Letters to the Editor

Volume CX, Number 2 (USPS 349-900) Winter 2021

President

Elizabeth L. Hillman

Associate Vice President for Institutional Advancement

Nikole Hilgeman Adams

Managing Editor

Allison Rost

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

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. Copyright © 2021, Mills College Address correspondence to Mills Quarterly, Mills College, 5000 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland, CA 94613. Email: quarterly@mills.edu Phone: 510.430.3312

Printed on recycled paper containing 10 percent post-consumer waste.

(Please use outline)

I am beyond words grateful for the beautiful article in the fall 2020 issue (“A Future for Old Women”). Mills has always been remarkably generous to me, and it all started when an Oakland elementary school principal arranged for me to have my very unhappy kindergarten daughter 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 how much I enjoyed the fall 2020 issue of the Quarterly. The layout and graphics were exceptional, and the articles inspiring. The piece on Ruth Saxton’s new book was especially wonderful, particularly given the recent news of RBG. –Cara Johnson-Hubbell, MFA ’03; Denver, Colorado

The fall 2020 Mills Quarterly matters for me because of two of its incredibly timely, 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 one of about 10 Black young women in 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 indirectly what would be a cataclysmic year in civil rights history; it became only more dramatic as our education progressed. The acknowledgement of Black Lives Matter movement at Mills, including the College’s recognition of student anti-racist activism and its validation of the Black student experience, reawakens pride in being a Mills graduate (as well as the proud mother of a Bent Twig, Portia Williams Mount ’91).

Dawn Cunningham’s article, “A Future for Old Women,” featuring Professor Ruth Saxton, was inspiring! As a member of the Class of 1968, I happily resemble and embrace the “old lady” title. I’ve shared the article and the preview of Saxton’s The Book of Old Ladies with my equally “happy-to-be-an-old-lady” friends and colleagues who defy aging— 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

In the fall issue of Mills Quarterly, we misspelled the name of an MBA graduate who passed away in May 2020. Her name is Stacey Park Milbern, MBA ’16.

We also included the wrong graduation year for an alumna in Bookshelf. The correct class year for Sheryl BizéBoutté is 1973.

We sincerely regret these errors and any confusion they may have caused.