Mount Holyoke Alumnae Quarterly Spring 2012 by Alumnae Association of Mount Holyoke College

Activists in Africa • Listening to Clothing • Political Perseverance

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Spring 2012

Planning a Road Trip? Stop for meals in alumnaeconnected eateries.

contents On the cover:

Cover illustration by Rick Peterson

Listening to Clothes MHC archive captures women’s history through dress.

16 Good Eats! You can eat your way around the world the alumnae way.

Gail LaBroad LaRocca ’74 with Tanzanians

Journey Into Africa

Alumnae confront the challenges with thoughtfulness, humanity, and success.

Viewpoints 2 Midwifery reconsidered; you never call, you never write… Campus Currents 4 Admission bucks trends; Korean is hot; new MAT program; Holyoke Hip-Hop Alumnae Matters 30 Alum educators honored; women in public service inspire; gearing up for MHC’s 175th birthday Off the Shelf 35 Books on origami, divorce, history as fiction, and demons; and three music CDs by profs and alums Class Notes 40 News of your classmates, and miniprofiles Bulletin Board 80 Announcements and educational travel opportunities

Business As Unusual Three alum staffers of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords carry on after a shooting that shook the nation.

Mount Holyoke alumnae Quarterly Spring 2012 Volume 96 Number 1 Editor Emily Harrison Weir

Associate Editor Mieke H. Bomann

Class Notes Editor Kris halpin

Designers ALDRICH DESIGN design farm (class notes)

Quarterly Committee: Susan Bushey Manning ’96 (chair), Cindy L. Carpenter ’83, Kim Smith Dedam ’82 , Estelle Drent ’12 (student rep.), Catherine Manegold (faculty rep.), Sabine Scherer ’12 (student rep.), Shoshana Walter ’07, Hannah Clay Wareham ’09 Alumnae Association Board of Directors President* Cynthia L. Reed ’80 Vice President (Engagement)* Jennifer A. Durst ’95 Treasurer* Lynda Dean Alexander ’80 Clerk* Hilary M. Salmon ’03 Classes and Reunion Director Erin Ennis ’92 Alumnae Trustee Director Ellen Hyde Pace ’81 Nominating Director Antoria D. Howard-Marrow ’81 Director-at-Large, Human Resources* Joanna MacWilliams Jones ’67 Director-at-Large (Global Initiatives) Sharyanne J. McSwain ’84 Communications Director Sandy Mallalieu ’91 Young Alumnae Representative Tamara J. Dews ’06 Quarterly Director Susan Bushey Manning ’96 Clubs Director Jenna L. Tonner ’62 Volunteer Stewardship Director Katie Glockner Seymour ’79 Executive Director* Jane E. Zachary, ex officio without vote *Executive Committee The Alumnae Association of Mount Holyoke College, Inc., 50 College Street, South Hadley, MA 01075-1486; 413-538-2300; fax: 413-538-2254 www.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu

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. 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. General comments concerning the Quarterly should be sent to Emily Weir (eweir@mtholyoke. edu or Alumnae Quarterly, Alumnae Association, 50 College Street, South Hadley, MA 010751486). For class notes matters, contact Kris Halpin (413-538-2300, classnotes@mtholyoke. edu). Contact Alumnae Information Services with contact information updates (same address; 413-538-2303; ais@mtholyoke.edu). Phone 413-538-2300 with general questions regarding the Alumnae Association, or visit www. alumnae.mtholyoke.edu. The Mount Holyoke Alumnae Quarterly (USPS 365-280) is published quarterly in the spring, summer, fall, and winter by the Alumnae Association of Mount Holyoke College, Inc., 50 College St., South Hadley, MA 01075-1486. Spring 2012, volume 96, number 1, was printed in the USA by Lane Press, Burlington, VT. Periodicals postage paid at South Hadley, MA and additional mailing offices. Copyright Alumnae Association of Mount Holyoke College. Postmaster: (ISSN 0027-2493, USPS 365-280) Please send form 3579 to Alumnae Information Services, Mount Holyoke Alumnae Association, 50 College St., South Hadley, MA 01075-1486.

viewpoints

More Midwifery I read with great pleasure the article [on midwifery, fall 2011], which was forwarded to me by Pamela Adkins ’79. I am a nurse-midwife and was for twenty-five years general director of the Maternity Center Association of New York (now known as Childbirth Connection, as referred to in the article). In 1931, MCA established the first school of nurse-midwifery in the United States and in 1975, during my tenure, the first demonstration freestanding birth center. It may be of interest to you that Frances Perkins [MHC 1902] founded MCA in 1918 and served on its board for two decades. She considered it her single “most effective piece of social work.” I was impressed by writer Stefanie Ellis’s perceptiveness and clarity, and her thorough approach to a subject obviously of great interest to young women, who often have less than complete information with which to make meaningful decisions regarding parenthood. In 2009, there were thirtynine accredited nurse-midwife or certified midwifery schools operating in the United States, and more

Meandering Career Paths • Alternatives to Jail Time • Mountain Day Goes Viral

A lu m n a e Q ua rt e r ly

than 11,000 of these practitioners who assisted with 300,000 births. There also are more than 230 freestanding birth centers, most of which are accredited and were set up to serve women like the “cover mother,” Jainee McCarroll ’93. In 1993, a MacArthur Foundation fellowship enabled me to center my personal efforts on a new venture in Washington, D.C., where the country’s worst maternal and infant outcomes are found. A collaboration of a birth center, a social supports/ case management organization, and an early childhood infant/toddler educational setting are operating as the Developing Families Center. Here, preterm births, lowbirth-weight infants, and cesarean sections have been dramatically lowered.

Wi n t e r 2 0 1 2

Healthy Choices

What Might Lead You to trY aLternative Medicine? For abbY greiner ’96, it Was her aiLing horse.

Making Your Own Choice The world has always had midwives. It’s only in recent history that doctors have attended to women in childbirth. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s wife was one of the first to have an anesthetic when giving birth (her father was Dr. Craigie).

In recent years, as hospital costs have soared and health insurance has been problematic, more women have sought the services of Congratulations to Ms. Ellis midwives, and midwives have and to the Mount Holyoke had more training. Five of graduates who have utilized my grandchildren were born midwifery care or who have with the assistance of a midselected the profession. Their wife, one at a birthing center recognition as well-educated founded by a midwife and and competent women is car- her MD husband. Midwives rying the profession forward will always be with us. in its long battle for recogniWomen’s health issues are tion. once again being politiRuth Watson Lubic cized—not only reproductive Founder, Developing health, but senior care and Families Center and Family child protective services as Health and Birth Center well. It is important that we Washington, DC secure adequate funding for the education and licensing of midwives and all other professionals who deal with

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women’s health, so that women everywhere can make their own personal choices. Hope Spencer Waters Thomas ’47 Hillsboro, New Hampshire Another Alternative to Traditional Medicine I’d like to comment on “Is Alternative Medicine Good for Your Health?” (winter) by sharing a recent commentary on a February 60 Minutes TV show. After reading the article [“What Mind Can Do to Affect Health” in the San Angelo Standard Times (goo.gl/zdpqo)] I am wondering why Christian Science wasn’t included in the complementary and alternative medicine article. As a Christian Science practitioner, I have witnessed wonderful healings through this spiritual method of treating disease. I hope you will find the article of interest. Susie Passano MacFarlane ’54 Baltimore, Maryland

Welcome to the Club

Remedial Studies 101: How to Write a Letter to the Editor

I am a loyal MHC alum who has just had the great good fortune of my only daughter, Catherine W. Anderson, being admitted to Wellesley as a member of the class of 2016. She is currently a senior at Phillips Academy, where I have been teaching history since 1984. I continue to believe that it was Mount Holyoke College that launched me into the life of the mind; it is that life that sustains me through all of the ups and downs of what is called “the real world.”

Readers: We want to hear from you. Sadly, we haven’t received many e-mails or letters recently. Thinking it’s possible that you’ve forgotten how to write a letter, we’re including here a quick review of the letter format:

I thought I’d pass along a letter that I wrote to her as I hope it makes the case for the continuing importance of women’s colleges. Mary M. Mulligan ’79 Andover, Massachusetts

Salutation: Dear Editor works well (even though you might prefer to write “Dear unnecessary know-nothing.”)

ation salut

Dear Catherine, Congratulations on becoming a member of a very special club: women who have attended women’s colleges! You have the best wishes of the many women in your own family who are part of that club. Among them are your great-great-great grandmother, your great-great grandmother, your grandmother, and your mother. The women’s colleges began in response to the male elitism of the Ivy League: women were not permitted to attend those colleges. The elite women’s colleges, founded between 1837 and 1889, were called the Seven Sisters: Barnard, Bryn Mawr, Mount Holyoke, Radcliffe, Smith, Vassar, and Wellesley. Of the seven, five remain all women. Vassar is now coed, and Radcliffe merged with Harvard many years ago. The battle for coeducation has been fought and won. The women’s colleges, however, remain as relevant as ever. They are vibrant intellectual communities where a woman is always head of the student government, athlete of the week, and editor of the paper. The women’s colleges today continue a proud tradition that launched women into careers in medicine, law, academia, music, business, writing, and politics at a time when women were denied those opportunities. If you believe those days are gone, and thus that women’s colleges no longer need to exist, a candid appraisal of global society, or indeed your own high school, might suggest otherwise. Those who know little about what they call “girls’ schools” may not understand your choice. It is not your job to educate them or defend that choice. Just smile. Part of being in the club is that you share a secret with those of us who know what it means to go to a women’s college. After all, it can’t be a club without a few secrets. Welcome!

First paragraph: I loved (or despised) the article you ran last issue on midwives (or circus clowns, snake handlers, whatever). Second paragraph: I had a similar experience (which makes a far better story than the one you ran) and now feel better connected to (deeply envious of ) my fellow alumnae.

of bodyssage me

Third paragraph: I look forward to (will immediately deep-six) the next issue of the Quarterly (my husband’s alumni magazine). All best wishes (suck eggs),

g losin

your

nam

Cee Cee Alumna ’00

Pretty easy and fun, eh? Let us have it. Send your missives to mbomann@mtholyoke.edu. p.s. Please write us right away when a comment strikes you. Our production schedule means we must receive correspondence shortly after one issue arrives to get it into the next issue. And you needn’t follow the template above; a single run-on sentence via e-mail works too!

Love, Mom

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

Spring 2012

he college admission process is more complex than ever, and MHC admission officers are working overtime to fashion each year’s incoming class. It’s working. This year, nearly 3,900 young women applied for admission to the class of 2016, a whopping 15 percent jump in applications over last year, which itself was a record year. That isn’t the case for liberal arts colleges generally, says Diane Anci, dean of admission and interim vice president for enrollment, who notes that her peers are reporting only tiny shifts in admission, some downward. “We are working against all the trends,” Anci explained one winter morning between road trips. First, there are the demographics: there’s a shrinking number of high school students in the Northeast. Second, because of the continued economic slump, there’s increased interest in public colleges and universities, and professional programs in urban places. Finally, less than 1 percent of high school girls choose to go to an all-women’s college.

Admission officers Lauren Cook ’98 (back left), Lauren Darby ’10 (back right), Elizabeth DuMont McCaffrey ’10 (front left), Natasha Payés ’10 (front right), and Darcy Thoma ’09 (front and center!) are still smiling after reading 3,900 applications.

Admission Bucks Trends, Sees Record Year MHC knows the students it wants—and gets them

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What that means for MHC admission officers is an extraordinarily robust outreach program to prospective students. Admission officers annually visit 1,000 high schools and fairs. They prepare for 800 student “overnights,” when an interested student spends the night in a dorm. Fifteen open houses are organized on campus to encourage applications from athletes, horseback riders, transfer students, Frances Perkins candidates, and students of color.

“We know once we get someone here on campus, the chances are good that she’ll apply to Mount Holyoke,” Anci told administrators recently. That was true for Abby Vare, a high school sophomore and rower from northern California, and her grandmother Pat Kennedy Ascher ’60, who attended the popular Focus on Admission program that took place on campus on Columbus Day. Interested in getting a better sense of what MHC looks for in an application, they chose among workshops on college essay writing, interview tips, how applications are read, and financial aid. “The opening talk was phenomenal,” said Ascher, whose granddaughter, if she chooses to apply and is admitted, would be part of the roughly 12 percent of every class that is made up of legacy students. “It gave the girls a sense of Mount Holyoke as not just a prominent or beautiful place but as a serious college that has high standards, and that wants serious young women to apply.” Admission officers tell visitors about the strong emphasis placed on the rigor of high school courses taken by applicants rather than only on the grades they get; notes that SATs are not required but that the essay portion of the application offers students a chance to demonstrate their depth of thinking and analysis; and that cocurricular activities are especially helpful in demonstrating how well a student integrates the meaning of a particular activity into her thinking.

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campuscurrents

“I thought [the visit] was, in a sense, life changing,” said Vare. While she had been feeling she wouldn’t take an AP class this year for fear of harming her grade-point average, she now has a new outlook. “Mount Holyoke is interested in women who break the mold, who do something not necessarily in their comfort zone,” noted Ascher, who served for sixteen years as the College’s western regional major gifts officer. Nevertheless, molds at MHC are broken in an atmosphere

of collegiality and warmth. “What struck me the most was the welcoming” approach to visitors, “and the strong sense of community, ” said Vare. She left campus wearing an MHC sweatshirt that she bought with her own hardearned money, and plans to apply. The College, like the new boathouse she toured with crew coach Jeanne Friedman, had made a notable impression. “It was calm, not showy, but represented power and strong women.” —M.H.B.

Global Insights Photo Contest

jessica fajardo

To see a timeline of the admission office cycle, go to alumnae. mtholyoke.edu/admcycle. Check out how last year’s inquirers resulted in the class of 2015 at alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/funnel.

The McCulloch Center for Global Initiatives holds an annual photo contest for students who have studied abroad in the past year. Here’s the winning photo by senior Jessica Fajardo. To see all of the winners and runners-up, go to goo.gl/63bcv. Jessica Fajardo ’12 says of her winning photo, taken in Chefchaouen, Morocco: “Baab [meaning “door” in Arabic] represents the extreme differences in social and economic class that I encountered while studying in Morocco. The push for migration to Europe enticed a very small middleworking class and left behind the very wealthy and the unemployed. In my photo, on the left, the doorframe is boarded up—by a migrant? Or by a now homeless, unemployed citizen? On the right, the door is painted, reinforced with studs, labeled with its number, and decorated with a knocker—indicating someone who is settled, grounded, and can afford their life there.”

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

Spring 2012

There are lots of teacherpreparation programs in the country where students interested in the noble profession can learn basic classroom-management and subject-area skills before being thrown into a room filled with growing minds and social appetites. But there were none, until now, built around an experiential curriculum that stresses learning through doing and collaboration with community, rather than textbookdriven classroom lessons—although those are included, too. Enter the MHC Master of Arts in Teaching Program. “This program promotes a different approach to teaching and learning,” says Lenore Reilly Carlisle, director of the eleven-month, coeduca-

tional program set to begin this summer. “It’s experiential learning. Units are put together based on how to get students to engage deeply with the material, with experiences that are real.” Carlisle, an assistant professor of psychology and education at MHC, has teamed up with Expeditionary Learning, a school-reform organization that itself is a collaboration between the Outward Bound leadership program and the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Students and teachers in Expeditionary Learning schools—there are some 160 nationwide—put what they learn into practice right away, enabling “on the job” critical thinking skills and community involvement. Its project-

The new MAT program will focus on experiential learning.

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based, purposeful learning was lauded by President Obama when he visited a member school, the Capital City Public Charter School in Washington, DC. Another member institution, the Renaissance School in Springfield, will serve as one of the local student-teaching sites for MHC student teachers. Renaissance students recently completed energy audits of their school buildings as part of their science and math lessons. Not only were their energy recommendations adopted by the school district but the students were given another set of schools to analyze. While MHC’s program is unique, it is based on the same state curriculum

frameworks used in all teachertraining programs. “Any skills you develop as an Expeditionary Learner will be applicable in any public school,” Carlisle notes, “and the pedagogy that you are learning will serve you in any number of settings.” The teaching license obtained through the program is accepted in forty-six states. Students interested in the program—tuition is $33,540— may wonder whether many jobs will be available when they graduate, given broad state and municipal budget cutbacks of recent years. Of course, says Carlisle, and especially in the city settings where most Expeditionary schools are located. “There is always a need for excellent teachers.” —M.H.B.

Expeditionary Learning

New Teacher-Ed Master’s Focuses on Applying the Learning

Ta l i e s i n N ya l a

Tidbits

N e ws and N otes from A ro u nd the Camp u s

No Tuition Increase!

Asian Studies Splits MHC’s single Asian studies major has split into four separate majors: East Asian studies, Middle Eastern studies, South Asian studies, and trans-regional Asian studies. Languages are the heart of each major and instruction is offered in Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, Korean (see “Brainstorms” in this section), and Sanskrit. STEM Cells Community college transfer students interested in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) are the focus of a $600,000 grant awarded the College by the National Science Foundation. The grant will provide scholarships to women who have earned associate degrees in STEM fields and who have demonstrated academic and collaborative work abilities. The first of three groups of eight students enter this fall and will have access to intensive advising, peer networks, and career development. Getting more students from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds into the sciences is a goal of the program that is being developed by Sarah Bacon ’87 in the biology department and Becky Wai-Ling Packard in psychology and education.

C omments H eard O n , O ff, and A bo u t C amp u s

Anne Mulcahy Company Women Just 14 percent of board members of US corporations are women. How to increase that number was one of the topics at a conference on the future of corporate governance cohosted by MHC in New York. The keynote speaker was Anne Mulcahy, former chief executive officer of Xerox, and attendees included Mary Graham Davis ’65, president of the MHC board of trustees and former president of the Alumnae Association, President Lynn Pasquerella ’80, and College trustee Margaret Wolff ’76. Presidential Initiatives Two new initiatives are under way in the president’s office: the Presidential Commission on Work-Life Balance and the Presidential Commission on Diversity and Inclusion. The first, directed by Chief of Staff Jennifer Sanborn, is outlining practices and policies to enhance the integration of work, life, and family for all MHC employees. One well-received outcome was the decision to close the campus during the week between Christmas and New Year’s. “By officially closing the campus, we allowed the community to have a true break,” said Pasquerella. The College also saved $13,000 in energy costs. The second initiative is being led by Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of the College Cerri Banks and focuses on best practices in diversity and inclusion on campus.

“The United States can’t foot the bill forever for programs that many take for granted.” —Mona Sutphen ’89, a member of President Obama’s Advisory Intelligence Board, in a talk at MHC on global power

“Education has been a tool of liberation and transformation for her students, both in Iran and in the United States.”

campuscurrents

For the first time since 1968, MHC will not raise tuition, room, and board fees for the coming academic year, trustees announced after their February meeting. Board chair Mary Graham Davis ’65 and President Lynn Pasquerella ’80 wrote that the decision was based on the College’s long commitment to providing access to academically talented students from all socioeconomic backgrounds, and “a sharpened awareness of the ways pricing affects our own annual budget as well as the budgets of our students…and their families.”

What They Said

—MHC President Lynn Pasquerella ’80, announcing that Azar Nafisi, author of Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books, will deliver the 2012 commencement address.

“Too much planning is the enemy of opportunity.” —Charu Sharma ’14, in an interview with India’s Daily News and Analysis, explaining her varied pursuits, such as interning for the chief political officer for the president of Georgia and engineering projects in the Caribbean.

“While performing for a celebrity was thrilling, nothing quite beats dancing on our favorite stage, Chapin.” —Emily McGranachan ’12, cocaptain of MHC’s Raunak Bhangra dance team, which participated in a dance performance in New York featuring Bollywood star Imran Khan.

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

Spring 2012

Student Edge

Holyoke Hip-Hop MHC Dancer Inspires Area Kids to Move With Purpose

Or hip-hop. Or twirl. Whatever kind of dance step Korinna MacNeill ’13 has in mind for them works just fine because these young people don’t simply want to unleash their energy after a long day in school—although that’s certainly part of it—they also want to learn new dance steps and routines, maybe even a little dance history, all of which MacNeill is eager to offer. “She taught me half the moves I know,” says agile seventh grader Julio Negron of MacNeill, who is a dance and international relations double major at MHC. “She’s funny, and a good dancer.”

of what dance is,” she says. Most of the students in her class are of Puerto Rican descent and adore hip-hop music, she says. For their first public performance, she choreographed a hip-hop piece that the students titled “Intensity.” But she’d like for them to understand the art more broadly, such as how hip-hop evolved through dance history and has it roots, amazingly, in ballet. “I’m taking ballet currently and show them what I learn,” she explains. Following her lead, the young dancers next move through the first, second, and fourth positions of the ballet routine with ease. Pirouettes throw a few off center but not for long.

Korinna MacNeill ’13 and her dance students at Peck School in Holyoke, Massachusetts

Introduced to the afterschool club by Stacey Funston ’11, who worked with students from Peck for an MHC dance project last year, MacNeill gets the students’ attention with little more than a request to “focus.” She starts out with some stretches. Little shoulders twist back and forth and still-growing legs stretch sideways as far as they can go. All eyes was are on MacNeill, Pasquerella greeted with a whose own flexibility is both standing ovation. inspiring and unmatched. “My goal is to get them to have a broad understanding

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“I did two,” one sixth-grade girl says with pride. Over at the other end of the stage, Negron perfects the step with precision. MacNeill is here twice a week for three hours (she also helps the children earlier in afternoon as they do their homework), gets no MHC course credit, and receives just a small stipend that she mostly uses for club supplies such as dance journals. No matter. Her work with the kids motivates her to get her own work finished, she says, and there’s no place else she would rather be.

That seems to be the general consensus. Twelve-year-old Mya Estevez is in her second year with the dance club. Attentive and poised, she explains that “dance is like breathing,” but that instead of inhaling and exhaling air, she’s “getting all my expression out.” It’s students like Mya who have helped MacNeill understand what matters most to her. Once an aspiring attorney, she says now she will focus on becoming a teacher. “This program has opened my eyes to a new passion.” —M.H.B.

To hear students talk about their experiences in MHC’s Community-Based Learning Program, and to learn more about Peck School, visit alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/hhh.

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Buzzing around the auditorium stage with the energy of honeybees returning to their hive, ten students enrolled in the after-school dance club at the William R. Peck School in Holyoke are ready to rock ’n’ roll.

Brainstorms

From K-Pop to Hanboks, Korea is all the Rage

Suk Massey, a Five College lecturer, instructs about sixteen students in introductory Korean three times a week. Based at Smith College for fourteen years, she now rotates among the Five Colleges to teach a class that has doubled in size since she began teaching at the consortium three years ago. A firm believer in making language instruction relevant to the lives of her students, Massey not only presents traditional grammar exercises and group conversations but also offers instruction via cooking classes and karaoke.

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That’s right, karaoke. Students are so enamored of Korean pop stars like Girls’ Generation that they know all the words to their songs and sing them with terrific enthusiasm. Karaoke gives them a chance, Massey says, to get the pronunciation right and practice the language in a real-world context. “As a teacher, I have to know the trends and their interests,” says Massey. “Learning should be fun.” Student interest is not limited to contemporary Korean culture, however. Every fall, Massey offers a traditional Korean cooking

class. And during the Korean lunar new year celebration, she brings out her collection of traditional Korean dresses, or hanboks, and has students put them on and practice traditional bows and the fan dance. “They love it,” Massey says of the event that also includes making dumplings together. “They try to be more like a Korean.” Massey’s students are roughly divided between those of Asian descent who grew up in America, and Euro-Americans. A few of her students are of Korean heritage and doubly interested in better learning the language of their forefathers and are fascinated, like their Euro sisters, by the 5,000-year-old Korean culture and its contemporary music scene. All Asian languages are tough to learn for native English speakers. But Massey says that, unlike Chinese, which relies completely on characters, Korean has an alphabet. “It’s foreign but not hard compared to other Asian languages,” she says. What proves the most challenging for her students are the vowels, as well as the different forms of speech—honorific, plain, and informal— that relate to the person being addressed. “Motivation is everything,” Massey says. “But motivation means nothing if there is no place to go.” Many of her students are interested in teaching in Korea and in international relations. So in addition to staying current in her lesson plans, she is work-

campuscurrents

Move over, Bollywood. K-pop, short for Korean pop culture, is now the musical phenomenon in Pacific Rim countries, and it’s making significant inroads in America. At MHC, it’s showing up in the first-ever Korean language class being taught on campus.

Korean lecturer Suk Massey with her students during a breakfast celebration

ing to provide more opportunities for students to intern, study, and teach in Korea. Because there is such demand for the language, another Five College lecturer is being hired to teach the introductory classes next year. Massey will then teach intermediate Korean.—M.H.B. For photos of students in traditional Korean dress, images of the “karaoke method,” and a link to the class’s Facebook page, see alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/ koreanclass.

Riding Team Takes Tournament of Champions Crown The MHC riding team took home top honors at the prestigious Tournament of Champions Winter Classic at Hazelwind Farm in Fredericksburg, Virginia, this winter. As a result of their performance, the Lyons also secured first place in the final Tournament of Champions standings for the season. It was the team’s fifth title overall and their first since 2007. Before that, they were crowned champions in 1993, 1997, and 2002.

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

Spring 2012

journey Both Lynn Pasquerella â&#x20AC;&#x2122;80, in Kenya, and Gail LaRocca â&#x20AC;&#x2122;74, in Tanzania, have helped provide rural Africans with inexpensive filters that protect against water-borne diseases.

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John Kuchle

i n to

Africa

Alumnae confront the challenges with thoughtfulness, humanity, and success

by e r i n p e t e r so n

ike so many others in America, Jennifer Kyker ’02 had seen the commercials imploring viewers to send money to help people starving in Africa. They were heartbreaking and compelling, and they’d raised millions of dollars for the cause. But for Kyker, who first visited Zimbabwe through a high school exchange program when she was fifteen, these organizations’ goals were also painfully narrow. There were plenty of aid groups focused on young children, but by the time those kids had reached adolescence, the programming and funding they needed to thrive had mostly dried up. “Older kids aren’t as appealing—they don’t have those round faces and smiles,” she says. “But that’s when they’re at the highest risk for dropping out of school and contracting HIV. The need is the greatest then.” It’s part of the reason she started Tariro, an organization that helps provide education and supplies to teen girls who have lost at least one parent to illness or poverty. In the world of international aid, Kyker knows her small organization can help just a tiny segment of the population, but for the sixty or so students that Tariro helps over the course of their adolescence, she knows it will transform their lives. There’s no question that the need is great. Half of the people in subSaharan Africa live below the poverty line of $1.25 a day, and literacy rates are lower, collectively, than on any other continent. And more than 22 million people have HIV/AIDS—nearly 70 percent of the worldwide total. The problems are vast and entrenched. But where some see only hopelessness, many Mount Holyoke alumnae see possibility. It is a philosophy that is practiced in the lives of many alumnae and at the highest levels of the College: President Lynn Pasquerella ’80 makes yearly trips to Kenya’s West Lake District to help a local nonprofit improve the area’s water quality and agricultural practices. (Read the Quarterly article about her work here: http://goo.gl/uoMzj.) Mount Holyoke alumnae have devoted weeks, months, and even years of their lives to make a positive difference in the lives of Africans. One person, one school, and one neighborhood at a time, they are changing others’ lives—and their own.

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

Spring 2012

Start With What You Know

he size and scope of the problems in Africa can seem paralyzing, but alumnae have found success by following a simple formula: starting with what they know best. Perhaps no one knows that better than Zimbabwe native Mufaro Kanyangarara ’07, whose mother died from complications of HIV. When she learned about a $10,000 Davis Foundation grant as a student, she planned a project with Getrude Chimhungwe ’08 to benefit an organization that works with Zimbabwean children orphaned as a result of HIV. Kanyangarara and Chimhungwe won the grant, and with additional funding, they built a chicken farm that the organization maintains to fund specific needs of the orphans, including healthcare. Since its establishment in 2007, the farm has doubled in size (from 500 to about 1,000 chickens) and provides a steady stream of income used to prevent and treat common diseases. That approach—setting up programs that ultimately

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can be run without foreign assistance—remains critical to Kanyangarara’s philosophy. She is currently at Johns Hopkins getting a doctorate in international health, but says she plans to return to Zimbabwe, where she can combine her deep knowledge of the culture with the skills she gained through education. “There are a lot of international organizations who come in and try to learn the local setting and implement programs,” she says. “But international organizations should also equip locals with the skills to manage their own programs.” Kyker’s Tariro has also benefited by working with those who know the culture best. While Kyker can manage fundraising and many administrative details from her home in Rochester, New York, she relies heavily on the organization’s program coordinator and manager, Fadzi Muzhandu ’05. A native of Zimbabwe, Muzhandu works with local schools, parents, and child protection committees as part of her duties. Because of her deep knowledge of the cultural norms and expectations—such as the country’s slower pace or its skepticism about foreign intervention—she can often navigate the cultural terrain more successfully than outsiders.

Coalition for Courage

tariro

( 1 ) Bridget McBride ’94 taught these girls to sew their own washable and reusable sanitary pads. ( 2 ) Emmy Murindangamo teaches Heather Baukney Hansen ’94 how to make sadza, a cooked cornmeal dish that’s a staple food in Zimbabwe. ( 3 ) Fadzi Muzhandu ’05 (right) with Tariro student Tatenda Chizanga, who is now working toward her degree at the University of Zimbabwe. (4) Liz Berges ’94 (right) with Lorraine, one of many students helped with school expenses by Coalition for Courage, which Berges cofounded with Arden O’Donnell ’97.

While the young women who get help from Tariro face an uphill battle, many of the girls have finished their highschool education, and several have gone on to universities. “Tariro is a safe space,” says Muzhandu. “Here, girls have a voice and are allowed to dream.”

Making a Shift

any of those going to Africa for the first time have strong opinions about specific ways they want to help. But often, as they spend more time there, they adjust their goals. Such was the case for Liz Berges ’94 and Arden O’Donnell ’97, who spent a year in Zimbabwe in 2002 and 2003. Although they had raised money to build a library before arriving, their time in the country brought more critical problems to light. The well-funded Catholic Relief Services, for example, paid school fees for many children. It was a significant expense and lifted a real burden, but by paying only the

school fees and not ancillary expenses, the organization missed a critical piece of the puzzle, says Berges. “In Zimbabwe, public schools require uniforms and school shoes. If you don’t have them, you aren’t allowed in.” Berges wrote about some of these challenges in weekly emails to friends and family at home, and her stories were so compelling that soon people were clamoring to get on the email list. Before long, more than 300 people were receiving her messages, and many of them were sending checks to help out. Ultimately, Berges and O’Donnell started their own nonprofit, Coalition for Courage. The funding they receive (more than $100,000 in 2011 alone) pays for everything from food and uniforms to notebooks and pencils. Their work is making a difference: thanks to their help, fifteen of the students they’ve sponsored have gotten some sort of higher education; thirteen are employed, which is

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Jennifer Kyker ’02 practices a traditional Zimbabwean dance with Tariro students, led by teacher Daniel Inasiyo.

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( t h i s pa g e ) Ta r i r o ( fa c i n g pa g e ) U N H C R / N. B o s e ,

no small feat in a country where unemployment hovers its own,” she says. “People were talking about it in their around 95 percent. church groups, sharing knowledge.” While Berges admits that they can’t have the broad Gail LaBroad LaRocca ’74 also found success when reach of larger organizations, the impact they’re making she shifted her thinking. She had visited Tanzania several is real. “I think if we weren’t telling these stories, [our times through various organizations starting in 1994, donors] wouldn’t be giving to orphans and vulnerable and had happily contributed to efforts related to school children in southern Africa,” she says. “We can be stewards expenses and food, among others. But the more often she and make it happen.” visited, the more she realized that she wanted Indeed, their work has inspired several to focus her efforts on a single thing: clean other Mount Holyoke alumnae, including water, which spurred her decision to start Heather Baukney Hansen ’94 and Bridget LifeWaterAfrica.org. McBride ’94, to spend short stints in the Through connections, LaRocca found a country and use their skills to make small but african activism Tanzanian craftsman who created biosand Read essays by alumnae measurable differences. (To read Hansen’s water filters, which can provide clean water working in Africa, and find essay, see web extras link at right.) for thirty people. Each costs just $150 and, out more about their projMcBride, for example, had received with regular maintenance, will last for years. ects at alumnae.mtholyoke. Berges’s emails for years, and decided, almost LaRocca has raised enough money for 100 edu/africaactivists. on a whim, to go with her for a two-week filters; dozens have already been built and trip to Zimbabwe in 2010. McBride is a installed. “I might not make a big difference,” nurse practitioner and expected that she would use those she says. “But I can make a small one.” skills during her trip. But then she got her packing list, In 2010, LaRocca was named one of 100 “unsung which included pleas from residents to bring sanitary pads. heroines” by the Massachusetts Commission on the Status She thought it was a strange request, but then learned that of Women. Still, she says her work is only beginning. the supplies were expensive for women and teens who had “When I reach 1,000 [filters],” she says, “I’ll be shouting poverty-level budgets. from the rooftops.” The help she could provide became immediately For decades, Mount Holyoke alumnae have used time, apparent: “I wasn’t an expert seamstress, but I knew I could money, and influence to improve the lives and circumteach them to make their own reusable cloth sanitary stances of thousands of people. But McBride says that pernapkins,” she says. haps the most surprising transformation that occurred was What started as a small project to teach ten girls her own. “My experience confirmed what I’ve known intelbasic sewing skills and create a practical product quickly lectually but often chosen to avoid emotionally. People all expanded to eighty as eager women heard about the idea over the world are suffering and desperate through no fault and wanted to get in on the details. “It took on a life of of their own. My world view has been pried open.”

revolutions roiled the Arab world last year, Nayana Bose ’90 spent three months in Egypt helping those who were

fleeing for their lives. An external relations officer at the United Nation’s Refugee Agency (UNHCR), Bose spends most of her time in New Delhi, India. But when the uprisings in last year’s Arab Spring took hold——swift, powerful, and chaotic——she saw an opportunity to step in and assist at a critical time in history. “It took people by surprise,” she says. “We needed more help.” Emergency teams from aid organizations were overwhelmed by the need, and when her agency requested volunteers for a mission to Saloum, the official entry point between Libya and Egypt, she applied without hesitation. In March 2011, she traveled to Saloum for a three-month mission. While thousands of Libyans and Egyptians passed through the port each day with relative ease, others had a more challenging experience. Migrants and refugees from countries including Chad, Niger, Pakistan, Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea, and Ethiopia often got stranded for days or weeks as their documents were processed. As thousands of people fled Libya during the revolution, the numbers of those stranded swelled from hundreds to thousands. Much of UNHCR’s work was basic and critical, such as assessing asylum claims and distributing plastic sheets so that people could make tents to protect themselves from the ferocious desert storms. The organization also offered blankets, sleeping mats, shoes, and clothes. As a reporting officer, Bose helped keep her organization—— and the world——informed about what was happening. Every

challenge

Rows of makeshift tents at Saloum Port on the Libya-Egypt border house refugees from Somalia hoping to start life anew in another country.

rising to the

day, she spent hours talking with refugees and migrants about why they were fleeing and their concerns about their current situation. She did interviews with international media, wrote stories and Facebook updates for UNHCR, and sent reports back to agency headquarters. “A typical day started at 9 a.m. and ended at 11 p.m., and we worked seven days a week, with five days off after two months,” she says. “It was a punishing pace, but that’s what an emergency mission is about.” The stories she heard were often heartbreaking——migrants who left their life savings in Libya and teenagers who left their families to avoid military service, only to worry that they would never see their loved ones again. One young man told her he’d lost his best friend in the war, then pressed a poem into her hand that he had written about his experience. “It sounds like a bad Hollywood film,” she says. “But it was their reality.” But there were also small moments of grace. She grew fond of the people she saw daily, from shopkeepers to bakers. She even came to an uneasy peace with the restrictive Bedouin traditions. And each day, she took forty-five minutes to walk along the corniche, the road by the sea. “Saloum was right on the dazzling blue Mediterranean, and that walk was the highlight of my day,” she says. “It kept me going.” By June 2011, UNHCR——along with the International Organization for Migration——had helped 36,000 people to cross the border and get home. But for Bose, it is the people, not the numbers, that remain etched in her memory. “I have taken their tales with me back to New Delhi,” she says. “It was a soul-stirring experience.” refugees’ reality Photos of Bose’s work are at goo.gl/rkRVF. Mou n t Ho lyo k e Al u m na e Qua r t e r ly

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Listening to Clothes 1 Anna Rose Keefe ’13

Ar c h i v e C a p t u r e s Wo m e n ’s Hi s t o ry Th r o u g h D r e s s by Ly n n e B a r r e t t ’ 7 2 P hoto s by Paul Sc hnait tache r

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Above Chapin Auditorium, high up in Mary E. Woolley Hall, we climb the stairs to reach the Mount

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Holyoke Clothing Archive. I feel a ghost hunter’s anticipation as my guide unlocks the first door and I step into a storage room under the eaves. My overwhelming impression, in this crowded space, is of the ebullience of women’s garments ranging back over more than 170 years, a colorful history in cloth. Theatre Costume Shop Assistant Anna Rose Keefe ’13, my guide, tells me that few items have a known provenance. Most must speak for themselves. The clothes, donated by alumnae and others, are sorted by decade. As I follow the narrative of fashion through the small rooms, I see that, among other things, it’s a branch of art Mou n t Ho lyo k e Al u m na e Qua r t e r ly

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There’s more in our closet: Feast your eyes on a photo gallery of fashions from the clothing archive’s “closet” at http://alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/fashion.

history. A cream wool cape with glass beading and corded trim (images 1 and 4) belongs to 1890s Art Nouveau. A bird constructed of real feathers on a 1950s hat (6) is both saucy and strange, a surrealist fantasy. A grande dame of a silk taffeta dress (3) demands attention. As it happens, it speaks French: a label inside the waist belt reads “A. Felix Breveté / Faubourg St. Honoré / Paris.” Breveté means patented, but this design’s silhouette became the rage in the 1890s. Puffed shoulders and ballooning upper sleeves made waists look smaller by contrast, an illusion that returned in the 1980s, as relics in my own closet attest. I admire the grace of pale, high-collared dresses (5), the white worn by Jessie F. Maclay Jones (MHC 1910), the ivory from 1916. Women marching in such long skirts

won suffrage, but a shimmying beaded shift (7 and 8) and a brilliant hand-crocheted jacket from the 1920s flaunt the changes in women’s roles that followed. These bright things seem to scoff at their predecessors’ restraint. I notice, though, that detailed handiwork unites the styles. One woman with a taste for embellishment could have worn both as she strode ahead through time. Looking closely, I feel too the presence of those who did the fine construction of the clothes and their adornment, exchanging woman-hours and eyesight for a living. Along one rack, print dresses from the 1940s (9) play a bright jazz riff. Full of energy and optimism, these frocks of silk, rayon, or cotton seem made to move. Rayon, I remember, became the can-do substitute when World War II made silk rare. Keefe and I discuss how fashion, once derided as frippery, has become an area of research in economics, history, art, and anthropology. The psychology of clothing intrigues me, the ways it expresses identity and evokes emotion. A strapless evening gown with tulle insets might demand a 1950s figure and posture, while a yellow silk velvet 1920s evening coat (2) offers a welcoming embrace, inviting the wearer to clutch its chinchilla collar and let the hem swing. All the clothes, though, are too fragile to be worn on stage. Theatre Arts Costume Shop Manager Elaine Bergeron has explained that the department, custodian of the archive, uses the collection for study and to copy for costumes. In addition to work on shows, Keefe’s tasks include assisting with sorting, cleaning, mending, and, where resources allow, conserving pieces, and entering their details in a new cataloguing system. The department has had some items digitally photographed, Bergeron says, and is working toward making, with the future help of Library, Information, and Technology Services, a searchable online resource for research in textile design, construction, and fashion history. After the doors are closed and the locks double-checked, I am reluctant to leave. My mind is full of what I’ve seen and the whispers of garments I didn’t get to look at. How can I leave them up here? They have so much more to say.

modeled by Olivia J. Lee ’14

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Next time you take a road trip, have your

“good eats” in good company—alumnae company, that is. Restaurants and cafés owned, run by, or affiliated with MHC alumnae are pinpointed here. What we’ve served up in the print Quarterly is just this article’s “appetizer.” Visit alumnae.mtholyoke. edu/goodeats for profiles of seven alumnae eateries, details about the delectables to be enjoyed at each place on this map, photos, and a list of alumnae food bloggers. And if your eatery isn’t listed, add it by commenting online. There’s good food all over the map. Happy eating!

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Rick Peterson

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he next time you go out to dinner in Manhattan or stop at a café in northern Costa Rica, let it be at a business run by a Mount Holyoke woman. All of these alumnae— from the class of ’59 to the class of 2009— have made careers for themselves in the food industry, whether running a beloved French bistro in New York’s Chelsea or a small farmto-table restaurant in rural North Carolina. —Profiles by Hannah M. Wallace ’95

“Our family-run kombucha brewery is dedicated to crafting the highest quality probiotic tea possible. Our mission is to improve the health of people, our community, and the environment through probiotics, healing amino acids, and sustainable business practices.” —amanda smith englund ’06

Gail Ogilvie ’66, Alka Smith ’14

McSeagulls; Boat House Bistro; Mine Oyster

Boothbay Harbor, ME mcseagullsonline.com; theboathousebistro.com; mineoyster.net specialty: seafood sample items: seafood, tapas, raw bar

Melva Max ’78

Amanda Smith Englund ’06

New York City 212-675-0342; no website specialty: French bistro sample items: escargot au cognac, lobster bisque, trout amandine, omelette Parisienne, braised leek and French lentil salad

Portland, Oregon lionheartkombucha.com specialty: high-quality kombucha (fermented, probiotic tea)

La Lunchonette

Jen Pearson ’96 Tina Carman ’01

Café Cristina

Guardia, Costa Rica cafecristina.com specialty: quality organic coffee sample items: paninis, salads, desserts

Guadalupe Café

Sylva, North Carolina guadalupecafe.com specialty: tropical fusion/mostly Caribbean sample items: goat tacos, fried plantains, vegan/vegetarian options

Lion Heart Kombucha

Priscilla Chung ’02

moonbabycakes

San Francisco, California moonbabycakes.com specialty: custom-order cupcakes Rebecca Kelsey Roby ’94

Hard Rock International Orlando, Florida hardrock.com specialty: 10 oz. burger

Nicky Mesiah ’77, owner of Mesiah Event Planners and Miss Nicky’s

Gourmet Toffee in Upper Montclair, New Jersey

“What I bake does not taste like a twig,” says Nicky Mesiah. Indeed, her vegan oatmeal raisin cookies—named after makeup artist Bobbi Brown, who is a big fan—are crisp and satisfying despite not containing butter, eggs, or flour. Her Miss Nicky’s Cashew Toffee (also gluten-free) contains whole cashews, and no corn syrup, additives, or preservatives. (Maya Angelou, for one, has professed her love for these.) Mesiah, who was a sociology major at MHC, has fond memories of making custard on a hot plate in her room in the Mandelles. Miss Nicky’s: Sales online via PayPal; the toffee is also available at three gift stores in Montclair—Noteworthy Stationery, The Banyan Tree, and Jacklyn Kling Gallery; 973-744-1788; missnickys.com

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“We are focused on educating coffee drinkers about coffee— where it comes from, how to drink it, and how to recognize a quality coffee. Another important aspect is for coffee drinkers to understand the impact their coffee choices have on economies and the environment.” —Tina Carman ’01

“My café-restaurant is in a residential area in the south section of Paris, between Denfert-Rochereau and La Place d’Italie. One wouldn’t think they were in Paris because everything around my restaurant resembles a small village. It’s very friendly and open.” —Kate old magnere ’90

Joan Dembinski ’59

Eviana Englert ’09

Albany, New York yonos.com specialty: Indonesian, French, eclectic global cuisine sample items: sautéed alligator, chicken saté, nasi goreng (a traditional Indonesian fried rice with chicken, beef tenderloin, pork tenderloin, shrimp and vegetables)

New York City and D.C. lukeslobster.com specialty: New England-style seafood rolls sample items: lobster, crab, or shrimp rolls; seafood chowders

Yono’s

Luke’s Lobster

Kate Old Magnere ’90

Le Monaco

Paris, France 33-014-33146-96; no website specialty: traditional French food sample items: boeuf bourguignon, blanquette de veau, pot-aufeu, coquelet au pesto, chapon, confit de canard

Abby Hitchcock ’94, chef owner of CAMAJE in NYC, and Abigail Café &

Wine Bar in Brooklyn, New York

Abby Hitchcock spent her junior year at the University of Bristol in England and “absolutely fell in love with it”—so she stayed. A botany major, she was finishing her senior thesis—on moss as an environmental matter—when she realized that she just didn’t enjoy lab work. “I was like, ‘Wow, this is incredibly boring. I won’t be able to do this,’” she recalls. Her father, who had always encouraged Hitchcock to tinker in the kitchen, suggested she give culinary school a try. Today, she serves as executive chef at CAMAJE, where she devises the menu—studded with dishes like housemade chicken liver pâté and Moroccan lamb tagine—and teaches many of the restaurant’s popular cooking classes. In conjunction with artist Dana Salisbury, she runs CAMAJE’s “dark dining event,” during which guests wear blindfolds throughout a four-course meal, which is punctuated by live music or tap dancing. “We want people to experience their other senses being heightened,” says Hitchcock. In 2008, Hitchcock and her husband, Jason, opened Abigail Café & Wine Bar in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn. The space is bigger, and the menu is seasonal American instead of French. In winter, you might find pumpkin risotto and cumin-crusted pork tenderloin on the menu; in summer, curried zucchini and basil soup and sautéed market fish with a vegetable ratatouille. CAMAJE: 85 MacDougal St. (Greenwich Village); New York, NY; 212673-8184; camaje.com Abigail Café & Wine Bar: 807 Classon Ave. (Prospect Heights), Brooklyn, NY, 718-399-3200; abigailbrooklyn.com

Chloe Martin ’06 (kitchen manager) and Emma D’Amato ’11 (counter staff ) at Ula Café in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts

Initially, Chloe Martin had misgivings about her decision to go to MHC. Then her mom told her about the college’s tradition of nightly M&Cs. This small detail made all the difference to the seventeenyear-old, for whom baking was a passion. “Mount Holyoke gets it!” she remembers thinking. A philosophy major, Martin spent a semester in Copenhagen her junior year. The academics were great, but it was the traditional Danish layer cakes sold at La Glace, the city’s oldest bakery, that inspired her to pursue baking as a career. Two years after graduation, she took a job as prep cook at Ula Café, where she’s now the kitchen manager. Ula Café won “Best Local Coffee Shop” in the Boston Phoenix last year, and it’s easy to see why. Located in the historic Heffenreffer brewery building, the café has exposed brick walls and comfy banquettes—and free Wi-Fi. Regulars come for the popovers (served with butter, Nutella, or peanut butter) and for the roasted sweet-potato sandwich, made with Monterey jack, tahini, avocado, red onions, alfalfa sprouts, tomatoes, and a poppy-yogurt spread. Among the panoply of baked goods are chocolatechip walnut cookies, vanilla-bean cupcakes, éclairs, and French macarons. The woman-owned café is apparently a magnet for MHC alumnae, too. “Susannah Furnish ’04 and Caitlin Reed ’05 founded their law firm at the café. And Bekka Lee ’04 wrote many papers for her master’s in public health and her PhD here,” says Martin. Ula Café: 284 Amory Street, Jamaica Plain, MA; 617-524-7890; ulacafe.com

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Business as To Americans, Gabrielle Giffords is an inspiration. A fighter. A symbol of courage. A role model. A hero. A walking miracle. But to a select few, including three Mount Holyoke alumnae, the US congresswoman from Arizona is all that and something else, too: a boss. The lives of Giffords staffers Amanda Sapir ’99, Hayley Zachary ’02, and Ashley Nash-Hahn ’08 changed forever on January 8, 2011, when a gunman opened fire at a Giffords event in Tucson. Staffer Gabriel Zimmerman and five others were killed in the rampage; staffers Ron Barber and Pam Simon were among those seriously injured. Giffords herself was shot in the head. She survived, but sustained a traumatic brain injury. “In the history of our country, Gab-

by appears to be the only female elected official to be wounded in an assassination attempt,” Giffords and her husband, retired astronaut Mark Kelly, write in their 2011 book, Gabby: A Story of Courage and Hope. On January 25 of this year the three-term Democrat resigned from Congress to focus on her recovery, and Sapir, Zachary, and Nash-Hahn’s lives changed yet again. As soon as Giffords’s resignation took effect, her congressional staffers became employees of the clerk of the House of Representatives, who will manage Giffords’s offices until her successor is chosen in a special general election on June 12. Giffords’s congressional staffers, including Sapir and Nash-Hahn, can keep their jobs until then. At Giffords’s request, Barber is running for her seat. The future is more uncertain for her campaign staffers, including Zachary.

Three alum staffers of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords carry on after a shooting that shook the nation.

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s Unusual Office of Congresswoman Giffords

By Christina Barber-Just

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords at the Capitol in 2010

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After all, Giffords has vowed to return to Washington. “This whole year has been emotional—much more emotional than you would expect in a job,” Nash-Hahn, Giffords’s deputy communications director and legislative assistant, said in a phone interview on the day of Giffords’s resignation. “But I feel very good about this. The congresswoman and her husband will advocate for all of her employees. They told us they will help us pursue whatever our dreams are. It’s kind of like a family.” Of Giffords, she said, “This is not the end for her. I think you can view it as sort of a pause. She’s making a very thoughtful and mature decision to give up her seat right now so she can dedicate herself fully to her therapy. She still does speech therapy, physical therapy, and occupational therapy every day, all day long, and she wants what’s best for her constituents. She gave up the seat so her constituents could have someone who could give 100 percent. This is what she needs, and this is what the district needs. It’s a positive decision.” My Friend Gabby

Is it unusual for three graduates of one college to simultaneously work for the same member of Congress? Sapir, Zachary, and Nash-Hahn think so, but they aren’t surprised it happened in Giffords’s case. “I think it speaks to her ability to connect with women and her stance as a strong woman in politics,” Nash-Hahn says. It could also have something to do with the fact that Giffords attended a women’s college (Scripps, in California). “I love having that connection with her,” Sapir says. “It’s always a source of pride.” Zachary recalls touching on the topic during her first interview with the congresswoman. “It was definitely something that made her smile when she saw it on my résumé,” she says. Zachary, who has a law degree, and whose previous experience includes working on the presidential campaigns of Hillary Clinton and John Kerry, has been Giffords’s

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campaign finance director since 2009. She wrote the finance plan for Giffords’s second reelection campaign, helping carry the candidate to victory by raising more than $4 million from 8,000-plus donors. In the process, she developed a close personal friendship with Giffords. “I was really honored to be part of such a wonderful team,” Zachary says. “I believe that often staff can reflect the qualities of their boss, and I think my colleagues reflected Gabby’s commitment to service, dedication to constituents, and endless energy. For the whole time I’ve known her, she has given work her all, held herself and us to the highest standards, and set a wonderful example for us.” One Cool Cowgirl

Like the congresswoman, Nash-Hahn is from Tucson. She moved back after Mount Holyoke and started volunteering in Giffords’s campaign office. She had seen some pictures of Giffords walking on a ranch in cowboy boots, riding a motorcycle, and standing in front of solar panels, and remembers thinking, “This woman is really cool, and she’s doing things, and she’s so young!” Giffords did not disappoint when Nash-Hahn got to know her. “She was so warm and inviting, and I just wanted to be around her,” she says. “Whatever she was doing, I wanted to help her.” Nash-Hahn’s volunteer stint eventually led to a job in Giffords’s congressional office in Washington. As a legislative assistant, she handled issues pertaining to health care, seniors, and women. Meanwhile, social media accounted for the bulk of her work in her other capacity as Giffords’s number-two press person. She was always posting to Face-

left: J.D. Fitzgerald ; others: Office of Congresswoman Giffords

left: The congresswoman and Ron Barber meet with a rancher constituent the day after announcing her resignation. below: Giffords with her deputy communications director, Ashley Nash-Hahn ’08

“The congresswoman will help us pursue whatever our dreams are. It’s kind of like a family.” left to right: Amanda Sapir ’99, Hayley

Zachary ’02, Ashley Nash-Hahn ’08

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Zimmerman’s death in the shooting dealt a particularly hard blow to Sapir. “Gabe is—will always be—a dear friend of mine,” she says. “I love him very much. I would wear a path in the floor to his office. I was constantly talking to him.” In fact, it was during one such conversation, as Sapir was getting ready to leave the office on Friday, January 7, 2011, that Zimmerman unexpectedly excused her from staffing Giffords’s ill-fated “Congress on Your Corner” event the following day. As she remembers it, he said, “You know, I think we’ve got it covered.” Surprised to suddenly have a free weekend, she responded, “Wow, this must be my lucky day.” He looked at her and said, “Yes, it is.” Those were the last words they spoke.

Hayley Zachary ’02 with Rep. Giffords

book, Twitter, Flickr, and YouTube. In the aftermath of the tragedy in Tucson, when media requests were pouring in from around the world, Giffords’s office was “a great place to learn,” the twenty-six-year-old says. “We are put-it-on-your-desk people.”

Amanda Sapir grew up in a political family. Her parents owned an independent newspaper and served as elected officials, giving her an early glimpse into politics’ potential as a vehicle for public service. A student government president at Mount Holyoke, Sapir found in Giffords’s district office a place of employment that lived up to her high expectations for elected officials. “I was struck by how the office is anchored in public service and really being helpful, with a willingness to stake out middle ground in opposing views,” she says. Giffords’s overarching goal was to have the strongest constituent service team in the country, according to her staffers, and she charged the late Gabe Zimmerman with hiring its members. Sapir came on board in 2008 as one of three constituent service representatives in Tucson (two others worked in Sierra Vista). All five were trained to field any request, but Sapir specialized in foreclosure prevention, among other issues. Preventing more than 150 southern Arizona families from losing their homes to foreclosure was one of her key accomplishments. In all, Sapir completed 2,653 constituent cases in her tenure with Giffords. Together, the constituent service team handled more than 12,000 cases between January 2007, when Giffords took office, and January 2012, when she resigned. “Our office typically does much higher case workloads than even a [US] senator’s office,” Sapir says. “Gabe would say, ‘We are not get-it-off-your-desk people, we are put-it-on-your-desk people.’”

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In a chapter of Gabby titled “What Would Gabby Want?” Giffords and Kelly recount the events of the day after the shooting: “On January 9, Gabby’s staffers met in Tucson with a counselor employed by the House of Representatives. They were heartbroken, angry, shell-shocked. They spoke of survivor’s guilt. They cried together. And then they went back to work.” Sapir, Zachary, and Nash-Hahn all say they never considered quitting their jobs. And although one of their colleagues was killed in the line of duty, none feared for her own safety. Sapir, the only one of the three based in Tucson, has experienced neither nightmares nor survivor’s guilt, she says. However, as a graduate student in counseling psychology she was required to be in therapy, and it helped her cope with the tragedy. “Fortunately I already had a really strong relationship with my therapist,” she says, “so everything that happened I just folded into my counseling sessions.” Zachary, for her part, counted her blessings. “This has been quite a difficult haul, but I’m surrounded by supportive, wonderful friends and family,” she says. “This event has given me a good reminder to reflect and be appreciative of the things we have and to work hard for the change we want to see in the world.” Like most of her fellow staffers, she wears a turquoise “Peace Love Gabby” bracelet every day. Proceeds from the sale of the silicone wristbands, which were created by two Giffords interns, support a scholarship in Zimmerman’s honor. Zachary and her colleagues may have been leaderless in 2011, but they were hardly rudderless. Giffords had already laid out her goals for the year, so her staffers’ mandate was “pretty clear-cut,” Nash-Hahn says. They knew her constituent service priorities and her legislative priorities. What would Gabby want? They didn’t have to ask. They just kept on keeping on. A Star Still on the Rise

If anything changed, it was the intensity with which they tackled their jobs. They wanted to fulfill Zimmerman’s vi-

O ffice of Congresswo m an Giffords ; facing page: Jonat h an Gibby/Gett y Im ages

WWGW?

“She is a star, and the sky is the limit.”

Giffords and husband Mark Kelly wave to the Tucson crowd marking the one-year anniversary of the shooting rampage.

sion of helping people, and they wanted to honor Giffords, whose progress is a constant source of inspiration. “I’ve always loved this job because I feel like it’s good government at work,” Sapir says. “Now I feel more deeply inspired because my leader, who is so committed to her work and to her constituents, had this terrible thing happen to her and to our community. And the way she is persevering and recovering—I mean, it makes me stand taller.” After Giffords resigned, Sapir continued to do casework on behalf of the people of Arizona’s eighth congressional district. Her job is unchanged, but with an end date of June 11, she is applying for positions in her field in Tucson and Washington. Nash-Hahn is archiving all of Giffords’s constituent work, legislative work, televised interviews, newspaper clips, and other papers. She, too, is looking for a new job. She thinks she’ll stay in communications, and may even work for a different member of Congress. That would be hard, she says, because “Congresswoman Giffords is a very special member.”

Zachary’s future is up in the air in a different way. During the year spanning January 2011 to January 2012, she worked to ensure Giffords was in as strong a position as possible if she decided to run for reelection. When the congresswoman instead resigned, her campaign followed the procedures set out by the Federal Election Commission, and Zachary committed herself to the more ambiguous goal of ensuring Giffords is in a good political position should she choose to return to public service down the road. Sapir hopes Giffords will do just that. “We love and admire the congresswoman, so we were naturally heartbroken to see her resign,” she says, speaking for her fellow staffers. “However, there is a shared sense of pride in how she stepped down with such grace and dignity. We are all confident in her recovery and look forward to her entering public life again soon as Governor, Senator, or President Giffords. She is a star, and the sky is the limit. Actually, with an astronaut husband, not even the sky is the limit, so her next chapters are going to be very, very exciting.”

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alumnaematters The Power of Education Mary Lyon Awards go to Educators in Bhutan and Afghanistan Two alumnae were celebrated with the 2012 Mary Lyon Awards for their roles in helping to empower women in developing nations. Tashi Zangmo FP’99 was noted for her contribution to women’s and girls’ empowerment by bringing literacy to remote areas of Bhutan. Sadiqa Basiri Saleem FP’09 was honored for cofounding the Oruj Learning Center in Afghanistan, where even a primary school education is rare, especially for girls and women. Saleem and her family fled Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation, and she returned to a nation crippled by lack of education. More than 90 percent of Afghans were illiterate, and girls had been forbidden to attend school after age eight. Together with three other women, Saleem cobbled together enough money to begin educating thirty-six girls in an abandoned mosque in 2003. The Oruj center now educates more than 3,400 girls in six schools, 200 women at four literary centers, and 120 women in community college.

Tashi Zangmo FP’99 visits with young nuns in Bhutan.

Saleem came to MHC through the Initiative to Educate Afghan Women. While she had already established the girls’ schools, her opportunities were limited. At MHC, she notes, her “true leadership skills developed.” Returning home after graduation, she established the Family Welfare Center for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, a domestic-violence prevention program that serves 14,000 women. Women’s education is once again a controversial issue in Afghanistan, but Saleem, who majored in international relations, remains committed. In an

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interview with the College, she shared her hope to “follow in the footsteps of Mary Lyon” by founding the Afghan Women’s Leadership and Management Institute to train college-age women in management, leadership, advocacy, and lobbying skills. “Education is about power—we all know that,” she says. Zangmo was born into a family of subsistence farmers in a remote village in Bhutan

Sadiqa Basiri Saleem FP’09

in South Asia and was the first in her family and the first girl in her village to go to school. Because the school nearest her village was a day’s walk away, she

educating girls worldwide Learn more about how the Mary Lyon Award winners are helping to educate girls and women in their countries, read Saleem’s essay on the status of Afghan women, and connect to Women’s Education Worldwide at alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/12mlaward.

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

Students in the Development in Crisis course wave hello to alumnae participating online.

moved to be closer to it. Teachers were not used to instructing young girls, and she was forced to room with the boys. “It was a horrible experience,” Zangmo says, and inspired her to work to change the system. After receiving her MHC degree, she established an education center for girls and women in a Buddhist nunnery in her village. Locating schools in Buddhist nunneries made sense given their considerable numbers in poor, rural areas. But the nuns had no teacher training, and their living conditions— many buildings have no electricity, water, or bathrooms—are extremely basic. After receiving her doctorate at the University of Massachusetts, Zangmo moved back home to found the Bhutan Nuns Foundation. Its goal is to improve the nuns’ living conditions, build a structured curriculum, and contribute to the country’s “gross national happiness” index that guides the economic and development plans of the country. A training center is under construction. “There is a lot to be done,” Zangmo said. Nevertheless, she anticipates that in ten years, the foundation will have improved the lives of every girl and woman in Bhutan. —M.H.B.

Alums Join Campus Class— Online This winter, the Alumnae Association collaborated with the McCulloch Center for Global Initiatives and the College’s Library and Information Technology Systems department to pilot a campus course that was open to current students and (online) to twenty-five alumnae—slots that sold out in two hours. The second-semester course, Development in Crisis: Changing the Rules in a Global World, was teamtaught by eight MHC faculty members from the history, international relations, politics, environmental studies, economics, and sociology departments. More than 100 undergraduates participated in the seven, two-hour sessions, which culminated in a two-day, oncampus conference with a host of international experts. Alumnae experienced the course in real time, submitting questions and comments online during the classes. Students also connected with alumnae using a blog.

“Overall, I liked the lecture portion of the course a great deal,” says May Clements ’10. “The perspectives shared by professors and by current students are always helpful to my own thinking. I think the range of years out of school in the alums is also great; we all come from such different areas and fields, which influences our thinking.” Auditing the class via AdobeConnect allowed alums to chat while the lecture was happening, which Clements liked. She was also able to “attend” the class while she was still at her office. “All of the elements in this class made for a very exciting experience,” says Eva Paus, professor of economics and Carol Hoffmann Collins Director of the McCulloch Center

for Global Initiatives, who cotaught the class. Bronwen Jenney Anders ’63, a physician who has personally seen the global challenges addressed in the course through her work in healthcare delivery systems, says while her internet connection was imperfect, leaving her to scramble sometimes during the lectures, “I had no idea that MHC had such an erudite and fun faculty on these issues.” Not to mention inspiring. Clements said the class made her miss school so much she has signed up for certificate coursework this spring in international corporate finance. In fall, she’s off to law school. —M.H.B. Check out the conference program at goo.gl/DxHvn.

Save the date! The next Mount Holyoke European Alumnae Symposium will take place September 20–22, 2013, in Warsaw, Poland. Stay tuned to our website, alumnae.mtholyoke.edu, for updates and details.

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The Nominating Committee has prepared a slate for election to the committees of the Alumnae Association. The slate will be voted on at the May 19 annual meeting on campus. Alumnae may submit additional nominations as outlined in the Association’s bylaws on our Web site. Read information about the nominees at alumnae. mthoyoke.edu/12nominees or request a printed copy by calling 413-538-2300.

Women in Public Service Inspire a New Generation The US State Department hosted a December colloquium to launch the Women in Public Service Project (WPSP), a collaborative leadership program with MHC and the remaining Seven Sister colleges: Smith, Wellesley, Barnard, and Bryn Mawr. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton greeted twenty-five MHC students, along with their sisterschool peers, at a private breakfast and delivered the keynote address regarding the project, which aims to increase the participation of women in public service and political leadership worldwide. The project’s goals are building a network of advocates from around the world with expertise in public service, and drawing attention to the importance of women in leadership positions. Also addressing the audience of invited

alumnae, faculty, and students were a host of women leaders in their fields including Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund; former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright; noted women’s advocate and writer Gloria Steinem; Atifete Jahjaga, president of Kosovo; and US Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius. Mount Holyoke student and Zimbabwe native Chiedza Mufunde ’12 spoke to conferees, as well. “It’s a challenge for young women like me to be able to step up into political leadership, especially in a country where looking up to the government is really hopeless,” Mufunde told fellow panel members. “What I believe is that investing in education, especially in Zimbabwe, is critical. “Education provides access. Education provided me access to inspiration and to the women who have become part of my journey. My MHC education has been the entry point to global inspiration across the globe,” Mufunde added. The audience of several hundred female diplomats, cabinet secretaries, lawmakers, and military officers joined the college delegations for the daylong program of inspiration and networking. Beginning this year, the Department of State will partner with the colleges to offer annual summer WPSP institutes; the first will convene at Wellesley in June. More information about the initiative may be found at womeninpublicservice.org.

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M arija Tesla ’11

Alums Nominated for Association Committees

to p (Left to right) Gloria Steinem, Chiedza Mufunde ’12, and US Rep. Nita Melnikoff Lowey ’59 participated in the panel discussion, “A Dialogue Among Generations. ” b ot to m MHC Trustee Kavita Ramdas ’85, right, with Rangita de Silva de Alwis, director of international human rights policy at the Wellesley Centers for Women.

Looking for Fun in Spring? Come to Reunion! It’s not too late to make plans for Reunion weekends (May 18–20 and May 25–27). In fact, you can register* when you arrive on campus. It’s one of the few places you can: • Reconnect with old friends and classmates you thought you’d never see again • Feel as though you are twenty and still having the best conversations of your life • Meet President Lynn Pasquerella ’80 • Hear varied Back-to-Class presentations on Iraq, osteoporosis, and women in science • Have a blast! Go to alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/reunion for more details. We look forward to welcoming you back! *There is a $25 late registration fee.

Maxxi Exhaustion

Maxxi Exhaustion was photographed at the National Gallery of XXI Art in Rome. Read the backstory to this image, and see more of Rabinow’s art, at goo.gl/zzz7r.

MHC Archives, J. Johnson

The Celebration Is About to Begin: Mount Holyoke’s 175th Anniversary Starts Now! When members of the class of 2012 step to the stage of Gettell Amphitheatre on May 20 to receive their diplomas, the ceremony will mark not just their personal academic accomplishments but also the institution’s historic place in higher education.

Commencement will signal the beginning of a yearlong celebration of MHC’s 175th anniversary that will feature a series of oncampus and regional events open to all alumnae, as well as a dedicated website. The theme of the anniversary, “175 Years of Women of Influence,” will include an online gallery of 175 MHC women who have been leaders in their various fields of endeavor that will be searchable by graduation decade and profession. Nominations for the gallery are welcome and may be sent to dgarrity@ mtholyoke.edu.

Let other alums know what’s on your mind. All alumnae can post directly to the Alumnae Association’s social media sites. No gatekeepers, no editing, no waiting for the next Quarterly to share your thoughts. So go ahead, express yourself right now! • Facebook.com/aamhc • Twitter.com/aamhc • linkedin.com/groups?gid=80990

Alumnae clubs will celebrate in cities near and far and be invited to oncampus events highlighted by the Founder’s Day festivities slated for November 8. The next day, CNN television news anchor Soledad O’Brien will be on campus to launch the Black Alumnae Conference.

alumnaematters

The Quarterly has long featured alumnae books, films, and music…why not visual art too, asked Nancy Chambers Goff ’64. Great idea, we thought, so here’s a photo by Kathryn “Kitty” Eppston Rabinow ’64 to start things off. To have your work considered for our Indelible Images series, email one image to Quarterly editor Emily Weir (eweir@mtholyoke.edu).

Check the College and Alumnae Association websites for updates and details about events and virtual celebrations. We invite you to join us in celebrating and continuing to make history at MHC.

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Save the Date Mount Holyoke College Black Alumnae Conference

Claiming Our Legacy, Making Our Mark

November 9 â&#x20AC;&#x201C;11, 2012

Please join us for a weekend of conversation and networking as we reconnect with the MHC black community. Enjoy workshops with accomplished alumnae, interact with students via roundtable discussions, and more.

Keynote speaker Soledad O'Brien, anchor and special correspondent for CNN, will kick off the conference in a campus-wide event celebrating MHC's 175th anniversary.

If you would like to be added to the Black Alumnae Conference mailing list, contact Alumnae Information Services at ais@mtholyoke.edu or 413-538-2303.

offtheshelf

Words Worth a Second Look Nonfiction In the Words of Women: The Revolutionary War and the Birth of the Nation, 1765–1799 BY LOUISE V. NORTH, JANET M. WEDGE, AND LANDA M. FREEMAN

(Lexington Books) Bringing together the letters, diaries, pamphlets, and plays of women who lived during the American Revolution, In the Words of Women explores the trials of lesser- known figures of the period who boycotted, fought, nursed, ran the farms, and spied with little recognition. Their writings help readers understand the role women played in the tumultuous years of America’s founding. Landa M. Freeman FP’95 is a visiting lecturer at numerous historical societies and university groups. She is the coauthor of Selected Letters of John and Sarah Livingston Jay. The Ultimate Divorce Organizer: The Complete, Interactive Guide to Achieving the Best Legal, Financial, and Personal Divorce BY LAURA CAMPBELL, WITH LILI VASILEFF

(Peter Pauper Press) Divorce is difficult for any couple, both emotionally and financially. This guide offers readers worksheets, exercises, and strategies to help manage

their assets and manage a life in transition. When the current recession lifts, more couples are expected to divorce. This organizer is a comprehensive resource to help get them through it. Lili Vasileff ’77 is a divorce financial expert and the founder of Divorce and Money Matters, a financial planning practice.

Tales of the

New World

Origami 5: Fifth International Meeting of Origami Science, Mathematics, and Education EDITED BY PATSY WANGIVERSON, ROBERT J. LANG, AND MARK YIM

(CRC Press) The fifth book of its kind, Origami 5 explores the connections between origami and science, education, math, and other related fields. The book begins with the history of origami art and design. What follows is a guide to the relationship between origami folding and engineering and technology, as well as the mathematical underpinnings of origami. Patsy Wang-Iverson ’68 is director of special projects for the Gabriella and Paul Rosenbaum Foundation. She is the editor of Building Our Understanding of Lesson Study.

S a b i n a M u r r ay A Field Guide to Demons, Vampires, Fallen Angels, and Other Subversive Spirits BY CAROL K. MACK AND DINAH MACK

(Arcade Publishing) In this updated edition of their field guide, Carol K. Mack and her daughter Dinah Mack bring to life the fascinating— and sometimes horrific—creatures found in myth and legend. The book includes more than ninety profiles of ghouls and zombies, werewolves and bogeys. Learn about fairies in Sweden, man-eating vampires

in Canada, and lots more in this deeply researched book. Carol Klein Mack ’60 is an author and playwright. Her plays include SEVEN, The Visitor, and Writing on the Wall. Galileo’s Muse: Renaissance Mathematics and the Arts BY MARK A. PETERSON

(Harvard University Press) Peterson’s new book is not only a biography of Galileo but also an argument for the importance of Renaissance art in the birth of modern scientific thought. Peterson suggests that it was

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

Spring 2012

Poetry Aromatics

Galileo’s Muse

BY ROBERT SHAW

M A R K

(Pinyon Publishing) With his latest book of poetry, Robert Shaw examines scents and the memories attached to them—some bitter, some sweet. The structural patterns of Shaw’s poems are varied, and many of his subjects are thoughtful reflections of daily concerns. Aromatics follows Solving for X, which won the notable Hollis Summers Prize. Robert Shaw is Emily Dickinson Professor of English at Mount Holyoke. Aromatics is his sixth book of poetry.

A. P E T E R S O N

Renaissance Mathematics and the Arts

Fiction Tales of the New World the interplay of mathematics in the Renaissance arts— perspective in painting and tuning in music—rather than the ideas of Renaissance science that became the basis for modern science. Mark A. Peterson is Professor of Physics and Mathematics on the Alumnae Foundation and chair of the physics department at MHC.

in contemporary classrooms find ways to recreate the dialogues that occurred among these extraordinary French women as well as among the best-known male writers of the time. Faith Beasley ’80 is professor of French at Dartmouth College. She is the author of Salons, History, and the Creation of 17th-Century France.

Teaching Seventeenthand Eighteenth-Century French Women Writers BY FAITH E. BEASLEY

(Modern Language Association) During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the writers of France’s “grand siècle” and the Enlightenment produced great works of satire, drama, political commentary, and poetry. Beasley’s latest work helps teachers

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BY SABINA MURRAY

(Black Cat) Sabina Murray’s latest collection of short stories focuses on global exploration, for better or worse. Her cast of characters spans hundreds of years—from Magellan to Jim Jones—and includes less-known names whose stories are no less compelling. Sabina Murray ’89 is the author of one previous short-story collection, The Caprices, and several novels. Her previous work won her the Pen/Faulkner Award. She teaches creative writing at the University of Massachusetts–Amherst.

More Books

For descriptions of these books, go to alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/ morebooks_spring12. Earth, Air, Fire, and Water: A Memoir BY JEAN RIKHOFF ’48 (iUniverse Publishing) Silent Night, Violent Night: A Cory Goodwin Mystery BY CAROL VERBURG ’70 (Boom-Books)

The Road Home BY WANDA POTHIER-HILL FP’04 (Muse Publishing, USA)

offtheshelf

Music You Are Here BY ME OF A KIND

(Rampage Productions) Me of a Kind is a three-member, alternative rock band founded by Jen Schwartz, a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Schwartz crafted the band’s debut album almost single-handedly. Her lyrical subjects revolve around her experiences as a queer woman and combine personal storytelling with lush arrangements and intricate rhythms. Jen Schwartz ’94 was formerly the drummer for the band Tribe 8. She lives in San Francisco. Sound Spectrum BY ALLEN BONDE

(Navona Records) Featuring works for piano, soprano, and orchestra, composer and pianist Allen Bonde’s album was made with contributing performances by his wife, Maria, and daughter Mara Bonde Ricker ’91, a soprano whose talent is in demand all over the world. Bonde found inspiration in the works of Shakespeare, the poetry of Mary Jo Salter, and even the rose window of Abbey Chapel. Allen Bonde is professor emeritus of music at MHC. His career at Mount Holyoke spanned almost forty years.

Diversify BY SAUCY LADY

Saucy Lady, a.k.a. disk jockey and singer-songwriter Noe Carmichael, has released her debut vocal album. It is a mix of disco, hip-hop, house, and Afro-beat. In support of the new album, Carmichael has also released her first music video, “City Lights.” Noe Carmichael ’00, performing under the name Saucy Lady, balances her music career with a full-time job at an e-commerce company. She is also collaborating with other Boston-area disk jockeys to start an entertainment booking agency.

Correction Joan Lamprey Peterson ’59, to whom we attributed the book, Eat Smart in Norway, did not, in fact, write this travel book. (She’s written plenty of others, though.) It was written by Joan Beier Peterson. Apologies to both authors.

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

Spring 2012

Everett originally wrote the book for her grandchildren, to underscore that even in life’s darkest moments “you always have choices.”

A Closer Look

It’s How We Handle the Unforeseen Crises That Defines Us

Nineteen years ago, Sally Everett ’65 was diagnosed with Alpha-1 COPD, a rare form of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease that gets progressively worse. Then a successful prosecutor for the New York state attorney general’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, she stayed on the job even as she received weekly infusions of Alpha-1 antitrypsin, a protein collected from healthy plasma donors. She now breathes with the

help of an oxygen tank and will decide in the next twelve months whether or not to get on a waiting list for lung transplantation. “You go through a period of mourning,” she says of those recently diagnosed with a chronic disease. But then, just as she and her parents did after a sibling’s untimely death, “you make a new life.” When Everett was a sophomore in college, her younger sister, Barbie, was thrown from a horse and died soon afterward. Her family was

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living in Kabul, Afghanistan, at the time, and Everett had taken a year off from MHC to attend the American University in Beirut. Returning home to Kabul, she watched and listened to her parents for clues on how to cope with such a wrenching event. Letting out her pain, crying as much as she needed to, and not being afraid to talk about Barbie was the approach her parents advocated. “You have to get out your feelings,” Everett says. And once you do, you have a choice to make: get on with the rest of your life, or feel sorry for yourself. She chose the former. “That summer I learned that stuff happens in life over which we have no control. It’s how we respond when it does that defines us,” Everett writes in her recent book, An Alpha-1 COPD Love Story. That same approach has served her well as she grapples with her own fragile health. Her response has been twofold. She has tried to find a cure for the disease through the Alpha-1 Foundation. And she has opened her heart to Gordon Snider, a

scientist and physician (and Everett’s second husband), whose work in understanding emphysema gave patients like her new hope. His own battles following a debilitating stroke have made their life together tender and more fragile. Retired since 2003, Everett originally wrote the book for her grandchildren, to underscore that even in life’s darkest moments “you always have choices.” It has struck a note with all kinds of readers, though, and in winter was rated number one by readers, and was number thirteen in sales in the respiratorydisease category on Kindle Books. As she plans on giving half of the proceeds from the book to the Alpha-1 Foundation and half to a fund for her grandchildren’s education, Everett is pleased. Producing the book was also therapeutic. “Writing is a catharsis, it teaches you to know yourself,” she says. And she knows that for her, life is all about the love of family and friends. “Without them, I don’t think either one of us would be fighting so hard to stay alive.”—M.H.B.

Giving never goes out of style.

Photo: MHC Archives

Support the Founder's Fund today.

Mary Lyon traveled thousands of miles to collect funds in her green velvet bag for what would become Mount Holyoke College. Your gift to the Founder’s Fund—the Alumnae Association’s endowment—helps us support the activities of alumnae around the world. Visit alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/ff or send a check, payable to Alumnae Association Founder’s Fund, to Mount Holyoke College, 50 College St., South Hadley, MA 01075-1486.

bulletinboard Waterways of Russia trip

travelopportunities June 23–July 5, 2012 A Women’s Approach to the Roof of Africa: Trekking Mt. Kilimanjaro

MHC Temporary Tattoos

NEW1995 f

o Classroduct P

Wear your MHC pride not on your sleeve, but right on your skin! Each 4” x 9” sheet contains ten MHC-themed tattoo designs. Tattoos apply easily and last five to seven days. Have a job interview coming up and need a little confidence boost? There’s a tat for that. Meeting up with your old sophomore roommate who always thought you were a little too straitlaced? There’s a tat for that. Having lunch with Lynn Pasquerella? There are many tats for that. Each sheet fits into a standard business envelope, so buy a few and mail them to your far-flung alum friends (or leave specific instructions when you order, and we’ll do it for you). $10 for one sheet and $15 for two. Order using PayPal at www.mhc1995.com or send a check made out to “Mount Holyoke College Class of 1995” to Rebecca Gold, 1 Barrington Place, Great Barrington, MA 01230. Email rebecca. gold@alumnae.mtholyoke.edu for bulk discount rates.

Alcohol and Drug Awareness Project The Alcohol and Drug Awareness Project sponsors a network that joins recovering alumnae who provide support and serve as contacts for members of the College community exploring issues related to chemical dependency. It also brings together alumnae with a professional interest in alcohol and drug abuse who act as resources for the project. If you are willing to share your recovery or professional expertise, please contact: Susan McCarthy, Alcohol and Drug Awareness Project, Room 110 College Health Center, 50 College St., S. Hadley, MA 01075-1437, smccarth@mtholyoke.edu. All information kept confidential.

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With Bryn Mawr College and Smith College It’s the ultimate Mountain Day! At 19,340 feet, an air of mystery surrounds the volcanic rock and ice of Kilimanjaro. For hikers and trekkers living on the other side of the globe, Africa’s greatest mountain might seem like something out of a dream. Yet each year, it draws those who want to do more than dream. No matter your age or skill level, join us on a women-only trip as we take to Kilimanjaro’s foothills and rainforests and, step by step, make your dream a reality. Our route to the summit will be the Western Approach, which allows you a carefully planned acclimation at a luxurious base camp. This approach provides a daylight summit bid, a night inside Kilimanjaro’s impressive crater, and ample time for summit success and trekking enjoyment. Gourmet meals, all safety equipment, experienced porters to carry your gear, and expert professional mountain guides (one guide per three travelers) are all part of your climbing adventure. Once you book, you will be assigned a personal Kilimanjaro consultant to help you prepare before your trip.

Prices begin at $5,990 per person. For more information or to make reservations, contact Thomson Safaris at 800-235-0198 or Claudia@ ThomsonSafaris.com. For a brochure, contact ltavares@ mtholyoke.edu. August 19–29, 2012 Waterways of Russia

With Professor Peter J. Scotto, MHC professor of Russian and Eurasian studies Embarking on the luxurious MS Volga Dream, you will settle in with a captain’s welcome reception. While cruising along Russia’s scenic rivers, lakes, and canals that connect Moscow with St. Petersburg, you will explore cultural and historical treasures with visits to the Kremlin, the Citadel of the Czars, and a UNESCO world heritage site. Also on the agenda is the Armory, the oldest museum in Russia, where you will see state treasures including the bejeweled Fabergé Easter eggs. Highlights include a visit to the Hermitage Museum, the former palace of Catherine the Great and location of one of the world’s oldest and greatest art collections. Early-booking prices begin at $3,935 plus air. For more information or to make reservations, call Gohagan & Company at 800-922-3088 or 312-609-1140. Interested? To request a trip brochure, phone 413-538-2300 or visit http://alumnae.mtholyoke. edu/programs/lifelong/travel. php. For details, call the travel company sponsoring the trip.

Your love looks like $240 million bucks. In other words, it’s stunning. The generosity of alumnae has brought the Campaign in reach of its $300 million goal. And that means the College’s ability to provide access and excellence is stronger than ever. The world needs Mount Holyoke women. Thanks to you, they’re on their way.

T H E C A M PA I G N F O R M O U N T H O L Y O K E

Once a Student, Always an Alumna As an alumna, you have access to powerful benefits: • Secure alumnae directory • Alumnae events, clubs, and Reunion • Online career networks

• Alumnae Quarterly magazine • Educational travel

alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/benefits