What Starts in the Garden Can Heal the World by Rachel
Leibrock,
MFA ’04
Community at the Center: How a Beloved Oakland Restaurant is Bridging Gaps by Arya Samuelson, MFA ’19
CAMPUS PHOTO: Fall typically creeps its way across campus in fits and starts until vibrant pops of color take hold in late November, such as these oranges and reds outside the Music Building. Photo by Ruby Wallau for Northeastern University.
DEPARTMENTS
OPENING MESSAGE / 3 ON THE OVAL / 6
OVER THE WIRES / 12
A SLICE OF QUARTERLY HISTORY / 13 February 1952
AAMC NEWS & NOTES / 32
VINTAGE PHOTO: Convocation 1985 / 35
CLASS NOTES / 36
ALUM PROFILE: Cheryl Koerber, MFA ’86 / 38
MEDIA LAB / 39
THROWBACK: Faculty Village / 40
CATCHING UP WITH: Warren Olney 1961 / 42 IN MEMORIAM / 45
SALON: “I Don’t Usually Do Things In Half Measures” By Jazkia Phillips ’24 / 48
ON THE COVER: This first issue of a redesigned Mills Quarterly features stories on a topic that affects every element of modern society: food. Illustration by Carina Lindmeier.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
“Millsies” (spring 2024) was a thought-provoking article. When I read it, I realized how much it irritates me whenever I’ve heard Millsie. I agree with Pierre Loving’s observation that “It sounds childish to me. It does not reflect how a graduate of Mills College has grown into a strong woman by the time she graduates.”
The focus on African American speech in the article instead of our history of identities fell far short in its attempt to include something in the article. When I entered Mills in 1963, I was a “Negro.” When I graduated in 1967, I was “Black” or “Afro-American,” transitioning to “African American.” I will remain a proud African American Mills graduate, not a Millsie.
–Gwen Jackson Foster ’67, Oakland
In the summer 2024 Quarterly, you spelled March’s name phonetically, and that is a great shame. Her name is March Fong Eu. As a Mills graduate, assemblywoman for the California State Legislature, Secretary of State, and ambassador to Micronesia under Bill Clinton, she deserves better copy editing.
–Jaci Williams Pappas ’60, Big Sur, California
She absolutely does, and we apologize for the error! –Ed.
I just read my summer 2024 Quarterly and loved the Mills memorabilia article. I have a fun story of finding 1930s Mills yearbooks at a local antique store about 20 years ago (I graduated in 2006 and stumbled across them in either my sophomore or junior year). The yearbooks belonged to Dorothy Morey ’35, who I discovered grew up just down the street from my parents’ house in what is now the GlenMorey Country House in Placerville. It made me feel like I was fated to go to Mills!
–Caitlin Block ’06, Placerville, California
SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS
“I will remain a proud African American Mills graduate, not a Millsie.”
– GWEN FOSTER ’67
MILLS QUARTERLY
ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENT FOR INSTITUTIONAL ADVANCEMENT
Nikole Hilgeman Adams
MANAGING EDITOR
Allison Rost
DESIGN AND ART DIRECTION
Nancy Siller Wilson
EDITORIAL ASSISTANT
Danielle Collins ’24
CONTRIBUTORS
Megan Bayley
Lauren Simkin Berke
Anjali Kamat
Rachel Leibrock, MFA ’04
Jazkia Phillips ’24
Arya Samuelson, MFA ’19
Kieran Turan ’90
Ruby Wallau
Emily Withnall
The Mills Quarterly (USPS 349-900) is published quarterly by Mills College at Northeastern University, 5000 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland, CA 94613. Periodicals postage paid at Oakland, California, and at additional mailing office(s).
Postmaster
Send address changes to: Oakland University Advancement, 5000 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland, CA 94613.
Submit your letter to the editor via email to mills.quarterly@ northeastern.edu, online at quarterly.mills.edu, or by mail at: Mills Quarterly, 5000 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland, CA 94613. The Quarterly reserves the right to edit letters for length and clarity.
OPENING MESSAGE
T THE UPDATED Mills Quarterly you hold in your hands is the culmination of a project that started six years ago. In October 2018, I took on the editorship knowing that a redesign was in the cards, and I was lucky enough to soon attend a conference in New Orleans where I started collecting other publications. With no disrespect to my fellow editors, many of them were fabulous but looked quite similar to each other.
Then, in 2022, I saw a magazine by Indiana University’s College of Arts & Sciences that opened my mind to another possibility—that we could make the Quarterly into something that more closely resembles a literary or creative journal. The IU magazine was a work of art, and what would be a better way to honor the artistic legacy of Mills than to go in a similar direction? After consulting well-known titles like Kinfolk and Womankind—and others that fly under the radar, like Grow and radicle—we knew we were on the right track.
You might have already noticed one of our biggest changes: a smaller size. Over the last few decades, the Quarterly has been a standard 8½-by-11 inches, but in keeping with that journal feel, we’ve gone down just slightly to 8-by-10½ inches instead. It’s a minor change but one that we hope makes you feel like curling up while you read the magazine. We also upgraded our paper stock with the help of our printers at St. Croix Press to something that carries a bit more weight to it, that doesn’t smudge under your fingertips so easily. For more, turn to the next page for a guide to the many adjustments and additions we’ve made to the Quarterly.
But I cannot close this brief intro to our redesign without effusive thanks and praise for my two main partners in this work: first, Mills alum and graphic designer Sarah Crumb ’94, who is passionate about the Mills book art legacy, and she’s a Bent Twig three times over thanks to her mother (Ellen Locke Crumb ’59), grandmother (Marie Elliott Locke ’25), and great-grandmother Cora Abbé Elliott S ’94. Sarah pushed us when we needed it and helped temper our expectations when we aimed too high. I hope that this final product lives up to her love for Mills.
And second, my massive gratitude to our longtime designer Nancy Siller Wilson, who dug deep during a difficult time and entertained my many contradictory whims as we finalized how we wanted this issue to look. I have such appreciation for our strong working relationship and long talks, and I’m so glad we were able to work together in person up in Portland this summer.
My hope is that you, the readers, will enjoy where we’ve ended up. As always, I’d love to hear what you think; you can always find me at mills.quarterly@northeastern.edu.
Allison Rost
From the managing editor
Welcome to the new Mills Quarterly!
This updated version of the magazine aims to honor the illustrious past of both Mills College and the publication itself while showcasing the varied lives of our alums—and the ways the Mills legacy lives on into the future. Our redesign team used words like smart, strong, creative, compassionate, and vibrant as guideposts since we formally started this process in fall 2023. We met regularly over Zoom—with Managing Editor Allison Rost in Oakland and our two designers in Portland, Oregon—to share ideas and experiments, likes and dislikes. We slowly but surely molded and shaped them all to create the look and feel you see before you.
A Guide TO THE UPDATED Quarterly
The Look
We strove to honor the role that book art and letterpress printing have played at Mills over the years. One of the fonts we’re using as an accent, including in Class Notes, is Hadriano, a typeface created in 1918 by Frederic Goudy that was part of the font catalog at the Eucalyptus Press. The body text is Cala, designed by the German artist Dieter Hofrichter, which we felt conveyed the journal feel we were seeking. Headlines (for the most part) and our cover text
are Domaine Display from the New Zealand foundry Klim Type Foundry, and our sans serif font is Woodford Bourne by Monotype, as well as Sweet Sans Pro by MVB Fonts (when a little more heft is needed).
Something that characterized early issues of the Quarterly was the use of campus etchings, which we’ve brought back with new illustrations of Mills Hall and Reinhardt Alumnae House in On the Oval and Class Notes, respectively. Our thanks to illustrator Lauren Simkin Berke for their detailed work. Don’t be surprised, though, if sketches of other buildings join the mix later on or some of those early drawings make reappearances going forward!
In general, we wanted to move away from the cramped feel that has characterized the Quarterly in recent years. While we’ve gone up in page count, we aren’t assigning more feature articles than we have in the past—we want to give them room to breathe, to allow for more illustrations and photography to tell a visual story in addition to the text. Our columns remain tight and packed with information in juxtaposition to the features, finding a tension that could also apply to the push and pull between Mills’ past, present, and future.
The Stories
We haven’t removed any regular content from the Quarterly, but we have remixed some of
our columns and added more. Many thanks to those of you who filled out the reader survey in the spring 2023 issue; the changes listed below reflect your feedback!
New photo sections: The inside front and back covers will now include photos of today’s campus, while the page before Class Notes will feature an image from the Mills archives.
On the Oval: We’re taking the name of our news section back to the first 1918 editions of the Quarterly. Formerly known as Mills Matters, On the Oval will include updates on the Mills Institute, Mills College at Northeastern, and the Oakland campus.
Over the Wires/Media Lab: Though these two sections are at opposite ends of the magazine, they are very much related. Previously known as Campus Kudos, Over the Wires reports on the honors and press mentions of both Mills alums and Oakland-based faculty members, while Media Lab—which replaces Bookshelf—covers new releases and publications by that same group, whether they’re literary, artistic, musical, or something else entirely.
A Slice of Quarterly History: Each issue will include a reprint of an article or column from some time in the Quarterly ’s 114–year history. Some might be too long, as is the case in this first issue, so the entirety will be available on our website at quarterly.mills.edu as we continue to build out our digital archives.
Alum Profile: One element of our expanded Class Notes section is a straightforward profile
of an alum whose work and purpose fits in with the other stories in the issue.
Throwback: We want to gather your memories of Mills! In past years, this section has been called Sound Off and asked for reader input on favorite professors and spots on campus. We’re hoping to resurrect this section with more directed questions; this first incarnation includes stories of Faculty Village that came in after our summer 2024 article. Look for a prompt for the winter 2025 issue alongside those memories!
Catching Up with…: This new section is a direct result of our reader survey. Several alums suggested a column that checks back in with groups they participated in while at Mills, whether that was a sports team, a Living Learning community, a club, etc. We kick it off this issue with a group of friends from Warren Olney in 1961; we welcome your suggestions for further subjects!
Salon: The end of every issue will now feature a piece of creative writing or artwork from members of the Mills community. If you would like to submit something of yours for consideration, please reach out to us at mills.quarterly@ northeastern.edu.
These last three items in particular very much depend on your participation. The Quarterly can only thrive with the help of passionate readers who share their thoughts and experiences with their fellow alums. Let’s maintain the essence of Mills in Mills Quarterly for decades to come. 6
ON THE OVAL
Research underway for updated Mills timeline
Public policy professor Ashley Adams has spent much of her academic life studying the stories of her ancestors, who founded the historically Black town of Nicodemus, Kansas (as discussed in the summer 2024 Quarterly). Now, she’s turning her attention to something closer to her position on the Oakland campus—the history of Mills.
As part of the history research course she’s teaching this fall semester and as a project of the ADEIB (antiracism, diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging) pledge within Mills College at Northeastern, she is embarking on what’s now called the Mills History
Project. The first step is to update and expand the public timeline of important dates and events in the development of what made Mills Mills.
Adams says the idea for this undertaking hit her when she learned that Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King visited Mills in 1958, an event that has largely flown under the radar at an institution that long championed social justice.
“Learning about this history has been such an amazing experience. During his visit, Dr. King delivered a talk on ‘A Realistic Look at Race Relations’— this momentous event is unknown within the Mills community,” she says.
“The legacy and values of the former Mills College extend beyond the institution itself—they encompass a diverse group of people who learned, worked, lived, and visited here.”
So, this fall, she and the two students in her HIST 4991 class will scour the archives in F.W. Olin Library and vintage publications of Mills—including the Quarterly—to locate other possibilities that are currently missing or underreported in the Mills canon.
Adams got a head start this summer; in three sessions she held with groups of invited alums alongside Mills Dean Beth Kochly, she presented a list of important dates—including the launch of the Mills “Tape Center,” Shirley Chisholm’s campus appearance, and the Strike of 1990—and invited attendees to share memories of landmark moments during their Mills tenures.
While the immediate end goal of this effort is a sketch of the Mills past that’s available on various official websites, Adams says she hopes it could lead to something more. Other Northeastern initiatives feature extensive online repositories available to the public—including on the history of desegregation in Boston schools and Holocaust awareness—with the help of the Archives & Special Collections team. This revamped timeline could be the start of something similar for Mills.
New alum site now online
An updated online presence is now available for Mills alums at alums.mills.northeastern.edu! Update your bookmarks and drop on by for info about the Office of Alumnae Relations, including publications, events (such as Reunion!), and benefits available to you, including access to F.W. Olin Library and the athletic facilities at Haas Gymnasium, Trefethen Aquatic Center, and Meyer Tennis Courts. You’ll also find links to career services, like coaching and the networking platform NUsource, that are available through Northeastern Alumni Relations.
Campus undergoes summer refresh
Another busy summer of construction and renovations has come to an end. Highlights of this year’s work include:
• Many renovation projects included upgrades to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), such as walkways around the Aron Art Complex and CPM, and new elevators in Mary Morse, Founders, and CPM.
• Repair and upgrade work related to many roof replacements, resurfacing some parking lots, and sidewalk repair at Richards Road to eliminate tripping hazards.
• Sewer line repairs across campus, including under Lucie Stern.
• Domestic water line replacement by Prospect Hill Apartments.
• Resurfacing and plastering work on the pool at Trefethen Aquatic Center.
• The addition of 16 security callboxes across campus.
• Renovating and reinforcing Founders Commons.
Mills dean appointed; new Oakland leadership
On June 17, Beth Kochly was announced as the permanent dean of Mills College at Northeastern University after serving in the role in an interim capacity since September 2022. She first came to Mills in 2008 as a chemistry professor, and over time took on additional tasks as associate provost for curriculum and academic resources.
Kochly oversees the continuing development of academic programs for Mills at Northeastern, which include the relaunch this fall of several master’s programs in education and 14 individual class offerings, such as Women, Gender, and Cultural Production in the Global South. (One of those courses, Technologies of Race and Gender, is being offered on Northeastern’s Boston campus this fall.) Work on other programs is ongoing; she reported at alumnae gatherings this summer that ethnic studies is one of the key areas of study with substantial progress. This fall, Kochly and her team are expending efforts to codify and brand the specialties offered by Mills as one of the 10 colleges in the Northeastern network.
Meanwhile, Dan Sachs has come to Northeastern in Oakland as the new campus dean, putting him in charge of the strategy fueling the university’s growth here and around the Bay Area and develop ing academic programs overall. Waleed Meleis, Northeastern’s vice provost for graduate education who took on the academic lead role in Oakland last year, remains on the West Coast.
Sachs was most recently part of the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, where he was the executive director of the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. He directed similar programs at the Kellstadt Graduate School of Business at DePaul University, and he is also a former entrepreneur. That includes a stint as the principal of Meritage LLC, which opened a number of restaurants in Chicago. Sachs earned his bachelor’s degree at Harvard and holds a Doctor of Business Administration degree from DePaul.
Two Mills professors offer summer study abroad in Japan
Talk about a summer vacation—Professor of Biology Jared Young and Assistant Professor of English Susan Ito, MFA ’94, spent the month of July ushering 16 Northeastern students around the Land of the Rising Sun as part of a Dialogue of Civilization program focused on the science and appreciation of Japanese food.
The two longtime Mills colleagues developed the program in summer 2023 with a preliminary trip to Japan to plan out their curriculum. The four weeks involved two courses—Biology and Society, and Food Writing—taught in Tokyo and Kyoto. That prep made it possible.
“It was easy enough to move through spaces, have experiences, and transport ourselves from Point A to Point B when it was just the two of us, but I expected it would be more challenging with a group of 16 students,” Young says. “The reality was better than what we had envisioned.”
The academic experience traced the origins of the food cycle in Japan, from farm and sea through to purchase, preparation, and consumption. But the trip also saw the group taking lots of field trips to various restaurants—and they documented their adventures on the blog summerfoodinjapan2024.wordpress.com. Students also shared the work they composed under Ito’s tutelage with a Kyoto writing club at Ryokoku University.
Young says that he and Ito plan to run the same Dialogue of Civilization next summer and possibly beyond. Now, he and Ito are back in Oakland, and 15 of 16 students headed back to class in Boston—the other just graduated. “The students were the unexpected highlight of the trip for me,” he says. “They were terrific, engaged, reliable, wonderful travel companions, and I thoroughly enjoyed taking this journey with them.”
News in brief
SAW, or the Summer Academic Workshop, has undergone a slight rebranding to better reflect its year-round focus: Trailblazers. The bridge program, which celebrates its 35th anniversary in 2024, is now part of the Mills Institute and saw a cohort of 24 first-generation students matriculating to the Oakland campus this fall. The 2024 Trailblazers met virtually for a series of three-hour sessions starting in late August, with additional get-togethers scheduled every month throughout the academic year.
The on-campus facilities team in Oakland has added four electric vehicles to its fleet used to transport equipment and workers around the sprawling, hilly campus, plus an electric lawnmower. The additions are part of a pilot program, though there’s already one advantage—the transports (one truck, two vans, and a utility vehicle) have smaller profiles than their gas counterparts, so they’re able to reach less accessible areas of campus.
Lead by Learning, a professional learning organization supporting K-12 educator development, has officially become the first center housed under Mills College at Northeastern. Lead by Learning, originally founded as Mills Teacher Scholars, is also celebrating its 15th anniversary this year. Centers at Northeastern—such as The Burnes Center for Social Change within the College of Social Sciences and Humanities—promote realworld application of the concepts being researched and taught within their parent colleges.
Seven incoming first-year students who graduated from schools in the Oakland Unified School District are enrolling at the Oakland campus this fall with full four-year scholarships that cover tuition, room, and board. The Oakland Opportunity Scholarship is a revival of the Mills-era Oakland Promise program. At a press conference on August 21, two of those students— also Upward Bound alums—joined campus leadership; California Deputy State Superintendent for Education Cheryl Cotton, MA ’95; and Oakland city and school district officials to commemorate the inaugural year of this scholarship.
Northeastern has launched the Institute for NanoSystems Innovation (NanoSI), which will have a presence on the Oakland campus. Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering David Horsley is the local deputy director of the institute, which is housed near Reinhardt Alumnae House.
CALENDAR
The Golden State’s many facets are the focus of MCAM’s fall show, Reshaping the Narrative: California Perspectives, which is on view through November 24. The show includes works from throughout MCAM’s permanent collection that illustrate California’s history of “resistance, abundance, and celebration” through its role in the fights for civil rights,
labor, immigrants, and reproductive rights— particularly poignant in an election year. Featured artists include Hung Liu, Craig Calderwood, Keba Armand Konte, and Yolanda Lopez.
MCAM is open Tuesday through Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., with late hours on Wednesday until 7:30 p.m. Admission is free.
Bridging Perspectives: Exploring Social Justice with the Oakland International Film Festival
A series of screenings that are presented in partnership with the Oakland International Film Festival to champion gender and racial justice and open dialogue on critical issues.
First Monument & Billy X Thursday, October 17 at 7:30 p.m.
Two short films on the history of the Black Panther Party, followed by a Q&A session with filmmaker Damien McDuffie.
Champion, Broken Drawer, my own mecca Thursday, November 14 at 7:30 p.m.
Women filmmakers Kim J.Y. Han, Rippin Sindher, and Alba Roland Mejia present their work and engage the audience in conversation. Each screening takes place in the Jeannik Mequet Littlefield Concert Hall. Free tickets available at performingarts.mills.edu.
Empowering Change through Radical Care Conference
Saturday, November 21 from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Presented by the Mills Institute and held at Lisser Hall. Visit millsinstitute .northeastern.edu for more information and tickets.
“Untitled,” a mid-century collage by Jean Varda.
Mills College Art Museum
“Intimate Cut,” a photograph from 2000 by Traci Bartlow.
Press mentions and honors for Mills alums and Oakland professors
In recognition of the 25th anniversary of the dance series E-Moves with Harlem Stage, Nora Chipaumire, MA ’00, MFA ’02, participated in an April roundtable discussion in The New York Times with other Black choreographers about the program’s impact. Read it at tinyurl.com/nora-chipaumire.
Mills Institute Executive Director
Christie Chung moderated the plenary session at the Women of Color in the Academy Conference on May 17, where she also led the “Leadership Empowerment through Purposeful Mentorship” workshop with Professor of Education Priya Driscoll
A May KQED piece delved into the difficulties faced by Latinas attempting to gain a foothold in the tech industry, which included thoughts from Joanne Da Luz, MBA ’13. Read the piece at tinyurl.com/joanne-da-luz.
Raven Fonfa ’94 is the new director of the Sarah Hall Hallock Free Library in Milton, New York, and she offered thoughts to the Southern Ulster Times on the roles of libraries in today’s society and her outreach to the local community. Read the article at tinyurl.com/raven-fonfa.
The Key West edition of Florida Weekly published an article on May 16 about the work of Professor of Ethnic Studies and English Ajuan Mance, a Florida native who held a residency at The Studios of Key West this summer. Read that piece at tinyurl. com/ajuan-mance-2024. The Wende Museum in Culver City, California, also hosted Mance as a guest artist in an online event on June 26.
Long Beach Opera debuted Bye Bye Butterfly in July, which the San Francisco Classical Voice dubbed “outrageously entertaining.” The new production is based on the music and avant-garde legacy of Professor Emerita of Music Pauline Oliveros
Jenny Oorbeck ’97 spoke at the University of Michigan’s School of Environment and Sustainability, from which she received a master’s degree, as part of an Alumni Expert Master Chat in May. She is an environmental consultant who launched Fresh Coast Climate Solutions in 2022. Read the coverage at tinyurl.com/jenny-oorbeck.
The Summit, a conference for people of color working in philanthropy on June 23 and 24, featured Judene Small Jean-Louis, MFA ’12 , as a speaker. Jean-Louis is a partner on the Cultural Leadership Fund at Andreessen Horowitz.
We All Break, the band of Ches Smith, MFA ’02 , played at the
Vancouver International Jazz Festival in late June, and local website Stir went in depth on We All Break’s origins and influences—including Haitian rhythms Smith learned at Mills. Read the piece at tinyurl.com/ches-smith.
A July 24 op-ed in the Sacramento Bee argued that President Joe Biden should ensure the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment before leaving office in January. Writer Robin Epley spoke to Darcy Totten ’03 in her role as executive director of the California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls. Read the piece at tinyurl.com/darcy-totten-2024.
Associate Professor and Director of Early Childhood Special Education Jaci Urbani co-presented a workshop on April 30 through the advocacy organization Red, Wine, and Blue. “How Parents Can Use Books to Address Tough Topics” provided guidance on teaching kids about diversity issues.
The guest on Time’s “Person of the Week” podcast for May 24 was Ana Zamora ’05, who is the founder of the Asheville, North Carolina-based Just Trust, an organization that invests millions of dollars into efforts to right inequities in the carceral and criminal-justice systems. Find the episode at tinyurl.com/ana-zamora.
Looking Backward & Forward: Founders’ Day Address
by Monroe Deutsch, PhD
The years of the early 1850s seem far removed from ours. And yet their members had long thoughts and deep understanding of human needs. Churches and schools, colleges and newspapers primitive though they were, came into being to satisfy the demands of the mind and the spirit. They thought in terms not of number or size or amount of financial support; there was a thing of importance to be done, a thing of significance (they realized) not merely for that day but as a forerunner of the things to come. A room with a handful of books was sufficient for a college. They didn’t even require a football team! They knew they were planting the seeds of something that the young community needed. And somehow the necessity came simultaneously to the minds of several groups, and so in 1851 and 1852 came into being the College of the Pacific, the University of Santa Clara, and Mills College.
The church and the school—these were seen as essentials if society was to be more than a gold-gathering, money-grubbing company.
While we speak of this institution as 100 years old, but in reality, it is at the very least 700 years old. For each college builds on its predecessors. Methods may differ somewhat—but lectures are as old as the oldest of universities, Bologna. Indeed, question and answer go back to Socrates. We do not to be sure use the textbooks of 1851 or earlier or its equipment, but everything we do use has developed from these and their remote ancestors. Let us not be too proud of the things we have or the point we have attained; we are quite literally standing on the shoulders of our academic ancestors. Their writings, their discoveries, their universities all have made our institutions possible. We must not forget to give our meed of thanks to those who, against obstacles we do not dimly realize, took the steps which have made our institutions possible. We form one unit in a long line that goes back to the ages we cannot clearly see. For schools developed into universities and colleges, and schools are as old as “The whining schoolboy … creeping like snail unwillingly to school.” To the unknown men and women of the past, let us render thanks for all that has been wrought.
And yet we must be like the god Janus and look both forward and backward. You will find that in the world there are plenty of people whose glances are mainly backward; they are sometimes termed reactionary. The past alone is good; the future they look to with apprehension. They forget that their past was the future of the bold men and women whom they loved. Had these not had vision and imagination and courage, our world might still be that of 1851 or far earlier. On the other
hand, I have no sympathy with those who would discard all that the past has contributed. The creation does not start with 1951. We are what we are through the efforts of the past, and just as we would not discard Shakespeare and Goethe and Sophocles and Vergil and Homer, so we would not willingly yield the art of Raphael and da Vinci and Rembrandt and the unknown creator of the “Winged Victory.” Nor would we give up such glorious architectural treasures as Notre Dame and the Parthenon and our own Lincoln Memorial in Washington. No, anyone who would seek to abandon or destroy what the past has given us should be fought tooth and nail. But in the past, we should see the living men and women with appetites and hopes and fears who constructed them; they were great but they were human, and we should not make sculptured saints of them.
On the other hand, time does not stand still. The art of one generation no longer satisfies the following generation; the books of one era played their part in human life, and a new era succeeded
In short, like Janus, let us see and appreciate the good and great in the past but also face forward to a world destined to be different from all its predecessors, and in that new world you will live.
Don’t let slogans or ancient phrases frighten you. The age of today is not that of 1851, nor will the age of 2051 be like ours. It may not be better; we earnestly trust it will be.
Read Deutsch’s full speech on our website at quarterly.mills.edu.
Three Paths, One (Deliciously Sustainable) Destination
Earlier this year, we sat down with three Millsies working in food—a maker, a publicist, and an activist— to get their takes on how things need to change (or are already changing) to meet the moment.
Mills Quarterly: To start, how did each of you get into the food business?
Roberta Klugman ’74, food industry consultant and writer: I grew up in North Dakota, and my dad was a grain dealer. He and my mother were both raised in poor circumstances, and I remember my mother really wanting us to be excited about special meals. And then, I was in event planning—I was the social chair at Mary Morse! I taught and then came back to Mills for graduate school, and I got a job at Narsai’s. It was a restaurant, specialty food store, and caterer in Kensington. Essentially, my avocation became my vocation.
I left graduate school to make a career in food. One mentor who became a friend was president of the San Francisco Professional Food Society. I asked if I could join, and she just looked at me so sternly and said, “Are you saying you want a career in food? This is a professional food society.” And I went, “Yes, I do.” A few years later, I was president of the Food Society.
Narsai’s downsized and closed the restaurant, so I went to work as a buyer for one of our cheese vendors. But all along, I was doing programming and events with the Food Society, and that morphed into a job with The American Institute of Wine & Food (AIWF). And so, I was continuing the whole mission of the AIWF, to educate about the roles food and wine play in our lives. I did that for several
years and then went to work for a few PR agencies, and then there were layoffs. I got home and listened to my voicemail, and I had three calls: one from Francis Ford Coppola’s PR agency, wanting me to work on his food. Another was from Wente Vineyards, saying that they needed some PR for one of their wineries. And the third was a nutritionist I had been working with at the AIWF who needed help on a food service survey. So, the day I got laid off, I had three jobs, and that started my consultancy.
Olive oil has also played a role in my career—educating about olive oil, its history, its health benefits. I’ve been doing that, plus author events for cookbook and food writers.
Jovida Ross ’00, co-director of collective governance at the nonprofit Food Culture Collective: This is my first professional role in food. Like you, Roberta, my family was involved in food production. My mother’s family specifically were small scale farmers like so many others in the early-to-mid part of the 20th century but moved away from that as it became economically non-viable. That was part of the ethos of my family when I was young: My mother had a half-acre vegetable garden, which is essentially a micro farm.
After graduating from Mills, I started with a community organization and spent a number of years doing violence prevention and intervention with young people. I eventually moved into addressing gender-based violence, and I worked on economic inequality, immigration, and reproductive justice.
Of course, all of these issues impacting communities are so intertwined. Just by happenstance I got pulled into a project on climate—a big project of mine was wrapping up right when a climate project was kicking off, and they needed help. This was back in 2012, so the imminency of climate change was not quite as obvious as it is now. But there had been, of course, large events like Super Storm Sandy and Hurricane Katrina, and I interviewed folks on the frontline of those climate disasters about the impacts they were facing and the solutions they were organizing for, and it completely changed my perspective.
After this project wrapped up, I got to be part of a team that initiated a cross movement learning and strategy process that was structured around the question of, how do we
transition from domination and extraction to resilience, regeneration, and interdependence? Folks from different social justice movements came together to share their work with each other and understand how these different movements are linked. Out of that process, one insight that arose was that culture is the fastest way to the depth and breadth of change that we collectively need—a lot of the technical solutions are already known, and it’s the habits, expectations, assumptions, and political will keeping us in these patterns that are essentially killing us.
For example, the economy as it exists is harming both people and the environment, and ultimately, it benefits a small percentage of people in the world. Global commodity food systems are essentially based on plantation capitalism. The labor isn’t free, but people are grossly exploited. People in poultry factories who don’t get a bathroom break, for example, wear diapers to work. Many food workers are explicitly exempt from basic labor laws that most of us take for granted.
That’s what brought me to food—it’s fundamental to all of our lives. It’s fundamental to our economy. For many people, it’s the most conscious interaction we have with our own culture. Food Culture Collective is, through food, looking to change culture to be more aligned with life, with how ecologies operate, with what actually supports humans.
Malena Lopez-Maggi ’13, MFA ’15, co-founder of East Bay-based The Xocolate Bar: So, I started my business in 2006, before I had resumed at Mills. My partner and I are both from the arts and crafts world—I was doing metal smithing and jewelry making, and my partner was doing jewelry making, silversmithing, stone cutting, ceramics— and we had just grown tired of the materials we were using.
It was the early days of artisan chocolate in the Bay Area, so we weren’t aware of it until we went to a craft fair and saw it exhibited for the first time. We were really impressed and fired up by the possibilities of chocolate because you can sculpt it, mold it, cast it, decorate it to make it look like metal—and then on top of that, there’s the whole dimension of taste. We’re good cooks and makers, so we started experimenting. We lived in a big house with seven roommates, and we would make chocolates for them, and for parties. Everyone thought they were so delicious, and then we started having technical difficulties, like the chocolates changed color or texture over time.
So, I took a class called Gourmet Continental Chocolate at UC Davis, where you learn how to make standard recipes and how to properly handle chocolate. From there, it was coming up with our recipes, which was the easy part. And then a year later, we exhibited at the San Francisco International Chocolate Salon and took home a bunch of gold medals, including best in show. That gave us the confidence to make it a real business. We opened up shop in 2008, and it went on like that for a long time until I just completely burned out. Running a small business is 10% the fun, creative part, and 90% the annoying, tedious part. At that point, I wanted more options in my life, so that’s when I went to Mills. I had gone to community colleges way back in the day, so I resumed at Mills in the art department, and I loved it so much. It was the best time, and I found my people, so I stayed on to finish my MFA.
Upon graduating, I was evaluating my options. At that point, I was 35 and had my life and business in the Bay Area, so I stayed and applied what I learned at Mills to making my business and products better. I learned a lot of graphic design at Mills, so I do all my own packaging design. With that education, I was able to get grants and loans to grow my business. And then the pandemic hit, and it was actually the busiest time ever for us because we for the first time reached a nationwide audience and shipped and didn’t fail.
Quarterly: At this point in time, there’s so much happening in food that can affect where it goes from here—climate change, wages and working conditions, water rights. From your vantage point, what does sustainability mean to you?
Klugman: This makes me think about this program I helped set up. Les Dames d’Escoffier is a philanthropic organization in the food realm for women of achievement, and most of my activity revolves around a journalism fellowship for women writers in the Bay Area who are specializing in food, wine, and nutrition, and we award $5,000 each year.
Traditional newspaper food writers are restaurant reviewers, but I wanted a program that would center on the other types of writers. It’s not just cookbooks or restaurant reviews or recipes; it’s all intersections of food, starting with the planet.
A quick answer: A broad tenet for me is to leave whatever you’re doing better than how you found it. And that would hit all aspects; if you’re farming and ranching, are you leaving the land better than where you found it while producing good and healthy foods? Food manufacturing is another issue in the supply chain. How do we leave the slaughterhouses better than where we found them? That brings up some very big societal questions, and now we have regenerative agriculture and what that means.
I think the various associations are struggling with those definitions. Can you be sustainable without being totally organic? I think people are sincerely trying to leave the earth a better place, especially around here.
Ross: I think that’s a nice, simple definition. There’s a lot of semantic analysis about sustainable versus regenerative, but I think it’s ultimately about leaving things better than we came to them—putting care to supporting life, to sustaining life. I completely agree that if that happens at all levels of food, all the ways we interact with food and that’s how food is grown, it’s how water is respected, and it’s how labor is treated. Food Culture Collective is a member of HEAL Food Alliance, which is a national network that stands for Health, Environment, Agriculture, and Labor. And HEAL is currently advocating for some changes to the USDA Farm Bill that would particularly address all of those aspects of food, but in particular advocating that at this point, any policy going through Congress should be considered a climate policy and include really specific recommendations for food—right now, the way we produce and distribute food contributes 30% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. But on the other hand, food can absolutely be a climate solution. And if we pay attention to farming in a way that leaves things better than we found them, for example, that could go a long way towards carbon sequestration or drawing carbon out of the atmosphere and into the soil.
Klugman: If I may jump in again, there’s an organization called the Good Food Foundation that’s based in San Francisco and Portland and gives out awards. They do all of these blind tastings, and I was co-chair of the oil committee until recently. When they vet the top scorers, there are criteria about your labor practices, about your agriculture practices. So, it’s not just one of these ubiquitous, “best-of” things. You really have to show that you are a good employer, that you treat your employees fairly. It also has to do with the products you use. For the cheese selection, how are you raising the cattle?
Lopez-Maggi: Yes! We won an award from the Good Food Foundation a couple years back for cacao fruit jam, and then I was asked to judge the chocolate this year. But in order to qualify, contestants have to be beyond organic, with very, very high standards of sustainability. The awards pick out by taste which of those entries is the most delicious, and that’s a good way to steer the market. Back in the early days of organic, the organic brownie was good because it was organic, but it was dry and people wouldn’t buy it again. So, for the Good Food awards to emphasize deliciousness while also meeting this very scientific standard of sustainability is an interesting and positive concept to push.
Klugman: And I just have to get my olive oil message in here: Of all the cooking and culinary oils, olive trees are the most sustainable. They put a lot back into the ground.
Lopez-Maggi: Unfortunately, I feel like chocolate is the canary in the coal mine of climate change because it’s one of the most delicate products in the world. And then, cacao depends on the perfect environment. We’re actually suffering the consequences of crop failure in Africa, and our chocolate prices are rising 20% since last year. And we use organic and fair-trade chocolate—we feel like it’s better for local people—but it’s getting increasingly difficult and less sustainable to handle because it has to be kept below about 65°F, ideally. Even during shipping, it’s energy intensive to ship frozen with all the insulation materials. We do use eco foam for padding, but I feel like it’s not sustainable. Chocolate carries on because people love it so much, so I can see it not necessarily going extinct, but just becoming available to the very, very rich. We do our part by using recyclable materials and natural, organic ingredients, but overall, the chocolate
Quarterly: When it comes to terms like “organic” and similar buzzwords, what do you think is real versus a marketing ploy?
Klugman: There was something that came out of Expo West—I think—with some very thoughtful remarks about people not buying a cause. There are so many seals, and they don’t have much meaning, and they don’t necessarily lead to sales.
Ross: One interesting thing is a push to look at institutional food purchasing policies and writing requirements for environmental impacts, labor policies, and health requirements. It’s called the Good Food Purchasing Program. That is one way to actually drive significant
institutional purchasing power towards better food. I think there’s been a lot of emphasis on consumer behavior. And that does absolutely make a difference—like, organics have become so widespread because of consumer demand— but there are limitations to consumers as a force for change. But we can also impact policies and get to more systemic and structural change as well.
Klugman: The Good Food Foundation has the Good Food Mercantile, which tries to address some of those purchasing issues. It’s in the mind of the food retailers and producers. Market Hall Food is another one of my longtime clients, and I’ve seen them go through three or four different head buyers. How they’re making their decisions now has definitely changed along with what’s become available. What’s happening in the spice trade is a good example, but also focusing on underrecognized artisans and women producers.
Lopez-Maggi: People care about that here, or they’re willing to pay a premium for that here but might not elsewhere. We foreground social justice issues in chocolate more than environmental sustainability because slave slavery is still used to this day to produce a lot of mass-market chocolate. We have a whole range of decolonized chocolate that we carry, which is chocolate that’s made from bean to bar in the country where it’s grown.
People in the Bay Area have an interest in that, and they always want to support a woman of color-owned business here, so that’s another plus.
Quarterly: As time goes on and things like that continue to change, what are you optimistic about?
Lopez-Maggi: I’m optimistic about cacao-growing companies developing their chocolate-making craft more and investing in manufacturing in the countries of origin— that’s really a growing field. We carry a lot of it, and even though it’s good, some of the products are more rustic. They can’t necessarily compete with something that’s produced on a state-ofthe-art multimillion-dollar German chocolate grinder. So, I’m looking forward to that developing because that will bring not just a whole new layer of social justice, but also flavors that we that are completely out of our familiar zone here in the Bay Area.
And then I’m looking forward to innovations and sustainability that support our business in new kinds of ways: compostable—let’s say—ice packs, or mushroom packaging. Right now, it’s just too cost-prohibitive because you can’t charge $100 for chocolate bars. But I look forward to supporting industries producing more sustainable packaging and shipping. I’m also optimistic about the candy renaissance that’s coming because cacao is getting so expensive, and there’s a price cap on what people are willing to pay for food. So, there’s a lot of economic pressure for businesses to figure out what to do with cheaper ingredients. It feels like it’s the beginning of the next wave in confectionery that’s sugar-based instead of cacao-based.
If you pinpoint what people love about chocolate, is it the chocolate itself, or is it the sweetness and comfort and beauty? There are other ways to achieve that goal.
Ross: At Food Culture Collective, part of the work we do is about narrative strategy and shifting the stories we tell ourselves about food and recognizing that there are so many people doing great work. You know, like the olive producers you’re working with, Roberta, who are farming and distributing and sharing food in ways that are activating cultural values of care and care for the environment. When you analyze what’s underneath the stories we typically share about food—for example, the emphasis on consumption—it tends to be very individualistic and, sometimes, patronizing. Like: “If they only knew better, they would do better.”
Instead, we want to share stories that activate narratives like, for example, that food is relational and connects us with our cultural traditions. It connects us with each other. So, we’re hoping to do a narrative scan, asking folks doing values-based work in food to identify those helpful, beneficial narratives that they’re already putting into practice that could help us all orient to what’s next in “good food.”
Klugman: If I can use olive oil again, when I started at Narsai’s, there were maybe four or five olive oils. Extra-virgin olive oil was almost a luxury. And I [more recently] had an electrician who was asking me about olive oils at Wal-Mart: “I’m saving money—are these oils any good? You taught me to look for the harvest date.” And I went, “Yeah, bravo!” My tombstone is going to have “look for the harvest date” on it.
There’s also a conference coming up in September at UC Davis on sustainability and the olive. People from all over the world will be coming in for that.
Quarterly: Any last words?
Ross: The stories we tell ourselves about food, land, labor, and our place in the world make a difference.
Klugman: And don’t underestimate what you can do. Don’t get overwhelmed by it. Everyone can do at least one thing. 6
What Starts in the Garden Can Heal the World
As these alums show, the future of agriculture is small .
Olive Simon ’22 had never thought about growing flowers or vegetables when they arrived at the Mills Community Farm in 2019. Simon was enrolled in the College’s campus farm practicum, Introduction to Sustainable Urban Farming, during their first semester when they learned that Mills offered a workstudy option on its community farm. Intrigued, they signed up for the program.
“I didn’t know anything about farming or gardening or anything plant-related,” Simon said. “I was very new to it.”
They are just one of many Mills alums facing these questions in pursuit of a climate-forward future.
It’s important to have ongoing talks about how to replace large-scale agriculture with small-scale solutions, Simon explained: “What we’re learning, again and again, is that the global idea of production—large-scale everything—isn’t sustainable because it has horrible implications for the land.”
“I envision a future where we need to rely on each other”
The experience changed their path.
After just a semester of weeding, planting and mulching—all by hand, and all with a focus on climate-conscious, sustainable practices—Simon was hooked. Soon, they’d switched majors, from psychology to environmental studies.
“I didn’t realize how much I thrive working outdoors and feeling connected to the earth,” Simon said.
After graduating, Simon took a year to work in Oakland as a California Climate Action Corps Fellow. In 2023, they were hired as a gardener at the Oakland Museum of California where they now tend to the seven-acre museum grounds. They credit the Mills farm for an important discovery that’s had an impact on their climate perspective.
“At the museum we think a lot about the environmental implications of what we plant,” Simon said. “We’re always thinking about how we can do this sustainably.”
For Simon, the on-campus farm served as a training ground where they learned a wealth of transferable skills, including weeding, plant identification, growing native plants and more. Now, Simon is applying that knowledge to the museum grounds.
Since 2020, the Oakland Museum’s terraced garden, which faces Lake Merritt, has been cultivated with new, drought-tolerant native plantings that represent the state’s various state ecoregions. The ongoing project has been divided into two phases that have required intense planning discussions around infrastructure and ecological concerns—most of the museum’s plants are watered using reclaimed water, for example.
“At the museum, we think a lot about the environmental implications of what we plant,” Simon said. “We’re always thinking about what we can do sustainably.”
The answers exist—at least in part—at the community level, Simon added, whether that’s
a modest rural farm, a community bed, or someone’s backyard raised garden bed.
“When we talk about having more localized economies, it’s important to also talk about smallscale, sustainable agriculture,” Simon said. “Inevitably, when systems fail and supply chain issues continue, you can rely on people on small farms. I envision a future where we need to rely on each other.”
Simon’s instructor in the farm practicum, Mills Farm Director Julia Dashe, says the farm actively offers another way to think about climate change and the environment—and it embodies that concept of small-scale agriculture.
The space, which spans two and a half acres on a southwest-facing hill at the front of the campus, started out as a tiny vegetable garden as the brainchild of graduate student Lauren Messmer, MBA ’11, who proposed the concept as part of her thesis. In 2015, a gift from Kathleen Burke ’73 and Ralph Davis and a donation from the Clarence E. Heller Charitable Foundation provided the funds to grow it out into what it is today. The intent, Dashe says, was to create a community space with an educational, climate-forward focus.
degree in ornamental horticulture from Sierra College in Rocklin, her plans changed once again: She married her firefighter boyfriend, and the two moved to Donner Summit where they lived for the next 36 years.
After retirement, the couple purchased a 40-acre property in Spokane, Washington, so Montgomery could be closer to her aging parents. Most of the land is occupied by trees, but she has also planted raised beds to grow food.
Changing practices and hard conversations
While the farm practicum is not currently offered, Dashe still mentors students in sustainable agricultural practices with an emphasis on understanding the effects of climate change as well as the connection between food access and food literacy.
Not every alum contemplating the link between agrarian practices and the world at large started out thinking about the climate.
Jennifer Montgomery ’83 majored in music video production, but four years after graduation, she decided to switch careers. The native San Franciscan had grown up on a property studded with fruit trees and vegetables and now wanted to study something that reflected her early love of gardening. Upon finishing a
She volunteers with SpoCanopy, a City of Spokane Urban Forestry program that works to preserve and increase the city’s tree canopy cover, shrubs, and flowers in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods. SpoCanopy is part of the Land Council, a nonprofit that strives to preserve and revitalize local forests, water, and wildlife. As part of its mission, the Land Council analyzed Spokane’s heat islands, which are urbanized areas that experience higher temperatures than outlying areas due to a combination of less natural landscaping and more buildings, roads, and other infrastructures that absorb and re-emit the sun’s heat. The goal now is to alleviate heat and the effects of climate change by planting more trees and greenery.
“Anything that can mitigate the effects of climate change and heat islands in communities is beneficial to us all,” she said. “SpoCanopy is trying to address that piece of climate change.”
Director Julia Dashe evaluating plantings on the Mills Community Farm.
Montgomery says her volunteerism is rooted in her upbringing.
“I grew up in a family that was very involved in the civil rights movement of the 1960s,” she said. “It made sense to me to work with a group that addresses climate change, and economic and other social inequities.”
Like Montgomery, Debra Eagle ’82 didn’t study anything agriculture-related while at Mills, but she said her education prepared her for a career working in wineries, which in turn led her to the pursuit of improved climate viability.
Eagle started as a journalism major but eventually switched to economics; she then received an MBA from UC Berkeley. Later, she used her skills to land a winery marketing job.
As general manager at Alma Rosa Winery & Vineyards in Santa Barbara County, Eagle oversees operations in an industry increasingly affected by climate change and consumers seeking safe options. In her early years during the 1990s, however, Eagle says she remembers that many people viewed organic farmers as “longhaired hippie freaks”: “My first winery was in the Sonoma Valley, and we were technically organic, but back then you didn’t talk about it,” Eagle said. “People thought it was a strong negative to put an organic label on your brand.”
Still, she adds, workers have always been concerned about agricultural methods.
“People live where they’re working so they do care about the quality of the water, they care about the soil inputs,” she said.
Today, although the term “organic” carries decidedly more positive connotations, it’s not always in sync with sustainability.
Alma Rosa Winery was once certified organic, for example, but currently isn’t because heavy rains in recent years have led to mildewed plants.
“Sulfur is used to combat mildew, but organic sulfur is very friable, and you have to wear a hazmat suit to apply it,” she said. “The synthetic sulfur is easier to apply, but to be certified organic, you have to use the natural product.”
For the winery, she said, such choices are made by considering outcomes while also trying to minimize harm. For example, the vineyards are planted straight up and down the hills. When a specialist suggested it would be easier to use a tractor to manage the rows, it led to a tough conversation.
“How many tractor runs are equal to one herbicide application?” she said. “Which is the worse evil—the fuel you’re using for the tractor and the soil compaction or the herbicide?
Ultimately, winery staff elected to keep doing the work by hand: “It’s weighing the ecological impact with the outcomes.”
"“What we’re learning, again and again, is that the global idea of production— LARGE-scale everything—isn’t sustainable because they have horrible implications for the land.”
–Olive Simon ’22
Farm to classroom
While the Mills farm is an important legacy of the College’s contribution to addressing sustainable practices, faculty throughout the Northeastern network are also exploring climate-driven topics.
As a child, Mariana Valencia Mestre ’s mother was an ecologist and her father a veterinarian. The combination led Valencia Mestre to a lifelong interest in (among other topics) sustainable food systems and agroecology— sustainable farming that intersects with nature. For her doctorate, she traveled to Panama to study systems practiced by cattle ranchers, including intercropping of pasture grasses, cattle, trees, and food crops. She’s also conducted research on food insecurity among college students.
Valencia Mestre, now an assistant teaching professor in marine and environmental sciences on the Boston campus, teaches courses such as Sustainable Agriculture, Plants and Society, Sustainable Development, and Environmental Science.
As part of the program, Valencia Mestre works with students inside and outside the classroom. In the sustainable agricultural class, for example, they construct plant beds.
“The main component of the class is to learn hands-on gardening,” Valencia Mestre said. “Students design the crop planning and then help prepare and plant the seedlings, as well as do the weeding and manage pests.”
As younger generations face an environmentally uncertain future, Valencia Mestre says she expects interest in such classes to increase. Mills and the Oakland campus, she said, will continue to be a part of the conversation on global solutions.
“Most students want to take some sort of sustainable agriculture class, whether they’re
interested in economics or the business [side],” she said. “They’re very interested in the environmental field.”
Back in Oakland, the Mills Community Farm also serves as a de facto classroom for the entire community, with staffers often dropping by to check out the space. A professor, for example, recently used the farm for a pop-up course on herbalism and chemistry.“There’s lots of ways that people can kind of connect to the farm just on campus,” Dashe said, adding that there are hopes to revive agricultural classes as well as add a certificate program.
The farm also continues to grow as a space for change, operating under Oakland’s Sustainability Center, which develops, promotes, and applies green practices to the campus and community, and recently hired an assistant manager. Each semester, Dashe also hires a student crew, sometimes as many as 20, to plant and maintain the space.
She said she’s excited for the opportunities to think about climate change and the environment—there’s hope when students, alums, and faculty at every Northeastern campus work diligently on implementing solutions.
Whatever students get from the farm or agriculture-related courses, she added, they’ll walk away with actionable skills and an educated perspective on the planet they inhabit, whether they decide to go into farming or rather apply that knowledge to a different field.
“It’s going to inform them in decisions they make about their own livelihood and what they want to do in the world,” Dashe said. “Students really want to find positive responses to all the crises, and a lot of them want to do it using their bodies. Gardening and farming are an embodied way to connect with the earth and each other.” 6
WORDS BY ARYA SAMUELSON, MFA ’19 / PHOTOS BY MEGAN BAYLEY
Community at the Center:
How a beloved Oakland restaurant is bridging gaps
Romney Steele ’02, MFA ’04, is no stranger to the power of community. Growing up in the family kitchen of Nepenthe—her grandparents’ famous restaurant in Big Sur—Steele was nourished by fruit plucked fresh from the orchard, the cakes that she learned to bake at 12 years old, and Christmas dinners with 125 people. “It was never a nuclear family,” Steele explains. Since then, Steele’s passions for food and community have always gone hand in hand.
IN 2014, Romney Steele and her partner Steven Day opened The Cook and Her Farmer, an organic café and oyster and natural wine bar housed inside the historic Swan’s Market in Old Oakland. From the beginning, the duo knew they wanted to do more than just serve food; among other goals, they wanted to bring people together from across Oakland—while also transporting a beachy essence to The Town. “We didn’t want to be a normal little restaurant. We wanted to offer oysters to people who had never tasted them,” Steele says. The duo started with the premise of raising up young cooks and farmers in a teaching environment where they could thrive: “We led with community, and that was what opened the doors. Every step of the way, people came forward.”
The restaurant has also bridged all aspects of Steele’s life: her family history, her business and creative side, and her relationship. “Running the restaurant has been the most challenging and rewarding experience I ever could have imagined,” says Steele, sounding wearied and a little in awe.
AS A MILLS STUDENT, Steele’s academic plate was overflowing—and it often included food as well. She designed her own major in art and creative writing and took wide-ranging classes in ceramics, sculpture, book art, and music. In a class with visiting professor and experimental musician Pauline Oliveros, Steele created a theatrical performance that doubled as a real-life feast, inviting passers-by to engage with food as both spectacle and nourishment. With the support of art professor and sculptor Ron Nagle, Steele created large, amorphous ceramics and a series of plates that were stamped with language related to food, culture, loss, family, and desire. Steele credits her years at Mills—and particularly the community she found— with helping her find her voice.
At the time, Steele was raising two children and freshly divorced. “I couldn’t believe that I could go to a school where women were centered,” she says, noting the similarities to the matriarchal environment in which she grew up. During her time at Mills, Steele lived in the Underwood Apartments, and her children roamed freely on the grounds and attended Mills College Children’s School. But it was challenging to be both a parent and a student. One of Steele’s most gratifying moments was walking across the stage at graduation with her 11-year-old son: “After carrying sadness for so long, my kids finally got to witness my sense of possibility and hope.”
After graduating, Steele spent more than a decade piecing together a living through food work, catering, writing for magazines, crafting recipes, working on photo shoots, and writing two books: the memoir
“We didn’t want to be a normal little restaurant. We wanted to offer oysters to people who had never tasted them.”
–Romney Steele
My Nepenthe and a boutique cookbook, Plum Gorgeous: Recipes and Memories from the Orchard. Looking back, Steele credits her writing workshops at Mills as an inspiration for her memoirs, where she— for the first time—began to put language to a life centered around food and creativity.
In 2012, during a period of cultural revival in Oakland, Steele teamed up with author and crime-scene diver Day, and after a year of farming oysters together, he used his teacher’s salary to establish a kitchen where she could make jam. This business arrangement soon turned into a romantic partnership that has lasted to this day. The rest was history, giving rise to the earliest seeds of The Cook and Her Farmer.
WHEN THE PANDEMIC wiped out the restaurant’s need for a full staff in 2020, the duo learned how to adapt: “Covid taught us—required us—to recreate,” Steele says. When the restaurant could no longer serve inside, they transformed the outdoor space into a garden, which made the area not only more beautiful, but a little more like how Steele grew up. World Central Kitchen, which provides meals in response to humanitarian, climate, and community crises around the world, was one of the restaurant’s lifelines; the program commissioned the restaurant and its employees to prepare thousands of meals for vulnerable folks each week. As a result, the partners were able to reinvest in community events, such as a Black History Month Jazz Brunch. Programs like this reinvigorated their core motivation for keeping the restaurant open, and helped the pair slowly rebuild their team. “We knew that people were counting on us for food—including our own staff,” says Steele. “We tried to be rejuvenating for the community, and that rejuvenated me.” When the relief fund Restaurant
Care awarded The Cook and Her Farmer a small grant, the couple passed on the funding to their staff as bonuses. The grant also involved the creation of a short film featuring the story of the restaurant that has since gone on to show at the Sonoma International Film Festival.
“Covid taught us— required us— to recreate.”
However, full recovery from the pandemic has been slow-going, especially with the rising rents and inflation that have hit Oakland hard. Despite the many festivities at the restaurant, it struggles to draw as much business as before Covid. When considering whether to renew their lease, Steele has had to take her health, her family, and her other passions into account. Reflecting on the past 12 years in business—10 of which were in a brick-and-mortar space—Steele says she’s grateful and proud for all they’ve accomplished: for being one of the few surviving businesses out of Covid, for feeding diverse communities across Oakland, and for having grandchildren growing up in the neighborhood who can be proud of their abuela’s restaurant. As Steele and Day weigh the decision of what comes next, one thing is definitely clear: “If we are going to keep going as a restaurant, community has to stay center to our story.” 6
AAMC
News & Notes
A MESSAGE FROM THE AAMC PRESIDENT
Hello amazing Mills alumnae,
As we enter the third year of the Mills College at Northeastern transition, the AAMC message to you is: stay connected! The AAMC continues to move forward in this ever-changing climate, to support you and the legacy of Mills College. This is the direction your Board of Governors will continue to work toward and advocate for this year. Your support was exceptional this past term, when alumnae contributions met the $65,000 AAMC goal that fueled the start of the digitization of the Center for Contemporary Music library. We’re counting on your continued engagement going forward. (Please read our CCM project update on page 32 to see the impact your contributions are making.)
If you are not aware, in June, the Mills College alumnae/i database migrated to a shared system between the Mills advancement team and Northeastern’s University Advancement Division, which the Mills team is now a part of. This and an additional change in Alumnae Relations’ communication platform alters how we connect with all of you. While we will still have dedicated space in the (e)ucalyptus email newsletter and the Quarterly, we are not able to send email messages through the new system. To stay connected electronically with the AAMC, please go to our website at aamc-mills.org, and look for the link to add your info to our database. Our database has grown since this announcement, but it still totals a fraction of the alumnae constituency. So, spread the word amongst your friends and classmates. Your engagement is vital to the AAMC and to the legacy of Mills College.
The board convened on August 24 for a leadership retreat to set direction for the coming year and welcome newly seated governors to the board. Discussion centered around three categories:
• A sustainable AA MC: strategies for moving forward
• A functional AAMC: keys to progress
• A connected AAMC: messaging for 2024–25 and beyond
A full summary of the leadership meeting will be available on the AAMC’s official website at aamc-mills.org.
AAMC alumnae outreach efforts are ongoing through branch activities in conjunction with Alumnae Relations events in your area, AAMC book club events and the cooking classes organized by the AAMC Lifelong Learning Committee, and alumnae travel opportunities. For more information on these activities and trips, visit aamc-mills.org.
The AAMC governors and alums participated in three student orientation events at Reinhardt Alumnae House to greet legacy Mills students and meet new Northeastern students. The events, held in collaboration with Alumnae Relations, helped students learn about campus history and begin building relationships with alums. This engagement will continue throughout the year with the efforts of the Alumnae Student Relations Committee.
As you can see, we have many moving parts. Boosted by the successful CCM fundraising effort, the dynamic September Reunion, our growing database, and your continued input and support, the AAMC board is looking forward to the year ahead and new opportunities to pursue on your behalf.
Sincerely,
Debby Dittman ’68 and the AAMC Board of Governors
Communications Corner
Update from the Communications Committee
By AAMC Governor Kieran Turan ’90
Preserving the Legacy of Mills College: A Summary
In our recent drive to add alums to the AAMC’s independent database, we included a survey question: “What do you most want to see preserved of Mills College and its legacy?”
Nearly 750 alums responded to this question, with class years ranging from the 1940s to the present. This is the largest survey of alum opinions the AAMC has conducted since the merger. The results revealed that alums are united in their priorities and share similar values and aspirations for what happens on the Mills campus.
Key areas of importance are outlined below. For a visual representation of the results, this page includes a “word cloud” that captures the most often repeated words by size.
Women-Centered Education & Empowerment Alums emphasized the importance of continuing the Mills focus on educating and empowering women. Responses highlighted the need to foster leadership and support women in various fields, as well as maintain awareness of the College’s legacy as a women’s college and ensure equitable access to education for marginalized groups.
Arts & Cultural Legacy. The preservation and continuation of Mills’ historic programs in music, art, dance, and the liberal arts were deemed crucial. Alums also expressed strong support for the Center for Contemporary Music, reviving unique programs like book art, and preserving the Mills College Art Museum and arts collections.
Historical & Architectural Significance. Preserving historic buildings, particularly those designed by Julia Morgan, and the architectural beauty of the campus was a priority. Alums stressed the importance of maintaining the campus’s character, history, and archives.
Join Our Team as Business and Development Director!
The Alumnae Association of Mills College (AAMC) is seeking a dynamic, part-time business and development director to lead our non-profit operations, fundraising, and marketing efforts. This pivotal role will shape the future of our organization dedicated to continuing the legacy of Mills College, its alumnae/i, and women’s education and leadership. Apply now: aamc-mills.org
Community & Alumnae Connections. A strong sense of community among alums was a recurring theme. You valued maintaining connections through the Alumnae Association and alum events, emphasizing the importance of fostering lifelong friendships within the Mills community.
Traditions & Legacy. The preservation of Mills’ traditions, history, and legacy as a women’s college was highlighted. Alums also were committed in wanting to see that the legacy of integrative learning, women’s leadership, and impact continues.
Social Justice & Inclusivity. A commitment to social justice, diversity, and inclusion of underrepresented groups in campus administration, faculty, and students was a significant concern. Alums recognized the Mills legacy of activism and the College’s role as a catalyst for change, particularly in civil rights and gender equity.
Campus & Environment. The beauty and nature on campus, including its gardens, buildings, and open spaces, are cherished. Alums expressed a desire to preserve the campus environment, prevent over development, and maintain alum access to campus resources.
Independence & Identity. Concerns about maintaining Mills’ independence, unique character, and identity, especially in the context of the merger with Northeastern, were prevalent. Alums desired to keep the Mills College name and legacy prominent in the new institutional structure.
While many of these areas are beyond the direct control of the AAMC, we remain steadfast in our commitment to advocate for these priorities and communicate your desires to Mills College at Northeastern, the Institute, and Northeastern leadership. Wherever possible, we will also launch independent initiatives to ensure that the Mills legacy lives on.
If you haven’t participated in the AAMC survey or added your name to our database, please go to our website at aamc-mills.org and click the link on the banner of the page.
Update on Mills College Center for Contemporary Music
THE CCM ARCHIVE PROJECT has made significant progress, and its technical experts and administrators continue to find ways to optimize their workflow and budget expenditures. The Mills team, which focuses on administrative and technical aspects of the project, meets weekly along with Professor David Bernstein, Alexander Zendzian, and Librarian Janice Braun, and monthly with Northeastern colleagues from the Digital Repository Service and Digital Scholars Groups, who provide technical support.
Thus far, approximately 250 tapes have been digitized. Each tape includes recordings of multiple compositions. Professor Bernstein is busy writing and has currently completed entries for 114 seven-inch reel-to-reel tapes and 27 cassettes and close to 150 pages of text on each composition and artist.
With your help, the AAMC will continue to help protect and celebrate the legacy of Mills College’s achievements in music and the arts.
Selected AAMC merchandise on sale!
Don’t miss out on our limitedtime sale!
Get up to 25% off and more on select clothing and gifts.
Whether you’re looking for a stylish Mills-themed silk scarf, a new hoodie, or a gift for a fellow alumna, now’s the perfect time to shop and save!
Visit us: aamc-mills.org
FOR MILLS ALUMS
Remember, all the amenities at Haas Pavilion are open to Mills alums, with your alumnae/i ID card. Email admin@aamc-mills.org or call 510.430.2110 to procure one if needed.
AAMC Travel 2025
Istanbul
Go on the trip of a lifetime and help support the AAMC at the same time! The AAMC Travel Committee has selected a wide array of trips for 2025, so make your plans now. Visit the AAMC website to explore these and other trips, and to secure your spot at aamc-mills.org/ travel . Let’s create memories together!
DUTCH WATERWAYS: April 23–May 01, 2025
ITALY: TUSCANY & EMILIA-ROMAGNA: June 10–June 19, 2025
MALTA & SICILY: May 15–May 25, 2025
HEART OF BRITAIN: September 1–September 13, 2025
COASTAL GEMS OF THE EMERALD ISLE: June 22–July 04, 2025
ISTANBUL & THE TURQUOISE COAST: September 24–October 04, 2025
Thereare
several well-known centennial celebrations in the annals of Mills College history. Among them are the one in 1952, for the 100th anniversary of the original founding of Young Ladies’ Seminary in Benicia; and another in 1971, to commemorate Cyrus and Susan Mills moving their eponymous seminary to a new campus in Oakland. Lesser known, perhaps, is Convocation from 1985, which marked 100 years since Mills was fully incorporated as a college. To mark the occasion, alums marched into the Greek Theater wearing period-appropriate garb for each year since then while also kicking off the new academic year and celebrating the seniors in the Class of 1986.
by Ariel Eaton Thomas ’63.
Photo
MAPPING THE BAY AREA FOOD SCENE
By Emily Withnall
CHERYL KOEHLER, MFA ’86, does a lot of experimenting in the kitchen. She draws on the local and multicultural food traditions that infuse Oakland with so much character and flavor, often inventing her own recipes with different Indian spices or miso pastes. This experimentation comes naturally to Koehler. As a multidisciplinary artist, she’s always been interested in learning how to create with her hands— whether it’s replicating her Italian mother’s stuffed eggplant, making her own sandals, or becoming the publisher and editor of Edible East Bay Koehler took on those roles in 2004. Prior to that, she had been working as a reporter for the Castro Valley Forum and freelancing for the East Bay Express and the San Francisco Chronicle
Writing and editing is a second career for Koehler. When she arrived at Mills in 1984 to pursue her MFA
“[Mills] was really the opportunity to be in a community of artists… and to be brought together into a group that needed to learn from each other.”
in dance, she was already a decade into her career. Koehler was drawn to the Bay Area’s strong modern dance community, and she says she appreciated that at Mills, she was able engage in a broad range of interdisciplinary interests—from playing the gamelan to spending time in a professor’s garden.
“It was really the opportunity to be in a community of artists and artists of other disciplines and to be brought together into a group that needed to learn from each other,” Koehler says. “Dance really requires that. Mills was an anchor, a way to become grounded in Oakland.”
After Mills, Koehler continued her dance career for 10 more years before stepping away. Among her broad range of interests, she says she felt most called to writing. Later, when she was tapped to become the editor of Edible East Bay in 2004, the original publishers pulled out. Koehler stepped up and bought the title instead, becoming both publisher and editor simultaneously.
Not long after, Koehler also published a travel guide called Touring the Sierra Nevada, which offers readers information about popular and lesser-known places to visit in the mountains. Though still interested in travel, her 20 years at Edible East Bay—along with the pandemic—have reframed what travel can look like.
“Edible East Bay is a travel guide to a community, a place where we discover ourselves in relation to our food experience and our community experience,” Koehler says. “My motivation
is to find those stories and spark that desire among readers to treasure their food traditions, share them, and build on them, and honor those of other people in their community.”
Koehler says she is inspired on a daily basis by the rich global food scene in the Bay Area and by the vast array of ingredients that can be found in California’s breadbasket. In the pages of Edible East Bay, she says she strives to truly represent the community in all of its richness and diversity, from plant-based Filipino cooking and Cafe Ohlone’s ancestral Indigenous menus to the Mills Community Farm—which was featured in the recent summer issue.
Koehler also draws inspiration from her Italian heritage.
“I’m obsessed with olive oil. We have this fantastic olive oil scene, so I’ve done lots and lots of recipe features showcasing local makers,” Koehler says. “And of course, that hooks back into my background. I’ve always cooked with olive oil. I love seeing the way people find their way back to their roots with food.”
New releases, publications, and performances by Mills alums and professors
Living Together Across Borders (Oxford University Press, 2024) is a new ethnography about families working to maintain connections when members are scattered across the United States and El Salvador. Written by Lynnette Arnold ’09, an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Massachusetts, the book examines how methods of communication bring loved ones together while also highlighting disparities between the two countries.
The work of music legend Dave Brubeck, MA ’46, and his collaborators is now available in a digital archive, The Brubeck Collection, compiled and published by the Wilton Library in Connecticut. The release, viewable at brubeckcollection.org, was celebrated with a series of events in June.
Elwin Cotman, MFA ’12 , the author of the previously released Weird Black Girls (Scribner, 2024), published one of the title’s short stories, “Owen,” on Literary Hub on April 25. Visit lithub.com/owen to read the piece.
The third novel by Amanda Dissanayake Jayatissa ’09 is Island Witch (Berkley, 2024), which incorporates folklore from her native Sri Lanka into a horrific, Gothicinspired tale of a village demon-priest who’s vilified by encroaching British colonizers.
Martha Eichhorn Royster ’86 has released A Murmuration of Words (Finishing Line Press, 2024), a chapbook of 25 poems. The collection, her first, is heavy with imagery of the natural world that Martha relishes and documents from her home in the Pacific Northwest.
The second poetry collection by Melissa Eleftherion, MFA ’07, is Gutter Rainbows (Querencia, 2024), which was released this summer, and her chapbook abject sutures (above/ground, 2024) was released in January. She recently completed her term as poet laureate for the City of Ukiah, where she manages a branch library.
Pinney Library in Madison, Wisconsin, exhibited a site-specific installation by Emily Hoyt-Weber, MFA ’11 , this spring. “The Ephemerals” spanned three alcoves with cut and painted paper pieces whose light evolved over the course of the day and the entire season.
In May, Lead by Learning’s Brooklyn Joseph—who works as a lead program facilitator—wrote an opinion piece with the headline “In Staff Professional Development, Less is More” for EducationWeek. Read it at tinyurl.com/brooklyn-joseph.
Paul Sparrow, MFA ‘80, has a new book out titled “Awakening the Spirit of America: FDR’s War of Words with Charles Lindbergh—And the Battle to Save Democracy” (Pegasus Books, 2024). His book tour took him to C-SPAN and a live session with the White House Historical Association.
This summer, Aurelia Henry Reinhardt Endowed Professor in American Literature Victor Talmadge played Leonato in Marin Shakespeare Company’s production of Much Ado About Nothing
Assembly, the exhibition sponsored by Jessica Silverman Gallery at The Armory Show in New York City, included work by Professor of Art Catherine Wagner The show ran from September 6 to 8 at the Javits Center.
Share your recent release with the readers of Mills Quarterly ! Send a press kit, including high-resolution images, to mills.quarterly@northeastern.edu
Faculty Village
In the summer 2024 issue, we asked for your memories of Faculty Village, and you obliged! Look to the end for our next Throwback prompt for the winter 2025 edition.
One memory is of being invited to Dr. Hedley’s book-lined home in Faculty Village. Dr. Hedley, an Englishman who I remember looking like a small, wizened George Bernard Shaw, was a theology professor. I took a couple of classes from him and enjoyed his services at the lovely Mills Chapel (when I could get up early enough on a Sunday). On one occasion, I was invited, with a few others, to tea and sherry one afternoon. This California beach girl felt very special; I imagined I was at Oxford or Cambridge.
–Lani Nyla-Marie White ’68
Two weeks after starting at Mills, my mother died. I was extremely fortunate when Mills stepped in to support me in this time of grief and great need, yet I still did not have the funds to keep going, so professors banded together and offered me jobs: I cleaned house, I babysat, and I house-sat. One of those professors was a Dr. [George] Brown in the math department. I was not his student, but he was aware of me and my plight. He and his wife offered me a job house-sitting for them in Faculty Village.
It was a wonderful experience being able to stay there. Their house was very small, but it was well appointed and well made. I was very lucky for the experience—it reinforced my sense of belonging at Mills.
Another time, a friend and I walked through Faculty Village, and we met a much older woman we had never seen before. She lived in one of the houses there as a recluse. It was a large house compared to the others, and it was much grander than the Browns’ house. The woman’s name was Cornelia Van Ness Cress. (We believed she was from the San Francisco Van Ness family.) We sat with Cornelia while she regaled us with stories of Mills and San Francisco and shared many photographs with us. We couldn’t really figure out why she was still living in the house and what her connection was to the College, but we enjoyed her eccentricity and had a lovely time.
–Sissy Cutchen ’81
Cornelia Van Ness Cress was on the Mills faculty from 1928 until 1954, serving as an equitation instructor, owner, and director of instruction at the former riding stables on campus (which
were once located behind Lake Aliso toward Seminary Avenue).–Ed.
Faculty Village meant mentoring when I arrived on the Mills campus in 1971 with my scholarship and a declared double major. Dr. Libby Pope, English department head, lived there and worked her magic transforming my wrong-side-of-the-tracks cowboy upbringing.
Rewarded with tiny sips of sherry in Dr. Pope’s book-lined living room, geeky love of classics received its just supremacy. I thrived on her teaching, of course, but it was in the intimacy of her home that she released her passion for historical fiction. “Close your eyes and imagine that you’re wearing a ruff,” she guided. “It’s heavily starched [by the end of the 16th century], so your collar chafes as you turn your head. Try to look down. It hits your chest—a particular problem for large-breasted mothers.” It wasn’t just glimpsing another century; we were living in it.
Of all the writing I did at Mills for my two degrees, the literary insights I gained from my Faculty Village time travels are the only ones I’ve saved.
–Barbara Graves ’74, MA ’81
l am a member the Class of 1960, but beyond that, I was also a faculty child. My mother, Mary Manning Cook (Wale), MA ’39, was a graduate student when she was pregnant with me, retiring as associate librarian more than 30 years later. She also lectured in the Art Department. When I was a child, we lived just a block and a half away from Mills.
Turning 3 in January 1942, I entered Toyon Hall, the children’s lab nursery school. I joined a batch of faculty children who were all about my age, namely David Marchant, Jill Wistar (Hatier) ’60, Betsy French, and Melissa Breuer, and when I was four, Scooter White (Lynn T. Jr.) and Tony Diller. David and his family lived in Faculty Village, and I played there a few times as he and I went to the same public elementary school. I believe the Dillers also lived in Faculty Village.
My big brother, Thomas, allowed me to roam all over the campus with him, and we covered the entire area, including Faculty Village. On a regular basis I would see people walking down the hill to go shopping on MacArthur*, especially Dr. and Mrs. Neumeyer, who lived there. He had been my mother’s thesis director, so I had known him since I was a baby. When I was in my early teens, my family would climb the hill to Dr. Hedley’s house for coffee and pastries after chapel service in Wetmore Lodge. I always loved the Hedley house, called Ruddigore. It had wood beams, lots of bookcases, a fireplace, oriental rugs, and big library table. I have always tried to emulate that style in my own home.
Thomas and I attended the Mills summer school, taking such classes as drama, art, typing, swimming (always), and French. I took my
first French class when I was 10, and it hooked me on languages. When I was 15, I was permitted to take college-level beginning French in the summer session. This period is when I became more closely acquainted with Faculty Village because Mme Milhaud was involved in the summer French program, and we developed a more personal relationship.
Her students seemed to hang around the Milhaud house in the summer afternoons. Once, the daughter of violinist Yehudi Menuhin was pounding on the piano playing a rondo from one of Mozart’s sonatas. Madame came over to offer some corrections. The grand piano was about the only solid piece of furniture in the room—it just fit into the dining alcove of the living room.
When I was in college, Mme Milhaud preferred to hold classes at home so she would not leave Milhaud alone. There was an 8:00 a.m. class in contemporary literature, and those of us living in Mary Morse and Ethel Moore skidded down a steep path to the back door. Madame would greet us
with a mouthful of hairpins as she was pinning her hair up into a chignon. She would direct us to make coffee in several espresso pots so we sleepy students could have some, but especially for Milhaud, who stayed in bed until the class left at nine. He would be calling from the bedroom: “Madeleine! Où est mon café? ” She would yell back that it was almost ready. Many times, we students took turns taking it to him.
–Barbara
Cook Barnes ’60
FOR NEXT TIME
*Do you remember shopping at MacArthur and Seminary, or ducking off campus to grab dinner nearby? Were your extracurricular activities across the bay in San Francisco, whether you got there by car, train, or ferry? Or did you go up to Berkeley for your social life? Let us know by emailing your stories to mills.quarterly @northeastern.edu , leaving a voice mail at 510.430.3187 (time limit is three minutes), or mailing a letter to: Mills Quarterly 5000 MacArthur Blvd. Oakland, CA 94613
Archive images of the Milhaud house in Faculty Village
CATCHING UP WITH … :
Carolyn Jensen Mary Linda Doerfler
WARREN OLNEY 1961
Stuart Johnson Ann Gordon
BY MOYA STONE, MFA ’03
When Ann Gordon ’61 arrived on the Mills College campus in fall 1957, she had no idea that she was about to make lifelong friends. Gordon (later Bigler), an elementary education major, was the president of Warren Olney Hall, where she met and bonded with eight other women—and they have stayed connected ever since.
experiences,” says Bigler, who taught elementary school for 35 years. They worked, married, had children, and faced life’s challenges. Carolyn Jensen Monday came to Mills from Watsonville, in Santa Cruz County, and majored in occupational therapy. She says that they appreciated each other’s accomplishments: “We all supported each other.”
At their 30th Reunion in 1991, the friends decided that they wanted to see each other more often and made plans to gather once a year in the home state of one member of the group. They hailed from all over the United States and Canada, including California, Colorado, New Jersey, Oregon, and Alaska. “Each of us would host the group,” Bigler says. “We’d find some cultural activity to do, talk a lot, eat some great meals.”
They called their annual gatherings M.O.H.R.— Mills Olney Hall Reunion—and even had sweatshirts made to commemorate each reunion.
Catching Up
The friendships forged little by little just by being in the same place at the same time. All of them were part of the Class of 1961, and in their senior year, they all lived on the same floor. Some were roommates; a few worked together on the yearbook. “I think one of the reasons we became friends is that we ate dinner together every night,” explains Mary Linda Doerfler Luhring, who was a music major and went on to get a master’s degree from Stanford. Breaking bread while sitting at a large round table, the young women shared stories and discovered what they had in common.
With… is a new column where we check in with a different Mills group from over the years: members of an athletic team, the newspaper staff, a club. Have a suggestion for a group we should feature?
Contact the Quarterly at mills.quarterly@ northeastern.edu or 510.430.3312.
Stuart Johnson Sliter, who was Miss Alaska 1958 and taught sixth grade after Mills, says that the friends were open-minded and didn’t discuss politics: “We learned to love each other in spite of our different beliefs.”
While the group communicated by phone and letter after graduation, they saw one another only occasionally at each other’s weddings and at Reunion every five years. “Although we each followed a different path following college, we all had similar
Sadly, five of the original nine friends have passed away, including Donna Riback, history major, mother of two, and a financial planner; Marcia McElvain, who majored in English and went on to teach string instruments in Seattle schools; Betsy Janssen Frederick, a dance major and mother of two who taught in Berkeley schools; Connie Gilbert, an English major who taught the subject at Rutgers for many years, who was also a mother of two and active in the women’s movement and gay rights; and Terry Foskett Camacho, who had so many interests she changed majors a number of times, taught anatomy, and had three children with her first husband.
The remaining four no longer meet in person, but they do still communicate. Bigler says she’s in touch with each one almost every day, and she remembers birthdays and holidays by sending flowers: “We all had other people in our lives, but we came back to this group.” 6
6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6
This section includes notices of death received before July 10. Submit a listing on behalf of a member of the Mills community at mills.quarterly@northeastern.edu or 510.430.3312.
ALUMNAE
Theresa “Terry” Loewy Breyer ’37 • April 21, 2022 • San Francisco She was the subject of a Quarterly profile on centenarian alumnae in 2020, speaking about how Mills was so important to her family— her mother, aunt, and sister also attended. Terry and late husband Stanley raised their three children in Marin County, which where she also ran the consignment shop Laurel House Antiques on a volunteer basis—getting to share her home décor knowledge—and pitched in at Marin General Hospital. In her later years, she lived at San Francisco Towers, where she loved to play bridge, socialize, and entertain her family. She is survived by three children, seven grandchildren, 12 great-grandchildren, and cousins Barbara Coleman Frey ’68 and Elinor Coleman ’71.
Adrienne Reynolds Lybarger ’47 • August 29, 2020 • Flemington, New Jersey She took a train across the country from her New England home to Mills, and after graduating with degrees in international relations and French, she pursued a secretarial certificate and went to work in higher ed. At MIT, Adrienne helped plan a convocation
address by Winston Churchill, and she raised funds for Ithaca College, Archbold Hospital, and Wells College. Despite losing several of her children, she persevered—she took up running after retirement, finishing her first marathon at 75, and she was dedicated to her faith. She is survived by five children; including Linda Lybarger Gardner ’78 and Lauretta Lybarger Market ’79; seven grandchildren; and a great-grandson.
Marguerite Cain Blake ’51 • April 12 • Nashville, Tennessee
She was theatrically inclined and returned home to Minneapolis to finish her degree with the University of Minnesota’s theater department. There, Marguerite met her first husband, Paul, and they moved to Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where both got involved in local theater; she directed two shows a year and worked as the community playhouse’s business manager. She also wrote a column for the local paper, and with her second husband, Charlie, traveled extensively around the world and within the United States. She is survived by two children, two stepchildren, three grandchildren, and sister-in-law Lucile Fairley Cain ’46.
Margaret “Peggy” Hedges Palazzo ’51 • December 2018 • Salem, Oregon
Peggy specialized in reading and speech therapy in a more than 30-year career, and she was devoted to Christianity and her church. She is survived by three children, seven grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.
Wilma Buchanan Murphy ’52 • June 4, 2022 • Bellevue, Washington She was a longtime resident of Honolulu, where she enjoyed gathering with other Mills alums for lunch. She is survived by three children.
She majored in art at Mills and later received a master’s degree in humanities and social sciences from Pacific Oaks College. Sandra worked at the University of Southern California as director of career development before pursuing her true love: writing. She taught creative writing at UCLA and moved to Brazil in 1993 to teach at the American Society of São Paulo, where she learned a love for Brazilian cuisine that culminated in the book The Art of Brazilian Cooking. Sandra’s writing placed first in the DeAnn Lubell Professional Writers’
Competition in 2003 and the Indiana Writers’ Center Contest in 2005. She is survived by her husband, Luis; four children; and sister Sara McDonald Pagoulatos ’61.
Hope Mason Pracht ’59 • June 3 • Tigard, Oregon
She studied theology and literature at Mills, preparing her for a faith journey that took her to Catholicism upon her marriage to the late Fred and, later, to Judaism in the 1980s, when she taught herself Hebrew. Throughout her life, Hope traveled around the world alone and with Fred and participated in backpacking trips, ballroom dancing, and horseback riding, which she learned in childhood. Her family notes that she was also a passionate feminist who dabbled in photography and writing. She is survived by three children, two grandchildren, and a great-granddaughter.
Donna Douglass ’60 • March 14 • Gig Harbor, Washington
After Mills, she earned her bachelor’s degree and a Master of Social Work from the University of Washington, which she then took to the Child Study & Treatment Center at Western State Hospital in Lakewood, Washington, where she worked for many years. Donna found an interest in researching her genealogy, even traveling to the FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake City, and she became an activist for women’s and LGBTQIA+ causes and for those afflicted with Guillain-Barré syndrome, just as she was. She is survived by a brother, two cousins, and five nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by
two partners, Carolyn Caine and Gloria Stancich.
Carol Jenks Fogg ’60 • April 20 • Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania
She succumbed to Alzheimer’s disease, which she had been battling for the last 20 years. At Mills, Carol majored in child psychology and married her first husband, George Fogg, while still in school. With her second marriage to John Reitmeyer in 1990, the couple greatly enjoyed singing together in choral societies and traveling,
and Carol was also a bookworm and a master quilter. She is survived by three children, a step-daughter, six grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.
Judith Selvidge ’61 • 2024 • San Carlos, California
After completing two years at Mills, she moved on to the University of Geneva and then graduated from MIT, which led to her memoir, I Didn’t Know They Had Girls at MIT. Judith earned a PhD from Harvard Business School, later teaching at the University of Colorado,
Professor of Music Larry Polansky
Former Professor of Music Larry Polansky died on May 9 in Aptos, California. He is survived by his partner, Amy Beal; a daughter; a granddaughter; and a brother. He was born in New York City and raised on Long Island, where he first picked up the guitar—the instrument that guided much of his musical career—as a child. He studied with musicians such as Chuck Wayne and Lee Konitz, and he pieced together enough of a college education to enroll at the University of Illinois for his master’s degree, despite his claims that he never had a formal music education. After graduating Larry gigged in New York before coming to Oakland to begin his academic career at Mills.
While teaching at Mills, from 1981 to 1990, Larry collaborated with Phil Burk and David Rosenboom to co-create the programming language Hierarchical Music Specification Language (HMSL), building upon earlier work he had done at Illinois and at Stanford in computer development programs. He also co-founded Frog Peak Music, a collective for experimental music, with Jody Diamond, and with Rosenboom introduced the lecture series that later became Songlines. After Mills, he went on to Dartmouth until 2013 and then to UC Santa Cruz for the last six years of his career, though he held professor emeritus titles at both institutions.
Larry’s own music spanned a wide range of instruments, from acoustic and electric guitar to mountain dulcimer and ukulele, and he released dozens of compositions, including “Psaltery,” which was more than 100 tracks of that Appalachian hand-held instrument modified by electronic elements. In a joint statement, five giants of Mills music—David Bernstein; John Bischoff, MFA ’73; Chris Brown, MFA ’85; James Fei; and Maggi Payne, MFA ’72—lauded Larry’s musical gifts. “Everyone in the Bay Area new music community will surely remember Larry’s tireless advocacy for new music and its community of composers, performers, students, and scholars,” they wrote.
consulting, and serving in the Office of Management and Budget during the Reagan administration. A voracious reader, she enjoyed her membership with the Friends of the San Carlos Library, and her family fondly remembers her navigating her mint green Porsche throughout the winding roads of the Peninsula. She is survived by a sister, two nephews, and a niece.
Adele Halland Skoda ’62 • May 12 • Detroit Lakes, Minnesota
She later graduated from what’s now Minnesota State University Moorhead with a history degree, and she went into substitute teaching before marrying her late husband, Charles. They raised their family in Santa Barbara where Adele co-founded the non-profit Operation Kids, and she then worked as a real estate broker in Oregon after relocating for Charles’s career in broadcast journalism. Back in Minnesota, she loved to cook gourmet meals and nurture her longtime friendships, and her family describes her as a “force of nature.” She is survived by three children, eight grandchildren, and her beloved miniature schnauzer.
Nancy Wildermuth Webber, MFA ’62 • March 29 • San Pedro, California
Her artistic journey started as a five-year-old in St. Louis and permeated every aspect of her life, from her work to her home to her style. While at Mills, she met her late husband Martin on campus, and she also studied abroad at the Pius XII Institute to work on her painting. Nancy taught studio art and film appreciation at Los Angeles Harbor College for more than 50 years, during which time she completed Fulbright fellowships in Brazil and India. Her
many honors include a J. Paul Getty Fellowship in 1992 and a grant from the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs in 2008, and in 2015, she published her photography in the book Life Imitates Art She is survived by a daughter.
Julia Dolowitz Reagan ’64 • June 12 • Salt Lake City After graduating from Mills, she went on to the University of Utah, where she earned a PhD and met her husband, Bill. The couple traveled extensively throughout the world, visiting every continent, and rarely missed their favorite ballroom dance club. Julia devoted herself to various community organizations—including the Women’s State Legislative Council, National Council of Jewish Women, and her local rape crisis center—and to her children and their many academic and extracurricular pursuits. Belying her introversion, she was also an avid University of Utah and Utah Jazz fan. She is survived by Bill, three children, 10 grandchildren, and four siblings.
Rosemary Volpp Garcia ’71 • May 7 • Reno, Nevada She was a born teacher, returning to school in the 1980s for her teaching credential (while also raising her family) and earning a master’s degree in special education from the University of Nevada in 2002. Rosemary’s career in education started with the third and fifth grades at Salem Lutheran School in Orange, California and continued in Reno at Hunsberger Elementary in third grade and special education. Above all, she held a strong belief that all children had the right to learn. She is survived by her husband, Ron; three children; four grandchildren; and cousin Lucille Garcia ’75.
Christine “Tina” Keeney ’72 • June 5 • Tacoma, Washington She later graduated from the University of Washington with a master’s degree in education, then followed the four generations of teachers in her family into the classroom. In early years in Tacoma Public Schools, Tina taught students with special needs, then moved over to Stadium High School where she taught history and psychology—and engrossed herself in student activities—for more than 30 years. She was also known for her gardening, sewing, writing, and DIYing as much as she possibly could. She is survived by a brother, a niece, and many cousins and friends.
Vernola Williams ’72 • March 12 • Oakland
After Mills, she became a reverend. In 2022, Vernola appeared in a “Straight Outta Oakland” video recorded by Stagebridge that delved into her family’s history; her father came to the Bay Area from Texas to work in the Richmond shipyards. She and Barbara Lee were friends at Mills, where Vernola also won an award for a paper she wrote on Black history and traveled to Egypt. In her later years, Vernola taught line dancing in community centers around the East Bay, which afforded her the opportunity to appear in the video project. Her son, Garry Jackson, predeceased her.
Myrtis Bailey Klugh ’77 • April 11 • McKinney, Texas
She was a resumer who earned her degree in public administration at Mills; she departed The Ohio State University after two years to marry her late husband, Roderick, and move to California. Myrtis spent her career in various federal agencies, retiring from the Social Security
Administration in 1985. She frequently traveled home to Ohio to visit her family, and she was a devoted member of Faith Chapel Church of God of The East Bay in San Leandro, where she served as a Sunday school teacher and shared her vocal talents. Myrtis also loved to sew and make clothes. She is survived by two children, four grandchildren, a great-grandchild, and two siblings.
Nuria Rocha-Higueras ’84 • April 2024 • San Francisco She was born in the Philippines, which is where she was raised as well as in Spain. Nuria loved to travel, cook, and to visit Disneyland and the mountains, and she worked as a project manager for an interior design form. She is survived by her husband, Charles; two children, and one granddaughter.
Patricia “Patty” Pugsley ’86 • September 28, 2023 • Lansing, North Carolina After Mills, she worked in banking and insurance as well as in nursing, later earning a certificate in gerontology to provide care for her father, in-laws, and two siblings at the ends of their lives. Patty loved to crochet and sew, and when she and her husband, Bill, lived in Mount Airy, North Carolina, they played Santa and Mrs. Claus in parades and at holiday events. She is survived by Bill, two sons, a stepdaughter, six grandchildren, four great-grandchildren, and two siblings.
Gail Bishop Welter ’87
• May 2024 • Mountain View, California
She was a Bent Twig who later graduated from Duke University. Upon her return to the Bay Area, Gail worked in her family’s stationery and office supply business, and she was teaching skydiving when she met her future
husband, Steve. She was passionate about many things—animal rights, the environment, classical viola—but after retiring, she devoted herself to her children’s burgeoning performing careers and volunteered for the San Carlos Children’s Theater and Coastside Community Orchestra. She is survived by Steve, two children, two siblings, and cousins Amy Bishop-Dunbar ’83 and Molly Bishop Romero ’86.
Matthew “Matt” Starr, TCRED ’93 • June 9 • Lebanon, New Hampshire He attended UC Berkeley after spending his 20s pursuing his love of competitive running and biking, then specialized in early education at Mills. Matt first put his degrees to use as a mentor for underprivileged children at the YMCA and taught around the Bay Area. After meeting and marrying his wife, Sophie, they moved their family to a co-housing development in Vermont to pursue sustainable living with others, and he found a permanent place in the classroom at Bernice A. Ray School. He is survived by Sophie, two sons, and a sister.
Johanna “Kate” Johnston, MFA ’95 • January 17 • Sacramento She earned her undergraduate degree from UC Santa Barbara and also obtained a law degree at the Santa Barbara College of Law in addition to her Mills MFA in creative writing. More recently, Kate was a lawyer for the California Department of Social Services, and she still enjoyed writing and planned on teaching writing at Sacramento City College as a retirement plan. The life she loved—fishing, traveling, and cooking with her family—
Gifts in Memory of
Stephanie Lincoln ’71 by Susan Brown Penrod ’71
was cut short by a hit-andrun driver. She is survived by her parents; her wife, Teresa Zepeda; a son; and two sisters.
Carlita Ballard, MA ’21, EDD ’24 • May 19 • Oakland She was an esthetician and massage therapist, and she worked in real estate before pursuing higher education. Prior to Mills, Carlita earned a bachelor’s degree in Africana studies from San Francisco State, and she was anticipating entering the dissertation phase of her doctorate in education this year. Carlita’s research centered on the Black workforce in the Bay Area, and she was honored at the Juneteenth event hosted by advisor Nneka Allen-Harrison, MA ’04, EDD ’10, which she was helping to plan before her death. She is survived by her mother; her husband, Dawan; three children; a granddaughter; and two siblings.
FAMILY & FRIENDS
Matthew Stavis, brother of Kathleen Stavis ’06, MBA ’07 • May 27 • Oakland
FACULTY & STAFF
Jennifer Alley, former fundraiser in the Office of Institutional Advancement • January 2 • Princeton, New Jersey
Cindy Beitman, former vocal teacher and director of the Mills College Choir • April 15 • Richmond, California
SALON
POEM BY JAZKIA PHILLIPS ’24
i don’t usually do things in half measures, and it’s not enough to wear my heart on my sleeve.
mine is under my tongue and halfway down my throat. it coats the roof of my mouth and slides along my gums.
by the time i have to speak a word, the thing is falling out and into my hand.
blood between my teeth, i smile the widest i ever will.
i couldn’t swallow her if i tried.
Jazkia Phillips ’24 is a former Mills College student from Portland, Oregon, who has found a profound sense of community in the Bay Area since her departure from Mills. She is a poet, bookseller, and lifelong learner. Her writing, which largely draws on themes of grief and love, is a direct reflection of her ancestors unspoken thoughts and dreams. Her greatest hope in life is to make them proud. Please contact jazkiaphillips@gmail.com with any and all questions regarding her poetry.
This poem was originally published in the fall 2022 issue of The Womanist, and is reprinted here with the author’s permission.
“There’s a lot of semantic analysis about sustainable versus regenerative, but it’s ultimately about leaving things better than we came to them— putting care to supporting life, to sustaining life.”
–JOVIDA ROSS ’00, CO-DIRECTOR OF COLLECTIVE GOVERNANCE AT FOOD CULTURE COLLECTIVE (READ MORE ON PAGE 15)
