farmers across six Indian states. The result will be a sustainable supply of and market for 30,000 metric tons of grain at the local market price. Thanks to Pastala’s relationship-building

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While more and more companies are coming into the fold, sustainability in corporate America is still the tail of the dog. skills, Anil Starch also is considering investing in local warehouses, dryers, and irrigation infrastructure that is desperately needed by the poor producers. The veteran nonprofit organization employee is quickly learning the business and marketing essentials of a trading company with a social enterprise twist. To get UTMT up and running and organically certified, she used her own savings and borrowed from family members. Pastala’s office is low-rent—it’s in one of her bedrooms. She meets buyers, network partners, and suppliers at a local club. While not yet drawing a salary—her husband is chief executive of the Make a Wish Foundation, India, and helps pick up the slack— Pastala soon plans to hire an assistant and eventually to earn service fees from corporations, such as Anil, for whom she acts as an aggregator. Like Marcelo, Pastala has found networking with friends, former colleagues, and people engaged in similar enterprises essential. Close friend Sophie Moochhala ’90, a former Coca Cola India executive, and her sister Niloufer Moochhala ’94, a graphic designer (nymdesign.com), have provided UTMT with business-planning and Web-site-development services. Two fair-trade and micro-finance mentors and former colleagues have offered strategic planning assistance, and HoneyCare Africa—a trading company in Kenya with a vision similar to UTMT’s—offers online mentoring support. “I have always believed that you need to knock on the door,” says Pastala. “The least the person who opens it will say is ‘no.’”

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A Helping Profession Deborah Pergament ’91 isn’t one to take “no” for an answer. Managing partner of the Children’s Law Group in Chicago (www.childrenslawgroup. com), she represents disabled children and their parents who are fighting for mandated services in the school system, gay and lesbian adoptive families, private therapeutic schools, and delinquency and foster-care clients. She and her partners prefer dispute resolution, but if she needs to go to court to do what’s right, she does—such as pressing the state to pay for the residential schooling of a deaf child who was denied appropriate services in the public school system. Daughter of a psychologist and medical geneticist, Pergament is a proponent of the law as a helping profession. About 30 percent of her firm’s cases involve indigent or low-income clients, who are represented at greatly reduced fees. For example, she currently is charging a low-income client $100 a month for legal services that would normally cost $25,000—and she will speak to any parents’ group free of charge. Yes, people “who cried poor, but had more assets than you and I will ever have” have taken advantage of her, but she is adamant about her practice appreciating the needs of people first, especially children. Currently in the process of moving the office to slightly nicer quarters, Pergament underscores that her priority is not marble on the floor but a playroom, and changing tables in the bathrooms. “I do well, but I work hard at it,” says Pergament, who first studied to be a librarian and then earned her law degree from Case Western Reserve University.

Most Corporate Hearts Have a Way to Go It was Benjamin Franklin, an early hardworking entrepreneur inclined toward civic responsibility, who coined the phrase, “do well by doing good.” Today’s socially responsible companies recognize that building a successful, sustainable business means including an array of stakeholders in a conversation about accountability, environmental issues, ethical suppliers, and quality of life and opportunity for workers, as well as respect for the communities in which they operate. While more and more companies are coming into the fold, sustainability in corporate America is still the tail of the dog. Davida Steinberg ’01 is interested in helping a company integrate socially responsible practices throughout its strategy, operations, and management. But despite a shiny new master’s in business degree from Emory University, she is having a hard time finding work. Many corporations have bought into the movement, thanks in part to stringent environmental and labor regulations in Europe, but they are not hiring more people to do the work, says Steinberg. Also, “There are many people like me, so supply and demand is making it tough to find work and easier to lower the wage scale,” she notes from her home in Washington, D.C. Three Internet sites have been of particular help and support as she looks: www. sustainableindustries.com, www.greenbiz.com, and www.cswire.com have job sites as well as resource information for the sustainable business model. She remains hopeful. “I’m an optimist. I think things will work out. If [others] can do well by doing good, I’d like to be part of that, too.”

Mary Woolley never met the women of the Marma tribe.

But Bidita Jawher Tithi , 07 did—thanks to the Mary E. Woolley Fellowship. The fellowship

helped send Tithi home this summer to her native Bangladesh, where she carried out a human rights project of her own design to help impoverished women of the rural Marma tribe. The Mary E. Woolley Fellowship has empowered Mount Holyoke women—and their sisters around the globe—for more than seventy years. To help keep the good work going for generations to come, please give generously to the Founder’s Fund. The endowment fund of the independent Alumnae Association, the Founder’s Fund supports postgraduate projects that change the landscape of our world, one woman at a time. To make a gift to the Founder’s Fund, visit our Web site at www.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu, or write a check to the Alumnae Association of Mount Holyoke College, Mary E. Woolley Hall, Founder’s Fund 50 College Street, South Hadley, MA 01075. Photo by Sasha Goss

Founder’s Fund

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MHC Fellowships Help Fund Alumnae Dreams

illust r at ions : Jim B liss/im ages.co m

By Susan Bushey â&#x20AC;&#x2122;96

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ow many people can get money back from their alma maters? Mount Holyoke alumnae can. The Alumnae Association and the college both fund fellowships annually, awarding nearly $50,000—this year the total was $47,425—to chosen alumnae. Some ninety to 130 apply for the thirteen to twenty awards given in a typical year, a low percentage of the 30,000-alumnae body.

Of the seven awards available, one—the Mary E. Woolley—is supported by the Alumnae Association’s Founder’s Fund and it is the largest, $7,500. The other awards average $1,500 per recipient. Past fellowship recipients have used the funds to continue their education, teach in other countries, study women’s education, and write a book, to name just a few. Alumnae from any class may apply, and the requirements are not stringent about what will be funded or how the money will be used. The only thing that these diverse recipients have in common is their ultimate goal—to pursue a dream.

gave me the broad perspective I needed to think through my goals and options. “At that time, there was not much mentoring for women who wanted to continue to graduate school. Cambridge had not yet admitted very substantial numbers of women as undergraduates or graduates [although] great changes for women in universities in England and the United States were to come in the next few years,” she says. Because scholarships for women were not as prevalent as for men, Hayden is thankful she had Mount Holyoke on which to rely. Although she didn’t end up a literary critic, she has continued her love of poetry. After the year at Cambridge University, she returned to study architecture at Harvard and now teaches architecture and American studies at Yale. “I did become a scholar, researching the history and design of American space,” she says; her published books include Building Suburbia (2003), A Field Guide to Sprawl (2004), and a poetry collection, American Yard (2004).

Time to Herself Fellowship availability was the “main course” at dinner discussions many a night during Catherine Allgor’s senior year.

Following, we highlight how four women have chosen to be lifelong learners with the financial help of the association and the college. If you’d like to join them, see the “How to Apply” section on page 15.

“I heard about it through the grapevine, applied, and got it,” she says of the Mary E. Woolley Fellowship. “I was lucky.” Allgor says the award allowed her to spend quality time recuperating from undergraduate work at Mount Holyoke and preparing for rigorous graduate work at Yale.

Wide Open Spaces

Cat herin e A llgor : Fr an z Moeller

Dolores Hayden couldn’t have studied abroad without the Bardwell Memorial Fellowship she received in 1966. “I was still an MHC student at the time and applied to go to Cambridge for a year to study English literature, especially twentieth-century poetry. I do not remember the size of the award, but it certainly would not have been possible for me to attend without it,” she recalled recently.

Dolores Hayden ’66

Hayden says the experience in England allowed her to focus her energy on deciding what the future held. “As a double major in English and art at MHC, I was very confused about what I wanted to do next. This year at Cambridge

Catherine A. Allgor FP’92

“I had a very specific use for the money. I was an older student … and was going right from graduation to grad school, and I used the [fellowship] so I didn’t have to work for money that summer. It was important because I was getting ready to do a hard thing that I didn’t even know I could do: grad school. “It allowed me to prepare for that year and gave me time to do the reading that I assumed my fellow students would be doing, too,” Allgor says, calling the summer a Virginia Woolfstyle “Room of One’s Own” experience. “I was exhausted after senior year and I needed time to recover and read … Now that I am a professor, I know there is burnout in school. Students work so hard to get into graduate school,” thinking the race ends with graduation and then they see there is still another race to go, she explains. “It was important for me to have that money.”

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Lee Tidball not only received a fellowship—the Mary E. Woolley in 1958—she also went on to run the Alumnae Association’s committee on fellowships from 1966 to 1968. Tidball originally learned about the awards from the Alumnae Quarterly. She was looking for funding to complete her doctorate in physiology, and the fellowship helped her realize that dream. “The Mary E. Woolley Fellowship certainly eased our financial situation. It was great that MHC had a fellowship for which I could qualify, especially since there were so few places—perhaps none M. Elizabeth “Lee” Peters other—where a fellowship existed that was not tied to Tidball ’51 some particulars that did not describe my situation,” she wrote this summer from Michigan, where she founded and still supports Summer Seminars for Women. The event is a residential conference on the shores of Lake Michigan; this year marked the program’s twentieth anniversary. “I am proud to have held an MHC fellowship. I think I am the only alumna who has served on the Alumnae Association board, the college’s Board of Trustees, received the alumnae Medal of Honor, received an honorary L.H.D. from the college, and received the Mary E. Woolley Fellowship, which surely makes me feel connected to my alma mater!” says the researcher. Her work concerns the institutional characteristics associated with women students’ subsequent accomplishment. Tidball, codirector of The Tidball Center for the Study of Educational Environments at Hood College and professor emeritus of physiology at George Washington University, can’t say enough about the importance of funding these fellowships, especially having been in the seat responsible for the fundraising efforts! “Give to the Founder’s Fund, from which the Alumnae Association can then fund such projects as the Mary E. Woolley [Fellowship],” she urges.

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Her work seemed tedious, which was probably the reason no one else had tackled it—ever. Located in seven-foot-high cabinets in the Facilities Management offices, the records numbered 35,000. Jennifer E. Gieseking ’99 Gieseking knew about the fellowships because a friend had received one, and was also tipped off to their existence by those in Archives and Special Collections. Gieseking says there was no other fellowship available for her research topic, so the MHC one was essential. “There is one other fellowship available close to my topic of interest, but recipients must focus solely on the successes of women architects. Since Mount Holyoke has only hired one female interior designer/architect in its recorded history, funding was impossible from that organization,” she explains. But the lack of resources could never trump her desire to study the space at a women’s college—in particular, her own. “The space of the campus is important not only in regards to what it means to each alumna, but to the outside world, in that it is the first, continuing space of women’s higher education in the world. Many other women’s educational institutions have been modeled after us. What do these spaces say about women and what do they offer us? I find that very compelling,” she says. “It is incredibly important to be able to call on my MHC family for funding,” Gieseking says. “It not only speaks to promoting our own projects and value [as a women’s college], but to supporting the worth of the college, in my case especially. “Fellowships are essential in academic life, and proving that you can secure funding for your research proves you are a valuable resource for any educational institution,” she adds. “The 1905 Fellowship has opened doors for me to the next level of funding necessary for my dissertation and academic teaching positions.” Susan Bushey is public relations manager at Regis College in Weston, Mass., and lives in Worcester with her fiancée.

Je n n i f e r G i e s e k i n g : Pau l S c h n a i t tac h e r

Doctoral Degree

She did the job no one else dared complete: she inventoried the college’s architectural records. To help cover living expenses during this time, Jen Gieseking applied for and received the 1905 Fellowship.

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Starting a Career

M. Eliz abet h Tidball: Rob Weir

Grateful for the support she received, Allgor encourages others to help fund future fellowships. “This is a way you can directly change someone’s life, and I think that’s very powerful,” says Allgor, who is a full professor of history at the University of California at Riverside, where she specializes in early American history, women, gender, and politics. Her latest book is A Perfect Union: Dolley Madison and the Creation of the American Nation (2006).

Alumnae Association- and College-Sponsored Fellowships

Mary E. Woolley Fellowship

Rachel Brown Fellowship

A keystone award given annually by the Alumnae Association. Awarded without limitation as to year of graduation, field of work, or place of study.

Awarded for an initial year of graduate study, in the physical or biological sciences, to graduates who majored in these fields.

Bardwell Memorial Fellowship Awarded to a graduate of not more than five years’ standing; without limitation as to field of work or place of study. The 1905 Fellowship Awarded without limitation as to year of graduation, field of work, or place of study. Frances Mary Hazen Fellowship Awarded, preferably, to a candidate in the field of classics. Dr. Mary P. Dole Medical Fellowship Awarded for graduate study or research to alumnae, preferably those who hold a doctor of medicine degree.

Hannum-Warner Travel Fellowship Awarded annually for travel and study, preferably in Asia (though the West is not excluded). How to Apply For more information about and application forms for the fellowships above, visit http://www.alumnae. mtholyoke.edu/programs/lifelong/ fellow/index.php. To have information mailed to you, call Carrie Purcell at 413-538-2188. The next application deadline for these fellowships is February 14, 2008. Mount Holyoke Department-Sponsored Fellowships In addition, several fellowships funded by college departments accept applications from alumnae. For details, visit alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/ go/deptfellowships or call 413-5382301 to have a printed list mailed to you. Application deadlines for these fellowships vary.

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Scott Suchman

ear f itself

My Struggle With Panic Disorder By Kara C. Baskin ’00

I’m twenty-eight years old, recently married, happily employed—and, for two months last fall, I was terrified to leave my house. Things should’ve been peachy, really. I had a book deal in the works. Brian and I had just gotten married. My life was hectic, Type-A, and organized just the way I liked it. But suddenly my fancy “happy hours” gave way to TV Land reruns; my posh dinners with media clients were replaced with yogurt and bananas; and my “for better or for worse” marriage vows were being put to the test—before my wedding gown even came back from the dry cleaner’s. I have panic disorder. An acute, debilitating form of anxiety, it affects six million Americans. Women are twice as likely as men to suffer from it, and the attacks usually begin in one’s twenties. Sufferers tend to be overachieving, highly creative, and—dare I say it?—a little neurotic. Trembling, sweating, heart palpitations, shortness of breath, choking, chest tightness, and intense nausea are a few of the lovely symptoms that come on like an impromptu acid bath. Some things are naturally scary: airplane turbulence, public speaking, Courtney Love’s newest facelift. But people with panic disorder feel symptoms for no objective reason, which is the scariest part. Most sufferers eventually dread the unpredictability of the fear. (What if my heart begins to race while I’m driving? What if I’m at a party and suddenly start hyperventilating? How can I go on a blind date—what if I throw up on my potential future husband?) Franklin D. Roosevelt famously said, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.” He could have been talking about panic disorder. My first attack happened a week before I graduated from Mount Holyoke. I was on my bed, painting my nails bright red, when my heart started to beat erratically. “I’m having a heart attack!” I thought. “Where’s my S.A? Oh, no—I am the S.A!” I began to sweat, and my throat tightened. I had the sensation of watching myself from above, like I was the involuntary star of a Quentin Tarantino movie. I’d later learn that this sense of dreamlike unreality is a hallmark of panic disorder. At the time, I thought I was being punished for drinking too much at a party the night before. (What if someone spiked my drink?—They hadn’t. What if I’m dying?—I wasn’t.) This is panic’s flailing logic. You think you’re going to faint, have a heart attack, or die—and, guess what? The more you fear, the more your body mimics

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those feelings. It’s a vicious cycle. Fear feeds off itself; it robs you of oxygen, and it robs you of logic. Ten minutes later, the feeling vanished. That’s the upside: the attacks usually last just a few minutes. Without missing a beat, I returned to my smug Type-A life. I flaunted hyperactivity like a new BlackBerry, always “complaining” about how much I had to do, when what I was really doing was refusing to sit still with my emotions, my fear. During my early twenties, I thrived on constant activity and constant vigilance. I thought, if I’m always prepared for something bad to happen to me, it never will. The strong have weapons; the weak have defenses, I believed. My defense was worry. I would obsess about morose absurdities: Is my heart beating strangely? (Sure enough, it would begin beating strangely.) Am I breathing normally? (I’d begin hyperventilating.) I went to the ER twice. Both times, the doctor laughed and suggested I go home and “get a good night’s rest.” Once I called an ambulance, and the EMT, finding nothing remarkable about my condition, looked at me like I’d summoned him for a morning tryst. I also saw an allergist, a gastroenterologist, an internist, and a cardiologist. Dissatisfied with my doctors—what did they know about how I felt?—I decided to play M.D. I spent countless hours diagnosing myself on the Internet. I’d log off, bleary-eyed at 2 a.m., convinced I had everything from HIV to congestive heart failure. I’d bring this up with my doctors, who would reassure me that nothing was wrong. But reassurance only fuels more panic—what if the doctors are missing something? The panic-prone are a stealthy, aggressive bunch: the average sufferer sees ten doctors before receiving an accurate diagnosis. I almost wanted to have a heart attack in the waiting room, so I could scream, “See! I told you all there was something wrong with me!” Instead, I would sit in the waiting room, monitoring my heart rate while reading Glamour. Still, things didn’t get truly out of control until after I was married. Adrenaline saw me through the wedding. Then came the Hawaiian honeymoon—a time of bliss, fruity drinks, and gorgeous sunsets? Not for me. Separated from my hectic life, it

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was just Brian, me, and my neuroses. We went to Maui, where I refused to leave our suite for fear of another attack. Note to travelers: A tropical paradise filled with giggling honeymooners is not the ideal place to descend into nuttiness. I was so jealous of the other women, tanned and smiley in their bikinis. Their hearts beat normally. Their lungs inhaled deep, healthy breaths. They were immortal, and I was about to die. The only thing that comforted me was Roseanne reruns. The cadence of the dialogue and the tinny laugh track soothed me to sleep. (I believe I am the only person ever to be lulled into blissful oblivion by Roseanne Barr’s voice.) When awake, I mapped routes to the nearest hospital, just in case. My poor husband stood by helplessly, wondering if he should go play golf or check me into a mental hospital. Determined to tell coworkers I had a dreamy honeymoon, I hopped on the DC Metro for my first day back at work. And it stalled. My heart raced, and I needed to get off that train—now. One of the characteristics of panic disorder is the compulsion to flee. But to where? Panic’s cruel riddle: You can’t run, literally. Running makes the heart quicken, the breath shallow. And you can’t hide because the enemy’s inside you. For whatever reason, my mind was getting the message that I was in danger—and my flight-orfight response kicked into gear. When the train finally crept to Dupont Circle, I maneuvered up the escalator and hailed a cab home. It was the last time I was in public for more than a month. How could I go out into the world when it felt so dangerous? Days took on a devastating sameness. I clung to Brian each morning. He would disentangle himself and bring me cinnamon applesauce, which I would promptly throw up. Then I’d turn on the television and will my couch into a womb. Occasionally, I’d open my door to get a whiff of fresh air, but I couldn’t go outside. I’d become agoraphobic (not uncommon among panic sufferers), terrified of “triggers”: the Metro, the taxi, the world. I should have challenged myself. The longer I avoided the world, the more terrifying the very idea of it became. “By staying in the situation and allowing yourself to be with the feelings rather than leave, you’ll desensitize yourself,” says Dr. Jerilyn Ross, president of the Anxiety

Disorders Association of America. “Every time you leave a [panic-inducing] situation, you think, phew, thank god. [But] the fear builds. To break it, keep yourself in the situation.” It was too late; I was already marooned in my house and petrified to the point of irrationality. I’d been prescribed Zoloft, but refused to swallow one pill. (What if I died? Worse—what if I lived?) Brian pleaded with me. My parents pleaded with me. Finally, my aunt intervened. She knew of a psychiatrist, an eccentric European. I went to his office in ratty pajamas. He looked me in the eye and said in a thick accent, “You’re sick. You have panic disorder. Either you take medication or you enter a hospital.” Brian and my aunt began to cry. “Please do this,” he urged. Something in his appeal touched me. I agreed to take Zoloft and Valium. The next morning, I woke up alive. Brian drove me to the psychiatrist. “See, you lived!” the doctor cheered. I lived. And I wasn’t weak, I realized. I was strong—after all, it takes endurance to die so many false deaths. Now I want to use that strength to help other sufferers, instead of channeling it into locating a brilliant cardiologist. The treatment for panic disorder is a combination of SSRIs [Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors] like Zoloft, which blunt its symptoms; antianxiety medications like Xanax for quick relief; and, over the long term, cognitive behavioral therapy, to understand what triggers those frightening feelings. In therapy, I’ve learned that panic symptoms are scary, but completely manageable. Today, I speak to groups about panic disorder. (I love public speaking, most people’s worst fear. Go figure!) My husband and I even talked on the Today show about living with anxiety. I’m beginning to branch out and conquer my old fears. First, the Metro. Then, the world; maybe even Maui. Learn More: For a panic disorder self-test, visit: http://www.rosscenter.com/. For additional resources, go to http://www. adaa.org. Kara C. Baskin ’00, until recently an assistant editor at The New Republic, is working on her first book.

What Everyone Should Know About ... Globalization

Vincent A. Ferraro

Pau l S c h n a i t tac h e r

By Vincent A. Ferraro lobalization is one of those words that is often used, but rarely defined. It is a fudge word, like “security” or “power,” that reflects the user’s bias. For some, globalization is the promised land; for others, it is a circle in Dante’s hell. The first thing we should know about globalization is that it is a highly politicized idea, and that the only productive way to discuss it is to make explicit one’s own definition. Thomas

L. Friedman’s accessible book on globalization, The World is Flat, is a good starting point for understanding the term’s possible meanings. For this essay, I define globalization as the process by which all human activities on every part of the planet are increasingly interconnected and interdependent. The second thing we should know about globalization is that it is an old process. The human species has proven very adept at expansion. Whether its beginning was in the Garden of Eden or Tanzania’s Olduvai Gorge, humanity has now inhabited virtually every land area on the planet, even those, like Antarctica, that

are largely uninhabitable. Similarly, the political history of the species is one of expansion (and decline). Every empire has had the same goal: the subjugation of others to a presumptively universal political authority within the largest geographical framework possible. The European empires came closest to controlling the entire globe at the end of the nineteenth century, and the disparate nationalities of the various empires and their often vicious competition should not obscure the institutions and Enlightenment values they shared. The European states systematically tried to recreate the world in their image and

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We are currently in the first, seemingly overwhelming phase of globalization. We should brace for the political response, already apparent in the U.S. immigration debate, to transformative change. under their control, and the consequences of European imperialism devastated local cultures. Some have argued, like Kevin H. O’Rourke and Jeffrey G. Williamson, in Globalization and History: The Evolution of a Nineteenth-Century Atlantic Economy, that the world was almost completely globalized at the end of the nineteenth century, a thesis also articulated by Harold James in The End of Globalization: Lessons From the Great Depression. But Europe fell apart in the twentieth century—it lost faith in Enlightenment values after World War I, and European states experimented with new values in Communism and Fascism. Europe and the United States also failed to maintain the open economies necessary for globalization. The third thing we should know is that globalization is also new. After stalling for most of the twentieth century, the process resumed and accelerated in the 1990s. Three factors made this possible: the collapse of the Soviet Union and its empire in 1991 and subsequent decisions by Russia and the East European states to join the world economy; China and India opening their economies to global markets in the 1990s, with American encouragement; and the century’s astonishing population growth—from 1.5 billion people in 1900 to 6.5 billion in 2007. Although there was rapid technological and economic change before the 1990s, more than half of humanity did not participate in those changes. Since the ’90s, the rate of globalization has accelerated dramatically, and the effects have become more obvious and more wrenching to traditional expectations and rhythms. In less than a decade, the global workforce doubled. Global Gross Domestic Product increased at an astonishing rate, from

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$28 trillion in 1992 to $44 trillion in 2006. Symbolically, the new “age of globalization” was signaled by the Year 2000 crisis. For the first time in human history, everyone had to address the same problem simultaneously and in the same language. Even the computer illiterate were dependent on the Y2K solution being implemented in a profoundly global context. This “new world” leads to a fourth point. Perhaps the most important feature of globalization is the extent to which it has destroyed the sense of “local.” Humans have traditionally lived within a small geographical and social circle. We knew who grew our food, made our shoes, and sold us life’s other necessities. Today, when virtually all economic life is anonymous, it is difficult to maintain a sense of control over one’s life. Indeed, one often senses that no one is in control and that a less stable political and social milieu is hard to imagine. Fifth, income distribution in the world has changed dramatically. Some have gotten extraordinarily richer, while far more have seen their incomes stagnate or fall. According to Roger Lowenstein in the June 10 New York Times: “In 2004, according to the Congressional Budget Office’s latest official analysis, households in the lowest quintile of the country were making only 2 percent more (adjusted for inflation) than they were in 1979. Those in the next quintile managed only an 11 percent rise. And the middle group was up 15 percent … The income of families in the fourth quintile—upper-middle-class folks with an average yearly income of $82,000—rose by 23 percent. Only when you get to the top quintile were the gains truly big—63 percent.” We do not know the extent to which globalization is responsible for the steady

erosion of the incomes of the non-rich— technological change is also an important factor—but it is hard to deny the impact of $2-a-day labor elsewhere on the wages of most workers living in the advanced industrialized countries. There are several good books on the backlash against globalization, including Paul Q. Hirst and Grahame Thompson’s Globalization in Question, Saskia Sassen’s Globalization and Its Discontents, and George Rupp and Jagdish Bhagwati’s Globalization Challenged: Conviction, Conflict, Community. Is globalization inevitable? Only if one assumes that market forces should be the primary determinant of human affairs. But it is unlikely that most people will be willing to see their incomes decline and their local communities transformed by outside forces without demanding some measure of control over those processes. We are currently in the first, seemingly overwhelming phase of globalization. We should brace for the political response, already apparent in the U.S. immigration debate, to transformative change. There are many more facets to the problem of globalization: immigration, environmental stress and degradation, and the profound difficulty of creating a global civic culture commensurate with the technological and economic reality of a unified planet. In an online course sponsored by Mount Holyoke and the New York Times, these issues are being pursued systematically this fall.

Vincent A. Ferraro is Ruth Lawson Professor of Politics and chair of international relations.

When it comes to death and dying , few see the forest for the trees. Camilla Rockwell hopes to chang e that.

Frontier Starting to Talk About the End of Life

Death: it will happen to each of us, but few want to admit it or—worse—talk about it. Camilla Rockwell’s film, Holding Our Own: Embracing the End of Life, aims to smash that cultural taboo and open a dialogue about life’s final passage. The powerful and touching documentary uses art and music to, Rockwell hopes, “attract people and gently seduce them into engaging a topic that they would rather run away from.”

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Final

By Emily Harrison Weir

Rockwell understands that reaction, but has seen firsthand the anguish that ignoring impending death can cause patients and their families. Five years ago, Rockwell became a Hospice volunteer; one of her first clients passed away without her family ever acknowledging she had terminal cancer. “It was my first real vision that suffering is caused when people can’t speak about their fears, make plans for the end of life, and say goodbye,” Rockwell recalls. “I wanted to find a way to help people begin to talk about the end of life.” Film is the 1972 alumna’s medium of choice. Rockwell coproduced Ken Burns’s acclaimed series on Thomas Jefferson and collaborated on his films about baseball, the Civil War, the Shakers, and early radio. One of her previous forays into directing was Stone Rising, a portrait of Vermont master stone-wall builder Dan Snow. Using skills honed during her fourteen years with Burns’s Florentine Films and her own directorial experience, Rockwell set out “to follow my heart the way I watched Ken do it in his work. Filmmaking for me is a way of learning. I just dive into it and let it educate me.” One lesson is captured in Holding Our Own’s opening words: “People don’t want to get close to death. There’s an almost talismanic fear of having some of it rub off.” Even Rockwell’s own husband initially hoped she’d choose some other topic for a film, although he “came around to seeing how important it was,” she says. But, in Holding Our Own, she counts on the power of art to overcome initial wariness of the subject matter. The film begins at an exhibition of fabric portraits by artist Deidre Scherer, whose stitched compositions depict aging and illness without fear or sentimentality. Her visually compelling creations show seniors wearing their wrinkles proudly, but also emaciated elders taking what may be their final breaths. Her works are often tough to look at, but Scherer’s traveling exhibitions are intended to promote an open dialogue about dying as a natural part of life.

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Clockwise, from top left: Bigger Than Each Other, from the series “Surrounded by Family and Friends”; Close-up With Red; Noyana, featuring three MHC alumnae, is one of nine Vermont choruses that sing for ill and dying people (photo); Open Window, from the series “Surrounded By Family and Friends”; Scrabble at 99

When Scherer is invited to visit dying people, she does, sketching, listening, holding their hands, looking past her own preconceptions of “the elderly” to see an individual at the end of a full life. Using intricate layers of cloth and thread, she transforms people’s last days into immortal art. “Singing People Over” Holding Our Own’s other secret weapon for enticing viewers is music. Rockwell’s camera follows the Brattleboro, Vermontbased Hallowell chorus, whose members sing at the bedsides of the dying. Although “singing people over” feels new, it is actually an ancient practice, according to Hallowell director Kathy Leo.

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Visiting singers break the isolation many dying people experience and bring joy at a time when it’s scarce. It can be jarring to see choristers smiling broadly at listeners with sunken frames and vacant eyes. But gradually eyes begin to sparkle, a wizened hand reaches for a singer’s hand, lips move to familiar words, and it’s clear what a balm the music provides. Hallowell offers messages both secular and sacred, and upbeat (“After all the things I’ve been through, I still have joy”) to comforting (“Whatever my lot … it is well, it is well, with my soul”). Inspired by shooting Hallowell for the documentary, Rockwell helped start the Burlington, Vermont-based Hospice chorus, Noyana, which means “We are going there.” Among Noyana’s thirtyeight singers are three Mount Holyoke Glee Club alumnae: Rockwell, Charity M. Baker ’89, and Martha M. Dallas ’89. The group does hymns, shape-note tunes, chants, rounds … everything from “The Old Rugged Cross” to Elvis’s “Love Me Tender.” At a recent rehearsal, the chorus struggled to pronounce the words and form the unusual tri-tones in a Bulgarian piece. But soon the haunting harmonies soared; then they moved on to the hymn “Blessed Quietness.” Afterward, Rockwell piped up, “That was lovely; now let’s do something by Johnny Cash!” And they do. This group will try just about anything a patient requests.

Patients respond in many ways. Stronger listeners may applaud, but that’s not the goal, says Rockwell. Singers have noticed changes in those close to death: agitated breathing calms, grimaces soften, and tense bodies relax as they are bathed in sound. Noyana’s visits also let patients’ families rest a bit, Rockwell notes. “You can see the letting-go look in the eyes of the family members. Suddenly everyone is quiet and together. Then the music fills the room, and it’s a communal experience for which they don’t have to expend any energy.” Noyana’s members put out lots of effort though, rehearsing regularly to tighten their harmonies and freeing their schedules to sing several times a month. It’s a huge commitment, Rockwell admits, but “we get so much out of it—always way more then we give.” Grateful families might beg to differ. One family recently wrote Noyana, “You filled our home with song and lifted our hearts. Mrs. G. W. passed away at 5 a.m., July 19th with many angels around her. The joy she felt from your music was the perfect note to carry her home.” What’s Wrong with Denial? But what if death seems a long way off for you? The young and healthy can also benefit from acknowledging death’s inevitability, Rockwell believes. “When you become more comfortable with the idea of death, you relax in your life and open up and are more available and present for other people,” she says. “The knowledge of how temporary life is makes it ever more precious.” Tackling death as a film topic was Rockwell’s way of exploring questions she’d carried for many years. “From childhood on, I’ve had anxiety about death,” she explains. “Then ten years ago my dad died in Hospice care, and I had the powerful experience of being with him through that. And one thing I liked about becoming a Hospice volunteer is that, instead of pretending that this life is all there is, you can look behind the veil and ask your questions and state your fears.” Those who confront their fear of death often become less afraid, she’s noticed. Of those interviewed in the film, Rockwell says, “Their calmness about the

“ The knowledge of how temporary life is makes it ever more precious.”

fact that life ends is a fascination to me. Some are actually considering this transition to be an adventure! How amazing is that?”

But denial of death is still the norm. “In our culture … people are starting Camilla Rockwell to expect that their life will be extended indefinitely,” Rockwell says. Until recently, most people died quickly, surrounded by family. Today, medical technology means we are more likely to die gradually. “As a result, we can be more present for those who are dying. But we can either spend millions extending their lives or we can use [medicine] to control the physical pain and have the community embrace the dying people and help deal with their emotions. It’s really ancient work that’s coming back, and we just happen to be on the leading edge of it.” Holding Our Own helps spread the word farther. It’s been ordered by Hospices in about two-thirds of the states, screened at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and at medical conferences, used to train doctors and nurses, shown at New England film festivals, and sparked deep discussions among many viewers. One woman wrote Rockwell that her film was the first thing in twenty-seven years of volunteering for Hospice that had brought her to tears. “It’s really something to have what comes out of your own heart touch the heart of somebody else,” says Rockwell. She wishes for more such connections, hoping that those who see Holding Our Own “will think about life as a whole and be less afraid at the end of it; that they will reach out to their families and talk about the things that aren’t being said; and that, ultimately, they have more faith in the goodness of life and death.” Learn More: For a list of resources about death and dying, excerpts from an interview with Rockwell, a sample of Noyana’s sounds, and more about the people featured in Holding Our Own, visit alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/go/Rockwell.

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offtheshelf Facu lt y Wo r k s Blank Verse: A Guide to Its History and Use By Robert B. Shaw (Ohio University Press) Familiar to many as the form of Shakespeare’s plays and Milton’s Paradise Lost, blank verse— unrhymed iambic pentameter—has provided poets with a powerful and versatile metric line for centuries. Shaw analyzes the work in this meter by these great poets but also gives emphasis to modern and postmodern poets working in the form, the meter’s technical features, and its many uses. Robert B. Shaw is professor of English at MHC and frequently writes on modern and contemporary poetry. His own books of poems include Below the Surface and Solving for X.

Fiction Not Like You By Deborah Davis ’79 (Clarion Books) Touted by one reviewer as the best mother-daughter story she’d ever read, Not Like You tells the story of fifteen-year-old Kayla, who must learn to take care of herself—even if that means no longer taking care of her alcoholic mother. The book is an emotionally complex novel for teens, and its moving, realistic storyline builds to a hopeful conclusion. Deborah Davis’s other novels are My Brother Has AIDS and The Secret of the Seal. She was also the editor of You Look Too Young to Be a Mom: Teen Mothers Speak Out on Love, Learning, and Success. Check out her Web site, www.deborahdavisauthor.com.

The Furry Disco By Jo Ann Siegman Kearley ’62 (iUniverse) A parable involving guinea pigs, a parrot, musical cats, and sundry rodents, this novella for young readers offers an interspecies romp replete with puns, double entendres, a highpowered vocabulary, and handy glossary. The author’s love of animals shines through this slender volume and is dedicated to “any being who is searching for an insight into reality—consciously or not.” Jo Kearley is a teacher at Old Orchard School in Campbell, California.

Nonfiction The Pleasures and Perils of Raising Young Musicians: A Guide for Parents By Michelle Siteman ’65 (AuthorHouse) Called “an essential book on this subject” by flutist James Galway, this guide for the parents of musical children addresses issues such as practicing problems, private teachers, problems at school, and music conservatories. It’s also a book for parents who simply wonder about giving any child music lessons. Siteman’s answer is a definitive yes to the benefits for every child of music education. Michelle Siteman Shwartz has been teaching for thirty years and has a son well on his way to a career as a classical musician. Jess: To and From the Printed Page By Ingrid Schaffner ’83 (Independent Curators International) San Francisco artist Jess was known for taking ordinary objects and making them into art. In the 1950s, with glue and a knife, Jess took Dick Tracy comic strips and transformed them into the Tricky Cad series, which became well-known icons of the pop art phenomenon. This photographic tribute to Jess’s work explores the timeline of his artistry and style, giving descriptions to the medley of his pieces. Ingrid Schaffner is the senior curator at the Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania. She has written extensively on modern and contemporary art.

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Harriet Edleson is a reporter in New York City and writes about health, travel, and home design. Sacred Players: The Politics of Response in the Middle English Religious Drama By Heather Hill-Vásquez ’89 (The Catholic University of America Press) A consistently powerful and popular form of lay worship, the English religious drama of the medieval period defined and reflected the varying nature of religious discourse and dramatic performance well into and beyond the Reformation. Sacred Players argues that this second life was driven by a focus on the role of audience response and examines the cultural forces that shaped the performance lifetime of these plays. Heather Hill-Vásquez is director of the women’s studies program and assistant professor of English at the University of Detroit– Mercy. Cart-wheels Rusty By Lela McGuire Rustemeyer; Edited by Theresia Rustemeyer Long and Susan Long Quainton ’57 (Xlibris) When Susan Quainton ’57 found abandoned manuscripts of her grandmother’s memoirs, she decided to edit and publish the story of Lela Rustemeyer and her childhood on America’s frontier prairie. The result is this two-book series—a witty historical narrative of Lela’s life and coming of age in the prairie lands. Susan Long Quainton has taught English at high schools and elementary schools in the United States and abroad. She lives in Washington, D.C.

Parsleys, Fennels, and Queen Anne’s Lace: Herbs and Ornamentals From the Umbel Family By Barbara Perry Lawton ’52 (Timber Press) When famous Greek philosopher, Socrates, was sentenced to death in the fourth century, he was forced to drink a plant-derived poison. The plant came from the Umbelliferae family, one of the most distinctive families in the plant kingdom. Parsleys, Fennels, and Queen Anne’s Lace is a complete introduction to the Umbelliferae plants, full of gardening suggestions, botanical history, and fascinating plant folklore.

offtheshelf

The Little Black Book of Washington, D.C. By Harriet Edleson ’74 (Peter Pauper Press) For anyone who has ever needed a well-written, informative, fun-filled, and pocket-sized guidebook for Washington, D.C., this little black book is the answer. Dividing the city into zones, it gives insider tips on where to eat, what to see, how to get there, and where to sleep in the nation’s capital. Foldout maps of the city and metro system are included.

Barbara Perry Lawton acted as editor and manager of publications for the Missouri Botanical Garden and served as president of the Garden Writers Association of America. Her other publications include Hibiscus: Hardy and Tropical Plants for the Garden and Mints: A Family of Herbs and Ornamentals. She writes a weekly garden column for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. At War and At Home By Robert M. McClung and Gale S. McClung ’45 (iUniverse) As letter writing is fast becoming a lost art in our world of e-mail, megabytes, and instant messaging, this touching collection of one family’s correspondence during World War II is a reminder of earlier times. Readers follow the McClung family through the war as three sons are deployed into the service. Gale Stubbs McClung is editor emeritus of the Mount Holyoke Alumnae Quarterly. She is coauthor of The Book of Distinguished American Women. Applying Ethics By Jeffrey Olen, Vincent Barry, and Julie C. Van Camp ’69 (Thomson Wadsworth) The ninth edition of this best-selling textbook of applied ethics attacks hard-hitting ethics debates such as gay marriage, stem-cell research, Guantanamo Bay, and abortion, offering students case studies through which to apply philosophical theories to contemporary issues. Coauthor Julie C. Van Camp received her PhD in philosophy from Temple University and a J.D. cum laude from Georgetown University. Other publications include Ethical Issues in the Courts: A Companion to Philosophical Ethics.

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Structures and Subjectivities: Attending to Early Modern Women By Joan E. Hartman ’51 and Adele Seeff (University of Delaware Press) The realities of life for women in the early modern period are little known. Structures and Subjectivities explores the geographical, political, and social structures that enclosed these women in history, as well as the gendered hierarchies that defined their lives. This collection of essays looks at women through the lenses of portraits, law courts, and even the architectural structure of their homes. Joan E. Hartman is a professor of English at the College of Staten Island, The City University of New York. Frances Perkins: First Woman Cabinet Member By Emily Keller (Morgan Reynolds Publishing) This detailed biography of America’s first woman cabinet member and acclaimed Mount Holyoke alumna tells the story of Frances Perkins, a young woman whose ideals of worker’s rights and social reform fired her ambition and landed her in the White House as secretary of labor. The book chronicles Perkins’s life, from reviving the nation’s economy together with President Franklin D. Roosevelt to taking care of her often institutionalized, bipolar husband, all with the grace typical of her time. Emily Keller currently resides in Niagara Falls, New York. She is a retired schoolteacher and a copy editor. The Aesthetics of Quietude: Ota Shogo and the Theatre of Divestiture By Mariko Yamazaki Boyd MA’74 (Sophia University Press) This book provides an analysis of one of the most radical of Japanese theater artists of the 1960s, Ota Shogo. Inspired by traditional Japanese art forms, he nevertheless veered off to focus on quietude, passivity, and the aesthetics of doing nothing. The book includes translations of three of his representative plays. Mari Boyd is senior professor of literature and theater at Sophia University in Tokyo. She has translated and edited numerous anthologies of contemporary Japanese drama.

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The Derveni Krater: Masterpiece of Classical Greek Metalwork By Beryl Barr-Sharrar ’56 (American School of Classical Studies at Athens) This beautifully illustrated book examines the most elaborate metal vessel from the ancient world yet discovered. Found in an undisturbed Macedonian tomb of the late fourth century BC, intricate iconography— including a youthful Dionysus, a sleeping Silenos, and a bearded hunter—informs every area of the krater. Beryl Barr-Sharrar is the author of numerous publications on classical and Hellenistic art. She is an adjunct professor of art history at New York University.

DVD Holding Our Own: Embracing the End of Life By Camilla Rockwell ’72 (Fuzzy Slippers Productions) Designed to initiate conversations about a time of life that is often difficult to discuss, Holding Our Own is a powerful yet tender treatment of aging and dying. The film highlights the fabric portraits of aging women and men by the artist Deidre Scherer as well as Hallowell, a chorus that sings in hospices. Holding Our Own takes a wise, celebratory approach to loss, grieving, and staying connected to each other. [Note: See p. 20 for a related feature article.] Camilla Rockwell is an independent director and producer living in Burlington, Vermont. She has coproduced segments for the PBS series Body and Soul, as well as the documentary Pioneers of Hospice. She began working in film in 1983 with documentary filmmaker Ken Burns, and with him coproduced Thomas Jefferson, which aired on PBS in 1997.

alumnaematters

Facebook:

It’s Not Just for Teens Do you remember life before you had a cell phone? Microwave? Computer? From the moment you added each item to your life, it became hard to imagine living without it, right? Facebook is the same. I started my Mount Holyoke career as many of you did—I received my roommate’s name from Residential Life, then exchanged introductory letters and a timid phone call. On move-in day, I tried frantically to organize the sea of new faces in my dorm. During my first year, I sat in the back of classrooms and then cursed my shyness whenever I had a homework question and didn’t know the name of anyone in my class to ask. I’d chat with someone at dinner, then never cross paths again. And then in my sophomore year, Facebook struck. For those who have heard the name but wonder

what it’s all about, Facebook is a Web-based networking tool. You create a personal profile with as much or as little information as you want. Typically, users include a picture, contact information, interests, education details, and a photo album. Initially, you are connected to those with whom you share a workplace, school, or geographic location. Then you designate others as “friends”; only they can see your profile. Suddenly, I had an easy way to contact new acquaintances and search for others in my classes. Facebook let me know a bit about friends I just met; it gave me a glimpse of their favorite books, movies, and music, and it let me see what friends we had in common—all of these were useful chatting points. When e-mail became popular, many people preferred it to writing

letters because it seemed a less formal, less pressured way to keep in touch. Facebook is one step less formal than e-mail. You can send messages to friends or drop a note on their “wall.” There’s no expected length or format; a quick hello really can be just a few words. Remember the “new student picture books” distributed as a way to start recognizing members of your class? The class of 2011 had an even bigger head start on getting to know each other. The “Mount Holyoke Class of 2011” Facebook group had nearly 400 members and many were already Facebook friends before September.

friends to being home, job searching, and being without the lively campus atmosphere. But Facebook makes it easy to keep track of all my friends in one place. Even if I’m not talking to them daily, I can keep up via new photos, job info, and snippets of adventures. When I do talk to them, it doesn’t feel as though we’ve been separated for months.

As a recent alumna, I find that the lurch into the “real world” has been greatly softened by Facebook. It’s difficult to go from living surrounded by my MHC

You can help keep the Mount Holyoke Facebook network strong—create a profile at www.facebook. com and “friend me.”— Marissa Saltzman ’07

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Led by tour coordinator Debby Hall ’74 and conductor Cathy Melhorn, professor emeritus of music, Glee Club alumnae went on tour to China this summer. Sponsored by the Alumnae Association, fifty-five singers from the classes of 1962 to 2009, and thirty guests visited Shanghai, Hangzhou, Xi’an, and Beijing, with some extending their trip for a Three Gorges Yangtze River cruise. Joining with outstanding Chinese women’s and mixed choirs, they performed in distinguished venues for large, enthusiastic audiences, and despite very hot, humid weather, managed a full itinerary of sightseeing, shopping, and eating! (For more pictures of the group’s trip, go to www.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/go/gleeclub.) Career Corner Start Now for a Spring Job Search Late fall is a good time to get ready for the spring job search, and getting an effective research strategy in place is part of that process, says Cori Ashworth, career and professional consultant for the Alumnae Association. As a first step, it’s essential to make your job search manageable by narrowing your focus in terms of location and industry. “When you’re doing research, start at the macro level and move to the micro level,” Ashworth says. Select a city where you’d like to live and work your research around that place, she advises. If you’re recently graduated and clueless as to which fields are best suited to your major, Ferguson’s Facts on File Career Guidance Center gives lots of ideas on how to apply a particular major to the real world. It’s available on the college’s Career Development Center (CDC) Web site. One of the best places to start your job search homework is by doing the self-assessments Ashworth has put up on her career

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service pages on the Alumnae Association’s Web site. Once you have a handle on your work identity, you can begin to research relevant industries by looking at the database Vault Online Career Library, also at the CDC site. It gives you overviews of industries, Web sites, associations related to particular fields, and salary and hiring information. Another useful site available through the CDC is CareerSearch, which contains millions of profiles of employers from the business and academic worlds. It enables a job seeker to do a geographical sort of companies by industry. Armed with all that information, you then can make use of LifeNet, Ashworth points out, which is the Association’s networking tool that enables you to find alumnae working in particular fields and contact them for informational interviews and insights.—M.H.B. To access the resources noted here, go to www.alumnae. mtholyoke.edu or www.mtholyoke.edu/offices/cdc.

Glee Club: John Lemly • Gierasch: Courtesy of University of Massachusetts

Glee Club Alumnae Tour China

Lila M. Gierasch ’70 is interested in the world. A well-respected scientist, researcher, and university professor with innumerable awards and professional commendations to her name, Gierasch is, according to one colleague, a leader, possessed of excellent judgment, and “at home in any company.” Those desirable accomplishments, and her experience as department head and director of NIH-sponsored research programs throughout her career, led to her nomination this summer as alumnae trustee of Mount Holyoke by the Nomination of Alumnae Trustees/Awards Committee of the Alumnae Association. The fact that she lives in nearby Ashfield and works in Amherst was considered a plus in strengthening local community ties to the board. Election to the five-year term will take place during the association’s annual meeting in May 2008. Currently distinguished professor of biochemistry and molecular biology and chemistry at the University of Massachusetts, Gierasch in her work seeks to understand the basic physical and chemical underpinnings of biological phenomena. Recipient in 2006 of a five-year, $2.5 million Pioneer Award from the National Institutes of Health, she focuses her research on protein formation in cells and how diseases like Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and cystic fibrosis develop when mistakes occur in the folding and assembly of proteins. In her application to the committee, Gierasch recalled that by age nine, she already knew she wanted to attend Mount Holyoke. Her mother, Marian Bookhout Gierasch ’32, and a neighbor were both alums, and women she

very much admired. Her appreciation of the opportunities she was afforded at MHC and involvement with MHC faculty and students will make her a valuable member of the board, committee members agree. Deeply committed to interdisciplinary education, she received her PhD in biophysics from Harvard University in 1975 and went on to teach at Amherst College, the University of Delaware, and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center before joining the faculty at the University of Massachusetts. Her work has been hailed as “technically superior and very imaginative” and for it she received the Frances P. Garvan-John M. Olin Medal from the American Chemical Society last year. (She is the fourth Mount Holyokeaffiliated chemist to receive the award; the first was 1902 alumna Emma P. Carr.)

alumnaematters

Scientist-Educator Nominated as Alumnae Trustee

In her spare time Gierasch, who received the Mary Lyon Award in 1985, likes to bike ride, golf, and is a bird-watcher and avid naturalist. For a look at Lila’s presentation to the Women Chemists Committee of the American Chemical Association—and some great pictures of her family—check out alumnae. mtholyoke.edu/go/gierasch. As the association bylaws state: Names of additional candidates may be submitted to the Committee on the Nomination of Alumnae Trustees/Awards provided that the nominations shall be by written petition, signed by at least 100 voting members, no more than 30 percent of whom shall be from the same class or from the same club area, and such written petition is received by the executive director by January 15 of the year of the election. Nominations by petition shall include the written consent of the nominee to serve if elected.

C lubs C o r n e r A small but enthusiastic cadre from the Mount Holyoke Club of Greater Washington, D.C., gathered at the sculpture garden (left) of the National Gallery of Art Friday nights to listen to Washington-area jazz artists. Despite the often smothering summer heat, Club Copresident Alix Boucher ’00 attended nearly every week with friends and says the music was always fabulous, the garden setting next to the reflecting pool pleasant, and the sangria quite nice. She hopes to

entice more people to attend this kind of gathering in future years. To relax better at the end of the day, members of the Mount Holyoke Club of Greater Hartford joined yoga instructor Carlin C. Carr ’00 in two one-hour yoga sessions in Hartford’s West End. “We had a great showing,” said Carr. “I think it was a really interesting and unique event for local alums. It is a gentle, relaxation type of class. Who doesn’t need that?”

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bulletinboard

Announcements

The Rise of China: Global Challenges and Opportunities The McCulloch Center for Global Initiatives invites alumnae to attend Mount Holyoke’s second conference on global challenges, March 7–8, 2008, on the global implications of the rise of China. China’s phenomenal growth in the last two decades has profound internal and global implications in the economic, political, and environmental spheres. This conference brings together scholars and practitioners from different fields and perspectives to examine the critical challenges and opportunities posed by China’s rise as a global superpower. Susan Shirk ’67, professor of political science and director of the Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation at the University of California–San Diego, will give the keynote address, “Why are China’s Leaders so Worried?” She is a former deputy assistant secretary of state responsible for China, and

author of China: Fragile Superpower: How China’s Internal Politics Could Derail Its Peaceful Rise. The conference will focus on the origins of the Chinese “tiger” and the rising internal challenges in the economic, political, and environmental spheres; the geopolitical implications of a future superpower for US-China relations, political and economic relations in Asia, and for multilateral strategies to address global challenges; and the opportunities and challenges that China’s rise offers the developing world. For more details, check www.mtholyoke.edu/go/ global.

Boston Vespers

Friday, December 7, is the date of the annual Christmas Vespers concert, to be held at the Old South Church in Boston. For details, contact Cerise Jalelian Keim ’81 at clarkkent128@comcast. net. To read an essay about Vespers, “Annual Angels,” by Joan Morris McNally ’44, see alumnae.mtholyoke. edu/go/annualangels.

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MHC Golf Academy at The Orchards Would you like to learn to play golf or improve your golf score? MHC, in partnership with the Orchards Golf Club, is offering a golf academy for alumnae, their guests, and friends of the college June 1–4, 2008. The program will include lessons with Coach Bob Bontempo, founder of the MHC varsity golf team, and other PGA and LPGA golf professionals. All facets of the game will be presented, from the lengthy tee shot to the refinements of chipping, putting, and bunker play. The program will appeal to the novice golfer as well as seasoned players and will include a clinic on course rules and etiquette, an optional session on using golf for business, and special guest speakers. The golf academy fee is $595 and includes lessons, greens fees, carts, practice balls, souvenir gifts, and most meals. The academy begins Sunday afternoon after Reunion II. For more information, please visit mtholyoke.edu/ go/golfschool or contact Laurie Boucher, program director, at 413-5383517 or lboucher@ mtholyoke.edu.

Christmas Vespers Through the Years Volume 3 (1 and 2 sold out). Glee Club, Concert Choir, Orchestra, Hand bells, V8s, Voices of Faith, and more! $15 (MA residents, $16) plus $3 mailing. Benefits MHC Choral Music Fund. Send checks (payable to Mount Holyoke College) to Cindy White Morrell ’68, (cmorrell@mtholyoke.edu,) 135 Woodbridge St., South Hadley, MA 01075.

Jolene Fund Helps Lesbian Women Stay in School

Sometimes, we imagine Mount Holyoke as a haven or a bubble that the “isms” of the outside world cannot touch. For two students, the bubble popped in January. Their parents refused to continue to pay tuition, leaving the students responsible for their own fees. The reason? The women were discovered to be lesbians.

While this story has played out with a sad ending for many students over the years, this year is different. This year, the Jolene Fund provided an interest-free loan to both students, shoring up their finances and making their dreams of college degrees

a reality. Established in 2003, the fund supports students who have been cut off financially from their parents due to their sexual orientation. One loan recipient wrote, “I picked up my check from the Jolene Fund

yesterday, and I cannot begin to thank you for the loan, and also for the confidentiality and the compassion which was shown me when I sought it out. I hope that one day, when the tables are turned, I can help someone else just like you helped me.”

To find out more about the namesake and history of the Jolene Fund and how you can support students whose education is in jeopardy because of homophobia at home, go to http://www.mhlp.org/ jolene/.

travelopportunities Amazon River Journey January 25–February 3, 2008 Accompanied by Martha Hoopes, Clare Boothe Luce Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences

New O rleans A rea Habitat for Hum an it y

Join us for a ten-day journey aboard one of the finest river expedition vessels traveling to the headwaters of the Peruvian Amazon. There you will experience virgin rainforests with stunning birds and butterflies, visit indigenous villages for insight into the life of traditional residents, and enjoy several nights in cosmopolitan Lima, known for its colonial architecture. The Janet Tuttle Alumnae and Student Service Travel Program 2008 March 16–23, 2008 Join the effort to rebuild New Orleans on this service trip affiliated with Habitat for Humanity. Accommodations will be in the charming St. Charles Guest House, owned by the parents of Layne Hilton ’06 and in fine shape thanks to its

Habitat for Humanity Project (Tuttle Service Travel Program)

location in the Garden District, the highest part of the city. Check our Web site, www.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu, for details about this trip. Italia: Art and Arias March 13–22, 2008 Accompanied by John Varriano, Idella Plimpton Kendall Professor of Art and Art History The artistic masterpieces of da Vinci and Michelangelo and an opera performance at Teatro alla Scala in Milan are just a few treats of this nine-day trip to Italy. Trattorias at the base of the Alps in Bergamo, a violin recital in Cremona, and the incredible cheeses of Parma will whet your appetite for the ultimate showpiece: magical, splendid Venice. English Garden Treasures, Featuring the Chelsea Garden Show May 10–21, 2008 Accompanied by Eugenia Herbert, professor emeritus of history The walled gardens, splendid estates, and extraordinary

Venice (Italia: Art and Arias trip)

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plantings of Bath, Exeter, and Cornwall highlight this fabulous journey through a history of garden design. Savor the magnificent Kensington Gardens in London, and finish your horticultural extravaganza with a visit to the Chelsea Flower Show, the world’s supreme floral event. Danube River and Habsburg Empire May 31–June 10, 2008 Accompanied by Penny Gill, Mary Lyon Professor of Humanities and Professor of Politics Experience a unique river and rail journey through the heart of Central Europe. You will explore the “crown jewels” of this fascinating region, including lively Budapest, imperial Vienna, majestic Prague, and medieval Krakow. Your deluxe travel arrangements mirror the glory years of the Habsburg Empire. Journey Along the Silk Road/China June 22–July 3, 2008 Accompanied by Stephen

Jones, professor of Russian studies Parts of this ancient trading route between Rome and China are yours to explore during this fascinating, intercultural journey, including Beijing and Xi’an, with its terra cotta warriors and Muslim quarter; Kashgar, with its colorful livestock market; serene Bishkek, Samarkand, full of antique intensity; and the living museum of Bukhara. Tees and Tours: Castles and Fairways of Scotland July 20–29, 2008 Accompanied by Laurie Priest, director of athletics Opportunities to golf on some of Scotland’s finest courses, including St. Andrews, sets the stage for this trip beginning with four nights in Edinburgh. You’ll stay at the lovely Balmoral Hotel, visit a royal residence and the National Gallery, then journey through the lochs and glens of the Scottish Highlands, seeing some of the most glorious scenery in the British Isles.

The Black Sea August 3–13, 2008 Accompanied by Bettina Bergmann, Helene Phillips Herzig ’49 Professor of Art History Dotted with cities and sites spanning the course of recorded history, this region will first engage us with Istanbul, then the seldom-visited northern coast of Turkey, with its Ottoman mosques. The comprehensive voyage also includes Sevastopol, crucible of the Crimean War; Odessa; and Bulgaria’s historic town of Varna. Yale and Smith alumni will travel with us. Village Life Along the Dalmatian Coast October 7–15, 2008 Accompanied by Mark E. Landon, visiting assistant professor of classics Join us on a voyage of cultural and natural treasures as we sail from legendary Venice across the Adriatic and along Dalmatia’s ruggedly beautiful shoreline. Explore the Roman legacy of Split, walk in the footsteps of Marco Polo

in his medieval birthplace of Korcula, and step back into the Renaissance era in Dubrovnik. INTERESTED? For more information on association-sponsored travel, please contact the Alumnae Association at 413-538-2300 or alumnaeassociation@ mtholyoke.edu. Statement of Ownership, Management, and Circulation This information published as required by USPS; data taken from form 3526-R. • Publication title: Mount Holyoke Alumnae Quarterly; publication number 00272493; published quarterly; subscriptions are free. • Office of Publication: Alumnae Association of Mount Holyoke College, 50 College St., S. Hadley, MA 01075-1486; contact person: Emily Weir, 413-538-2301; Publisher and owner: Alumnae Association of Mount Holyoke College; editor/managing editor: Emily Weir • Circulation (based on spring ’07 issue): Net press run 34,170: requested subscriptions 29,875 + nonrequested (campus mail) distribution: 4,295.

classandclubproducts Class of 1988 Commemorative Jewelry and Gifts Unique solid sterling handengraved jewelry and gifts are available for purchase for a limited time only from the class of 1988. Hurry up and order your piece now!

• Oval-Link Toggle Bracelet with Heart Tag • Oval-Link Toggle Bracelet with Oval Tag • Pill Box • Necklace Slide/Key Fob All pieces are handengraved with your choice of MHC class symbol (lion, griffin, pegasus, or sphinx) and year of

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graduation or MHC initials and year of graduation. Designed by the class of 1988, these are great gift ideas for graduation, reunion, bridesmaids, or other special occasions.

To see professional photos (donated by www. JohnLawton.com) of the pieces, or to place an order, please contact Alice Stuckey Michel ’88 at alicesm14@ verizon.net.

MHC Alumna Logo Apparel and Merchandise Uncommon goods for uncommon women! Unique clothes and

merchandise designed by the class of 1991 with a custom MHC alumna logo are now available for purchase online. Items include T-shirts (for people and dogs!), sweatshirts, hats, children’s items, tote bags, stickers, and more! To purchase, go to www. cafepress.com/mhcalumnae. Class of 1991 logo merchandise is also available at the class Web site, www. mhc91.com.

Class of 1995

Got Milk (and Cookies)? This onesie is perfect for any future alum or her brother! Gerber 100% cotton onesie comes in sizes 6 and 12

(include size and quantity). You can also pay by credit card through PayPal. Visit www.mhc1995. com/shopping.htm for order forms.

Class of 1996

MHC Visors Visors are back—and why shouldn’t they be? They’re streamlined, sporty, and they keep the sun out of your eyes! You can show off your fashion sense and your school pride with a Mount Holyoke visor of soft,

brushed cotton. These lightblue visors sport the MHC logo, with the arched “H,” in royal blue embroidery. They are $11 each, with $2.25 in shipping and handling (within the U.S.) for up to four visors. Send orders, with checks payable to MHC Class of 1996, to Jessica Dial ’96, 955 Jane Place, Pasadena, CA 91105.

Class of 1999

mos. The front reads “Got milk (& cookies)?” and on the bum is mhc. Cute, comfy, and necessary in every baby’s wardrobe. $12, shipping included. Pay by check made out to “Mount Holyoke College Class of 1995” and send it to Michelle Chuk ’95 at 231 14th Street NE, Washington, DC, 20002

Mountain Day Care Packages Craving a taste of Mount Holyoke? The class of 1999 is offering Mountain Day care packages (available year-round) from Atkins Farms for $20 plus $6 s/h. Please check out our Web site (www.mhc1999.com) for the order form or call Atkins Farms Country Market (800-594-9537) directly.

Boston Club

Mount Holyoke Mirrors, Desk Boxes, and Paintings Mary Lyon Tower and Field

Memorial Gate in reverse painting on glass surmounts a handsome mirror, the whole framed (15" x 26") in antique silver and gold tones. Crafted by Eglomise Designs of Boston’s university series, the view is also available atop a walnut desk box with brass fittings (12 3/4" x 7 3/4" x 2 5/8"). Painting also comes alone in silver-toned frame (15" x 10"). Prices: mirror, $210; desk box, $210; painting, $175; shipping, handling, and sales tax included. Mount Holyoke Chairs Finished in semigloss black with hand-screened goldleaf college seal on back, they’re great for home or office. Armchair (natural cherry arms), $365 + $35 freight prepaid; Boston rocker, $350 + freight (billed after shipment, estimated at $100–$150 preassembled; $25–$50 unassembled); child’s rocker, $220 + $25 freight prepaid; swivel desk chairs and lamps (prices available upon request). Freight via UPS except for rocker. Prices subject to change; allow 12–16 weeks for delivery. License Plates Show your pride in MHC with this fine aluminum vanity plate displaying the college name and older logo; blue on white. Reed & Barton SilverPlated Paul Revere Bowls From Taunton, Massachusetts. 4 1/4", $45; 5 1/4”, $50; 6", $58; 8", $77; 9", $86. Plus $5 s/h. Engraving, $5 flat fee for simple name or date; additional text 35¢/letter. Gift-boxed with clear plastic liner. Massachusetts residents add 5 percent tax.

Lobsters by Mail Live lobsters shipped to your destination by UPS next-day air. Call number below for prices at seasonal market rates. Tax, shipping/ handling included. Chelsea Clocks From Chelsea, Massachusetts: Paperweight brass desk button clock (2" diameter), $124; Newport: wall-mounted clock (4 1/2" diameter), $200; Chatham: round dial with mahogany base (4 1/2" high), $254; Carriage clock: Roman numerals (6 3/4" high), $285; Presidential: mahogany base (7 1/2" high), $370. Plus $5 s/h, plus $25 flat fee for engraving costs, plus $5/line; Massachusetts residents add 5 percent tax. Gift-boxed.

bulletinboard

Class of 1991

Ordering Through the Boston Club Send all orders, with checks payable to Boston Mount Holyoke Club, to Jane Chandler Weiss ’59, 492 Beacon Street #33, Boston, MA 02115-1002 (617-2675504).

BRIDGEPORT CLUB

MHC Wine Charms and Cell Phone Lariats High-quality charms made in the USA from cast pewter with silver plating. Great gifts for alumnae and college friends! Wineglass charms were selected especially for

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MHC alumnae and feature each of the class emblems and colors along with a graduation cap and female graduate to round out a set of six. Use them on stems of your wineglasses to distinguish yourself at your next party. Your guests will never have to ask, “Whose wine is it?” Also available is a set of six travel-related charms to further identify your glasses. $20 each or two for $38, including s/h and blue drawstring storage pouch. Specify “MHC” or “Travel.” Cell Phone Lariats are threaded through the small hole in your cell phone to identify your device and provide a strap to hold on to the phone. Choose any of the four emblems and colors–lion (blue), griffin (green), Pegasus (red), sphinx (yellow). $8 each or two for $15 (including S&H). To purchase, contact Laura OBrien ’73 at 203-3749300.

Britain Club

Mount Holyoke Placemats and Coasters Elegant and useful; the perfect gift! The beauty of our campus is reflected in these traditional English solid placemats and coasters, each scene set off by a green border, gold trim, and hand-gilded edges. These beautiful and unique mementos of Mount Holyoke are specially produced by Lady Clare Ltd. of England, world renowned for quality of design and craftsmanship. Placemats and coasters have a high quality, hard-wearing lacquered surface, heatproof to 100°C, and green felt backing. Placemats are 11 3/4" x 8 3/4 " and come

in gift-boxed sets of four different campus scenes, $70 per set. Coasters are 4 3/8" x 3 1/2" and come in gift-boxed sets of six different campus scenes, $35 per set. Proceeds support the Alumnae Scholar Fund. Postage and packing: $8.95 flat rate for up to two sets of placemats, or for one set of placemats and up to four sets of coasters; or $4.60 flat rate for up to two sets of coasters. Optional insurance: $1.65 to insure a value up to $50; $2.05 to insure a value up to $100. Add $1 for each additional $100 in value to be insured. To order, send check payable to Mount Holyoke Club of England to: Julie Ogg, Alumnae Association of Mount Holyoke College, Mary E. Woolley Hall, 50 College St., South Hadley, MA 01075. We are very grateful to Joan Mead Eaton ’64 and to Tom Jacob, former college photographer, for donating the use of their photographs to support this Alumnae Scholar project. Photos of all four placemats and all six coasters can be found on the Mount Holyoke Club of Britain Web site: www.mtholyoke. co.uk.

Cape cod Club

Notecards and Postcards “Boats and Fishing Shacks” note cards (6" x 7" with matching envelopes in a packet of four) reproduced in six colors from an original hand-cut woodblock. “Sandpipers on the Beach” postcards reproduced from an etching in aqua in a packet of ten.

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$5 each. Massachusetts residents, add 5 percent sales tax. Make checks payable to Mount Holyoke Club of Cape Cod; send with order to Barbara H. Tucker (daughter of the artist, Marcia Herrick Howe ’24), 175 Winter Street, Lincoln, MA 01773 (781-259-0204).

the nineteenth-century ideology of women’s separate sphere, the early feminist movement, women in the workplace, and dressmakers as artisans and professionals,” as well cultural and commercial advancements in Cincinnati that accompanied these changes.

Cincinnati Club

Books The club offers two scholarly works regarding Mount Holyoke and Cincinnati women. A portion of the funds will be donated to the college.

A Separate Sphere: Dressmakers in Cincinnati’s Golden Age 1877–1922, by Cynthia Amneus; hardcover, $64 includes s/h. About the book: Dressmaking, considered a natural extension of women’s proper work in the home, was a common and lucrative employment for women in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It afforded expression, prestige in the community, and even the possibility of financial independence. It “examines

Defining Women’s Scientific Enterprise: Mount Holyoke Faculty and the Rise of American Science, by Miriam R. Levin, hardcover, $30 includes s/h. About the book: “Historically, the most important source of possibilities for single women lay in posts as faculty in women’s colleges and the seminaries that preceded them. As teachers and administrators in a network of singlesex and coeducational colleges and seminaries, the faculty of Mount Holyoke contributed to shaping and disseminating science from the time Mary Lyon founded the seminary in 1837,” providing “an exemplar of the important role liberal arts colleges have played in the education of American scientists.” To order either book, contact: Jennifer Harris Daniels ’75, POB 27118, Cincinnati, OH, 452270118, or mhc75jhd@aol.

com. Make checks payable to the Mount Holyoke Club of Cincinnati.

Genesee Valley Club

Pet Leashes Sturdy, polypropylene pet leashes are each 6 feet long and 3/4-inches wide with a heavy-duty metal clasp. Leashes are royal blue, with MOUNT HOLYOKE COLLEGE woven in white block letters with decorative paw prints. $13 each. Please send a check payable to the “Genesee Valley Mount Holyoke Club” to Sara Greenleaf ’92 (please contact the Alumnae Association at 413-5382303 for her address).

Greater South Hadley Club

The Orchards DVD/VHS Produced by WBGY in Springfield, From Tee to Green: The History of The Orchards chronicles the story of this 18-hole championship golf course designed by the legendary Donald Ross for the daughter of industrialist Joseph Skinner, and owned by Mount Holyoke College. From its beginnings to its 2004 role as the site of the USGA’s 59th U.S. Women’s Open, it has long been referred to as a gem, a description used by many who attended the latter event as well as the women who played the course this summer. The story, told with photographs from the college’s Archives and Special Collections and rare memorabilia, traces its rich history, lore, and traditions. Available in either a DVD or VHS form (please specify). Cost is $19.95 plus $2 shipping. An excellent gift to yourself or for

alumnae friends and golfers in general. Cocktail Napkins White, two-ply with college seal in royal blue. Packages of 25, $3 each. Minimum of four packages if order is to be shipped; add $3 for shipping. Hand Towels 11" x 16" white terrycloth with blue MHC seal. A subtle, but distinctive, way to promote MHC to your guests. $5 each. Luggage Straps 1” woven luggage straps, quick-release buckle, small plastic luggage tag, royal blue, MOUNT HOLYOKE COLLEGE in white block letters written four times. $15 plus $1 s/h. 100 Percent Silk Scarves 8" x 54" depicting the Mount Holyoke Range in color groups of sunset (red/purple and black), summer (blues and white), and winter (black, gray, and white). Hand painted by Sally Hall Dillon ’68 of Amherst. $66 includes s/h,

no tax. Additional size: 12" x 60". Same color selections. $84 includes s/h, no tax. Choice of: charmeuse (plain) or jacquard (patterned fabric). Allow three weeks for delivery. Be sure to specify size, color group, and fabric choice when ordering. Ordering information: send order and check, payable to the MHC Club of Greater South Hadley, to Cindy White Morrell

’68 (cmorrell@mtholyoke. edu, 135 Woodbridge St., South Hadley, MA 01075). Massachusetts residents, add 5 percent tax for all items except the scarves.

Houston Club

Montblanc Pens Generation Pens Rich medium blue. MHC seal engraved on pen cap. Fountain pen (14 kt. gold nib)—#13101, $235; rollerball—#13301, $175; ballpoint—#13201, $165; and pencil—#13401, $115. Meisterstück Solitaire Doué Pens Jet black with 925 sterling silver Mount Holyoke College engraved on pen cap. Fountain pen (18 kt. gold nib)—#144DS, $495; rollerball—#163DS, $375; ballpoint—#164DS, $375; and pencil—#165DS, $375. Black leather pen case available for one (#30301, $85) or two (#30302, $95) writing instruments. All nibs are medium (nib exchange possible through Montblanc); Generation writing instruments can be engraved on L or R side (please specify). Special Edition Millennium Noblesse Oblige Pens Available in red, green, blue, or black with MHC seal engraved opposite “1837-2000.” Pencil—#15440, $120; ballpoint—#15240, $120; roller ball—#15340, $135; and fountain pen—#15140, $200. Be sure to include full mailing address with order, and indicate if you are right- or left-handed. Send order and check to Mount Holyoke Club of Houston, c/o Mary Dethloff

Dryselius ’66; contact the Alumnae Association at 413-538-2303 for mailing information.

Lyon’s Pride

Mount Holyoke Note Cards Mount Holyoke College students sledding on campus in the 1920s adorn these beautiful note cards—perfect for holiday greetings. A set of ten topquality note cards (blank inside) with matching envelopes, 4" x 5.5", on white card stock; $12 per

set (plus shipping: $2 for one set, $4 for 2–4 sets, $5 for 5–6 sets and $6 for 7–9 sets). The note cards are reproduced from an original vintage photograph. Make checks payable to Mount Holyoke Lyon’s Pride and mail to Donna Albino ’83, One Beacon Ave, Salem, MA 01970. Any questions, contact Donna at dalbino@ mtholyoke.edu. Lyon’s Pride Paraphernalia Clothing, mugs, cards, and mousepads with the Lyon’s Pride logo are available for purchase online: www. cafepress.com/mhlyonspride.

Northern New jersey Club

Gift Candy Mints for Mount Holyoke are thick and creamy, covered in dark chocolate, leaf-shaped, and individually wrapped in green foil. Eight oz. box, $11. Almond Butter Crunch, 9.5 oz. box with college seal, $12.

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From Buddy Squirrel in Wisconsin: bite-size Almond Butter Toffee, 7.5 oz. box, $11. Endangered Species candy bars, 4 for $10. Virginia peanuts (plain), $11. Add $7 s/h. Send check, payable to Mount Holyoke Club of Northern New Jersey, to Suzanne Fresh Anderson ’58; contact the Alumnae Association at 413538-2303 for mailing information. Alumna Window Decal An alternative to conventional college decals, ours includes the College seal in blue with the words “Mount Holyoke” around the top and “Alumna” below the seal; approximately 3” in diameter. Get several for cars and other windows. $2, payable to Mount Holyoke Club of Northern New Jersey; send to Carolyn Conant-Hiley ’83; contact the Alumnae Association at 413-538-2000 for mailing information.

Pittsburgh Club

Closeout sale! MHC 24Karat Gold-Plate Blazer Buttons with Enameled Logo from the Ben Silver Collection Originally $125, now only $75 (includes S/H)! One set includes six small and three large buttons—the perfect gift for all MHC women! Make checks payable to the Mount Holyoke Club of Pittsburgh and send to MHC Blazer Buttons, 1462 N. Euclid Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15206.

Puget Sound Club

Let’s Go Camping in a National Park Delightful book about a family’s first camping trip, by Jean Valens Bullard ’46, for children and grandchildren. Full-color drawings by a National Park naturalist are highlighted by “scratch-and-sniff ” scents (pine tree, campfire smoke, skunk, wildflowers, etc.); some pages have music for singing. $5 postpaid; half of book price goes to club. Write “MHC Gift” on check, payable to Sirpos Press, and mail to 4611 35th Ave. SW, Apt. 513, Seattle, WA 98126 (206938-0837). Autographed if desired. Give information for names or special message. Guaranteed to delight. More than 105,000 copies sold. Catch a Falling Star: Living with Alzheimer’s by Jean Valens Bullard ’46 and Betty Spohr. Catch a Falling Star is an informative, comforting, true story of an artist whose husband had Alzheimer’s. Full of ideas on how to cope, it offers spouses, relatives, caretakers, nursing-home attendants—anyone who is facing this disease—a clear understanding of what actually happens to the Alzheimer’s patient. The late Siegried Achorn Centerwall ’46, M.D., once described this book as “compelling; in truth, the ultimate love story.” $9.95 postpaid (one-third of price goes to club); paperback, 215 pp., 103 drawings. Order from the author at Sirpos Press (see above). Alumnae have called to thank Jean for writing this helpful book.

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St. louis Club

Postcards The Mount Holyoke seal in blue embellishes functional postcards. Great for invitations, reminder notices. Packages of fifty. $10 includes s/h. Make checks payable to Mount Holyoke Club of St. Louis; send to Wendy Weil Walsh ’85; contact the Alumnae Association at 413-538-2300 for mailing information.

Turkey Club

Handmade FIMO Necklaces FIMO is a versatile, pliable polymer clay with brilliant color intensity. (FIMO is an acronym for the clay’s inventor, Fifi Rehbinder, and for mosaic.) The FIMO

clay is kneaded by hand and sculpted by layering, pressing, squeezing, pinching, rolling, and cutting—a process that requires much skill. Once it is oven-baked, it becomes a sturdy, durable object. A talented young friend of our club is making the most incredible necklaces with this material. The patterns are influenced in part by personal perceptions and in part by dynamics from the environment, but mostly it is whim and ingenuity. Consequently each single bead of each necklace is unique. These exquisite necklaces are handcrafted to delight you and your close friends and family; they are much too pretty to give to just anyone. The cost of one necklace is $15 plus $5 for s/h. The necklaces can be seen at www.angelfire.com/ mt/holyoke/products.html.

To order, please contact Arzu Gurz Abay ’94 (Call the Alumnae Association at 413-538-2300 for her contact information.)

westchester (n.y.) Club

College Seal Embroidery Kits The original version of these cross-stitch kits sold very well during Mount Holyoke’s sesquicentennial. This improved version features an easy-to-follow, full-color, inkjet-printed design chart. The seal, in three shades of blue, measures 11" square, just the right size for a 14" square frame or pillow form. Also included are fourteen-count ivory Aida cloth, DMC floss, tapestry needle, and full instructions from which the uncommon woman can teach herself this easier-than-it-looks craft. One alumna reports that her framed, crossstitched seal hangs on her office wall, where it attracts

far more attention and admiration than the lawschool diploma hanging next to it! $23 per kit plus $4 postage for any quantity. Add $2 each if you would also like a 5” spring-tension embroidery hoop. New York residents, please add sales tax. Send orders, with check payable to Sharon Campbell Rubens ’73; contact the Alumnae Association at 413-538-2303 for mailing information. The Mount Holyoke Club of Westchester receives onequarter of the proceeds.

lastlook T h e n , a s a n M H C s t u d e n t: N ow, a s a m o m :

MHC: Boot Camp for New Moms? By Karen Jochimsen ’94

Perhaps calling Mount Holyoke “boot camp” is a little exaggerated, but is it? I recently became a mom. As much as I had read about the subject before the big day, I was not at all ready for how grueling my job is. Not even my stint with a boss-from-hell for fifteen months prepared me. However, now that my son and I are slowly getting into a routine, I have realized that—surprisingly—Mount Holyoke prepared me best for motherhood. Here are a few of the parallels.

Karen Jochimsen ’94 found Mount Holyoke surprisingly great training for being Alex’s mom.

Thanks to all my MHC ’94 sisters who have been indispensable, providing their support and cyber-shoulders to cry on (Camy Groff, Margaret Clarkson, Betsy Shepard Reed, Debbie Harris Reeves, and Lianne Hanson Keary)! Our online discussions have calmed many fears and also given reassurance that it isn’t just our kid who is acting strangely! Although some of us weren’t close during our time in South Hadley, thanks to the Internet, we’ve developed a stronger bond to Mount Holyoke and all those uncommon women!

Noisy neighbors (music in the wee hours) Communal bathrooms Multitasking social life, classes, extracurricular activities, and job

Noisy neighbors (crying in the wee hours)

Having little money, spending it on books and supplies

Having little money, spending it on baby paraphernalia and diapers

All-nighters, to get that term paper done or cram for exams

All-nighters, to feed, diaper, calm baby (goes on way longer than exam week did)

Learn to accept all kinds of food, especially if it’s free.

Learn to accept all kinds of food, especially if you didn’t have to prepare it.

Do almost anything to avoid an 8:35 class.

Do almost anything to not have to get up early with the baby (note: shifting schedule doesn’t help).

Favorite clothes: sweats or whatever is least dirty and doesn’t require ironing

Learn to accept that you probably won’t wear the same size as when you arrived in South Hadley.

Learn to accept that you probably won’t wear a size 8 again, if you ever did.

Learn to appreciate new things— music styles, literature, points of view

Learn to appreciate things in a new way— how much fun an empty yogurt container can be, and how deliciously quiet it is when baby has a nighttime feeding

Realize that it isn’t about you, and that you are part of something bigger.

Realize that after you gave birth, it isn’t about you, and that you are part of and responsible for something much bigger.

Get organized, to avoid the wrath of classmates and professors.

Get organized, to avoid chaos, especially when trying to leave the house in the morning.

You are now officially a grown-up.

You have now shifted up a notch in the generational scheme!

Communal bathrooms (have you tried showering alone when your baby is in his/her clingy phase?) Multitasking housework, baby’s everchanging moods and sleep patterns, and attempting to establish a postbaby social life

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Ma c hae l

For as long as I can remember .... the fluttering red and orange leaves of fall have meant the start of a fresh school year. The colors paint the campus grounds like a canvas. With each of my steps, their crunches invoke a challenge: This is it. Make things happen. This is your year. For four years, Mount Holyoke demanded I step up to these challenges, and each year I grew. It is hard to accept that Mount Holyoke will go on without me this September. But fall is here. And the promise of change is crisp in the autumn air. Shoshana Walter â&#x20AC;&#x2122;07