Volume CX, Number 2 (USPS 349-900) Winter 2021
Letters to the Editor I am beyond words grateful for the beau-
President Elizabeth L. Hillman
tiful article in the fall 2020 issue (“A
Associate Vice President for Institutional Advancement Nikole Hilgeman Adams
been remarkably generous to me, and it
Managing Editor Allison Rost
my very unhappy kindergarten daughter
Design and Art Direction Nancy Siller Wilson Editorial Assistant Lila Goehring ’21 Contributors Kate Robinson Beckwith, MFA ’13 Sarah Stevenson, MFA ’04 Moya Stone, MFA ’03 Editorial Advisory Committee Angela Bacca, MBA ’12 Sheryl Bize-Boutte ’73 Melissa Bender Henley ’99 Sarah Lehman ’86 Mira Mason-Reader ’15 Mari Matoba ’03 Livi Perez ’14, MA ’17 Mason Stockstill, MFA ’09
Future for Old Women”). Mills has always all started when an Oakland elementary school principal arranged for me to have evaluated by Lee Mirmow in the psychology department to see if she was ready for first grade. I discovered the MA in English, and the rest is history! –Professor Emerita Ruth Saxton, MA ’72; Oakland I am a Mills alum, and wanted to just say
Dawn Cunningham’s article, “A Future
how much I enjoyed the fall 2020 issue
for Old Women,” featuring Professor
of the Quarterly. The layout and graphics
Ruth Saxton, was inspiring! As a mem-
were exceptional, and the articles inspir-
ber of the Class of 1968, I happily resem-
ing. The piece on Ruth Saxton’s new
ble and embrace the “old lady” title. I’ve
book was especially wonderful, particu-
shared the article and the preview of
larly given the recent news of RBG.
Saxton’s The Book of Old Ladies with
–Cara Johnson-Hubbell, MFA ’03; Denver, Colorado The fall 2020 Mills Quarterly matters for
The Mills Quarterly (USPS 349-900) is published quarterly by Mills College, 5000 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland, CA 94613. Periodicals postage paid at Oakland, California, and at additional mailing office(s). Postmaster: Send address changes to the Office of Institutional Advancement, Mills College, 5000 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland, CA 94613.
me because of two of its incredibly timely,
Copyright © 2021, Mills College
one of about 10 Black young women in
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engaging, and personally relevant articles. “Black Lives Matter at Mills” brought back so many memories for me as a freshman member of the Class of 1968. One of five Black 18-year-olds in the class and living in Olney Hall, I was the entire college of approximately 750 women in 1964. In the slowly awakening shelter of Mills College, we—along with some of our non-Black friends and acquaintances—experienced directly and
working out with Zoom trainers, leading active “socially distanced” social and political lives, teaching full- or part-time at one of the local colleges or universities, or practicing their professions. One colleague was so inspired by Saxton’s research that she and I are exploring how we might incorporate it into a project, class, or program—stay tuned for the outcome! Meanwhile, The Book of Old Ladies is at the top of my Christmas list. –Barbara Morrow Williams ’68, Henderson, Nevada
Corrections
year in civil rights history; it became
In the fall issue of Mills Quarterly, we
only more dramatic as our education pro-
misspelled the name of an MBA gradu-
gressed. The acknowledgement of Black
ate who passed away in May 2020. Her
Lives Matter movement at Mills, includ-
name is Stacey Park Milbern, MBA ’16.
ing the College’s recognition of student
We also included the wrong gradu-
anti-racist activism and its validation of
ation year for an alumna in Bookshelf.
the Black student experience, reawakens
The correct class year for Sheryl Bizé-
pride in being a Mills graduate (as well as
Boutté is 1973.
Williams Mount ’91). M I L L S Q U A R T E R LY
friends and colleagues who defy aging—
indirectly what would be a cataclysmic
the proud mother of a Bent Twig, Portia
2
my equally “happy-to-be-an-old-lady”
We sincerely regret these errors and any confusion they may have caused.
