Milton Magazine
GLOBALIZATION Graduates try to define it for themselves and for us
2002 Awards and Prizes Graduates’ Weekend 2002 The Milton Medal: Frank Millet A Tribute: H. Marshall Schwarz ’54 Fritz Hobbs ’65 Named President of the Board
Fall 2002
, ‒ Jean B. Angell New York, New York
Barbara Hostetter Boston, Massachusetts
Jessie Bourneuf Treasurer Milton, Massachusetts
Ogden M. Hunnewell ’70 Vice President Brookline, Massachusetts
William T. Burgin ’61 Dover, Massachusetts
Harold W. Janeway ’54 Emeritus Webster, New Hampshire
Jorge Castro ’75 Pasadena, California Margaret Bergan Davis ’76 Evanston, Illinois Edward Dugger, III Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts James M. Fitzgibbons ’52 Emeritus Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts Victoria Hall Graham ’81 Haverford, Pennsylvania Margaret Jewett Greer ’47 Emerita Chevy Chase, Maryland Madeline Lee Gregory ’49 Westwood, Massachusetts Antonia Monroe Grumbach ’61 Secretary New York, New York
David B. Jenkins ’49 Duxbury, Massachusetts George A. Kellner Vice President New York, New York F. Warren McFarlan ’55 Belmont, Massachusetts Helen Lin ’80 Hong Kong Tracy Pun Palandjian ’89 Belmont, Massachusetts Richard C. Perry ’73 New York, New York John P. Reardon ’56 Vice President Cohasset, Massachusetts John S. Reidy ’56 New York, New York
Deborah Weil Harrington ’70 Washington, D.C.
Kevin P. Reilly Jr. ’73 Baton Rouge, Louisiana
J. Tomilson Hill ’66 New York, New York
H. Marshall Schwarz ’54 Emeritus New York, New York
Franklin W. Hobbs ’65 President New York, New York
Frederick G. Sykes ’65 Rye, New York Jide J. Zeitlin ’81 New York, New York
Milton Magazine Editor Cathleen Everett
Features
Assistant Editor Shannon Groppi
Graduates try to define globalization for themselves and for us John Charles Smith, English Department
Class Notes Editor Annelise Sorensen Photography Associated Press, Rebecca Cinclair, Jake Garfinkle ’03, Greg Hren, Tom Kates, Michael Lutch, Alex Moore, Nicki Pardo, Richard Pasley, Martha Stewart
Globalism is an agent in sweeping political, social, environmental changes Peter McKillop ’76 2
How did a small, underdeveloped, unknown country become “globalized”? Roberta Hayes Macaya-Ortiz ’56
Designer Moore & Associates
Consumers, workers and politicians react to global trends Ben Barlow ’93
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Leads a resurgence of non-U.S. electives Larry Pollans, History Department
’ Grade 4 weaves all subjects into an exploration of the Middle East 25
Tending to the life of the soul
Francis Davis Millet
Completion of the Student-Faculty Center: May 2003
H. Marshall Schwarz ’54
. “ ” ’ Named President of the Board
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Departments • A three-day visit, a ten-year evaluation
Why did I stay? Dick Griffin
Failing to teach: an urban experience Debby Saintil ’92
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Turner’s Pond and high-tech science
Highlights, 2002
News and notes from the campus and beyond
The historical context that accelerated this phenomenon • Graduates’ opinions on the complex dynamics of power, cultural change, economic and political development • John Charles Smith
T
he word, in one form or another, is everywhere – on newscasts, on magazine covers, in dinner conversation. Globalism, globalization, global enterprise, global warfare, the global village. As with any simple word which has come to stand for a complex phenomenon, people disagree violently about its implications. In fact, they even have difficulty defining it, their definitions varying according to age, occupation, nationality.
Investment bankers, for example, find the term very simple and speak of it enthusiastically. Globalization to them is the ability to transact business anytime, anywhere with ease, a reality made increasingly possible with the end of the Cold War. Doctors working in developing nations often see it as a metaphor of greed, asking why this business model has left millions struggling without modern medicine. In a similar fashion, people seem unable to agree whether globalization is the same as Americanization. Is the proliferation of American franchises the same thing as millions of Asian movie-goers lining up to watch American films? Is the former an
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example of “globalization,” the business phenomenon, and the latter an example of “globalism,” the movement toward a uni-cultural world with a heavily American accent? To answer these and other questions, we contacted over a hundred graduates. Some currently live overseas; others once did for extended periods of time. Many are foreign nationals who studied at Milton and remained in the United States, while others returned to their countries of origin. We asked each graduate four questions. Their responses were rich and varied, some expressing grave reservations about the entire phenomenon, others having lived so long in places such as Hong
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Kong, a globalized city for centuries, that the concept was second nature to them. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the answers was the vigor with which people responded, a sign the topic stirred strong emotions. Before turning to those responses, we might benefit from considering the topic in a historical context. If we try to draw the distinction between globalization as a trade phenomenon and globalism as a cultural one, then we could argue that globalization has been part of the human imagination for centuries, that some form of it began when people first thought beyond their immediate needs and ventured outside the boundaries of their communities to trade. A number of cultures present early prototypes for something akin to globalization, and they reveal the difficulty of separating business and culture. The Greeks, for example, divided people into Greeks and barbarians, a word which had none of the current connotations, but simply meant not-Greek. Though they
admired some earlier civilizations, the Greeks nevertheless felt their culture was unique. There seems little doubt, then, that the Greeks viewed the expansion of their influence as beneficial to both trade and culture. The Romans also exerted a powerful influence as they built an empire, but they created this empire through a new and disturbing element, one which has haunting ramifications in current discussions of globalization. The significantly larger step they took toward becoming a global presence was the result of warfare more savage than that waged by any culture which preceded them. The Chinese were so convinced of their cultural sophistication that they referred to their country as the Middle Kingdom, the center of the world, and the Ottomans carried their culture on the backs of their armies as far as the gates of Vienna. In subsequent centuries, the great voyages of exploration, though they began, more often than not, as business ventures, were also seen as acts of courage and patriotism. These voyages usually resulted in the founding of colonies, and, in the nineteenth century, the heyday of colonization, the difficulty of separating a business endeavor from a cultural experiment increased dramatically. Everyone knows the now infamous phrase, “the white man’s burden,” which Kipling used at this time, and certainly the British, in the latenineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, seem to have come closest to the current idea of globalization/globalism. Kipling was not addressing his fellow Englishmen, however. He was speaking to Americans as they began their first experiment with colonization in the Philippines. In the close of the nineteenth century, America began to emerge as a world power, and many of the forces which we now associate with globalization were in place, but World War I (WWI), the powerful isolationism which followed it, and the Great Depression suppressed that movement, revealing that historical events of sufficient magnitude can, in fact, slow or even reverse the process of globalization.2
“… . ” With the outbreak of World War II (WWII), that most global conflict in human history, the game was on again in earnest, and forces coalesced in those years that made true globalization a likelihood and eventually led so many people to consider it an American phenomenon. A list of the necessary factors and the sequence of events during and after the war might look something like the following: • A country of sufficient might and
wealth When the radical military elements of Japanese society approached Admiral Yamamoto to talk of an attack on the United States, he knew, from his years as a student in this country, that their talk was madness, that America was a slumbering industrial giant. When they refused to heed his warning, he designed the only kind of attack which stood any real chance of delaying America’s juggernaut, Pearl Harbor. Had the Japanese pilots found American aircraft carriers anchored at Pearl, the his-
tory of WWII would have been dramatically different. However, they did not find the carriers in port, and the subsequent development of the militaryindustrial machine that won the war created unprecedented growth in America and an economic presence throughout the world. • A moral cause As many historians have pointed out, without the immediate threat other nations faced, America remained largely pacifist as the war approached and broke out in Europe. This stance forced Franklin Roosevelt to argue for American support of the war on moral grounds, and, therefore, when America entered the war, it saw itself on a moral crusade rather than a necessary fight against an encroaching enemy. When the war ended, the nations which had been directly threatened, now free of the menace, began rebuilding. America, on the other hand, emerged from WWII with a sense of moral, as well as military,
: 1. With what region of the world outside the United States have you been connected, and how were you, or are you, connected (country of origin, work, study, etc.)? 2. In that region, how does the reality or the idea of globalization manifest itself: in conversations, in cultural patterns, in social changes, in political or economic developments? 3. Looking ahead, how will the course of globalization develop in your region, or what issues will affect its course? 4. How have the events of September 11 altered people’s ideas about the issue? “Our goal is to talk with as many of you as we can, and to synthesize your thoughts on the implications of our current social, economic and political connectedness, and the direction of globalization over the near future.” John Charles Smith, English Department
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victory, convinced that it was the foremost culture in the world and that its destiny was to carry its vision of life around the globe. This twentieth-century version of Manifest Destiny was a heady mix indeed, especially if one harkens back to the Romans and remembers the further complication of a military equipped with atomic weapons.
seemed a colossus as it thundered overhead, and we all, collectively, gasped – science fiction come to life. But I suppose the ‘globalization’ element is better represented by seeing those planes land in New Zealand while I was living there. ‘Hic sunt monstra’ was erased from the map, and Kiwis and Aussies were able to reach Europe in 24 hours.”
• Technology Nothing accelerated the reality of globalism faster than the airplane, and no part of the industrial advancement during WWII was more astonishing than aeronautical design and production. During the 1950s and 1960s, this advancement continued apace. Colby Coombs ’58, writing now from South Africa, tells the story of taking his family to Cointrin Airport in Geneva in 1967 to see the first 747 land. “We joined a crowd of people in a meadow behind the runway fence. The plane
• Mass tourism Jet aircraft accelerated the explosion of tourism after WWII, and America – and eventually Japan and Germany, for example – had masses of people with sufficient wealth to travel anywhere. They made their way, in the years after WWII, into the most remote places on earth. As Pico Iyer, a multicultural man of the world if ever there were one, writes in his wonderful 1989 book, Video Night in Kathmandu, “Anyone with a credit card could become a lay colonialist. Nepal, which had never seen a tourist until 1955, now welcomed 200,000 foreign visitors each year;
China, which had rigidly closed its doors for decades, had 11,000 tourists a day clambering along the Great Wall by 1985.”3 • A universal language Until the 1960s, French was the universal language, the language of the United Nations, the modern language most students learned in school. English, however, was the language of aviation, and just as those jet airplanes took cultural units, in the form of tourists, to every corner of the world, they took English, too. This spread of American English was even further advanced by technology. • The “new” technology No one captures this phenomenon better than Iyer. He ruminates on watching Sylvester Stallone in Rambo in dozens of settings while traveling throughout Asia. Few books record in a more entertaining and
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enlightening fashion the conquest of the American media. Iyer writes: “This contest for cultural sovereignty was nothing new, of course. Colonel Sanders and General Motors had first set up base camps across the global village years ago, and America’s ambassador-at-large throughout the world had long been the retired World War I flying ace Snoopy…In recent years, however, the takeover had radically intensified and rapidly accelerated. For one thing, satellites were now beaming images of America across the globe faster than a speeding bullet; the explosion of video had sent history spinning like the wheels of an overturned bicycle. For another, as the world grew smaller and ever smaller, so too did its props: not only have distances in time and space been shrunk, but the latest weapons of cultural warfare – videos, cassettes and computer disks – were far more portable than the big screens and heavy instruments of a
decade before.”4 Not even Iyer, however, could have foreseen the impact of the Internet. • The Internet Anyone searching for a sobering statistic need only consider that the Internet now has over 550 billion Web sites. In the space of 50 years, a country such as New Guinea changed from a place where Americans were almost unknown to a country in which a woman in Port Moresby can order an Eddie Bauer sundress online. This survey shows the manner in which historical forces brought America, less than 100 years after its first experiment with colonization, to a position of global dominance. Many troublesome questions arise from a study of these circumstances, however. Just how will America play its seemingly overwhelming role? How will countries resentful of this dominant position react to it? Will these circumstances, which now characterize America’s position in the world, remain uniquely American,
and, if not, how will the balance of world power be different if another country or coalition of countries challenges America’s position? Anyone interested in these important questions had the opportunity to see just how different responses to them could be by monitoring two conferences held in the first week in February. In New York City, 2,500 delegates who ordinarily would have gathered in Davos for the annual World Economic Forum met at the Waldorf-Astoria in a gesture of support for the city after the events of September 11. Their primary order of business was to discuss ways to enhance global economic development in a responsible manner. At the same time, in Porto Alegre, Brazil, 14,000 delegates met at the World Social Forum, an event dedicated to attacking globalism, though through peaceful means.5
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One of the organizers of the World Social Forum, Oded Grajew, was quoted in The New York Times as saying, “We want a peaceful gathering of participants who agree that the actual system of global capitalism has lost legitimacy.”8 The irony of hearing this statement in Porto Alegre, a center of socialist activity in southern Brazil, was not lost on a number of journalists. Simon Romero, writing in The New York Times, pointed out that Porto Alegre was home to any number of multinational companies, General Motors, Dell Computers, Telefonica of Spain, British American Tobacco, John Deere, and a number of Brazilian trans-nationals, and the presence of these companies has given Porto Alegre the lowest urban unemployment rate in Brazil.9 Yet, in the opening speech of the conference, the city’s former mayor, Olivio Dutra, railed against the “dehumanization” of the global economy.10 Meanwhile, Bono, who has been active in AIDS work and the movement for debt reduction in developing nations, gave the
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AP/Wide World Photos
The press had a field day juxtaposing the outward appearance of these two gatherings. Delegates who had paid $25,000 to attend the New York conference dressed to kill and fought over invitations to exclusive lectures and parties. (Would supermodel Heidi Klum have an entree to Lehman Brothers’ Elton John concert for 200 beautiful people? Which Super Bowl party to attend, Goldman Sachs’ at the Rainbow Room or McKinsey’s at the Four Seasons? Decisions! Decisions!)6 Meanwhile, in Porto Alegre, for delegates who had paid $50 to attend, shorts and huaraches were the order of the day, and the burning question seemed to be whether Jose Bove would stand by his promise not to trash any genetically-modified vegetables.7 Then there was what one might call the Soros Factor. Whither George? After careful consideration, Mr. Soros chose New York. Even billionaires, apparently, can’t say no to a panel entitled “On Hope” with Queen Rania of Jordan, Desmond Tutu, Charlie Rose, and Bono of the rock group U2.
Labor protest at Disneyland Resort Paris.
opening speech of the New York conference, a conference which not only tried to address many of the complaints being voiced in Brazil, but even more basic ones such as the meaning of globalization. Daniel Yergin, author of The Commanding Heights: The Battle for the World Economy, recently adapted in a three-part series on the Public Broadcasting System (PBS), noted, “For me, the amazing thing in a way is that there is so much passion about a word that has five syllables, about an abstract concept. Much of the debate about globalization doesn’t really stop to say what is globalization.”11 Felipe Fernandez Armesto of Oxford University, concurred. “We still don’t know what we mean by globalization, or what we want it to mean in the future.”12 Another question the New York participants wrestled with was whether the movement was an inevitability. While the general consensus of opinion was that globalization would never reverse course, Kaspar Villiger, president of the Swiss Confederation, noted that, if the movement were to avoid negative impact on the majority of the world’s population, “we need to harness the growth potential of globalization.”13
This dramatic shift from discussion of purely economic phenomena, such as the Asian financial meltdown or the New Economy, to talk of the potentiallydisastrous effects of globalization and the degree of responsibility America shares for those effects was perhaps the most significant element of the New York conference.14 George Soros, though he may have chosen New York over Porto Alegre, nevertheless offered one of the most important explanations for the negative valence so many people attach to the word globalization. As he noted, the world’s economics might have been moving toward globalization in recent decades, but its politics have not. The imbalance created by this reality has dangerous implications.15 Professor Fernandez Armesto agreed. As he noted, the antiglobalization forces objected not so much against globalization as against “process bias – rich versus poor, north versus south, west versus east.”16 A third conference, held a month later in Monterrey, Mexico, addressed these political concerns more directly. The subject of this meeting was world poverty, and the culprit, according to many, was globaliza-
tion. During the conference, speakers noted that the hopes raised by the end of the Cold War had not been realized in developing nations. There, the majority of people live as they did before 1989. The finance minister of South Africa, Trevor Manuel, was quoted in The New York Times as saying, “The thing about globalization is that, if you blink, you miss it entirely.”17 Mr. Manuel pointed out that even countries such as South Africa, whose policies would seem to pass muster for increased investment by multinational companies, have watched from the sidelines as the rich have become richer.18 George Soros, in attendance in Monterrey, explained. “The trend of globalization is that surplus capital is moving from the periphery countries to the center, which is the United States.”19 The solution to the problem, according to many participants in the conference, is an increase in foreign aid, though not using the same model which existed between rich and poor countries before 1989. Instead of pouring unlimited foreign aid into developing nations or waving the “trade not aid” banner of the 1990s, President Jacques Chirac of France advocated “aid for trade.” “There’s no creation of wealth without the necessary infrastructure,” he stated, “and that infrastructure demands outside aid.”20 While pundits gathered at conferences around the world to consider such questions, our graduates were sending us dayto-day accounts of their experiences with the global phenomenon in the countries where they live and work. We would love to bring them together in Straus some Graduates’ Day in the same manner people with a vested interest in the topic gathered in New York, Porto Alegre, and Monterrey, for their stories were colorful, sometimes troubling, often hilarious. Since that meeting will have to remain a tempting possibility, at least for now, perhaps the time has come to let them weigh in here. What happened when they tried to define globalization, for themselves and for us? As we noted earlier, investment bankers
“ ‘ ’ , , , , , , , . ” — ’ have a clear sense of what globalization means, so we might turn to one of them to begin our discussion. Writing from London, Tara Connolly ’90 offers an excellent description of the business model which lies at the heart of the phenomenon. “Companies are seizing the opportunity to capture incremental revenues by replicating their established business models outside of their home countries or to reduce their cost of production by allocating resources internationally.” Furthermore, as Connolly notes, “Embracing globalization has become a competitive imperative.” Tonia Simmonds Soto ’86, a stay-at-home mother in Puerto Rico, admits that she once thought of globalization as a business model but has since come to think of it more as a state of mind. She feels people have concluded that, if businesses can move freely across borders, seeing themselves as global presences, so can human beings. “I always thought of globalism as a business model, which is what it probably started as, but I’ve frequently heard of regular people here re-locating to the ‘mainland’ for job opportunities. In Jamaica, which I visited recently, many of my peers from high school, who I thought were well established there, have emigrated to the United States for school, a ‘different look,’ or maybe the weather. For all intents and purposes, people seem to be empowered to seek a life elsewhere.” Philip Rand ’57, who has lived in Rome for 30 years, also feels that the business model quickly translates into a way of thinking, but, unlike Soto, he worries that adopting global business practices in a personal manner can lead to viewing all elements of a society through the lens of trade. “The major impulse toward global-
ism probably comes from multinational corporations in search of raw materials, markets and cheap labor,” he writes. “If this assumption is correct, one could easily perceive that globalism conveys the values of these entities: buying and selling as the center of life with all that they involve: persuasion, advertising, a focus on the acquisition and handling of money, the myth of economic growth as essential to the fulfilling of wants and needs, the pressure to educate and evaluate human beings for their productivity. These values suggest the need to place gainful employment at the top of life’s priorities, which has not necessarily been the case, traditionally, in many cultures.” Rand’s inability to discuss globalization without raising cultural issues is one he shares with many of our respondents. David Ketchum ’79, who has spent most of the past 20 years helping companies establish themselves around the world, including opening the first Pizza Hut in Moscow and re-launching Pepsi in postcommunist Poland, realized the cultural implications of his work very quickly. “These business thrusts into new markets also had obvious cultural overtones, and, as intriguing as it was to watch Russians try their first bites of pizza, it struck me then that the spread of international business also functions as a conduit for cultural change.” Like Pico Iyer, Ketchum knows firsthand how American culture has been transmitted by American business. In a witty observation about a career that has shown him many absurdist moments, he writes: “Certain ingredients of Americanism at its ‘molecular’ level, such as sugar water, caf-
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Connolly and Ketchum note, however, that, on the strictly business level, any American concern that wishes to be successful must adapt to the local culture. For this reason, Connolly does not think a strict equating of globalization and Americanization is accurate. As she writes, “Successful corporate globalization will make use of best practices regardless of region, ultimately internationalizing the entire corporation, including the ‘home office.’” Ketchum finds the American presence a bit more dominant, but agrees with Connolly in principle. “Is globalism Americanization?” he asks. “Today, by and large, yes, but not without adaptation to the local country or marketplace. For example, Coke Japan sells more ‘Georgia Coffee,’ canned coffee from vending machines, than Coke Classic. Other Coke Japan products include tea (naturally), ‘Water Salad’ and ‘Real Gold,’ a hangover cure. Imagine that in the U.S.! The sign of true globalism is when the carrier of an international value or trend turns back on itself to adapt to the local situation – or becomes the pipeline back through the system to bring a local trend or habit worldwide.”
Many of the graduates who participated in our survey are not businesspeople, however, and therefore come to the question of globalization and its impact on culture with a more jaundiced view than Connolly and Ketchum. Most people would probably not be upset by Oprah Winfrey’s launching of her magazine in South Africa, and many would think it nice that a Russian policewoman credits her selling of Mary Kay cosmetics with the empowerment that led her to challenge government corruption,21 but what of the introduction of American holidays in a country which never celebrated them? Sylvia Mincewicz ’97 returns to her native Poland from New York several times a year, noticing on each visit the impact of globalization. “We never used to celebrate Valentine’s Day when I was living there, but now it’s widely celebrated. No Easter Bunny yet, but we now have a song about Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer in Polish,
This intrusion of language with American holidays points to one of the most basic, some would say troubling, influences of globalization, the spread of American English. As we noted, this process began with American prominence in aviation, and today, via the units of culture Iyer describes, the American idiom is appearing more and more in languages around the world. Tonia Simmonds Soto reports that Spanish-only schools in Puerto Rico use textbooks in English, most movies are in English, often without Spanish subtitles, and “Spanglish” is “a common concession to doing business.” Szabolcs Szikszai writes from Budapest: “In daily conversations, globalization is flooding Hungarian language with foreign words and expressions at a faster rate than I can ever recall.” Even spelling has succumbed to American media power. Colby
AP/Wide World Photos
feine, iconography of the Old West, nicotine, individualism, technology, and sex seem to have a universal appeal. As a transporter of easily understood values, gratifying sensual experiences, and aspirational mythology, American culture has proven a touchstone of globalism.” Gil Payson ’80, writing from Cologne, Germany, has coined his own term for this phenomenon, “Coca-colonialism,” which he defines as “the spread of massmarketed, cheapo junk by huge, faceless, conglomerates!”
and Santa looks more and more as he does in the U.S. instead of a bishop. But the silliest thing is that we now have Halloween. As far as I know, it started two years ago. Kids started going door to door saying ‘Trick or Treat’ in English, mispronouncing it and mostly not knowing what they were saying.”
Visitors enjoy riding on Venetian Gondolas, piloted by Japanese gondoliers, through Palazzo Canals, at Tokyo DisneySea in Urayasu, east of Tokyo, August 2001.
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Coombs, in a note which would warm Bill Gates’s heart, describes the impact of American technology even on South African spelling. “When I arrived in 1991, South Africa was resolutely British in spelling: labour, recognise, defence. MS Word Spellcheck has changed that one!” More than the presence of American business this pervasive, some would say insidious, influence concerns many graduates deeply. Alfred de Graaff writes from Paris: “In my 39 years here, I have seen France become more and more Americanized. You just have to see how people dress, listen to the music played on popular radio stations, look at a list of the most successful movies, and you will see that the traditional French way of life is disappearing. All over the world, commercial American culture is becoming the norm.” One revealing measure of just how powerful American popular culture can be comes from Lawrence Wong ’91. He writes that, even in Hong Kong, “one of the last places in the world where local films sold more tickets than imports, the local film industry finds it increasingly difficult to compete with the big-budget glamour and splendor of Hollywood. The local film industry has shrunken many fold.” The argument that America is bullying other nations into buying its products has always been open to debate, of course. As any number of American film producers have noted over the years, usually in response to French cultural critics up in arms over the dominance of American movies, nobody is forcing the French to stand in line for those films. American dominance, they argue, is not a case of cultural imperialism, but one of taste. Hidden in that clever dismissal, though, is the enormous muscle of American advertisement and distribution. Szabolcs Szikszai ’92 sees the effect of that muscle in the failure of Hungarian films to compete with American imports. “The overwhelmingly advertised American movies take the scene from domestic films made on budgets a fraction of the American
“ [ ] . ’ , , . ” — ’ ones and unable to get to audiences due to a lack of publicity.” In other words, people cannot buy products or see films they don’t know exist. Another element of American influence is simple proliferation. If McDonald’s now has 80 outlets in Beijing, there can be little surprise that half the children under 12 recently surveyed there thought McDonald’s was a local brand.22 Some feel the power of advertisement and proliferation of outlets still isn’t sufficient explanation for the Americanization of popular culture abroad. They would argue that consumers simply aren’t so passive as to patronize the firms whose names they recognize. Instead, they would argue that people are drawn to American popular culture by a sense of participating, even at a distance, in the American way of life. Elisabeth Rosenthal, writing in The New York Times, interviewed a Chinese businessman who was loading his SUV at a PriceSmart branch in Beijing. “My daughter, who’s 16, wants to go to the U.S.,” he stated, “but for me there’s no point – I have basically the same life here.”23 In this remark lies an explanation, perhaps, of why the global business presence of the Japanese in the 1980s remained just that, a business presence, an example of globalization, but not of globalism. Though Americans have recently confronted the painful truth that some cultures are not eager to mimic American culture, fewer, apparently, are eager to adopt elements of Japanese culture. Another fascinating point of speculation, one beyond the limits of this article, would be the possible difference between Asian and European attitudes toward globalization. Some might argue that Asian cultures, at least
since WWII, have been more adaptive in general, while European cultures, having lost the economic and military prominence they enjoyed before the war, have clung to a sense of cultural superiority and therefore been more defensive about American cultural intrusions. However, many graduates writing from Europe noted a type of cultural impact which virtually anyone would find troublesome. Philip Rand writes from Rome: “Italian families have traditionally been known for their cohesiveness, and the economy still remains buoyant thanks to the large number of family-run enterprises, a traditional source of economic stability. In a shop, grandmother keeps an eye on the premises, father does the errands, the children do their part, and mother generally commands. Children have remained at home much longer than would be the case in America (certainly for material, as well as cultural, reasons). Embarking on a career, young people have traditionally expected to continue living and working near their places of origin, but they are slowly adapting themselves to the idea that the company will decide where and how they live.” Rand also describes his fear of declining intellectual life in the global future. “I fear that ideas will probably lose importance in an increasingly goal-oriented society, and this pattern will almost certainly be true for the time devoted to savoring life’s small and not-so-small pleasures. Conversation, love-making and most other activities in life were once practiced as arts in Italy, but all this seems to be changing.”
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Rome, May 2002
One studying these heart-felt answers might well become discouraged by the prospect of a future in which all sense of national identity is lost. David Ketchum, while certainly aware of the dangers of globalization, is nevertheless able to see the enormous positive side to the trend. As he writes, “Taking the most pessimistic view, the results of globalization can be as disastrous as the new viruses the first European explorers brought to the new world, but looking at the same forces through the other end of the microscope, globalization can be the all-inclusive force that drives leading edge technology, increased quality of life, and universal peace and understanding into every corner of the earth.” A number of our respondents share Ketchum’s hopes for the future – if the movement toward greater globalization is a responsible one. Beginning on the simplest level, one might note the startling improvements globalization has brought in the field of communications, often
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with very positive results. As Tara Connolly notes, “The Internet has made virtual communities possible.” The implications of this fact for business alone are enormous, though Connolly’s example might give some people pause. “At my office, our global technology research team is connected continuously via a Web-based video link, enabling the London office to have conversations with our colleagues in Tampa while they’re still in their bathrobes.” Debbie Sandford ’82 points out the value of inexpensive long distance and email by remembering, “When I was at Milton, I used to phone home to England once a week for 20 minutes, and that was considered extravagant!” While a great many people find cellphones an enormous intrusion on their world, Colby Coombs reports on the beneficial role they have played in South Africa, a country which, despite considerable recent migration to the cities, is still a heavily rural society. “Pre-paid cell phones have proven a boon, connecting people kilometers away from a pay phone…so, one up for technology.” Let us not forget,
also, that the pro-democracy student demonstrators in Tiananmen Square communicated via email and fax. Several graduates expressed no doubts about the improved economic environment in their countries. Tonia Simmonds Soto writes: “In Puerto Rico, the globalism model has borne fruit – specialized workforce, excellent infrastructure.” In Hong Kong, Stan Szeto ’92 notes, “Globalism is a way of life. The concept is probably more accepted socially and encouraged politically even than in the U.S.” Lawrence Wong describes this attitude in his notes about the new Disneyland going up in Hong Kong. “Very few people see it as a cultural invasion or western exploitation. Most see it as an opportunity to boost tourism and the job market and gain access to world-class management and training.” Furthermore, one must note the important philosophical advances globalism has wrought. In recent months, the Swiss have voted to join the United Nations, for
example, and their Office for Equality, in this country where women were not allowed to vote until 1971, has begun encouraging men to help out more around the house!24 In a far more significant news story, Barbara Crossette, writing in The New York Times, reports the surprising decline in birthrates in developing nations as more and more women are taking control of their reproductive rights. She writes: “Planners once argued – and some still do – that falling birthrates can only follow improved living standards and more educational opportunities, not outrun them. It now seems that women are not waiting for that day.”25 Many people noted the possibility of a truly global world in the contact among peoples who once might never have known each other. Debbie Sandford writes that her six-yearold daughter attends a school in London where her class of 30 students contains 10 nationalities. In the high school division, students speak 43 languages. From
“ ’ ” — ’ Hungary, Szabolcs Szikszai writes: “I expect that globalism will have a positive effect on the tolerance level of the still highly racist public and leading politicians. I think this will improve the majority’s relationship with, most of all, the gypsy minority.” Not everyone agrees with these optimistic expectations, of course. In many countries, violent anti-immigrant factions have arisen in response to contact between peoples. Everyone knows of the neo-Nazi movement in Germany and the riots in formerly peaceful, multi-ethnic cities in England. In April, Amnesty International criticized the Spanish government for its treatment of immigrants, and French voters, expressing discontent with a growing
immigrant population and rising crime rates often associated with that population, catapulted the reactionary JeanMarie Le Pen into an unexpected race against Jacques Chirac for president. The Dutch, stunned by the murder of populist candidate, Pim Fortyyn, voted in record numbers in May, with the result that his right-wing party finished second in parliamentary elections. Several respondents noted this troublesome environment and the alarming political shift to the right in their countries. “In the early years of my life in Italy,” writes Philip Rand, “I was impressed by the acute political consciousness of Italians. Now, political awareness
“ , . ” — ’
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“Denmark is having a very difficult time integrating all the guest workers it invited to the country in the mid-1960s during an economic boom. These people came from developing nations, and now their labor is no longer needed. They are economically and culturally displaced, as are their children. Here the social welfare system provides for everyone, so the Danes are weary of outsiders who come in and take advantage of the system. The reactionary right government currently in power is a response to this situation.” Hutchinson goes on to describe one of the most ironic twists in the advent of the “new” technology. Most Americans would likely think the immigrants Hutchinson describes, if fortunate enough to own satellite dishes, were sitting comfortably in front of their television sets watching American programming, or at least local Danish fare. In the 1980s, they probably were. In the 1990s, however, things began to change. Hutchinson describes the apartment building across the street from his own in a multi-ethnic neighborhood. “Across the street from my apartment is a complex that houses many Moroccans, Iraqis and Palestinians. The small balconies on their apartments are often unused because satellite dishes take up most of the space. One can view globalization in terms of these satellite dishes. They provide an increased connection with the outside world, not America, but my neighbors’ home nations. They isolate the resident from his current location.” Hutchinson describes a fundamental and very dangerous disconnect occurring in many nations. If immigrants aren’t welcomed in their new countries, they may
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seems to have declined drastically, apart from that of the people, young people especially, who have rediscovered the political right and the figure of Mussolini.” Will Hutchinson ’97 using his Fulbright Scholarship to study the feasibility of integration in the Danish social welfare state, writes from Copenhagen:
Tokyo, July 2001
identify with their old ones, to which they are often too poor to return. The animosity toward their current home countries can deepen, especially in the hearts of unemployed youth. As The New York Times noted in an April 4 article from the Associated Press wire service, “The U.S. and other wealthy countries must realize that poverty can be a breeding ground for terrorism.”26 Given this situation, one should not have been surprised in April, at the start of the PBS series, “Commanding Heights,” to hear the narrator’s voice ask, “Is global terrorism the dark side of the promise of globalization?” Answering this question has divided scholars and commentators. At the World Economic Forum in New York, John Gray, a professor from the London School of Economics, stated that “9/11 spelled the end of globalization.”27 Ernesto Zedillo, former president of Mexico and newly-appointed head of the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization, disagreed completely. “We need more globalization, not less,” he argued.28 Most people would agree with Zedillo that ending globalization is not an option. However, virtually everyone will watch closely in the months ahead to see if the tragedy becomes another defining histori-
cal moment which causes significant changes in an apparently unstoppable movement. If globalization is a given, then what lessons will the countries which cultivate multinational companies learn from September 11? Milton students heard an excellent answer to that question on Seminar Day, March 13. Tu Weiming (P ’05), HarvardYenching Professor of Chinese History, Philosophy, and Confucian Studies, spoke on globalization to a group of students and faculty in a morning seminar. Professor Tu’s primary concern was that, as the world has grown smaller, it has become increasingly apparent that we will not see an easy integration of societies. He described what he feels is the fundamental paradox of globalism, that while making the world smaller, it enhances cultural awareness and, thus, emphasizes differences. As a result, Professor Tu believes that globalism has led to “the most explosive time in history.” As he noted, “In the next 50 years, we will face the test of whether we will ever live in an integrated world.”
Professor Tu is optimistic about the positive results of globalism if nations and peoples engage in meaningful dialogue emphasizing certain values. • sympathy, in the Confucian sense, a naturally endowed quality of the human heart and mind…Professor Tu emphasizes that no person should be seen just a statistic or item. • responsibility…The more powerful we are, Professor Tu notes, the more we are obligated to look after the disenfranchised. Everyone is vulnerable in a globalized world. • wisdom…Being intelligent and informed is not enough to navigate the tricky waters of globalism. One must be wise. Poornima Kirby ’04 volunteered the first of many excellent questions that students raised for Professor Tu when she asked, “How can we be responsible for caring for the less fortunate without spreading our country’s culture?” One of Professor Tu’s most important responses to the question anticipated remarks at the Monterrey conference about foreign aid. He pointed out that, while the dollar amount of American foreign aid was high, the percentage of G.D.P. represented by that amount was embarrassingly small and had fallen in recent years. Another thoughtful re-consideration of the fundamental meaning of globalization comes from Joseph Nye of the Kennedy School of Government, who analyzes power in the world today as what he calls “a complex three-dimensional chess game.”29 On the top level, the military, America is unchallenged. On the middle level, the economic, things become slightly more complicated. America is only one of several key players and must interact wisely with the Europeans, the Japanese and, eventually, the Chinese. On the third level, the so called “soft power” of cultural relations, power is infinitely more difficult to control.30 Nye sounds a note of caution.
“The dramatically decreased cost of communication, the rise of transnational domains (including the Internet) that cut across borders, and the ‘democratization’ of technology that puts massive destructive power into the hands of groups and individuals, all suggest dimensions that are historically new. In the last century, Hitler, Stalin and Mao needed the power of the state to wreak great evil. As the Hart-Rudman Commission on National Security observed last year, ‘Such men and women in the twenty-first century will be less bound than those of the twentieth by the limits of the state, and less obliged to gain industrial capabilities in order to wreak havoc…Clearly the threshold for small groups or even individuals to inflict massive damage on those they take to be their enemies is falling dramatically.’”31 Our graduates live and work on Professor Nye’s third chessboard. Small wonder, therefore, that their comments anticipate many of his own. Even their thoughts on September 11, though, represent many different views of those events. Gil Payson is one of several graduates troubled by action taken by governments against immigrant populations. He writes: “When word came that Hamburg and Cologne had been centers of terrorist activity, there was stunned silence and disbelief. A few weeks after 9/11, a mosque 800 metres from my flat was raided by hundreds of police, armed with machine guns. I rode by this scene on my bicycle, and the pretty blond policewoman just waved me by. That night, I saw the pictures of the bust on CNN, but I think I was the only person I know here who noticed.” In a more philosophical vein, Philip Rand writes this closing comment: “It seems evident that the horrific acts of a traditional society in defense of an assault on its culture, as was the case for the Taliban, will repeat themselves. When I think of globalization, I think of the powerful, who, I believe, forward the interests of the multinationals, and I shudder.”
In a somewhat similar vein, Alfred de Graaff writes: “I believe that the events of September 11 have proven to everyone that we are all part of the same world, that globalization has reached the point where a madman in a small, poor, mountainous country can affect the lives in a rich and powerful country half-way around the world. No man is an island anymore. Unfortunately, our government doesn’t seem to understand this and continues to act as if the United States were alone in the world. In a globalized world, a country, even the richest and most powerful country in history, must take into account the desires and needs of people in other countries. It must realize that in a just, equitable world, there have to be laws that apply to everyone. If it doesn’t, there will surely be other, and maybe more disastrous, such events.” Tonia Simmonds Soto concludes: “I think the events of September 11 were decidedly anti-globalization. For me, they hurt. They made me realize the importance of citizenship. After education in Jamaica and the States, I proclaimed myself a citizen of the world. Living here in Puerto Rico, I still felt the luxury of being able to say that. Now, I feel I must be aligned with America because my experiences in America brought such a wealth of knowledge into my life. At the end of the day, whatever the spin, I have a son to raise, a living to make, and an obligation to self-actualize. September 11 seems to be a deterrent to those goals. We are reminded that there is still over-population, hunger, and nuclear weapons, so, even if ‘we’ decide to re-focus on the positive and steer the course of one world, we need to perceive those real issues empathetically, realistically, and deal with them.” Szabolcs Szikszai agrees. “The real root of the problems surrounding globalization is not found in the ashes of the twin towers but in the events that led there and which were not any news to us. Poverty and
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indebtedness are the real problems in most of the third and second world countries, not globalization.” A fitting conclusion to these eloquent and sincere observations about September 11, indeed to our entire look at globalization, comes from Tara Connolly. At the close of her remarks, she calls for responsible action in exactly the manner we would most hope to find in the thoughts of Milton graduates, in a desire to see that de Graaff ’s fears are never realized. “Most individuals would agree that business practice should respect culture, sustain the environment, and create healthy working conditions,” she writes. “The lack of generally accepted standards for these criteria is a problem which needs to be addressed in our generation.”
Footnotes 1. H.D.F. Kitto, The Greeks (London: Penguin Books, 1991) pp. 7–8. 2. “Is It at Risk,” The Economist, February 2, 2002, p. 65. 3. Pico Iyer, Video Night in Kathmandu (New York: Random House, 1989), pp. 6–7. 4. Ibid., pp. 5–6. 5. Simon Romero, “Bigger Crowd Urges a Focus on Social Ills,” The New York Times on the Web. February 1, 2002. Viewed February 1, 2002. <www.nytimes.com> 6. Alex Kuczynski, “Billionaire? Supermodel? You’re Not Invited,” The New York Times on the Web. February 1, 2002. Viewed February 1, 2002. <www.nytimes.com> 7. Romero, “Bigger Crowd Urges a Focus on Social Ills.” 8. Ibid. 9. Simon Romero, “A Leftist City Makes Money to Its Own Drummer,” The New York Times on the Web. February 4, 2002. Viewed February 4, 2002. <www.nytimes.com> 10. Ibid. 11. Daniel Yergin, quoted in Serge Schmemann, “Where McDonald’s Sits Down with Arab Nationalists,” The New York Times on the Web. February 2, 2002. Viewed February 2, 2002. <www.nytimes.com> 12. Ibid. 13. Todd S. Purdum, “Economic Forum Draws Rich, Powerful, and Spoiled,” The New York Times on the Web. February 1, 2002. Viewed February 1, 2002. <www.nytimes.com> 14. Schmemann, “Where McDonald’s Sits Down with Arab Nationalists.” 15. Serge Schmemann, “Global Forum: Sharing Viewpoints,” The New York Times on the Web. February 4, 2002. Viewed February 4, 2002. <www.nytimes.com> 16. Schmemann, “Where McDonald’s Sits Down with Arab Nationalists.” 17. Joseph Kahn, “Globalization Proves Disappointing,” The New York Times on the Web. March 21, 2002, Viewed March 21, 2002. <www.nytimes.com> 18. Ibid. 19. Ibid. 20. Ibid. 21. Sabrina Tavernise, “A Russian Rights
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Crusader. Made by Mary Kay,” The New York Times on the Web. April 20, 2002. Viewed April 20, 2002. <www.nytimes.com> 22. Elisabeth Rosenthal, “Buicks, Starbucks, and Fried Chicken. Still China?” The New York Times on the Web. February 25, 2002. Viewed February 25, 2002. <www.nytimes.com> 23. Ibid. 24. Elizabeth Olson, “Switzerland Tells Its Men: Wash That Pot! Mop That Floor!” The New York Times on the Web. February 1, 2002. Viewed February 1, 2002. <www.nytimes.com> 25. Barbara Crossette, “Population Estimates Fall as Poor Women Assert Control,” The New York Times on the Web. March 10, 2002. Viewed March 10, 2002. <www.nytimes.com> 26. Associated Press Wire Service, The New York Times on the Web. April 4, 2002. Viewed April 4, 2002. <www.nytimes.com> 27. Schmemann, “Where McDonald’s Sits Down with Arab Nationalists.” 28. Ibid. 29. Joseph Nye, “By Invitation: The New Rome Meets the New Barbarians,” The Economist, March 23, 2002, p. 24. 30. Ibid. 31. Ibid.
In Asia
globalism is an agent in sweeping political, social, environmental changes Peter McKillop ’76
I
arrived in Hong Kong in the spring of 1990, a fresh-faced correspondent for Newsweek magazine. My whole life I had wanted to be a foreign correspondent, and here I was stepping off a United Airlines nonstop from New York. I was 32. I had been off the plane for less than an hour, when I received my first full dose of globalism. I had just checked into the Mandarin, the classic Asian hotel in the center of Hong Kong. I walked outside and saw thousands of people milling about the harbor-front streets of the British Colony. Being in China, I assumed they were all Chinese. I was quickly told that, in fact, they were thousands of Filipino maids, who gather each Sunday for their day off.
Tens of thousands of Filipinos work in Hong Kong and millions more throughout Asia and the world, performing every job imaginable from hostesses and dancers in Japan, to engineers in Saudi Arabia, to what appears to be every lounge act in every hotel in Asia. They are also amah, or nanny, to hundreds of thousands of Asian and expatriate families. Their influence is so pervasive that the Pope has called very religious and very Catholic Filipino caregivers his “secret weapon.” The Filipinos are the oil of the global machine – they
play a critical support role, providing technical skill and support and using their earnings to keep the Philippine economy afloat. Traveling through Asia in the early 1990s, I found the region booming, taking advantage of the sweeping euphoria of the post-Cold War. Fifteen years earlier, the war in Vietnam, the cultural revolution in China, and the tense Korean border had been the backdrops of a thousand news bylines and television standups. Now, we reported on the boomtowns of Jakarta, Bangkok, and Hong Kong. Flying into Bangkok, one spotted construction cranes dotting the skyline as far as the eye can see. Jakarta was a far cry from the tense scenes of The Year of Living Dangerously, in which the dashing foreign correspondent, Mel Gibson, wooed Sigourney Weaver while covering the ruthless antiCommunist crackdown of the man who was now reaping the full benefits of globalization, Suharto. Jakarta in the early 1990s was a city of breathless expansion – all related in one way or another to globalization. On every visit, it appeared a new hotel, golf course, freeway (all critical elements of the infrastructure of globalization) had risen where rainforest, or old colonial neighborhoods
had once stood. We dutifully reported seamy, as well as legitimate, elements of this early ’90s gold rush. Whether it was Jakarta, Seoul or Bangkok, the story had the same themes – advances in technology, communication, and capital controls had unleashed volatile economic forces on nations unprepared for the impact. The result was uncontrolled development, overwhelmed legal and financial systems, and endemic corruption among the ruling circles of most Asian nations. Jakarta was a classic example. When I first arrived, the phone system was so bad that the best way to see people was just to go to their house or office and wait. Within three years, mobile phones, the Internet, and bank cards were in the hands of the newly rich. But the price Indonesia paid, as the late 1990s would show, was painful. The man who had led the coup in 1965, the subject of The Year of Living Dangerously, was now hopelessly enmeshed in a vast web of corruption and patronage. His wife was known as “Miss 10 Percent’’ because she received 10 percent of all proceeds from any business started in Jakarta.
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Beijing, April 2000
It was in the rainforests of Borneo that I came across my “favorite” example of globalization. On one trip, I was invited to visit the paper mill of Suharto’s crony, Bob Hassan. He was a classic new actor on the globalization stage. He owed everything to Suharto. Suharto, in return, had turned over concessions to vast tracks of virgin timber in Borneo.
Anyone who has visited a rainforest knows that it is an almost religious experience. It’s a beautiful, but overwhelmingly inhospitable, place. No rainforest is a match for a lumber camp, however, with its giant saws, conveyor belts, and electrical engines. Here I saw giant trees that had taken hundred of years to grow, lathed almost instantly into plywood.
Hassan had invited me to his lumber camp. Using old Vietnam-era Hueys, we choppered over vast areas of both virgin and denuded rainforest. A year later, vast forest fires would erupt, creating a huge haze that sat over much of Southeast Asia – the rapid industrialization of Southeast Asia had taken a brutal toll on the environment.
And here is where globalization plays its role. What were Bob Hassan’s virgin forests being cut down for? Some of the trees were chopped into disposable chopsticks for Japan. The rest were turned into plywood, then wallpapered with some interior design and shipped to the United States, where it would appear in showrooms for mobile homes and, eventually, in mobile homes scattered around rural America. The selling point, one salesman
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told me, was that someone in a mobile home could change the look as simply as placing a new coat of paint on a house. That, I wrote at the time, was globalization – a tree in Borneo providing the backdrop for the throw-away fashion of a mobile home. I want to add a personal note on how globalization has affected my life. Today, I have a family with a wife and two boys. We live in Tokyo but will move to Hong Kong in June. I met my British wife when she was working as a journalist in Japan. We were married here, and my children were born here. By the time my first son was a year old, he had traveled over 50,000 miles and had visited Hong Kong, Shanghai, Rome, London, New York and Washington. As a family, we feel
more comfortable these days in Hong Kong or Beijing than we would in Tulsa, Oklahoma, or even Boston. In some ways we are no different than my family when my father was a diplomat and we lived overseas, but there are some crucial differences. Technology and communication have made the distance between Tokyo and Washington, D.C., (my hometown) the same distance we used to drive from Washington to Connecticut. That trip seemed like it took about twelve hours when I was a kid. I can get to the States from Tokyo almost as fast. On the Internet, I read The New York Times, find out who won the MiltonNobles game, and order the latest American television from Amazon. The cost of a phone call is so cheap that it makes no difference whether I am phoning across town in Tokyo or to my mother in Washington. Though I now work for a large American financial firm, J.P. Morgan, my colleagues are mostly non-American. Everyday, I work with Indians, Brits, Australians, French, Chinese, Japanese, Koreans. The list goes on. While I feel very American – being overseas dulls the wicked sense of irony and cynicism so artfully cultivated at institutions like Milton – I also feel “global.” That means I am as comfortable vacationing in Bali as I would be in Maine. My family is divided on two continents. We live 12,000 miles from my own family. For me, jumping on a plane to Taipei or Shanghai is probably easier than for someone to battle U.S. airports for a trip from Hartford to Columbus, Ohio. Globalization is a simple fact of life. Combine the pace of technological innovation, and the powerful market forces unleashed by the fall of the Soviet Union, and the result is a revolution as radical as the introduction of steam, electricity, or the printed word. Globalization has had a huge – and mostly positive – impact on my life. I would argue that it has had a similar impact on most nations, with the
exception of those on the African continent. Yes, the dark side of globalization is dark indeed. But, if Asia is any indication, despite the extreme dislocation that globalization has triggered, the vast majority of Asians are better off today than they were a decade ago. That opinion, of course, would be subject to a huge debate. But my anecdotal observations, in visiting almost every nation in Asia many times, is that things are getting better – a lot better. When I arrived in Cambodia, it was still haunted by Pol Pot, civil war and the Khmer Rouge. Now, it argues over democratic elections and grows wealthy from the industrialization of the Mekong River delta and its border with Thailand. When I arrived in Taiwan, the air pollution was so bad it made you physically ill. Now, microchips, not stale crackers, drive the economy. Nowhere is the advent of globalization more evident than Shanghai. When I first traveled to Shanghai in 1990, I took a train from Hong Kong. The trip was lovely – pastoral, lots of oxen in mud, peasants with straw hats, et cetera. Shanghai looked exactly as it had in 1949, when the Communists took over. Then, China decided to modernize Shanghai. With each trip, I saw new roads, buildings, and factories. The rural countryside between Hong Kong and Shanghai now looks like northern New Jersey. Shanghai now has one of the most modern skylines in the world. The pace of globalization continues to amaze me. Let me add one final, cautionary case study on the limits of globalization: the failure of American security companies to establish an American-styled “equity culture” in Japan. It was the fall of 1998 (I think). The U.S. was in the midst of the greatest stock market boom since the 1920s. Americans were transfixed with the seemingly unlimited return on stocks. Main Street flocked to Wall Street with each new high of the Dow. Water-cooler gossip was no longer just about the latest management change or football score. It seemed everyone had
time to trade tips on stocks, options, 401(k)s and IPOs. CNBC, born in the boom, gave America “all stocks all the time.” So it was not surprising that the great American security houses, fattened by huge bull-run market caps, giant sales forces and hundreds of new products, looked overseas to capture the new, great, consumer equity infatuation. And no goose seemed fatter than Japan. Despite a decade-long recession, the nation had more per-capita disposable income than any other country on earth. Sitting in low-interest-bearing bank accounts and postal-savings accounts were trillions of dollars of potentially available capital that could be invested in American equity products. By 1998, I had transitioned from journalism to marketing and public relations. After covering business for more than a decade, I wanted a piece of the real action. Starting that fall, almost every American security house eager to set up shop and tap into this vast pool of capital paid a visit to our downtown offices at BursonMarsteller, a block from the Imperial Palace. We suddenly found ourselves in the middle of a frenzy of investment by American firms with the firm belief that “rational” consumers in Japan would see the obvious advantages of purchasing securities with double-digit returns rather than sticking their money in the postal-savings system. All they needed was a little education, a great product, and the Japanese consumers would see the light. The boldest firm was Merrill Lynch. In November 1998, one of Japan’s largest securities firms, Yamaichi, collapsed. In a stunningly-bold move, Merrill snapped up the assets which included 2,000 employees and dozens of retail branches. It was a breathtaking investment, and we were at the center of it. For the next year
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we worked with Merrill Lynch to launch the business and transform the way the Japanese invested in stocks. No longer would Japan’s investors be preyed upon by unscrupulous brokers who engaged in every rotten trick in the book to sell stocks – ramping, churning, et cetera. The Merrill gambit was nothing short of revolutionary. They were going to change the entire equity culture in Japan. Until then, equities had been seen as little more than gambling. Now, Merrill flew planeload after planeload of former Yamaichi stock brokers to their Princeton, New Jersey, training site where they were reprogrammed to “counsel clients,” to grow assets, provide “independent” investment advice, and understand the importance of asset allocation – all key tenets of the American equity culture. Merrill spent hundreds of millions on this gambit. It was called Project Blossom. The excitement of the early days was almost unbearable. Four years later, last week, the last elements of this investment came to a crashing halt after Merrill closed down most of the branches and fired most of the brokers. In the past year, Charles Schwab, Prudential, Morgan Stanley, all have admitted failure in their efforts to turn Japan’s risk-averse savers into educated investors.
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In the end, billions of dollars were spent fruitlessly by American security firms to change the mind of the Japanese investor. It was a classic case of a fundamental culture clash on perhaps the most important element of a culture – money. Each operation had its own specific reason for failure. However, in the end, it came down to the inability of the American firms to bridge the culture gap on how Japanese manage their money. It came down to a simple question of trust: no matter how much better, smarter, and more logical the American argument to invest in their security firms, the Japanese were unwilling to switch their accounts. To the average Japanese, the safety of their own mostly bankrupt banks or the postal-saving system, where the return was less than onetenth of a percent, was more rational than taking a risk with an American securities firm.
was simply easier and less scary to leave money in the postal saving system. Perhaps someday, Japan’s risk-averse retail investors will embrace the American-style equity culture. I won’t be around to see it. And it will be a long time before American security firms again drop the billions they have spent over the past five years. Globalization has its limits. Its road is full of impediments, none greater than the Japanese investor. In a fitting end to the story, just as Merrill was closing shop, the latest investment rage in Japan was buying gold, about the only product Merrill did not sell.
The Japanese never trusted Merrill Lynch’s commitment to Japan, and three years later they were proven right. The great bull of Wall Street was slinking out of town, leaving the bare skeleton of a oncehuge retail operation. Charles Schwab was gone as well. I had spent a week with Charles Schwab in Tokyo, using the legendary founder of Schwab to market key elements of their message – trust, individual choice, and education. But once again, Schwab never caught on. If Chuck Schwab could not convince Japan, no one could. Japanese investors did not want to be educated. It
Peter McKillop ’76
C O S T A
R I C A
How did a small, underdeveloped, unknown country become “globalized”? Roberta Hayes Macaya-Ortiz ’56
I
In area, Costa Rica is a bit smaller than West Virginia. It has both an Atlantic and Pacific coast and borders Nicaragua on the north and Panama on the south. The country is a democracy, has 200 years of free schooling, compulsory through sixth grade, free health care, no army, a mild climate with average temperatures in the 70s, and rich, natural reserves of rivers, mountains and beaches, as well as cloud and rain forests. The population has exploded from two million people in 1970 to four million in 2002. This is the crucial factor. How did a small, underdeveloped, unknown country become “globalized”?
In 1970, my U.S. friends would either ask how we liked Puerto Rico or wonder how we coped with the constant “bombing attacks,” assuming banana republic Costa Rica was the same as El Salvador, Guatemala or Nicaragua with their endless border skirmishes. (There were never any bombs.) In 1982, President Luis Alberto Monge inherited a bankrupt country from President Rodrigo Carazo. Monge coped with this situation by making a deal with
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came to Costa Rica in 1970, having married a Costa Rican, Ernesto Macaya ’56. He quit his job with Dow Chemical to move us to the primitive port of Puntarenas, on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, to run a fertilizer plant. We wanted our children to see their other culture, a one-year stint we thought. We are still here after 32 years. I have been “at home” for those years.
Tourists visit Turtle Island in the Gulf of Nicoya on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica.
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President Reagan: $1 million a day in foreign aid if Monge helped America secretly fight the Sandinistas in Nicaragua. When Oscar Arias was elected president in 1986, he refused to accommodate the U.S., and all aid stopped. (Costa Rica was still a small, unknown country.) Arias won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1988 and thus put his country on the map. The word “peace”(not bombs) wooed world travelers to “discover” this small mecca. A glut of tourism in the ’90s saved the economic day. That glut is one million tourists per year. The government passed a law to help: no duties on any imported article needed for tourism – equipment for the hundreds of newly-built hotels, river rafting, “eco” tours, “jungle” tours, deep-sea fishing, international airports. This law seemed to pass on to private homes, food imports, et cetera. Then came the hotel chains – Marriott, Best Western, Camino Real, restaurants – McDonald’s, Pizza Hut. With them came the giant neon advertisements dotting the mountainous green countryside. With the bonanza came the Nicaraguans, flooding over the borders any way they could, running from their poverty. Nicaraguans now make up 25 percent of the total population. And with them came corruption, crime, violence (murders by machete or old machine guns provided by the Reagan group to the “Contras” in the ’80s), sickness and illiteracy, all the negatives that go along with abject poverty, the end product of the brutal Somosa regime,
over 20 years ago. Costa Ricans bear the brunt of vaccinating these poor neighbors and building new schools to educate their children. Cultural change? Costa Ricans seem to have more “things” now – cars (20 times more cars than in 1970), TVs with cable, American movies with their porn and violence. McDonald’s hamburgers have more prestige than the native dish of rice and beans. Make no mistake. As Bush would say, I am a fanatical, obnoxious U.S. flag waver. No one, but no one, especially my husband, can say anything about my country – sacrosanct land of the free and helper of every nation on this planet. Only I can tell you, my fellow gringos, what I think. And that is that Quepos and its beaches are in danger, overloaded with garbage, sewers, water. Monte Verde, with its howler monkeys in the clouds, has its own way of coping. It refuses to build a decent road to the mountain. Only the brave souls willing to spend two hours rumbling along a stony path, breathing hot dust as they go, might be rewarded with a distant glimpse on high of the Splendid Quetzal, elusive, disdainful of our earthly struggles.
Costa Ricans sympathize with our U.S. plight after September 11, our new fears, our changed lives, and they feel gladdened by our new mellowness, our shift in values and priorities, our reaching out to help our neighbors. (My daughter, who just had a baby in North Carolina, had 20 different, previously-unknown neighbors bring her dinner for two for 20 consecutive nights.) Does one really want to jump into “globalization” with its fast-food culture, hotel chains and destruction of beaches, ecosystems, rainforests? Do we want to join the commercial world of mediocrity? My brain says YES – if it feeds the starving immigrants and boosts the living standard of the Costa Ricans. My heart says NO. Give me the small, idyllic jewel of an underdeveloped country where no one starves, all go to school, and the purple mountains are free of giant billboards calling us to progress.
Globalization for the future in Costa Rica is linked to tourism – synonymous with it, really. It has slowed a bit since September 11. There are fewer planes and more hotel vacancies. But Costa Rica is still a refuge from worries, tensions, nightmares about letters laced with anthrax. Tourists will always come to this land of Oz to escape. The future is secure. Roberta Hayes Macaya-Ortiz ’56
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In Russia consumers, workers, and politicians react to global trends Ben Barlow ’93
H
aving spent a year in Russia after graduating from college, I returned to Moscow in July 1999 to work with a private American company that holds controlling interests in three Russian subsidiaries that own licenses to an aggregate nine oil fields in Western Siberia. I work in the company’s business-development group. Locals don’t talk about “globalism” very often. The occasional small gatherings of Communist and Agrarian Party members that rail against the institutions of globalism – the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, et cetera – attack them as symbols of what they believe is the Yeltsin and Putin administrations’ willingness to compromise Russian interests before the international community. The lack of popular discourse on globalism is due in part to the fact that demonstrating is a luxury – Russia’s masses worrying about making ends meet are not demonstrating. Russian television shows demonstrations against new management of local factories, but these are personal expressions, determining which jobs stay and or receives the salaries are paid.
Russians have for generations assumed their country would be very involved, in fact dominant, globally. So while the opening of the Russian economy challenges established traditions, the concept of economic integration seems, in itself, quite natural. In at least two ways Russians interact with the international economy: as employees and as consumers. Both seem to support Russians’ general acceptance of globalism.
As employees
As consumers
As in many developing countries, the educated elite consider working for a Western company hugely preferable to working for a local outfit. This preference relates to higher salaries, greater opportunities for advancement in a multinational organization, and a more meritocratic work culture. These attributes seem to outweigh the perceived downsides of Western employment: high demands on time and less job security.
Cost
One of the three expatriates working here recently invited every member of our office to his presentation on our oil fields. He speaks only English, but this transparent, non-hierarchical approach towards work breaks down cultural barriers. Russians appreciate being treated as a part of the company’s larger mission. Our management encourages open discussion of business processes and recently organized in our Siberian offices a series of interactive presentations on topics ranging from warehouse management to leadership styles. On leadership styles, employees weighed the relative merits of a horizontal, team-based, perhaps more Western approach toward delegation of responsibility, against a hierarchical approach more in keeping with the traditional Soviet chain of command. The most striking justification for the hierarchical style was that identifying “vina” (blame) for mistakes was easier, perhaps a legacy of a system that for 80 years fostered a defensive work culture by glorifying “the plan” and asking little more than that workers toe the line. Our group agreed that appropriate contexts exist for each style. As important, workers appreciated being encouraged to share their thoughts.
In Russian companies, poor corporate governance and outdated plant and equipment have perpetuated a trend of producing inferior products whose only competitive advantages have been the vestiges of yesterday’s closed economy and, in today’s semi-free market (which still favors local producers through heavy tariffs), lower pricing. Exceptions to the rule are celebrated as quasi-miracles. A recent example is Wimm-Bill-Dann, a fruit juice and dairy products concern, that has won substantial market share within Russia and recently launched an IPO of American Depository Receipts on the New York Stock Exchange to much local fanfare. Branding
Despite a relative dearth of local branding among consumer goods, during my four years in Moscow emphasis on branding increased considerably, with the spread, particularly in the past two years, of supermarket chains such as “Perekryostok” (Intersection) and “Kopeyka” (Kopek), a drugstore chain called 36-6 and the aforementioned Wimm-Bill-Dann’s J7 juices. Rather than celebrate their “Russianness,” these new brands aim to appear Western. Wimm-Bill-Dann is the best example, as the letter J doesn’t exist in the Russian alphabet (thus the “J7” brand appears thoroughly Western), and the name of the company demonstrates its Russian founder’s love of tennis, seen as an elite Western sport, and specifically the “Wimble-don” tournament.
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Russians’ attraction to non-Russian brands extends beyond appreciating quality to appreciating service, an idea considered Western. Russians on line at McDonald’s seem to like systematic, efficient and predictable service when everyday Russian life is often associated romantically with confusion and disorder. Quality of service also attracts Russians in droves to IKEA. On opening day of the Moscow IKEA megastore two years ago, Russians waited hours in traffic jams extending kilometers to buy what Russian manufacturers had been unable to provide: stylish, if inelegant, furniture and appliances, assembled reliably at affordable prices, with an emphasis on serving the customer. I outfitted an apartment at the IKEA superstore, and was amazed at the efficiency. Two days later I was stunned when I asked the store to send a driver to replace an incorrect component they had delivered. I had prepared myself for a heated confrontation, but the IKEA representative agreed to send a driver within 24 hours, without additional charge, and apologized for the inconvenience. One normally doesn’t encounter such simple courtesy from service reps in Russia. Russians who find courtesy, and stores where they are valued customers, will frequent them, regardless of nationality. The Forbidden Fruit
Finally, Russians have embraced nonRussian goods because they have been deprived of them. This fact is especially true for luxury goods. The stories of Russians paying $200 for American-made Levis are now cliché. A Russian friend recently spent his savings on a German car while he continues to live at his parents’ apartment on a foldout couch, as most unmarried Russians do. The acquisition of material goods unavailable in Soviet days precedes the pursuit of personal space and freedom. Voices protesting globalism in Russia come from those people who have been left behind in the transition from a command to a market economy – voices that will fade when supporters of the Soviet 22 Milton Magazine
AP/Wide World Photos
Service
People cross a packed parking lot in front of the first IKEA store opened just outside Moscow in March 2000. Built to serve the needs of over
10 million Muscovites, the Scandanavian store is claimed to be the biggest in Europe of its kind.
system pass. The elite and emerging middle class shaping Russian culture support integrating with the world economy and see Russia as a natural participant in the international forums it once co-dominated. Unlike the open concern about NATO expansion, Russians embrace the expansion of the European Union as a blessing, recognizing that healthier economies on their borders mean consumers buying Russia’s natural resources. As part of this integration, the Putin administration is aggressively pursuing entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) and faces only muted opposition from those who argue that reduction of tariffs and other trade barriers will flood the Russian consumer market before Russian producers are ready to compete.
profligate misallocation and outright theft of its IMF funds fell on deaf ears. My Russian friend actually suggested that, had the IMF given more, those stealing the money would eventually have tired of their theft and begun allocating a greater portion of the funds to their intended purposes!
While most Russians consider globalism a natural and beneficial force, they have learned from the past 10 years the dangers of relying too heavily on highly political international institutions. A Russian friend drew an example from the packages offered by the IMF to Mexico and Russia during their respective economic crises. The Mexican package was considerably larger, he claimed, because of America’s disproportionate influence on those lending institutions and the greater importance of Mexico to the American economy. My comments about Russia’s
In the last two years, Russia’s interaction with the global community, both by the state by individual corporations, has dramatically changed. After years of acting unreliably, Russia has emerged as a more responsible player on the international scene. High oil prices have boosted Russia’s ability to repay loans, but I would credit the Putin administration, as well. In Russia, the president sets the tone, because the country is accustomed to looking to the single leader (the czar) as a figurehead, and because checks on the president are weaker than in most democratic systems. Putin, portraying the image of stability and of realistic reform, approached earlier chaos problem by problem, and used his broad support to push issues through a largely compliant legislature. A symbol is Russia’s new income tax, a flat rate of 13%, the lowest in all of Europe – this in a country that was communist 10 years ago!
AP/Wide World Photos
Hundreds of Muscovites line up around the first McDonald's restaurant in the Soviet Union on its opening day, Wednesday, January 31, 1990.
Russians playing by the rules of the global economy will not behave as blind converts. Based on their difficulties during the past 10 years and their apprehension about American pre-eminence, Russia will continue to draw examples of how the rules of the international economic game are highly politicized and stacked, if not always against Russia, then at least in someone else’s favor. For example, Russians seized on the apparent hypocrisy of America’s introducing heavy tariffs to protect its domestic steel producers against what has been called “uncompetitive pricing.” While many Russians appreciate Western culture and often strive to behave or appear more Western, they define themselves as different from the countries with which they will gradually integrate. Witness their strong reaction to what they consider an international, but primarily American, conspiracy against their athletes in Salt Lake City and their determined defense of longtime allies that the United States has singled out as its greatest enemies. This tendency to view Russia, in relation to the West, as a victim of discrimination, along with more objective criticism of perceived double standards in business, will keep Russians discriminating, yet consistent, supporters of integration in the world economy.
After the events of September 11
Russians have dealt with 9/11 soberly, because they associate America’s victimization with their own (most directly in the 1999 bombings of the Moscow apartment buildings). Russians have not lorded the lessons of September 11 over America, despite having been the target of much American criticism over what Russians perceive to be a parallel battle against Islamic fundamentalism in Chechnya. Rather, they have emphasized September 11 as a wake-up call and an event that should unify Russia with the other democracies in a common struggle. The Putin administration has felt increasing political pressure to demand more explicit quid pro quo from the Western powers for the moral and logistical support Russia has offered America after September 11. Behind this pressure lies broad recognition within Russia that, despite paying lip service to increased international cooperation, the Bush administration has continued to pursue unilateral policies across issues such as missile-defense schemes, to skirt forums such as the United Nations, where Russia shares a powerful voice, and to demonize established Russian allies such as Iraq, Iran and North Korea.
Russians feel that September 11 produced only a veneer of American support for strategic cooperation with other countries confronting international terrorism. In lieu of altering its own strategic plans, America has been more willing to offer Russia rewards in the economic realm. The most vivid quid pro quo I’ve seen has been an acceleration of the WTO accession process, with delegations flying in and out of Moscow with great regularity, sense of purpose, and fanfare. Each WTO meeting ends with a grand pronouncement about how well things are going, with everyone on the road toward reaching consensus on issues that were recently major hurdles. This is globalism at work as a tool for achieving political goals. Some claim that the Putin administration recognized that it stood to gain more from the Western European democracies than from the United States on both the security and economic fronts and, therefore, has played the post-September 11 scene as a game of triangular diplomacy. If so, Putin seems to have hit the target, if pronouncements presage concrete measures to come. For example, Romano Prodi and Vladimir Putin announced the “Prodi-Putin Protocol” for energy cooperation. Since then, Russian political and oil industry leaders have emphasized that need for formalizing in long-term energy contracts providing Western Europe with security of supply and reduced reliance on the Middle East, while guaranteeing for Russia “competitive” oil prices. The events of September 11 have created a more constructive role for Russia to play in the club of countries that set the rules of the global economy.
Ben Barlow ’93
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Mideast History leads a resurgence of non-U.S. History electives
L
arry Pollans (History Department) points to this spring’s brouhaha over the Harvard commencement speech entitled “The American Jihad” as the most recent evidence that Milton Academy needs to offer a course in Mideast history. “Extremists had co-opted jihad. A moderate tried to reclaim its original meaning, and he was raked over the coals. That shows you how incendiary the issue is. Are we going to avoid those issues at Milton Academy? Of course not!” Milton Academy students would seem to agree. There has been a general resurgence of non-U.S. history electives at Milton since 9/11, but Mideast History led the pack, drawing enough interest to fill two sections. Larry Pollans will organize the course into three parts: ancient history, Arab empires, and modern history. Ancient history will look at the Koran and the Old and New Testaments for evidence of land claims. “You can only be dispossessed if you first possessed,” says Pollans, so students will examine excerpts from ancient documents to discover where claims of possession were established. While some of the work of the Arab Empire will focus on the evolution of Arab culture from 700 A.D. to 1300 A.D., the bulk of attention will be devoted to the Ottoman Empire from 1300 A.D. to World War I. “The Arab Empire
Larry Pollans, History Department
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will show the glory, the depth, and the sophistication of Arab civilization,” explains Larry. Students will see the scope of the literature, the vastness of the libraries. They will learn about important figures in the Empire like Iben Kaldun, an explorer who traveled as widely as Marco Polo.
don’t want them to see history as a fixed thing. The more affirmed they feel, the harder I will push them to support their position. They will learn that history is not infallible. Ali was a secular Muslim. Said’s family was displaced. We tend to look at history differently when it’s personal.”
Finally, students will study the dismantling of the Ottoman Empire after World War I, what Larry calls “the interface of the decline of the great Arab empire and the emergence of the great Western powers.” Among the subjects covered will be Lawrence of Arabia, the mandate laws, the Balfour Declaration, Muhammed Ali (not the boxer but the Egyptian leader who led an Islamic insurgence against the Empire), and the formation of the state of Israel. Students will see how the present-day conflicts arose from the fallout of the Ottoman collapse.
Religious orthodoxy can lead to another form of this personalized take on history. In a recent conversation, Rabbi Elana Kanter, Milton Class of ’78, told Larry that modern intellectuals are no longer establishing mandates on religious writings. The writings cannot be taken literally. In one of the many case studies he will use, Larry will ask students to test the claim that God gave Hebrews the land. They will discover that modern histories of the ancient world and archaeological findings have uncovered no evidence that Solomon existed and only one piece of evidence, a marker, that King David existed. So are the claims rooted in history or in myth? “If you are orthodox, you are stuck. You must hold to the infallibility of the religious texts. The settlers on the West Bank are orthodox, so they press claims.” With a wry smile, Larry then adds, “You can see my bias. That will be my challenge. It is my responsibility as mediator of text to be evenhanded.”
Larry expects that students will come to the course with one of two notions: that the course will affirm their point of view or that it will give them The Answer to the Mideast conflicts. Pollans plans to disabuse them of both notions. The subject is too vast and too complicated to submit to any single interpretation. “There are no reasonable points of view. Or there’s only one, the one you subscribe to. The appropriators appropriate what they want to appropriate.” Larry will not provide a series of balanced writings but rather writings that in toto present the full range of opinions on the Mideast conflicts. The summer reading, for instance, will be The Clash of Fundamentalisms by Tarik Ali. (It is the book with George Bush in Arab garb on the front and Osama Bin Laden in a suit on the back.) Later they will read The Dispossessed by Edward Said. “I want students to see that there are lots of ways of approaching problems. I’m not trying to get them to change their minds; I want them to test their own assumptions. I
The need for evenhandedness may be the most important lesson the students take from the Mideast History course. History defies certainty, and the best historians are able to suspend personal bias and apprehend history in all of its contradictory, elusive richness. In Larry Pollans, who is wise enough and brave enough to acknowledge his own struggles to find the truth, they have the perfect guide. Rod Skinner ’72 Director of College Counseling
What time is it in Jerusalem? Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the exchange rate in Turkey? Grade 4 weaves all subjects into an exploration of the Middle East
M
ilton Lower School fourth-graders embark on a yearlong comprehensive adventure: a tour of the ancient and present day Middle East. Beginning with an archaeological study of Mesopotamian culture that includes a replicated archaeological dig, students research ancient Egypt from a historical perspective and end the year studying contemporary Middle Eastern cultures. Middle Eastern flags hang from the ceiling of the fourth-grade classroom and rugs, bags, artwork and bookshelves filled with movies and books, including several copies of The Arabian Nights, line the walls. Dressed in Middle Eastern garb and equipped with individual laptop computers, the students learn about the Middle East through a variety of sources. Trips to the Islamic Academy, Temple Israel, a mosque, a Christian Orthodox church
and the Gregorian Rug Company broaden studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; understanding. Guest speakers, such as Harvard archaeologist Mark Lehner, give firsthand accounts of what life was and is like in Middle Eastern countries. With help from the Internet, students find the current time in Jerusalem; the exchange rate in Turkey and the weather in Bahrain; they read articles from an Algerian newspaper and search for historical and cultural information. With the fruits of their research, fourthgraders create projects, reports, historical fiction and write pen-pal letters. A typical math assignment sends a student on a pretend shopping spree, and she determines the exchange rate for the things that she bought. A writing assignment might ask a student to write a letter to himself from an Afghani boy or girl and discuss his or her daily activities and hobbies. In class,
students read a novel about Afghanistan from the perspective of a 10-year-old boy and discuss current events such as suicide bombings in Israel. The year ends with a huge Middle Eastern Fair, with authentic dishes, music, dance and guest speakers. Modeled after a Cairo bazaar, each student using information collected throughout the year, represents a Middle Eastern country and sells food and other items native to that particular area. Using the latest exchange rates, student peddlers haggle with other fourthgraders, parents and teachers over the price of goods. The fourth-graders end the year with an understanding of the complexities and influences involved in how and why people at other times and in other places do what they do.
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In•Sight Photograph by Jake Garfinkle ’03: Adia Bay ’02 at a September 11 memorial expression, Ground Zero, New York City
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Eighth Distinguished Alumni Seminar
Tending to the Life of the Soul Are we experiencing a resurgence of personal spirituality, or identity with religious institutions? What demands are members of congregations putting on their clerics today?
Q
uestions about the role of religious faith in the human experience have secured the foreground of public discussion and debate during this chaotic year. Milton chose this moment to gather graduates whose career commitments merged personal spirituality and tending to the spiritual needs of others at the Eighth Distinguished Alumni Seminar on Graduates’ Weekend. Clerics representing four denominations, along with a Milton Academy senior who represented the Muslim faith, offered honest, diverse and thoughtful commentary. At the start, each relayed his or her own journey, recognizing and accepting a religious vocation. This exercise itself exposed the uniqueness of every human’s spiritual quest. It described the web of often-
unpredictable relationships among some common elements: the search for personal meaning, the identity and history of specific religions, the role of family, characteristics of service within a certain denomination. At least two speakers, Corey Brennan ’92 and Elana Kanter ’78 ultimately followed what appeared to be a logical trajectory – Corey to the ministry, and Elana to the rabbinate. Following her activism at Milton and in college, Chloe Breyer ’87 began her career with ventures that channeled her social and political consciousness; her vocation ultimately allowed her to integrate all her interests and skills. David Adjemian ’79 described a life – until he was 30 – that was nearly anti-religious. He was opposed to what he under-
Seminar participants (left to right): David Ajemian ’79, Fazal Yameen ’02, Corey Brennan Grabar ’92, Chloe Breyer ’87, and moderator Mark Hilgendorf of the history department. Elana Kanter ’78, missing from the photograph, also participated in the seminar.
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stood the agenda of the Catholic Church. A personal revelation about the truth of Christ, he said, “knocked me off my horse and turned me around,” and he entered the seminary. Each person described the challenges involved in preparing to serve. Corey captured a familiar idea when she said that her divinity study at Duke made it clear that her faith was both a study and a life, that a religious vocation demands an integration of the two. The panelists, including Fazal, a Class I student, speaking from his own religious experience, discussed questions posed by Mark Hilgendorf, dealing with the our ability and our struggle, as Americans, to attribute meaning to the events of 9/11. From her experience in her congregation, Corey witnessed shock and pain but no questioning of faith. Chloe, working in New York as a spiritual counselor at Ground Zero, witnessed the searing equality of pain that wrecked any sense of status and that destroyed all stereotypes. She realized the importance of focusing altruism, and of interfaith dialogue. She found herself asking, “what is the prophetic role of religion at this time?” David Adjemian found himself asking his parishioners to reflect on their own relationship with God, and to consider the redemptive value of suffering. Elana reflected on the thirst for community, which was present before 9/11, but grew perceptibly. The quest for the meaning of life, and to be part of something greater than the self was intense. We deal with our sense of vulnerability by returning to our faith and core values, she said. It is important to remember, she told the group, that some are guilty, but all are responsible.
Reverend David J. Ajemian ’79 David Ajemian is a parochial vicar at St. John the Baptist Parish in Peabody, Massachusetts. A graduate of Harvard and the John XXIII National Seminary, David was ordained in May 2001. David describes his life as “more challenging and fulfilling than I could ever have dreamed.” Rabbi Elana Kanter ’78 Elana Kanter is an instructor of Bible and Rabbinic Literature at the Jess Schwartz Jewish Community High School in Phoenix, Arizona. Elana was a member of the first class of women at the Jewish Theological Seminary’s Rabbinical School in New York, where she was ordained in 1989. She has been involved in Jewish day school education for 20 years, having served for a brief period as an intern chaplain at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. Reverend Chloe Breyer ’87 Chloe Breyer, an Episcopal priest, serves at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City, is chaplain at The Cathedral School, and director of the Cathedral’s Forums on Religion and Public Life, a conference series covering topics ranging from religion and conflict in the Middle East to fundamentalism in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Since September 11, Chloe has volunteered regularly as a chaplain for the Red Cross.
Mohamed Fazal Yameen ’02 A senior from Mt. Vernon, New York, Fazal Yameen was the house monitor of Wolcott House, co-head of Onyx (student cultural support group), a peer leader (trained to provide student counseling), and a MAC Ranger (resource person in the computer lab). Active in Milton extracurricular life, Fazal enjoyed community service and leadership in the boarding program. Reverend Corey Brennan Grabar ’92 Corey Brennan Grabar is as an associate minister for youth and young adults at a Presbyterian church in Raleigh, North Carolina. A graduate of Princeton University and the Duke Divinity School, Corey has worked with a local hospice, served as an interim youth pastor, and as a chaplain at a youth camp. While at Duke, Corey was a youth ministry intern in two churches and upon graduation, became an associate minister at a church in Southern Pines, North Carolina. Mark Hilgendorf Mark Hilgendorf, the seminar moderator, has been a member of the Milton Academy History Department since 1982, Mark teaches U.S. History, African-American History, and Senior Seminar. He is the faculty advisor of the Self-Government Association (SGA) and a dorm parent in Hathaway House.
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Francis Davis Millet
T
he Milton Medal is the highest award given by Milton Academy. It is presented to the individual who is the embodiment of the Milton spirit, personifying the standards, which we all strive to achieve, as demonstrated through extraordinary service to Milton. This year, our recipient is Francis Davis Millet. Just to set the record straight, that’s the last time I’ll refer to our honoree other than as Mr. Millet. I’ve tried, not very hard mind you, to use the first name, to use the wonderful FDM initials, but I’ve never been comfortable with other than “Mr.” It’s more formal, for sure, but it brings me back to first meeting him in the fall of 1950 when as a 13-year-old I started my association with Milton. And the use of “Mr.” shows more respect for one’s elders, at least that’s how I was brought up – and there can never be too much respect for Mr. Millet.
And who can blame him? So many words have been spoken about him over the years. It took Mr. Millet two years to send personal, calligraphied, responses to the four books’ worth of messages he received on his fiftieth Milton anniversary (his first wake, as he has called it). Ultimately, however, Mr. Millet yielded to our need, upholding those principles that are the fiber of his being: doing the honorable thing, extending care for others. He is here. This is his sixtieth year at Milton, and he will celebrate his 85th birthday in two weeks. Mr. Millet won’t want excessive verbiage, but even skimming across the top on his role at Milton is challenging. From 1942 through this very day, he has been a teacher and a coach. He has also administered in numerous capacities, but most notably in the field of admissions. For 29
years he lived in dormitories, and for 31 more, he has lived on campus involved daily in the lives of students. During all this time he has been a trusted and beloved advisor, not only to his assigned advisees but also to many, many more adults and children, including me and my family and many of you in the audience. And to all, he has been a friend. He has devoted himself, with affection and firm support, to students from six full decades (and counting): • from the ’40s through the spring of 2002; • from World War II through Korea, Vietnam, and our current “war” against terror; • from recessions to boom times to recessions (to the current slow recovery);
I’m told that word was about, through the School hallways, that Mr. Millet considered not appearing on this stage today. He has, after all, spent years evading our relentless yearning to award him the Milton Medal. From our point of view, the ways to honor Mr. Millet are too few, and too inadequate. More importantly, as we all know, our honoree likes to choose the venue, and the conditions under which he’ll appear.
Mr. Millet (left) awaits patiently for the award of the Milton Medal by Marshall Schwarz ’54 (right), president of the board.
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Frank Millet Responds
• from the straight-laced ’50s (that may be too severe) through the “drug years” (let’s hope they’re past tense) to today’s era, characterized by what have been called “organization kids,” eagerly polishing résumés for college and beyond. At Milton, Mr. Millet has been part of moving to coeducation, to diversifying students and faculty, to increasing international students. He has witnessed the openings of numerous buildings and shifts in patterns, policies and people. He has worked honestly and successfully with five School heads. Reflecting on yet another change during his time, Mr. Millet used to say that he’d outlasted the typewriter and was prepared to outlast the computer. He was the first coach on campus, however, to use the Web site to spread the word about his sport. The squash team history, roster and results were blasting into cyberspace earlier than most everything else at Milton. How has Mr. Millet amassed this enormous collective affection and admiration that he certainly did not obviously cultivate? His quiet power is rooted in deceptively simple virtues spun out consistently, over many hundreds of relationships, with tentative, growing, young people. Humble, insightful, honest, caring, witty and loyal, Mr. Millet has an uncanny ability to give students what they need – in a given moment and for a lifetime. He did it – and still does it – in a thousand small ways: teaching squash to an unathletic novice; setting out milk and cookies in his apartment every Friday night in the ’60s; enduring pizza with his team; appearing at the side of the field for
a word with the football coach before every game; lending a wise and calming word to a parent; giving comforting distractions to a homesick boy; singling out someone passing by for a comment, sending a handwritten card. (What fun it is to receive an envelope or postcard with that unmistakable handwriting. It always makes me smile.) A graduate from the Class of ’91 noted that what he had learned from Mr. Millet, he learned by carefully observing how Mr. Millet acts, speaks, and listens to other people. Just as Yogi Berra said, “You can observe a lot by watching.” Interviewed ten years ago by John Charles Smith of the English department for the Graduates’ Newsletter, Mr. Millet said. “I don’t think I would have been a very good stockbroker… and obviously I couldn’t have played as much squash and stayed as reasonably healthy as I am at, whatever, 74…it’s been a good life for me…from my point of view, I couldn’t be happier.” I believe he has the same sentiments today. Nothing’s changed! Mr. Millet, you’ve had a major impact on so many of us, and, for sure, on the life and success of Milton Academy. You have held each of us and Milton Academy to the highest standards of character and excellence, and you have rewarded us with your friendship. You honor us as we honor you with the Milton Medal. H. Marshall Schwarz May 11, 2002
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hank you – The President of the Board and the Head of School.
I find all this a bit difficult to acknowledge adequately. If one considers the previous 29 recipients of this award which was instituted two decades ago – teachers administrators, trustees, benefactors – one is surprised, grateful, honored to be on the same page with these distinguished Miltonians. I have used this story before, but in the words of Mae West, “Too much of a good thing is not enough.” In the mid-twenties, I was always intrigued by Al Smith. On one occasion, when he was governor of the Empire State, he was asked to address the inmates of Sing Sing, the well-known state penitentiary on the banks of the Hudson. He was puzzled as to the proper salutation for his audience: gentlemen, fellow Americans, fellow Democrats, friends – none of the above seemed appropriate, but he solved his dilemma by saying, “I am happy to see so many of you here.” It will be impossible to thank you all individually, but I will mention one former advisee (there may be others present) Todd Wyett ’84 who is here from the Middle West. He, with J.B. Pritzker ’82, initiated the Admission Chair which funds the Dean of Admission. A few months ago I interviewed with a sixth-grader who was seeking admission to the sixth class. He was, even then a superb tennis player. I asked him how he had become so skilled. His answer was, “I have had excellent coaches.” His response is appropriate in my case, although perhaps enjoyment could be substituted for success. There have been, for me, many excellent role models. The first was Arthur Perry whom I first met when I was teach-
31 Milton Magazine
ing in Santa Fe, New Mexico, before WWII. He invited me to let him know if I came back east. I did come back in 1942 and was delighted to have my first position at Milton teaching the sixth grade which I did for two years. Arthur Perry placed me as a floormaster in Robbins House run by Reggie Nash, another remarkable man, house master, history teacher, baseball coach from 1919 to 1952. Then there was Cy Jones who was headmaster from 1942–1947; Mr. Hunt who was in charge of Warren Hall the study hall for Classes IV–VI; Howard Smith who was the chairman of the classics department. These, and many others, were the ones who helped me along the way. Actually I was hired by Mr. Field who was the headmaster from 1917–1942. His predecessor, Mr. Lane 1910–1917, was someone I became friendly with in my early Milton years. Mr. Field was followed by Arthur Perry, David Wicks, Jerry Pieh, Ed Fredie and our current head of school, Dr. Robertson.
32 Milton Magazine
Herbert G. Stokinger (Stoky) deserves special mention – he has been an inspiration for 60 years. Back in 1944, he asked John Pocock and me if we would start and coach a ninth grade – Fourth Class Warren Hall football team to compete in a tri-league with the two Milton junior high schools, Central and Cunningham. Bright-eyed and eager we reported to Stoky in his office the next afternoon. He handed each of us a shovel saying the first thing we should do was to dig holes for the goal posts. Our relationship has improved since then. Later on there were others whose advice and friendship were invaluable, John Torney, Barc Feather, Betty Greenleaf Buck. Betty Buck was not at Milton when I was with the Lower School, but we became good friends when she returned at the close of the war. One story that makes me smile is from a few years ago when I mentioned to Betty that recently I had had the most pleasant lunch with Ned Johnson who had been in my first sixth
grade in 1943. Betty had remembered Ned from the fourth grade. She said to me “Oh, that must have been fun; Neddy was such a pleasant boy. I wonder whatever happened to him.” I was able to assure her that he managed to survive. It has been people like Arthur and Emilie Perry to whom I owe so much. There are many others. It has been the entire Milton constituency – faculty, parents, graduates and certainly, students, who made and will still continue to make, this School for me and countless others, the caring vibrant and challenging environment in which we work and live.
Completion of the Student-Faculty Center: May 2003
O
n Graduates’ Weekend 2002, Milton launched the construction of the long-awaited student-faculty center. Ground-breakers, who had devoted months of thought, planning, and design to the project, wielded sparkling shovels and sported the requisite hard hats as they designated the spot where next year the
student-faculty center will welcome all. The plan for the student-faculty center exploits the natural campus “crossroads” and provides a single space that will be part of every person’s day-to-day life on campus. The new center and renovations to the classroom buildings on either side of it will provide: a student center for boarding and day students to gather out-
side of class; spaces for faculty-student meetings; offices for student activities; common areas for Classes I–IV; the Academy bookstore and mailboxes; increased technological resources for faculty and students; and faculty offices, workspaces, and a faculty center. The center will be completed in May 2003.
- Saturday, May 11, 2002 2:00 p.m. Robin Robertson Head of School Ogden Hunnewell ’70 Board of Trustees William Rawn and Jim Alexander William Rawn Associates and Finegold Alexander and Associates, Inc. H. Marshall Schwarz ’54 President, Board of Trustees Bob Tyler Class I Dean Trey Hunt ’03 Michelle Vines ’03 Co-Head Monitors “Jerusalem” C. Hurbert H. Parry
Breaking ground and launching the student-faculty center were (left to right): Bob Tyler, Class I dean; Marshall Schwarz ’54, president of the board of trustees; William Rawn and Jim Alexander, architects; Robin Robertson, head of school; Trey Hunt and Michelle Vines, co-head monitors; and Og Hunnewell ’70, chair of the buildings and grounds committee, board of trustees.
“We come together today not as students, faculty and alumni but as one community, dedicated to making Milton a better place. If you look around you will see this amazing, beautiful campus…. [This campus] was created over and over again by the men and women like yourselves who came before us. There have been numerous groundbreakings like this one. Today we continue the tradition of dedication to creating something greater than ourselves, something that will stand years after we’re gone and continue to make Milton a stronger place.” —Michelle Vines, Co-head monitor 33 Milton Magazine
. ’ Member of the Board of Trustees 1985–2002 President, 1997–2002 “a boy who will make a good leader and who will not be spoiled by his leading.”
T
he seniors in the Class of 2002 may not acknowledge that much of what we say about them today will hold true some 48 years from now. But, let’s look at a case in point. The college recommendation for Marshall Schwarz, Class of ’54, described him as “a boy who will make a good leader and who will not be spoiled by his leading. He is modest, even diffident, sincere, warm in his friendships, very honest and very honorable; a person who means what he says. He does not cultivate his mates or his teachers. He does a good job all the time and is not afraid of sticking to his – usually – reasonable objectives. He has a suavity and an ingenuousness of manner that are rather charming. He has a good sense of humor, a well-rounded perspective, a not inconsiderable fund of information on many subjects (especially sports), and with it all a cheerful and wholesome outlook. His only bad habits are illegible handwriting and the most atrocious spelling known to man.
You have not been spoiled by your leading, Marshall. For 12 years you served on the board of trustees. During that time, you led a ramping-up of our fundraising efforts, changed the identity of the development committee to a more broad-based external relations committee, and cochaired the major gifts committee of The Challenge to Lead. You actively participated in the student life committee and the deliberations of the executive committee.
H. Marshal Schwarz ’54
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Somewhat reluctantly, but with the unanimous support of your fellow board members and Mr. Millet, I am told, you assumed the presidency from Harold Janeway in 1997. The announcement of your election in the Milton Magazine contained the quotation that you were “eager to affirm the School’s mission as a national boarding school enhanced by exciting and involved day students and to position the School securely at the start of its third century.” The course was set; the objective, clear. One of the few true secrets behind a good head of school is that a good head has to have a great board president. You were such a board president, for Ed Fredie in his last two years and for me in my first three. Over the course of those five years, like it was when as young actor you played in The Mikado, Charlie’s Aunt and Playboy of the Western World, your blocking has been impeccable. “First things first” demanded achieving the fundraising objectives of The Challenge to Lead. At the same time, you ensured that the financial well-being of the Academy through securing more effective management of the day-to-day fiscal issues and of the endowment. In June 2000, two years after the Milton Bicentennial, we celebrated historic gift totals, as The Challenge to Lead came to an end. You have strengthened the processes of the board, introducing flexibility when that was required, and insisting on consistency and compassion in every aspect of the board’s work. You recognize the importance of set and setting in any production, and your sense of tone and values are unfailing, whether directed at graduation or other celebrations. A fine mind requires a fit body, so it is not surprising that Milton today reflects your deep commitment to scholar athletes. The Athletic and Convocation Center opened in 1998, providing hoops, ice, weights,
lockers, an indoor track and the Sacerdote Trophy cases to support and celebrate those athletes. As for the mind part, the Fitzgibbons Convocation Center has provided a place for the entire school to gather for assemblies and to hear speakers, promoting a sense of community and shared experiences among faculty, students and parents. The Challenge to Lead also spoke to financial aid and to faculty salaries. On your watch, faculty salaries came to be seen as part of a compensation package with a significant benefits component, including tuition remission. Compensation has not only increased, but it has become more equitable. To go back to that prime objective, over the past five years you have prodded, questioned, discussed, patted, and shaped, with gentle insistence, the boarding initiative. April 28, 2001 was a historic day. Under your leadership, the Board voted unanimously – after months of research and discussion – to undertake the boarding initiative. This is a great project: with its new spaces and places, like the studentfaculty center; more weekend activities; the marketing plan to increase boarding applicants and move to parity among the boarding and day populations; and the plan for new dormitories. Great projects require great commitment. You have manifested such commitment every step of the way. And, always one to follow through, you have agreed to lead the fundraising effort necessary to support it. Like the young man of 18, you “take pride in your work and responsibilities, and spare nothing to see that a just result is attained.”
Head of School Robin Robertson
I often think about riding down the Southeast Expressway with you on the way to Milton when I was a candidate. I commented on how quick and easy the trip was. You smiled, chuckled and said, “Sometimes it’s not quite so easy or so fast. The traffic can get pretty heavy.” And so traffic has, on occasion, been pretty heavy. But I thank you for prolonging the trip by two years, Marshall. It has been a privilege and an honor to work for and with you on the future of Milton Academy so that this beloved place will be strong and vital for our children’s children. Now, that’s vision. Robin Robertson April 27, 2002
Your tenure has been marked by thoughtfulness, subtlety, the refined question asked at the right moment, quiet persistence, and a faith in the power of working with others to accomplish a mighty objective. And, despite your issues with English teachers as a student, your ability to build and present a compelling case is flawless. You know when to be there and when to let it be.
35 Milton Magazine
. “ ” ’
O
n April 28, 2002, the Milton Academy Board of Trustees elected Franklin W. “Fritz” Hobbs president of the board. Fritz succeeds H. Marshall Schwarz, who assumed the presidency in 1997. Fritz’s experience as a graduate and a parent, as well as his 12 years of service as a board member, contribute to his deep awareness of Milton’s recent history, opportunities, challenges and successes. He enthusiastically endorses Milton’s character and mission, and has played an active role in numerous developments that have strengthened the School since he joined the board in 1990. “Milton is on the threshold of the Academy’s next historic moment,” Fritz said in assuming the presidency. “All the elements have come together in a fortuitous way: the right plan, strong leadership in the head of school and her administrative team, powerful and innovative faculty, and students of the highest caliber in every respect. I look forward to working on the fulfillment of these exciting goals and aspirations.”
consistently supported efforts to enhance student life, including building the Athletic and Convocation Center opened in 1998. He is a proponent of the boarding initiative: the plan that is bringing Milton a new student-faculty center; increased programming aimed at student life issues; a new recruitment campaign to increase boarding applicants; new dormitories; and equal numbers of boarding and day students at Milton. Head of School Robin Robertson is looking forward to working with Fritz in the coming years. “Fritz’s energy and drive to fulfill these initiatives inspires us all,” Robin said. “His strategic insight, broad experience, both in his career and as a board member, his incisive questions, and his great commitment are gifts to Milton. The long-term strength and stature of Milton Academy will certainly benefit from Fritz’s presidency.
As a trustee, Fritz has helped secure Milton’s leadership position among national independent schools during the tenures of three heads: Jerry Pieh, Ed Fredie, and, over the last three years, Robin Robertson. He has helped sustain the academic excellence at Milton; to that end he was an effective advocate, in 1995, of bringing Milton up to speed in technology by installing a campus-wide network infrastructure. From 1995–2000, Fritz was a member of the steering committee that planned and implemented the successful $50 million capital campaign, The Challenge to Lead. Always interested in the quality of student experience, Fritz
Fritz has long been interested in education. In addition to serving at Milton and on the Board of Overseers at Harvard, Fritz is a founding partner and longtime supporter of two broad-based educational initiatives. The first, Student Sponsorship, is an outstanding inner city school program. The second, Classroom Inc. provides public schools in a number of states with computers and software; currently 250 thousand students are using Classroom Inc. technology resources. Fritz’s two brothers, Matthew and William, were Milton Class of 1972 and 1967, respectively. His son, Nicholas, graduated from Milton in 1998. Several of Fritz’s nieces and nephews are Milton students: Hunter Stone, Christina Hobbs and Catherine Englis are members of Class II; Marland Hobbs and Williams B. Hobbs, Jr. enter Class IV this fall.
Fritz Hobbs ’65
36 Milton Magazine
Fritz is Chief Executive of the investment bank, Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin. Houlihan Lokey is the global leader providing financial restructuring advice. The firm is also actively engaged in financial advisory services including mergers and acquisitions and financings. Prior to his current position, Fritz had been associated with Dillon Read since 1972, and he became CEO of that firm in 1994. Dillon Read was acquired by Swiss Bank Corporation in 1997, and shortly afterward the combined company merged with UBS. Fritz was appointed global head of corporate finance at Warburg Dillon Read, Inc. In 1999, he became chairman of Warburg Dillon Read, a position he held until March 2000.
37 Milton Magazine
Milton Academy 2002 Awards and Prizes
Cum Laude Class I Katherine Lorraine Brodie Ethan Gus Brown Chloe Allen Byruck Elizabeth Cabot Caroline Tapley Carlson Tze-cheng Chun Wen-Chuan Dai Christopher Michael Dalton Caroline Stoker Donovan *Chloe Djenne Dugger Laura Ellen Faulkner Hillary Claire Frankel Momoko Hirose Alice Adrienne Izumo Nikola Denchev Kojucharov Jesse Nathaniel Last Seth Michael Magaziner Anne Whitman Matthews Sara Reed Perkins Elizabeth Grace Pope Jennifer Amy Ragus Katherine Elizabeth Ramsey Daniel Howard Rizzotto Pablo Manuel Ros Emily Tyson Russell-Roy Ruth Anne Sarah Schlitz Marissa Joanna Seamans Naomi Moon Siegel James Reid Sigel David Linfield Simons *Yvona Kristina Trnka-Amrhein Jacqueline Tse Gregory John Valiant Alexandra Cassatt Verini Katherine Haye Walker Paloma Andrea Zepeda Class II Margaret Aandahl Cochrane Marissa W. Geoffrey Jennifer Ching Man To
*elected to Cum Laude in 2001 38 Milton Magazine
Diplomas with Distinction Katherine Lorraine Brodie Elizabeth Cabot Caroline Tapley Carlson Tze-cheng Chun Christopher Michael Dalton Caroline Stoker Donovan Chloe Djenne Dugger Alice Adrienne Izumo Nikola Denchev Kojucharov Jesse Nathaniel Last Elizabeth Grace Pope Katherine Elizabeth Ramsey Daniel Howard Rizzotto Pablo Manuel Ros Emily Tyson Russell-Roy Ruth Anne Sarah Schlitz Naomi Moon Siegel James Reid Sigel David Linfield Simons Yvona Kristina Trnka-Amrhein Jacqueline Tse Gregory John Valiant Alexandra Cassatt Verini Katherine Haye Walker Paloma Andrea Zepeda
The Head of School Award The Head of School Award is presented each year to honor and celebrate certain members of Class I for their demonstrated spirit of self-sacrifice, community concern, leadership, integrity, fairness, kindliness, and respect for others.
Amma Asare Claire Evelyn Plumb Cheney Caroline Teresa Martignetti Curtis Christopher Michael Dalton Jennifer Anne Campion Doorly Elizabeth Ann Hadzima Ken Nakamura Gregory John Valiant
The James S. Willis Memorial award To the Headmonitors.
Paloma Nunes Herman Adrián Bayoán Rosselló-Cornier
The William Bacon Lovering Award To a boy and a girl, chosen by their classmates, who have helped most by their sense of duty to perpetuate the memory of a gallant gentleman and officer.
Christopher Michael Dalton Katherine Haye Walker
The Louis Andrews Memorial Scholarship Award To a student in Class II who has best fulfilled his or her potential in the areas of intelligence, self-discipline, physical ability, concern for others and integrity.
Brendan Matthew Byrne
The Korean War Memorial Scholarship Award Created in 1956 in memory of Frederick Sprague Barbour ’46, Thomas Amory Hubbard ’47, George Cabot Lee, Jr. ’47, and Sherrod Emerson Skinner, Jr. ’47, who gave their lives for their country and the United Nations. Awarded to a boy or girl from a developing region to further his or her education at Milton Academy, enriching the school in the process.
Nicholas Tatenda Tarisai
The Leo Maza Award Awarded to a student or students in Classes I–IV, who, in working within one of the culture or identity groups at the school, has made an outstanding contribution to the community by promoting the appreciation of that group throughout the rest of the school.
Nafeesah Allen Ken Nakamura
Walter A. Beyer Memorial
The A. Howard Abell Prize
Presented in memory of Walter A. Beyer, student and teacher at Milton Academy, to a boy and a girl in Class V who, in every aspect of school life, give of themselves cheerfully and thoughtfully in a manner that best exemplifies the qualities for which Walter Beyer is remembered.
Established by Dr. and Mrs. Eric Oldberg for students deemed exceptionally proficient or talented in instrumental or vocal music or in composition.
Jamie Elizabeth Mittelman Ian Hughes Halpern
Harrison Otis Apthorp Music Prize
Richard E. Sherbrooke Memorial
Awarded in recognition of helpful activity in furthering in the School an interest and joy in music.
Presented by the Class of 1963 to a boy in Class VI who, in his relationship with his classmates, best illustrates the qualities of consideration, unselfishness, and responsibility.
Timothy J. Walsh
Edward R. Foley Award Presented to a Class VI girl who works hard to develop her unique talents while maintaining a strong sense of community. This Class VI girl best exemplifies the qualities of straightforwardness, caring and unselfish contribution to her classmates and school which Mr. Foley most valued in students of the Middle School.
Hannah Frey Lauber
Rebecca Annabel Doggett Yvona Kristina Trnka-Amrhein
Wen-Chuan Dai Ruth Anne Sarah Schlitz
The George Sloan Oldberg Memorial Prize Awarded in memory of George Oldberg â&#x20AC;&#x2122;54, to members of the School who have been a unique influence in the field of music.
Jennifer Anne Campion Doorly Naomi Moon Siegel
The Science Prize Awarded to students who have demonstrated outstanding scientific ability in physics, chemistry and biology.
Christopher Michael Dalton Elizabeth Ann Hadzima Daniel Howard Rizzotto Ruth Anne Sarah Schlitz Gregory John Valiant
39 Milton Magazine
The Wales Prize Awarded in honor of Donald Wales who taught Class IV science for more than 36 years. It recognizes students in Class IV who have consistently demonstrated interest and excitement in science.
Elizabeth Jane Campbell Boris Rasin
The Robert Saltonstall Medal For pre-eminence in physical efficiency and observance of the code of the true sportsman.
André Devon Hardaway, Jr.
The A.O. Smith Prize Awarded by the English department to students who display unusual talent in expository writing.
Sarah Louise Ceglarski Chloe Djenne Dugger Lauren Patricia Greenberg Maynard
The Markham and Pierpont Stackpole Prize Awarded in honor of two English teachers, father and son, to authors of unusual talent in creative writing.
Caroline Tapley Carlson Alissa Jane Romanow
The Dorothy J. Sullivan Award To senior girls who have demonstrated good sportsmanship, leadership, dedication and commitment to athletics at Milton. Through their spirit, selflessness and concern for the team, they served as an incentive and a model for others.
Cameron Clarke Delany
The Donald Cameron Duncan Prize for Mathematics Awarded to students in Class I who have achieved excellence in the study of mathematics while demonstrating the kind of love of the subject and joy in promoting its understanding which will be the lasting legacy of Donald Duncan’s extraordinary contributions to the teaching of mathematics at Milton.
Gregory John Valiant
The Performing Arts Award Presented by the performing arts department for outstanding contributions in production work, acting, speech, audiovisuals and dance throughout his or her Milton career.
Tze-cheng Chun Hays Nathaniel Golden Tor Forbes Puckett Pablo Manuel Ros Emilie Blum Stark-Menneg Katherine Haye Walker Elizabeth Marion Wheat
The Kiki Rice-Gray Prize
The Robert L. Daley Prize
Awarded for outstanding contributions to Milton performing arts throughout his or her career in both performance and production.
Created by his students of 1984 in his memory and honor, this prize in classics is awarded to the student from Latin 4 or beyond whom best exemplifies Mr. Daley’s love of languages.
Nora Suzanne Delay
The Priscilla Bailey Award To a senior girl who has been a most valuable asset to Milton Academy athletics and to the Milton Academy Community – an athlete who has demonstrated exceptional individual skills and teamwork, as well as true sportsmanship.
Sarah Ann Shea
The Henry Warder Carey Prize To members of the First Class, who, in public speaking and oral interpretation, have shown consistent effort, thoroughness of preparation, and concern for others. Student-elected graduation speakers, Seth Magaziner (above) and Emilie StarkMenneg (right)
40 Milton Magazine
Ruth Anne Sarah Schlitz Elizabeth Snow Zembruski
Yvona Kristina Trnka-Amrhein
The Richard Lawrence Derby Memorial Award To an outstanding student of the Second Class in mathematics, astronomy, or physics.
Benjamin Joseph Steiner
The Alfred Elliot Memorial Trophy For self-sacrifice and devotion to the best interests of his teams, regardless of skill.
Samuel Croke Burke
The Benjamin Fosdick Harding Latin Prizes Awarded on the basis of a separate test at each prize level.
Level 5: Margaret Aandahl Cochrane Level 4: Arkady Ho Level 3: Robert Davey Hawkins
The Modern Languages Prizes Awarded to those students who, in the opinion of the Department, most exhibit the qualities of academic excellence, enthusiastic participation, and support of fellow students, both in class and outside.
Rory Kennedy ’06, Senator Edward M. Kennedy ’50, and Katherine Marr ’06
Paloma Nunes Herman Veda Igbinedion Alexandra Cassatt Verini
The Gorham Palfrey Faucon Prize Established in 1911 and awarded to members of Class I for demonstrated interest and outstanding achievement in history and social science.
Caroline Stoker Donovan Elinathan Nosakhare Ohiomoba Katherine Elizabeth Ramsey Pablo Manuel Ros David Linfield Simons Alexandra Cassatt Verini
The Milton Academy Art Prizes Awarded for imagination and technical excellence in his or her art and for independent and creative spirit of endeavor.
John Martin Anderson-Lynch Tze-cheng Chun Daniel Thomas Marshall Evans Emilie Blum Stark-Menneg
Marcos Reyna receives the traditional sock filled with quarters from H. Marshall Schwarz ’54 at Marshall’s last graduation as board president.
Senator Edward M. Kennedy ’50, graduation speaker
Trey Hunt ’03, co-head monitor; H. Marshall Schwarz ’54; Chloe Walters-Wallace ’03, class councilor; and Robin Robertson
41 Milton Magazine
’ 42 Milton Magazine
ormed ’82 perf n hneider c es for a S o tt h s e Benn night. ased on y b a s e rd c ie Satu seven p duates, e of gra audienc
“Dare to be True ” speak Dr. Mary er, Ann Ho pkins ’8 1
Members of the Class of 1972 ready for the glee club sing (left to right): Currie Cabot Barron, Peach Pierce Kraft, Jane Mackenzie Dennison, Jessie Hill and Dick Guest.
her, i Gallag wife, Sis h it w s ’77 l William ie and Ellie Michae ph o S , n dre and chil
Melissa Coleman ’87, Associate Dean of Students Weezie Gilpin and Rebecca Stone ’77
Graduates in the science lab for Diane Gilbert-Diamond’s (science department) class, DNA Fingerprinting
Reunio ners ro ll their the Asia own su n Socie shi with ty. stude
nt mem bers of
Helen Wilmerding Milner ’57 and Lisa Graves Wardlaw ’57
Bonita Billingsly Harris ’82 and her mother, Amy Billingsly
S
0 rrison ’5 loyd Ga L d n a 2 rrison ’5 cker Ga arah Cro
Members of the Class of 1997 inside the Athletic Center, opened the year after their graduation
43 Milton Magazine
Alexi Evivriades ’97, Ed Fredie (headmaster 1991–1999), Andreas Evivriades (math department) and Marcia Fredie during the Clambake
Hopk Lucinda is wife, h d n a ee ’52 David L
’61 ins Lee
Charles Flynn ’52 and Louise Elliot
Nick Bu rchfield , He Muenze , Class o ather McGhee and Ale f 1997 x
Lunch partners span the decades.
44 Milton Magazine
Bonnie Gardner ’52 and Herbert (Stoky) Stokinger ’24
Charles Fitzgerald ’52 with Milton memorabilia
Sharing a New England clambake under the tent with classmates and faculty
Members of the Class of 1962 reminisce at lunch.
Jean McCauly greets a former student.
45 Milton Magazine
The Head of School A three-day visit, a ten-year evaluation
U
nder the microscope this spring – reality tested by the reaccreditation committee – Milton Academy earned high praise. The committee found “a vibrant, happy school: a healthy community of dynamic and inspired administrators, dedicated and talented faculty, and bright and energetic students. The visiting committee was struck by the tremendously positive energy that permeates the campus, from the classrooms to the dorms to the many formal and informal public spaces so much enjoyed and well used.” The New England Association of Schools and Colleges’ (NEASC) ten-year evaluation centered on three-day visit to Milton. The task of the NEASC committee, chaired by Headmaster Bill Prescott of the Wheeler School in Rhode Island, was to weigh their observations against our description of ourselves: our mission, our work, our understanding of Milton’s successes, challenges and goals. Milton’s mission statement “reflects the sense of the entire community,” the committee noted, and it lives in the every-day life of the school:
dents themselves), further evidence of the deep-rootedness of mutual respect. While classes tend to be teacher-centered, they are not teacher-dominated.” Throughout the report, the committee made it clear that Milton’s major architectural program (The Core Facilities Project) is not only consistent with Milton’s mission, it will further the mission. This program, underway now, will provide much-needed new classrooms, technological advancements, spaces and places for adults and students to gather for work and play, fully modernized buildings, and new dormitories. The committee characterized the ambitious changes that we will experience over the next several years as a “major evolutionary era” for Milton. They felt that the strategic initiatives we have launched involve “extraordinary challenges [that] would befit a School that has been historically driven toward excellence.” The silver lining to the cloud of lengthy, comprehensive preparation for this reaccreditation, is that we, as a community, identified and articulated our challenges. The “school improvement” goal inherent in the NEASC recommendations is probably best realized when the committee affirms what the community has already set as its work ahead.
“The frank expression of opinions among all members of the School community is encouraged and even treasured. Students and faculty feel free to express their often-divergent views with amazing candor and without resorting to ad hominem attacks. Such candor is only possible if it is supOne of the committee’s major recommendations focuses ported by mutual respect, and respect for others is abundantly directly on the issue of institutional change. As is the case evident at Milton Academy.” with any organization involved in major new undertakings, certain dynamics are crucial to success: structured, ongoing With regard to Milton’s mission to cultivate a passion for communication; clarity of roles for the administration and learning, the committee wrote: faculty; inclusive and effective processes for decision-mak“The classroom is the center of school life: the quality of teaching; and a shared understanding about the relationship of ing is apparent, and there is a high level of stimulating give projects to furthering the mission. We have been acutely and take between teacher and student (and among the stu-
46 Milton Magazine
Finally, the committee endorsed a challenge the faculty posed, namely: students experience extraordinary intellectual growth at Milton; how do we assure that we address their emotional growth with equal effectiveness? FurtherA second recommendation acknowledged Milton’s role more, when we strive for excellence both inside and among independent schools as a leader in areas of multioutside the classroom, how does a School promote balance culturalism and diversity, and asked us to continue that in student and faculty lives? On campus, this goal has role. In fact, the second sentence in our mission statement acquired its own nickname: “achieving a ‘head-heart’ asserts that “Embracing diversity” is a core aspect of our balance” is our term for exploring how explicitly, how proidentity. The self-study process helped us take stock of our grammatically we should address the development of valprogress, and articulate our desire to re-energize our ues. How should we address adolescents’ ability to answer efforts. Clearly, we need to continue, and perhaps refine, the complex questions of their lives today? Is this a matter all our efforts to recruit diverse and talented students and for new curriculum, revision of existing curriculum, or are faculty and staff members. This has been a particularly sucindirect methods most effective – like the natural conneccessful spring, in that we will welcome six new faculty of tions between adults and students that develop so well at color to Milton next fall. But we must go beyond increasMilton? Is our pace – that striving for excellence in every ing diversity on campus, toward building and sustaining an endeavor – a problem with spin-off of its own? These are environment that is both reflective of and responsive to questions, originally raised by faculty, that we will be meetthat diversity. We look forward to planning and impleing and discussing in the coming year, looking at numermenting ideas for building multiculturalism deeper into ous possibilities for action to improve, even further, the the curriculum and the community. educational environment at Milton. Our appointment last fall of Phil Stice as Chief InformaI am grateful to John Warren, special assistant to the head tion Officer at Milton, reflects our focus on another of the of school, who directed our NEASC self-study. Our committee’s recommendations. “Continued attention to administrators and faculty members implemented the selfthe acquisition of, access to, and educational use of techevaluative process, and the painstaking process of composnology” was their charge, a goal we – along with many secing the self-study document with its inherent questions, ondary schools – are striving both to discern and to meet. surveys, and data-collection. The exercise was truly a valuAt Milton, with Phil’s leadership, we are upgrading our able one, and led us all to recognize, once again, what the core technology infrastructure, an essential prerequisite to committee expressed: “The pervasive, enduring sense of increased faculty use of technology. With other educators love for and loyalty to this institution are indisputably on campus, Phil is working on refining his vision for evident.” increased access, training, and effective use of technology in the various academic disciplines. The challenge is complex, and given the costs involved, our goal is to assess astutely, plan creatively, and implement effectively, enhancing academic technology across campus. aware and responsive to this challenge, and will continue to keep our minds on it as we work through the many levels of planning and implementation ahead.
47 Milton Magazine
Faculty Perspective Why Did I Stay? S
ometime in mid-winter of 1974, I first visited the Milton campus. Although I had been very happy teaching and coaching at Hamilton-Wenham High School, an opportunity to work at Milton seemed to offer new challenges, and a variety of new responsibilities. It would also afford Ellie the opportunity to pursue a masterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s degree in counseling, something she was ready to do, having taken three years from her teaching career to care for our two young sons. I had never been to a private school, even as a visitor, and my first solo visit to Milton was interesting.
I have three vivid recollections from that visit. I was given a tour of Robbins House after dinner, and on the third floor there were a half dozen sophomores passing around a Vodka bottle. My tour guide saw this at the same time I did, but I managed to stop and say hi, and enjoyed watching him grope for an answer when I asked if this happened every night. Earlier that day, I recall that about 75 students, boys and girls, were smoking in the Robbins House Smoking Room, which I learned later was one of the few â&#x20AC;&#x153;co-edâ&#x20AC;? hangouts on campus. Finally, it appeared to me that Milton was still in the throes of the late sixties, whereas public schools had shed much of that persona and moved ahead. When I returned home that evening I reported to Ellie all that I had seen and added the conclusion that Milton seemed like a year-round, glorified summer camp. In spite of these first impressions, and fully aware that there were challenges ahead, we came, intending to stay for
about five years. Did Milton move beyond this era? Was it a good decision? The obvious answer lies in the fact that 28 years later, Ellie and I are still here! As I retire, however, a little reflection is in order. Why did I stay? What I had not seen on that first visit was the lively intellectual climate of Milton. Although I had to spend some very late nights catching up on the interpretive side of history, I found that the level of thinking by both students and faculty was special, and the atmosphere it created spurred me to a constant search for new material and ways to present history. Countless formal and informal exchanges with colleagues over the years have challenged and stimulated me to become a better teacher. When it came time to teach courses new to me, colleagues invited me to sit in on
Ellie and Dick Griffin
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their classes for the entire year. Additionally, a constant stream of well-known historians, political figures, social activists and journalists have come to Milton for lectures or assemblies. The stimulation of my students and colleagues has kept me enthusiastic about the subjects I teach for 35 years! Milton has also given me the opportunity to pursue enthusiastically my coaching passion. I have always believed that athletics provides an education different from classroom learning, but just as important. The self-discipline, regular physical training and instant feedback along with the zest of competition, offers a nice balance to the more long term processes of learning to think, to write, and to problem solve effectively. Graduates have reported back time and again that the lessons they learned on the wrestling mat were among
the most valuable they learned at Milton. One, who has become a very skilled brain surgeon reported that “when I get to the fifth hour of a delicate brain operation, what I learned in the third period of wrestling matches sustains me.” At a more practical level, there were countless opportunities for a coach to help athletes who were having difficulty in history or time management or life in general, help given while both the student and coach were propped up against the wrestling room wall, drenched with sweat. I have already tipped my hat to my colleagues, now it is time for the students! Perhaps the most compelling thing about Milton is its students. What makes Milton unique is the great diversity of its student body. In only a few places could a teacher be mesmerized by a debate over the politics of Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson in which the students representing these historical figures were from Hong Kong and England. Nowhere but at Milton could a white boy from South Boston who had sat out school for a year during the busing controversy sit next to a young African-American man from Boston and discuss the civil rights movement. Sometimes when the foibles of adolescents try our patience, we forget what a privilege it is to teach students of such diversity and talent. I am absolutely sure that being around these students has
Robbins House
added years to my life and fed my enthusiasm for teaching. Since I turned 50, I have not reacted well to the term “aging faculty.” Anyone trapped in that perspective should look carefully at the faculty, because even a cursory examination would reveal that most of us look younger than the general population. Our secret “fountain of youth” is the students! At the heart of it, however, Ellie and I stayed because Milton has been a great place to live, work and to raise a family. Life here has been much more than a job. We have had the opportunity to live our lives together, at separate jobs, but always within a few hundred yards from each other. It has been a great place to bring up children. Their success today stems directly from their Milton education, and for
me it was a gift to have had the opportunity to coach them. I also learned about the remarkable supportive side of this community when I was ill in the ’90s.The outpouring of help and best wishes during that illness is best summed up by the Monday morning assembly which was held on our front lawn to welcome me home from my hospital stay. So there you have it! I stayed because I could not imagine a better place to be. Dick Griffin
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Post Script Post Script is a department that opens windows into the lives and experiences of your fellow Milton alumni. Graduates may author the pieces, or they may react to our interview questions. Opinions, memories, explorations, reactions to political or educational issues are all fair game. We believe you will find your Milton peers informative, provocative and entertaining. Please email us with your reactions and your ideas – cathy_everett@milton.edu.
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week before school opened, I was offered a teaching position at a Boston high school. I entered the teaching profession from the perspective of a young black woman educated in elite educational institutions. Needless to say, I was shocked, disappointed, infuriated and hurt by the realities of urban education. Small class sizes, well-informed teachers and abundant financial, academic and extracurricular resources, necessities of a productive academic environment, were luxuries at this high school. Although numerous factors made my students’ school experience very different than my own, the role of space and dialogue in the school perhaps set our educational experiences furthest apart.
My family immigrated to the United States in the late sixties with a clear intention to provide all of us children a firstrate education. Growing up, my mother’s mantra was, “All I can give you is the best education and education is power.” In her pursuit of the “best education,” my mother insisted that I transfer from a parochial school, to two different public schools in the city and later to private school. Besides ensuring that I would “forever be the new girl in school,” I did not understand what my mother was seeking. I was convinced that schools were institutions designed by sinister adults to keep children from being joyful. I believed all
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Debby Saintil ’92
adults secretly understood the reality of school as a glorified prison for young children, regardless of the location, teacher or students.
By the time I entered Shady Hill in the sixth grade, I hated school. On the first day of school I remember thinking, “is this really school?” There were little gray houses each belonging to a particular grade level. As students were promoted they migrated from one house to another. On the first day of school, my mother and I were directed to the sixth-grade house where Ms. Harriman greeted us by name. She explained that in the building were three bathrooms and two classes of 15 students. The classroom was surrounded with windows through which we saw the
“real world.” Our real world was filled with weeping willows, maples, blue jays, pigeons, squirrels, an occasional chipmunk, manicured bushes and blooming tulips. It was intriguing and seductive even for an 11-year-old. When the weather permitted, we were allowed out into the “real world” to read, write or run wild. The central subject for the sixth grade was Africa. By the end of September, on the decorated classroom walls was a conglomerate of our research papers on African wildlife, articles on current events in Africa and images of different ethnic groups in traditional garments. The walls of the classroom deepened my understanding of Africa. Within our classroom we had a reading area. (This place was separate from the formal library housed in another building.) On three large couches we sat and browsed through books on African mythology, landscape and apartheid in South Africa. I discovered, here, that Judy Blume and Mildred Taylor were my favorite authors. Shady Hill created a peaceful environment that inspired exploration and intellectual development. I entered Milton Academy as a tenth grader. At Milton the campus space promoted intellectual discourse. History, English and modern language classes were conducted in small circles of 15 students. Within these protected circles we engaged in intellectual dialogue about the course
content. I still have vivid memories of analyzing, page by page, John Milton’s use of symbolism in Paradise Lost. In those discussions I was frightened and awed by the complexities of humanity. I remember passionate debates centered on Thomas Jefferson’s integrity. In the living room of Faulkner or on the front steps of Robbins, I engaged in countless hours of conversation with friends about the purpose of life, happiness, sadness, existentialism, spirituality and our romantic crushes. In the dining hall, along with other active members of the Association of Independent Minority Students (A.I.M.S.), I developed strategies to convince the administration to become more proactive in diversifying the teaching staff. At Saturday football games, weekday track meets and soccer games I would cheer my friends as they displayed their athletic talent. I remember when the Performing Arts Center first opened and I prepared for speech team meets with Mr. DeLetis in rooms that were devoted for that sole purpose. We repeated after him, “red leather, yellow leather...Sally sells sea shells by the sea shore.” Because the space was ours, we were allowed to speak as loudly or as softly as we wished. Milton afforded me time and space to think. I was being trained to be a producer of knowledge thus, I was entitled and encouraged to express my thoughts. I did not have to be reminded that I was being trained for leadership. The environment taught me this. Shady Hill and Milton communicated a severe, empowering message: a special place was held sacred for me to flourish and become extraordinary. I was drenched in excellence.
, My first year of teaching I learned that education is power if it is the right type of education. Teachers reported to school 24 hours before the first day of school. Instead of the tree-lined pathways to classrooms, the school building was purposely designed as a box. On each floor there was
a “never-ending” hallway that brought students to their classes. Each class had three long windows that were protected by heavy black iron grids. Through these windows, depending on their location in the building, students could see a dilapidated private home, the dumpster, the teachers’ parking lot and a housing project. Nothing on the outside of these windows inspired and nothing on the inside of the school building enticed students toward academic achievement. Each teacher was allotted a bag of supplies that included two reams of lined paper, twelve pens and two boxes of chalk. Equipped with our “supplies” we prepared our classrooms for the students’ arrival. The paper and writing utensils were to help us camouflage the fact that these classrooms were designed as prison cells. In an attempt to feng shui my classroom, I spent my first year in search of posters of AfricanAmerican and Latino leaders as well as affordable replicas of the works of artists of color. Despite the “positive” posters, my classroom still exuded hopelessness. On my first day of school I arrived in my best suit, with my “flawless” lesson plan, ready to teach. My first lesson did not go as planned. Despite my good intentions,
my classes were unorganized. My curriculum did not address the needs of students who and could barely write a coherent paragraph. Three weeks into the school year, my students were still coming to class without writing utensils, completed homework assignments or motivation. I was confident that if I worked harder, my classes would improve. I read through old college and high school notes, went to the public libraries to gather reading materials, surfed the Internet and picked teachers’ brains for lessons that would engage students. Finally, Kephra, a senior in my class, exasperated with watching me struggle through a lesson on the political implication of European imperialism, asked me, “Ms., why you be using all those big words? I can’t understand you.” After a month of failing to teach, I realized something my students discovered the first day they met me. I did not know how to teach them. As a rookie, I was not savvy enough to recognize the hidden factors that affected my classroom teaching. Knowing the content was only a percentage of what was necessary to teach my students.
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It took a year for me to accept that my students did not have the academic foundation to replicate Milton-style discourse in the confines of their prison-like classes. My students were never trusted with time and space to think. The school day began at 7:45 a.m. and ended at 2:00 p.m. Students were given 20 minutes to eat lunch. At the end of the 20-minute break, students were rushed by bells and the school disciplinarian to their academic classes. In these classes of 28–30 students, physically mature young adults sat uncomfortably close to each other around several long tables. Several verbal fights ensued daily as students negotiated for personal space. For their own safety, as well of the safety of the school, students were not allowed to leave the “box” building until dismissal. When the 2:00 p.m. bell rang, students rushed out of the building grasping for freedom. Veteran teachers empathized with me declaring, “this isn’t any fancy prep school. First year is always hard and you will get the hang of it.” This did nothing to appease my ultimate sense of failure. Were prep school students the only ones allowed a sacred space to learn?
A good education teaches students to be extraordinary. From my own experience, I knew that whether or not a child receives a good education often hinges on the child’s socioeconomic status, ethnicity and gender. I was not exceptional. I knew that I was neither the brightest nor the most motivated student among my public school peers. If they had been exposed to an intellectually enticing environment, they too would understand that school is not a prison. If their school walls, teachers and peers let them know that “knowledge is power,” they too would have excelled academically. Given my experience as a student, I consciously decided that school was the arena in which I would fight for social justice. I thought that a bullet-proof curriculum and good intentions were the only weapons I needed to protect my students from a school system designed to teach them to accept mediocrity. To teach my students that they are powerful beings with the potential to transform their lives and the world, I discovered, required more than interesting homework assignments and engaging lessons. Space was the speechless teacher in my classroom. Currently, I teach at a charter middle school located on the top floor of a health care center for the elderly. There is no
gym, soccer field, library, performing art center or blooming tulips reminding our students of their excellence. However, it is in these classrooms that I have done my best teaching because I work with a community of teachers that genuinely believe in the potential of each student. We make sure students attend the best summer camp programs, take them on frequent trips to colleges and high schools, bring them to museums and plays, and make a concerted effort to expand their world. I design each lesson with one question in mind, “What opportunities do students have to think critically about themselves and recognize their potential?” Despite the lack of space and resources, our students come to class motivated and focused. They have learned to ignore the limitation of their space and bought into our collective vision for their future. They thrive in spite of the missing gym, soccer field, performing arts center and blooming tulips and manicured nature that would have reminded them of their excellence. Still measuring schools through the lens of Milton and Shady Hill, I can’t help but wonder what would become of my students if they too had a sacred space on the earth to blossom. You can reach Debby at teachersaintil@yahoo.com
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The Milton Classroom Turner’s Pond and High-Tech Science
W
eekly work in the field using the latest technological tools highlights the revamped Class IV (Grade 9) science course, Methods in Scientific Research (MSR). Last summer, Michael Edgar, Matt Bingham and Ned Bean of the science faculty redesigned the course; this summer the trio evaluated it and made minor changes. The goal of the course hasn’t changed; students should experience a yearlong hands-on tutorial on techniques of scien-
tific inquiry. The difference is that the theme of ecology now drives the course, and introduces students to many of the fundamental concepts of science, while also teaching them the fundamentals of sound scientific investigation. Content and process are woven together to create a curriculum in which students gain an understanding of ecological systems while also developing the skills to design and execute their own investigations of these topics.
Investigations involve laboratory experiments, field-testing and observation of nearby aquatic ecosystems. This year the MSR classes used Turner’s Pond as a case study in freshwater ecosystems. Each week the Class IV science students walked to Turner’s Pond to test the water. Using one of five Vernier LabPro™ data-collection devices, teams of students collected information on 7 to 10 variables including ammonia, pH and nitrate levels.
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Some students mentioned finding it difficult, initially, to see the connection between the classroom and the pond, but said the lab work helped bring it full circle. “The labs,” says Alex Dey, “kept everything connected.” The sampling data from Turner’s Pond formed a springboard from which students launched their independent research projects last spring. According to Michael Edgar, the majority of students chose to use the lab pros in their DYO ( DYO is the affectionate term for student-designed lab projects, “Do your own.”) Sara used the dissolved-oxygen probe in her independent research project to study the bio oxygen demand and production respiration ratio of various ponds near campus. Sara did not use the dissolved oxygen probe during her class fieldwork but says once you learn one probe the others are easy to pick up. Other students used the probes to measure the effect of acid rain on the germination of plants, testing how sea monkeys respond to differences in pH and measuring the effect of dissolved oxygen on the respiration rate of goldfish. While Michael and his Methods colleagues say the course went as expected, next year they are hoping to get the students involved in the lab more quickly.
The Vernier LabPro, a handheld, batteryoperated device with six channels for data collection, offers a flexible and portable laboratory interface. The LabPro can collect data as fast as 50,000 points per second per channel or as slow as one point per day; it can store 12,000 data points internally, and is compatible with Texas Instruments Graphing Calculators. While some the data has begun to shape some trends, Michael says it will take three years for the course to be at a point in which the data can identify predictable trends.
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The trips to Turner’s pond fared well in class evaluations. Sara Pulit, Class IV, says Methods is her favorite course. “I liked the focus on ecology. I never felt rushed or bored. I’ve always been interested in science, and in the course I’ve learned how to write a good lab report and how to keep a good notebook. The labs help apply what we learned in the classroom.” Michael Edgar, one of five faculty teaching Methods, and the new chair of the department, is pleased with the direction of the course as well.
The students not only learned to use the lab pros and take care of them – they are also used in Academy chemistry classes – but they learned skills such as how to look effectively at a pond and make astute connections, collect data and work through a project from start to finish.
Sports Highlights, 2002 Each senior class defines its singular role in the Milton Academy continuum. Added to that leadership task for this year’s class was the challenge to comprehend their nation and the world. I am grateful for the power, resilience and resolve of the Class of 2002. They gave us a host of memories to help counteract the images etched on our minds during that first week of school. This class provided a poignant lesson in selflessness and loyalty. Last fall, Alison Quandt, Class I, concluded her four-year reign as soccer goalie, and did so with no back-up, as she had for her proceeding three years. As impressive as the team’s tenth consecutive invitation to the New England tournament was Alison’s commitment to play, despite knee injuries and concussions. On the gridiron, the football team concluded a 5–3 season with a dominant victory over Nobles. André Hardaway (Robert Saltonstall Medal winner) finished his two-year career with 2,950 yards and a gaudy 8.9 yards per carry average, and was quick to praise his senior line of Cal Sargent, Tom Pilla and undersized center Sam Burke (Alfred Elliot Award winner) for their thankless work. As one of two student speakers at M Club, Caroline Curtis spoke of her captaincy of the field hockey team. Caroline was named the league’s MVP and the leading scorer; her Milton teams made three consecutive trips to at least the semifinals of the New England championships and in 2000, won the championship. Despite that, Caroline spoke of those whom she had watched play and who made her proud to be a Milton athlete.
The girls’ hockey team finished 14–8 and co-captain Sarah Shea (Priscilla Bailey Award winner) played with her unique combination of ferocity and vision. She finished her career with 152 points, the second highest in Milton history, and was a finalist for the Boston Bruins Carleton Award for the top scholar-athlete hockey player in Eastern Massachusetts. On the squash courts, Mr. Millet, in his sixtieth year at our School, for the second year in a row brought home a championship as his team finished 14–0. The team also
won the coveted Jackson Bowl, and in the spirit of this year, the league’s coaches recognized Luke Harris, Class II, as the outstanding sportsman in the league. Our ski teams made history this winter. For the first time, one school earned both the boys’ and girls’ ISL championships, and the New England’s as well! Maile Carter, Class I, an all-New England skier and girls’ captain, is one of those seniors who genuinely cares about the experience of her younger teammates. She was joined by
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records, he was nearly outshone by classmate Walter Cummings, the meet’s field MVP. Walter set a new School and ISTA pole vault record by jumping 13'6", won the triple jump and was a New England champion in the high jump. The other M Club student speaker, Walter thanked Jon for his remarkable leadership in maintaining his powerful positive presence at the New England championship despite the fact that Jon could not run. On the girls’ side, Cammie Delany (Dorothy Sullivan Award winner), girls’ track captain, finished her remarkable track career as her team finished fourth in New England’s and Cammie took second in the 100 and 200 events. On the courts both tennis teams were young and played with grace and talent. Both finished second in the ISL and the boys finished second in New England. On the diamond, the boys’ baseball team capped an impressive 11–4 campaign with a 16–0 win against Nobles. All-league selection and team MVP Mike Carthas was 2–3 in the game and threw a complete game shut out. Finally, our sailing team qualified for both team and fleet national championships this year. In the fleet racing regatta in California, Milton finished fifth – the top school from outside California. At the team racing championship in Detroit, captains Charlie Enright and Rip Hale overcame their archrivals, Tabor, in the final race to secure our first Tobey Baker Award as national champions! They went on to capture the 2002 British Schools Dinghy Racing Association (BSDRA) in England this summer.
her sister Laurel, Class IV, the ISL league MVP and all-New England selection, Matt Basilico, the boys’ team captain, ISL boys’ MVP and all-New England selection, and Scott Motejunas, an all-league and all-New England selection, as the core of this remarkable team.
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In the spring, the boys track team finished second in the Independent School Track Association (ISTA) meet, our finest finish in 15 years. Captain Jon Klinkhoff was named the meet’s track MVP as he won the 400, 200 and anchored the championship 4x100 relay team before tearing his hamstring. While Jon now holds the 200 and 400-meter School and league
It is fitting that this class should receive its highest athletic honor in a regatta that requires the individual boats to operate as a team. This class has made us proud. They have treated their classmates, teammates and opponents with kindness and respect. They have yielded a treasure trove of joyous memories for those of us who stay behind to relish. For these gifts we as a School are thankful and send ’02 off to their pursuits; they have indeed passed the test that they were faced with this year.
OnCentre Words of Thanks to Retiring Trustees Sara Greer Dent ’77
Ronald S. Frank
Elected to the board in 1994, Sara continued for Milton the unique and valuable trustee role pioneered by her mother, Margaret Jewett Greer, Class of 1947. Sara pursued her interests at Milton quietly and persistently during her tenure, seeking answers to questions about the quality of School life and the writing standards in School publications. She made the comfort and beauty of dormitory common rooms her business. She also probed the wisdom of many proposed financial strategies. Sara tested our new building designs for their practicality and utility, and made sure that they were gracefully landscaped. The less seen and frequently overlooked elements of our facilities and infrastructures Sara tended, fully aware of the impact of their efficiency, or inefficiency, on day to day school life, and on the budget. Perhaps the only trustee who has given birth to twins during her tenure, Sara was undaunted, and came back to serve the board on several committees. The Buildings and Grounds, Budget, and Lower School committees have benefited from Sara’s intense interest, great questions, and strong opinions over these last eight years.
We managed to convince Ron, in 1994, to join us on the board as his two children were completing stellar 13-year experiences at Milton, thereby locking in his wisdom long after they had graduated. Ron has been known for asking the question that recasts the issue, offering the point of view that shifts the focus of the conversation. He challenges conventional thinking. While we didn’t always understand the questions Ron asked, we did all benefit from the discussions that followed, and we made wiser, or at least betterinformed decisions. Ron spoke knowingly about each phase of the Milton experience, in touch with the educational environments our several school divisions – Lower School, Middle School and Upper School. Ron generously offered specialized help to the board, to Robin, and to Ed Fredie before her, on matters of strategic planning. He launched, in the early ’90s, the first of many exercises in institution-wide strategic thinking. Ron’s contributions to the Budget, Student Life and Lower School committees have been valuable, and his energetic mind has helped fashion Milton’s strategic vision today.
Elizabeth (Bizzy) Chatfield Gilmore ’68 Bizzy served the board first as the ex officio representative of the Graduates’ Council and then, from 1994 to 2002, as an elected member. During her tenure she co-chaired the Trustees Committee, and chaired both the Lower School and Academic Affairs Committees. When Bizzy finished her first term on the board as the representative of the Graduates’ Council her colleagues noted that they would miss “her honest insight and her consistently cheerful, positive approach,” as well as her “initiative, creativity and good humor.” Bizzy “invested in Milton those organizational skills for which she is so well-recognized outside the School. …Her wonderful ideas, infectious enthusiasm, and generous hard work will be missed.” This spring, at the close of her elected term, Bizzy’s wish was to reverse the tables, thanking her colleagues for her experience with them on the board.
Kenneth J. Goldberg ’81 We’ve been fortunate to count Ken among our numbers as the person most attuned to graduates’ interests and ideas, as he has served Milton since 1999 as the co-president of the Graduates’ Association. Ken has been a thorough and conscientious trustee. He has a perfect, or nearly perfect, attendance record, which is truly an accomplishment! Ken has also assisted with the Boston-based graduates’ events, helping with ideas and logistics and then spreading the word about ways to stay connected with Milton. Ken’s work with graduates made him a key member of the External Relations Committee, and Ken also served on Academic Affairs and Buildings and Grounds Committees. Thank you, Ken, and stay close to Milton in these exciting years ahead.
“I wish you all the best, and thank you for all I’ve learned. And I’ve learned so much – about administrators, educators, learning and the learning environment, how to refine ideas and how to accomplish great things. Thank you to each of you.”
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Mountain School Must Seek a New Director Anne Stephens steps down after eight years Anne Stephens’s departure from the Mountain School after eight successful years as director has been met with regret but also deep appreciation. Anne profoundly affected the Mountain School, as well as hundreds of students who were fortunate enough to participate in the program during her tenure. Her most important gift may be her conveying to Mountain School students the ethic of concern for others and for the natural world; this ethic lives on among Mountain School graduates and informs their decisions over a lifetime. Anne and her faculty have integrated the work of the classroom – always with the highest academic standards – and experiences outside the classroom, to help students recognize their power and responsibility as stewards of the natural world.
Anne would be the first to point out that she worked as a member of a team. Building and nurturing teams of adults and students has been one of her most impressive leadership capabilities. Anne’s most important partner and team member has been her husband, David, whose work has helped Mountain School’s facilities and business operations thrive. Mountain School students have enjoyed the whimsy and the intensity of David’s passion for the chip plant, draught horses, or countless other elements of the school and have learned important lessons. Anne’s skill at team building has assured continuity for Mountain School. During the 2002–03 academic year, Alden Smith, having completed three years as
assistant director, will serve as interim director. He and an able group of veteran Mountain School faculty and staff will continue the first-rate teaching and care for students that marks the Mountain School program. John Warren, special assistant to Milton Academy’s head of school, chairs the search committee that will identify and recommend new Mountain School program leadership. The search committee includes members of the Milton Academy Board of Trustees, the Mountain School Advisory Board, the Mountain School faculty, and the Milton Academy faculty. John knows and understands the Mountain School as a result of long service on the Mountain School Advisory Board and his oversight of Milton’s off-campus
In addition to the leadership of Mountain School students, Anne has undertaken initiatives to familiarize others with the power of Mountain School work. She organized two successful conferences that helped teachers and administrators explore possibilities for raising environmental awareness both in their classrooms and in their larger school communities. Anne has also developed a vibrant connection between the Mountain School and Liberty Partnerships in New York City, introducing a number of innercity children to Vershire, Vermont and to consider their roles as stewards of the earth.
Anne Stephens with her husband, David, at the Mountain School
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programs. The search is underway and intends to provide Robin Robertson with a recommendation for Anne’s successor by January 2003. John welcomes suggestions about possible candidates at John_Warren @milton.edu. The Mountain School defines a singular niche in the world of secondary education. We have benefited immensely from Anne’s inspired leadership of the program over the past eight years. A testament to her leadership is the strong position that the Mountain School enjoys and the confidence we can have about the prospect of its continued excellence.
Alumni Authors The presses are running: Graduates from the classes of ’46,’79,’81, and ’82 have recently published works The Way of Change: Finding Joy in Your Journey Hailey Klein ’79 A Tibetan and Usui Reiki master, a filmmaker and an educator, Hailey Klein ’79 can now add author to her résumé. Hailey’s first book, The Way of Change, teaches readers to create change in their lives based on rituals Hailey designed for herself, her friends and her clients. “As I was working with clients in my Reiki practice, I realized that most people would come for help either in times of crisis or transition. I began to create rituals to ease their fears and focus on the positive aspects of change and to help them gain clarity.” Published by Tuttle printing, The Way of Change differs from other programs of change by asking readers to focus first on thoughts and emotions instead of action. Hailey explains, “Working with this book you will discover your own rhythm
of change, open the avenues to allow joy in and welcome the emotions of change.” Each chapter offers stories that illustrate real-life changes and exercises focused on spiritual assessment. The easy-to-do exercises help readers face fears, change routines, and explore how they spend their energy. In the awareness chapter, readers are asked to create a daily ritual of finding and acknowledging 10 beautiful images; the exercise is designed for the reader to understand and subtly shift his energy focus in the world to the beauty around them. Another exercise asks you to say no to one favor or usual activity and instead find a quiet and relaxing place to spend time with yourself. By asking readers to challenge their beliefs, and understand how they want to be, Hailey arms them with true self-awareness, what she describes as a powerful tool for change.
Gods of War, Gods of Peace, the Interplay of Native and Colonial Religions That Shaped Early America Russell Bourne ’46 A historian and publishing consultant, Russell Bourne is the author of five books in the field of American history, including Americans On the Move, Invention in America, Rivers of America and The Red King’s Rebellion: Racial Politics in New England. Bourne’s most recent book, Gods of War, Gods of Peace, The Interplay of Native and Colonial Religions That Shaped Early America, was published in April 2002 by Harcourt Trade Publishers. In Gods of War, Gods of Peace Russell Bourne tells the story of how Native Americans and
colonists’ beliefs and religions influenced each other and helped shaped the new nation. Beginning in Plymouth with Myles Standish and Squanto and concluding with the Trail of Tears, Bourne aptly describes religious clashes and exchanges between the groups from both the Native American and settlers’ perspectives. Based on extensive historical research and consultation with a number of Native American and academic sources, Gods of War, Gods of Peace highlights many of the lesser-known characters and events of the era including Deganawidah, Samuel Kirkland, William Apess and the Pequod War. In this 432-page book, Bourne tells a thought-provoking and powerful tale of how two deeply religious cultures failed to achieve harmony.
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Learning to Float: The Journey of a Woman, a Dog and Just Enough Men Lili Wright ’82 Honest and engaging, Learning to Float is the true story of 33year-old Lili Wright’s journey of self-discovery. Caught between two men and unable to commit to either one, Lili chooses to leave them both. Armed with a map, camping gear and her exboyfriend’s dog, Lili travels from Maine to Florida in search of what true love really is.
Fuzzy Farm Babies Tad Hills ’81 Author and illustrator, Tad Hills ’81 has published two series of children’s books: Knock Knock! Who’s There? and touch-and-feel board books – My Fuzzy Friends, Fuzzy Safari Babies and Fuzzy Farm Babies. The hardcover touch-and-feel books were created for babies and preschoolers. Soft, lifelike paintings span each two-page spread and are combined with various textures. The text invites children to interact with the book in a variety of ways: tickle the giraffe, comb a horse’s mane, tickle the animal with your toes. In My Fuzzy Safari Babies, children can touch a panda cub. The animals in My Fuzzy Friends invite young children to reach out and pet their furry coats, from a bunny’s silky back to a sheep’s curly head. Knock Knock! Who’s There? published in June 2000, is a classic collection of knock-knock jokes. Relying on word play, the jokes are funny and the illustrations
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whimsical. The thick pages are sturdy and fun as each page requires the reader to pull back the flap to reveal the answer. The book even encourages children to develop their own knock-knock jokes. Tad is currently working on a follow-up to Knock Knock! Who’s There? Tad lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his wife, Lee Wade, and his children, Elinor (6) and Charlie (3).
Moving from town to town, Lili relives past relationships with a Nantucket waiter, a Greenwich banker, a French tennis clown and a Utah skier, among others. They didn’t feel like exes, they felt current, alive. Didn’t someone say that we’re all a product of the relationships we’ve had? Someone did; and if no one did, someone should have. I’d spent more time with these men than I had with my parents, my friends. More than the jobs I’d held or the places I’d
lived, these relationships were my life history. All at once I knew what I had to do: To figure out now, I needed to understand then, all nine thens, or at least the major ones. I’d start with Nantucket; I’d go to Nantucket. Everything that came after began on that island.(page 56) Along the way Lili meets a cast of characters including a fisherman, an astrologer and a woman who marries herself, each sharing with Lili a bit of wisdom on love and life. Lili insightfully explores the process of finding love and discovering yourself – in the end, realizing that in order to “have and hold the love that eludes her,” Lili just needs to let love happen. Throughout her journeys – from Maine to Florida and through nine relationships – Lili openly shares her thoughts, anxieties and confusions. Then it would occur to me: This journey was a royal waste of time. No matter how light I traveled I still had to bring myself along, like a rolling black suitcase you drag through the airport. No matter where I went, I was still me. There was no such thing as genuine change. No true transformation. If I’d had any sense, I’d have stayed in New York and spent my money the old fashioned way: in therapy. (page 183) Joan Anderson, author of A Year by the Sea comments, “following Lili Wright as she floats form one seaside town to another is an invitation to break from our stodgy existences and experiment with adventure in our own lives. A must-read for not only the 30-something crowd but those of us way beyond.” Lili Wright is an assistant professor at DePauw University where she teaches creative writing and journalism.
Retiring Faculty: Betty Helm Milton Academy, 1985–2002 Betty Helm actually joined the mathematics department the day she interviewed for a teaching position. That morning, she arrived to find Joan MacDonald, the department chair, engrossed in a problem whose solution was somewhat elusive. Betty pulled up a chair, took a pencil from her handbag, opened the pad of paper she carried under her arm, and asked to see the problem. She and Joan worked on that problem until they arrived at the solution together, and Betty got the job. Since she joined us, the mathematics department has benefited from Betty’s tireless efforts for her colleagues, for her students, and for this school.
Betty was a quiet but strong force in the mathematics department. Her comments during departmental discussions were reasoned and balanced; she was willing to ask a provocative question and support a new idea. She was, and is, respected for her opinions because she spoke from experience, she is always fair and never judgmental, and she feels that every voice is essential and should be heard. Most importantly, Betty’s contributions were founded in her deep belief that in all that we do at this school, or at any school, the needs of our students should be first and foremost in our minds.
Throughout Betty’s tenure, her energy was boundless. Her days were filled collaborating with other teachers in the development of curriculum, providing extra help to students outside of class, driving for community service, and working in the Skills Center. In fact, she began volunteering in the Skills Center because she felt that, as a member of the Disciplinary Committee, she had not been summoned to duty often enough! Her sense of service was deeply ingrained and part of her very fabric; it would never occur to her, as it would to most of us, to be thankful for infrequent callings to disciplinary deliberations.
In Betty’s classroom, her students did come first. She taught across the curriculum, from Geometry to AP Calculus, and she was guided by the question, “How can I help my students come to understand and really own mathematical ideas?” Betty was one of the few people in the department who eagerly offered to teach Geometry each year, and the Geometry course we now offer has evolved mainly through her efforts and guidance. She was one of the first to introduce the Geometer’s Sketchpad software into the course because she believed in the power and the opportunities it gave students to investigate relationships, to form conjectures, and to prove geometric theorems. Betty tailored her classes to best fit the needs of the students who sat before her, and she was willing to change the course of a day’s lesson if the students’ questions led them
down a path she had not anticipated. Her deep knowledge and understanding of the mathematics allowed her the flexibility of responding appropriately in the moment. In all of her interactions with her students she was demanding and her standards were high, but she acted always with compassion, humanity and kindness. Betty has been a mentor and a friend to many on campus. She is a thoughtful teacher because she continues to open herself to new methods, new technologies, and new ideas. At her core she is a learner, and as such she is a model for both her students and her colleagues. Last spring she and Hal Pratt organized a workshop for local geometry teachers in an effort not only to share what they had been doing but also to learn from the experiences of other geometry teachers. What characterizes and defines Betty Helm most poignantly is her humility. She moves inaudibly behind the scenes, providing assistance in many arenas, but she wants no public recognition for her contributions. A year ago she was to be profiled in The Link, yet she quietly demurred so that another teacher could be recognized. She will never tell you that she contributed to a textbook, Connected Geometry, recently published by Everyday Learning, but you will find her name in the acknowledgements on page ix (nine). She will
quickly volunteer to oversee a class in a teacher’s absence, and she will never ask for that favor in return. Her capacity to give is infinite. It is now our time to recognize Betty Helm, and her many, many contributions to this school and community. She is a dedicated teacher, a valued colleague, a trusted advisor, and a loyal friend. We will miss her warmth, her wisdom, her generosity and her humanity. Today we celebrate Betty’s spirit and her energy, fully understanding that her absence will be felt deeply in the mathematics department and across this campus. Jackie Bonenfant Chair, Mathematics Department
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Retiring Faculty: Marisol Maura Milton Academy, 1976–2002
Retiring Faculty: Evelyn Spalding ’55 Milton Academy, 1987–2002
Marisol Maura came to Milton Academy in 1976 at the invitation of Miss Johnson to teach Spanish and serve as a dorm parent for Milton girls. Her apartment in Little House soon became a home for her and her daughter Soledad, as well as a haven for her charges.
Some of Milton’s greatest benefits come from enabling individuals to play many roles in support of the School’s greater success. And if ever there were a “utility infielder” for Milton, Evie Spalding has filled that role with her career at Milton. It reflects this gift for versatility and teamwork.
In her years at Milton, Marisol has been first and foremost a fine teacher. She holds the Jessie Bancroft Cox Chair in Teaching, has received the Talbot Baker Award, and been honored by the University of Chicago as an Outstanding High School Teacher. She has also served as a dormitory assistant, advisor, mentor, and most recently, chair of the modern languages department. Her kindness, good humor, tact and patience have guided a lively department, particularly recently as it has struggled to balance the possibilities of the latest technology with the proven results of more traditional methods. As Spanish has become the language of choice for more Milton students, Marisol has helped build a vibrant Spanish department by
being a warm and encouraging mentor to new faculty, as well as a trusted confidante and colleague to the veterans. In the classroom, Marisol’s passion for her subject is contagious. “I don’t sing or dance,” she says. “And I love teaching grammar.” Under her tutelage, students have learned to find grammar a fascinating and useful tool. But she is an equally passionate lover of literature, and her knowledge of the English, American, and French classics has helped her students to read the “Lazarillo” with new understanding. She has taught both the classics and contemporary masterpieces with a depth and scope that show great respect for the potential of her students. And Marisol had a special knack for dealing with younger students. One neophyte remembers having no talent for Spanish, but “even while I was assassinating the language, she always made me feel as if I was really speaking it.” Marisol’s influence at Milton has not been confined to the second floor of Ware Hall. A recent gathering of her friends included colleagues of all ages and from all departments. “Just knowing her and listening to her made me want to know Spanish,” said one. Her warm smile and cheerful ¡Hola! have often brightened our days. We will miss her very much, but hope to see her often as she divides her retirement years between Milton and Madrid. Godspeed, and ¡Muchas Gracias!, Querida Marisol.
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George Fernald Modern Languages Department
A Milton graduate with the Class of 1955, Evie’s relationship with the Academy is lifelong. Through the years she served with distinction as our school nurse, a health instructor, a house head, an admission officer and as a Milton parent. She also served a term as head of the Milton Graduates’ Association, a position that offered her an ex officio seat on the board of trustees, and yet another opportunity to showcase her affection for the School and its mission. In her gentle but firm way, Evie added a thoughtful presence to the Milton faculty for the past 15 years, and her fierce institutional loyalty and robust work ethic were valuable qualities that served the girls of Hallowell House, students facing the Discipline Committee and the middle school applicants well. Despite star turns as Golde opposite Dale DeLetis in the Milton production of Fiddler on the Roof and as a choir member
Evie Spalding
at Back Bay’s Trinity Church, Evie’s most notable role is surely as doyen of Class VI admission. With a Harry Potter book on her nightstand and Ozzie, her black Labrador retriever, by her feet, “Mrs. Spalding” has welcomed countless seventh-grade applicants and their parents to Milton. Owning the process like no other person, Evie counseled families on the competitive twists and turns of Class VI admission with a warm word and a gentle touch – welcome in what can be an anxious process. As Class VI Committee chair she read each and every folder – often multiple times apiece – and she loved them all. In fact, if Evie had her druthers, the middle school would be much larger! Her well-honed choral skills enabled her to belt out a well-timed “Hallelujah” whenever one of her star recruits chose Milton, as well as a barely tempered scowl when one slipped past her grasp. And don’t mistake Evie’s sweet disposition for lack of a competitive spirit; nothing riled her more than when an accepted Class VI boy picked Roxbury Latin.
Retiring Faculty: Jacqueline G. Livingston Milton Academy, 1987–2002 In recent years Evie enjoyed newfound popularity at Milton after she adopted Ozzie and Miltonians of all stripes flocked to her office in the Link and Caroline Saltonstall for some quality time with this amiable pup. And, although Mr. Millet has been heard to remark that while we can replace the owner, we cannot replace the pooch, we know that nothing could be farther from the truth. Evie Spalding leaves a special mark on Milton Academy. Her genuine affection for middle school students and her keen organizational prowess in support of their applications, her respect for and dedication to the academic excellence that defines Milton and willingness to tackle any task are her fine legacy to her alma mater. We wish her well. Lee Coffin Dean of Admission
At heart, Jackie Livingston is a teacher. She is a student of young minds and devoted to thinking about learning. Jackie came to Milton in 1987 after working at a Head Start program in Maryland and a nursery school in Wellesley, teaching at the Shady Hill School in Cambridge and directing admission at the Belmont Day School. In 1987, Jackie rescued Milton, agreeing to be the acting director of admission during Sonia Loizeaux’s sabbatical. Jackie stayed, teaching in our extended day program, teaching kindergarten during Buffy Colt’s sabbatical and working with several admission directors; ultimately she assumed the leadership role in admission herself two years ago. Jackie has impeccable taste. Her office is decorated with children’s books (a passion of hers) and their artwork. Working with Jackie on our admission catalogue was an exercise in focusing on precise language and breathtaking images. The result is a simple masterpiece that celebrates children, defines the Lower School and appeals to families whose values match our own.
awe of Jackie’s ability to think ahead. We already know the dates of next year’s open house, the potential conflicts in our 2003 visiting days, and when the next catalogue will have to be designed. Lest anyone think that Jackie only thinks about applicants, financial aid or yield, a perusal of her file unearths memos regarding instructional pedagogy, future planning, and a fascination for learning. There are informative clippings, useful articles and love letters, lots of love letters. Most are letters from families grateful for her attention (from accepted families, but also from families who received a gracious “no” from us). Jackie is an astute observer of young children, teachers, the Milton Academy culture and the larger world. She is courageous about making the right decision rather than the easy one. She is less a tinkerer and more an inventor of systems and strategies that reflect her tender care of an institution she has served long and well.
Jackie’s desk is impossibly neat. Every file is exactly in the right place and has the perfect amount of useful information in it. She has a penchant for legal pads and her lists are signs of an organized brain and a strategic thinker. It is hard not to be in
Jackie began reading folders for Class VI and thereby lived the commitment to a K–12 school before it became fashionable. She understands the intricacies of financial aid. She has served on committees dealing with topics such as the implications for Milton of the Americans with Disabilities Act, searching for new principals, transitions between School divisions, enrollment, technology, financial aid, marketing, kindergarten screening and gender identity development. She has visited many schools and knows the admission network in New England. She has helped counsel some of our children into schools better matched for their learning, and has lived through computerizing the office. Jackie has concentrated on core values, thought deeply about the kind of adult and child community we wish to have, and reflected on practice to become better and wiser. We have taken shameless advantage of her clear thinking. While Jackie prefers to avoid public acclaim, we offer public gratitude – not only for her journey thus far, but also for the clear map of where we are going. Her formidable legacy will long outlast her momentary discomfort. Thank you, Jackie. Annette Raphel Lower School Principal
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Retiring Faculty: Richard L. Griffin Milton Academy, 1974–2002 In his first year as headmaster, Jerry Pieh called a young teacher from the last school where he had been principal. He asked that young teacher if he would be willing to leave HamiltonWenham High School and come to Milton Academy, because Milton, Jerry said, was in need of the particular combination of skills and abilities he would bring to the job. Dick – and Ellie and Matt and Cub – Griffin liked the sound of that challenge and arrived in Milton, at Robbins House, in the fall of 1974. In his letter accepting Jerry’s offer, Dick wrote, “Ellie and I are very excited about being at Milton next year…. We…look forward to the kind of total involvement that Milton affords.” I suspect that he had no idea what “total involvement,” Milton-style, would mean. And I am certain that he did not foresee how central to the life of this school he would become. Dick’s job description during the ensuing 28 years is a long one: first of all – Robbins House. In those difficult years of the mid-70s, Dick and Ellie brought a house that had lost its sense of purpose and character to a point where it became a safe and nurturing place for boys to grow into young, responsible adults. Once he had left the dorm, Dick served for five years as the dean of Warren Hall, Class IV advisor in those days. For 10 years after that, he was head class advisor or class dean to the classes of 1987, 1991 and 1994. Class deans at that time worked alone, and Dick did the job on top of a full teaching
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load. He taught United States History in his first year at Milton (and for every year thereafter) as well as Class VI World Geography in the Girls’ School. Later he taught Social Psychology to upperclassmen and Social Science to Class V. He taught Ancient-Medieval History when we only taught Western History, and then, as we expanded our view around the world, he taught Ancient Civilizations. Four years ago, in order to try something new, he studied the material of Modern World History and began to teach that course. And coaching! Dick had already coached a championship wrestling team before he came to Milton, and for 23 years he was varsity wrestling coach here. According to the archives, his teams had 265 wins, 78 losses and nine ties, as well as 14 dual meet championships and 11 tournament championships. For 20 years, he coached third team football, first with Frank Millet and later with Tom Bisbee and Tom Flaherty. To understand Dick’s particular contributions to the life of this school, you have to know the way in which he made them. Students who grew under his guidance remembered his humor, kindness and sincerity. “He will push you to the limit,” said one class, “…because he has faith in your potential.” And they said, “His compassion veiled in humor…makes us laugh at each other in companionship, even at ourselves.” Others thanked him “for being there for us, for patting us on the back and kicking us in the
rear. (You always seemed to know which was appropriate.)” A colleague from Dick’s time in the dorm remembers his ability to win over even the most difficult kids with his “dignity, calm and consistency, coupled with appropriate measures of discipline and humor.” Dick would never give up on a student, he said, but instead he would “search and search for that one positive thread…[to use in] weaving a relationship.” Another colleague who watched him coach speaks of his intensity and love of the sport that communicated itself so powerfully to those wrestlers who, in turn, worked so hard because he helped them learn how much they could do if they made the extra effort. He remembers especially how Dick would work with athletes after the meets to help them grow from losses as well as from successes. And teachers in the history depart-
Dick Griffin
ment celebrate Dick’s generosity to his colleagues as we worked together to develop curriculum and pedagogy. Every year there were advisors who asked that Dick be assigned to teach certain students who, they felt, would thrive under his patient, calm and firm direction. Students who struggled to learn history, and students for whom learning history was a passion, both list Dick among their most important teachers. Milton and the world have honored Dick Griffin. He won Milton’s Talbot Baker award for exceptional teaching in 1988, and since 1994 he has held the Laurence M. Lombard Teaching Chair. The New England Wrestling Coaches Association recognized him in 1995 for excellence in coaching and service to the sport. This spring he was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, at an event attended by an inspiring number of the “boys” he had coached at Milton. But it is essential to the story of Dick Griffin and Milton to point out that he has been a teacher and guide not only to his history students and his athletes, but to his colleagues as well. He has served as mentor to several young teachers, and he has done that with patience, practicality and laughter. But I have something else in mind here. He has done this job in a way that teaches us all how to do it. He has cared deeply about the young people entrusted to him, deeply enough to hold them accountable for their mistakes and to celebrate their victories.
Retiring Faculty: Susan Case Milton Academy, 1985–2002 He has studied into the night to master his discipline, and he has been delighted every year to discover new routes into effective teaching. He has brought good sense and wisdom to departmental decisions, and he has been ready countless times when a colleague needed assistance, encouragement or empathy. He has never forgotten that there is a big world outside of Milton, but he has, at the same time, known that this little world of Milton requires our best efforts every day. We have all watched him battle deadly disease and then return to delight in the mountains of New Zealand, to keep on building his “paradise by the river,” and to treasure the lives of his little grandchildren. In the spring of 1974, the student newspaper at HamiltonWenham ran an article about Dick’s plan to leave that school to go to Milton. The headline read, “How will you replace Griff?” We know the answer to that question. You do not replace Griff. That would not be possible. My hope is that those of us who have worked with him have been good enough students of the lessons of his life here. Then, even in his absence, things might be very good indeed at Milton. Thank you, Dick. Carly Wade Chair, History Department
A number of years ago sports science researchers tried to determine what made Walter Payton, the Hall of Fame running back, so great. Exploring biorhythms, muscle mass, and other factors, they discovered that Payton’s internal rhythms were simply faster than the rest of ours. Because he was already moving internally at a speed much faster than those around him, the action on the field seemed to slow down for him so that he was able to see the action and therefore his running lanes clearly and completely. He was the fast-twitch god of the gridiron. Milton Academy is about to lose its own fast-twitch deity. No one takes multi-tasking to a higher plane, no one moves through life with more velocity and veracity, than Susan Case. She is “Dare to be true” Mach II. Susan crams her days with 5:30 a.m. walks, wall-to-wall meetings with students and parents, squash games, tuna-onwheat sandwiches, apples, and yogurts eaten on the run, phone calls to college admission colleagues around the country, meetings with Milton colleagues seeking her advice, meetings with the powers-to-be to register her advice, writing thank-you cards and thinking-of-you cards. As quickly as she moves, Susan always seems to know where she is and what to do. Like Walter Payton, she sees the world around her clearly and deeply. Students and faculty know that there will be no sugarcoating with Susan. If you go to her for advice, expect a large dollop of the unvarnished truth. You might not always like what Susan has to say, but eventually
you will realize that she understood what was best for you before you did. She has extraordinary vision. Milton has come to depend on Susan’s clarity and wisdom greatly. She has played a vital role in some of Milton’s most important job searches most recently as co-chair of the search committee that found Hugh Silbaugh. Ed Siegfried, the other co-chair, remembers that, when the first round of searching did not yield an appropriate candidate and the committee was in a general state of discouragement, it was Susan who rallied the group, organizing a party with many goodies and Peet’s coffee because “that’s the best coffee.” He saw that as a signature Susan moment: when you encounter defeat, don’t fold; throw a party and get on with things. While by her admission not a political creature, Susan has always had a keen instinct for the well-placed observation. When faculty meetings have become too heated, too fractious, or too bombastic, Susan has, on more than a few occasions, brought us back to our senses and back to our reason for being as educators, the welfare of students. She reminds us that the truest, strongest line of professional and ethical conduct is rooted in the care and cultivation of students. Not surprisingly, Susan is at her best with students. She is an exemplary counselor. She never lets students get off with an easy answer; she never gives them an easy out. It is the ultimate show of respect. Susan believes that the college process is not really about colleges but about growing up. She believes that students are strong enough to
handle the truth, whatever growing pains it might present. It was not uncommon for a junior to emerge from a spring meeting with Susan wounded, maybe even a little resentful of her strong medicine, and resolved never to seek her counsel again, only to return for more advice in the fall, now appreciative of Susan’s willingness to risk the relationship for the sake of the truth. Susan is, in fact, extraordinarily generous with students. She will go to the mat for a student, spending considerable time and energy to ensure that he or she gets treated fairly. She has met students for coffee during vacation when she has sensed they needed a little extra talk and attention. She and her husband Chip, a professor of economics at Wellesley College, serve as host parents extraordinaire for international students at the college. After more than a few busy days she
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has bolted home to prepare a dinner for a student and her parents. This summer Susan traveled to Ecuador as a chaperone for a youth group at her church, yet another way by which she touches the lives of young people. Susan even manages to give while she commutes to work. When David Simons, a present senior, applied to Milton, he was interviewed by Susan. She not only convinced him to come to Milton but also promised to drive him to school. So, for “literally hundreds of trips from Wellesley to Milton” Susan has been “the best morning companion a person could hope for. Along the way we’ve discussed everything from the 2000 presidential election to the Red Sox, and I can truly say that I am a more knowledgeable person because of our time together. I am grateful to count her as a friend.” Susan’s time at Milton is full of similar stories. Happily for Milton, Chuck Duncan, former director of college counseling, saw all of these qualities when he first encountered Susan, then a counselor at Stoneham High, speaking on a panel at a college admission conference. Knowing that he needed to fill a vacancy in his office, Chuck asked Susan to interview. She initially declined, saying that she was a product of a public high school and a public university, working at a public high school, and that she would have little in common
with all those private-school types. Chuck, never one to beat about the bush himself, countered that she should at least visit the school before rejecting the offer. Perhaps sensing a kindred spirit, Susan came and the rest is history. As much as anyone at Milton, Susan has challenged Milton to honor its commitment to “face the street,” her words carrying particular weight precisely because, for so many years, she was the street. Susan has helped to keep us honest, to keep us real. Susan has also showed us that the truth will set you free. No one had more fun on the job. No one gave freer rein to her enthusiasms and energies. We will miss the sharp, exclamatory laugh when a joke touched her funny bone. We will miss the bent paper clips, the mis-sorted files, the shushing sound she makes when she is on to a good idea. We will miss the way she darted from thought to thought. We will miss the many grace notes by which she made difficult days endurable and bright days sunnier. We will miss her absolute faith in us as colleagues. The world of Milton will shrink when Susan leaves but happily, in true Susan fashion, she leaves us with strong enough hearts and large enough spirits to soldier on. Thank you, Susan. Rod Skinner ’72 Director of College Counseling
Graduation scenes, 2002
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Class Notes Elizabeth Moller Sanderson, died last February. She is survived by her sister, Nancy Howland ’33, daughter Jane Moore, sons Kenneth, Colin and Robert, as well as eight grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
Henry Saltonstall writes: “Nothing new! We live on happily at Tian Woods in New Hampshire; it is excellent. CCRC for retirees.”
Lewis Perry Jr. enjoys golf and his social life with friends.
Carolyn Jane Pierce Williams, affectionately known as “CJ,” passed away in February. Her daughter, Alice Enge ’62, remembers, “My mom was a secretary of the Alumnae Council and class secretary for many years and loved her Milton experience.” Carolyn Jane’s father, Parkman D. Pierce, was also a Milton graduate as were two younger sisters, and a niece named for her, Carolyn Stetson ’67.
A highlight “in my memory of my one year (seventh grade) as a Milton student,” writes Susan Jackson, was playing the part of Little Red Riding Hood in French (Le Petit Chaperon Rouge).
Warren Arnold has “downsized.” Selling our large house at the top of the market one-year ago, we bought a much smaller house only miles away.
Elizabeth Greenleaf Pattee Homans died on April 8, 2002 after a three-month fight with lung and brain cancer. As a child and into her adult life, Elizabeth traveled extensively, including to Athens, Rome, Windsor, Nova Scotia and Romania. Elizabeth worked at Massachusetts General Hospital, and was active in the Cambridge Art Association, the Cambridge Plant and Garden Club, and the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. Elizabeth is survived by a sister, four children, three grandchildren and three step-grandchildren.
Mary F. Bunker has the best of both worlds, spending the summers in Massachusetts and the winters in New Mexico.
Anne Putnam Seamans and her husband, Peter, are fortunate to live within six miles of all of their children and report that the children and grandchildren are doing just fine. In June their grandson, Tony, presented them with a great-grandson, Campbell Seamans Boisvert. Ben joined the Navy Nuclear Program. Anne is a nanny in Boston. Molly graduated from Connecticut College summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. Jonathan is at Reed College. Peter is at Prescott in Arizona. Harold is a sophomore at Waring and Amy a sophomore at Marblehead High. Caroline and Jane are looking at colleges and Henry is happy in the sixth grade.
Class of 1937 (from left to right): John Torney, Ruth Young and Ruth Tucker
Ethel Thurber Ortenburger works at the University of New Mexico Law School and is active in her dressage club with her five horses.
The Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus honored Richard B. Gamble for a lifelong career of “improving the health and welfare of women throughout the world.” Richard was one of the first family planners to travel to Bangladesh in 1953, president of Pathfinder International, a member of the board of International Women’s Health Coalition, and a participant other activities focused on “the development and empowerment of women and girls primarily in Africa, Asia and Latin America.”
Pamela Walker is thrilled and proud that her granddaughter, Caroline Walker, will be entering Milton in the fall. Pamela lost her husband, Peter, in May 2000, after a long illness. She lives in Washington and summers on Cape Cod. William D. Weeks and his wife Franny are well. William practices law part-time with firm of Holland and Knight, LLP, but expects to be fully retired by end of year. “My very best to all my classmates.” Ted Whitney passed away March 20, 2002, after a long illness in his home. He is survived by his wife, Alotta Whitney, sons, Theodore T. Whitney III and Nathaniel Whitney, brother George Whitney ’46, and six grandchildren.
Lucia Brown Dudley is busy on her 200-acre farm with many visits from her children and grandchildren. Lucia is active training and competing with her Portuguese water dogs in the obedience and agility rings.
Edith Fisher and her husband, Jim, will celebrate their 47th anniversary. Both are deeply involved with the museums (Carnegie Museums) and the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. Family life has brought multiple rewards – sons, daughters-in-law and four grandchildren. Edith is ever grateful for her Milton education. Rodman A. Sharp’s daughter, Lesley Sharp, was just granted tenure as associate professor of anthropology at Barnard College in New York. His younger daughter, Paula Sharp, has published five novels with a sixth one in the oven. Rodman lost his second
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Class of 1942 Girls’, front row (left to right): Betty Porter, Sally Rollins, Mary Kingsbery, Anne Rice Elfers. Back row: Joan Bentinck-Smith, Bessie Evans Smith, Elizabeth Wadsworth, Anne Stone.
wife, Joyce, in July 1998, and married Emily Bants in Honolulu last January. Emily, who has a degree in architecture, is a retired professor of French from the University of Hawaii.
Cynthia Wright Lasserre is a busy retiree, has 10 grandchildren and spends the warmer months in her house near Avignon. Francis Shea Jr. writes: “I am alive and above ground. That’s the good news.”
Class of 1947, front row (left to right): Dick Barbour, Sherry Houston, Fred Eustis, Blanche Strater. Back row: Mary Houston, Margaret Greer, Max Kempner, Eldridge Campbell, Hugh Campbell.
Recently, Richard Perkin spoke to the Royal College of Physicians about the American experience with the chickenpox vaccine. Richard leads at the VZV Research Foundation, a group that works to eliminate chickenpox, shingles and post-herpetic neuralgia. The Center for Disease Control estimates that 73 percent of American children are protected against chickenpox through vaccination, technology the VZV Foundation hopes will be used in the fight against shingles.
Alexis Lancaster Belash died in Los Angeles on January 26, 2002 after a three-month battle with cancer. He was surrounded by his wife Rachel Belash, former Milton Academy Girls’ Upper School Assistant Head, and his longtime stepchildren, Eve Zimmerman ’77, Guy Zimmerman, Claire Zimmerman ’79 and Grace Zimmerman Phillips ’82. Alexis returned to attend his 50th reunion last year, and said he enjoyed every minute of it. He was in touch with his best friend, Teddy Sawyer, until the end.
“The reunion last spring was such fun,” writes Nancy Rhinelander. “I look forward to our next biggie!” Emily Faulkner Stevens passed away on December 19, 2001, at home. Emily was a lifelong conservationist and environmentalist. Emily was applauded in the Jackson Hole News last January for establishing the “only public access to the Snake River between the Grand Teton National Park and the South Park Bridge.” Emily is survived by her brothers, H. Kimball “Kim” Faulkner ’48, Henry Faulkner, and Charles Faulkner; her sister, Rosemary “Posy” Faulkner ’56; her daughter, Julia Staples; her son, Anthony Stevens; and grandchildren, Tyler and Sydney Staples.
Joshua Brackett is performing with John, Josh and Caroline, the Smart Folk Trio from Cape Ann, coming soon to a coffee house near you.
Class of 1947 Boys’, front row (left to right): Jon Cole, George Park, Ozzie Howes, Humpy Moulton, Chip Gunther, John Carey, Fred Hilton and Sandy Cunningham. Back row: Steve Harris, Jim Wheeler, Kenny Howes, Dave Jeffries, Bob Day, John Bassett, Peter Fuller, Irving Forbes, Bill Fitz, Kent Swift, Fred Pillsbury.
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Charlotte Boyer Parkinson recently completed a research project exploring the records of the oldest charitable organization founded by women in the United States. The research has been pub-
Anna Luciani enjoys her job as a judge in the Tribunal of Minors in Italy. Anna’s husband Angelo, was appointed by the European Union to train the judges of the European countries who have requested to enter the union. Christopher C. Norris is partially retired from Proctor Academy and now works as a stonewall mason. Christopher says he is “still burdened with Red Sox obsession.”
Class of 1952, front row (left to right): Georgia Jenckes Cunningham, Joan Watson McCabe, Dorothy Newbegin Davis, Dan Pierce, Polly Harding Pierce, David Porter, Steve Endlar, Rosalie Jaques Williamson, Pooka Hibbard Truslow, Louisa Perkins Porter, Anne Frederick Starbird. Row 2: Charlie Cunningham, Sarah Crocker Garrison, Elisha Lee, Happy Burgin Lee, Judith Rice Millon, Katharyn Saltonstall Hok, Ed Cross, Charles Flynn, Jake Brown, Anne Willis Hetlage, David Lee. Row 3: Julie Pinkerton Pettit, Charles Walcott, Jay Jenkins, Peter Elliott, Jerry Newbury, John Eaton, Steven Swett, David Morse, Kitty Bigelow Benton. Row 4: Bob O’Neil, Charles FitzGerald, Bonnie Brown Gardner, Jim Fitzgibbons, Jack Chase, Ned Felton, David McElwain, Josh Brackett, Bob Gebelein, Tim Gates, Phillip Delano, John Bigelow.
lished by Xlibris and is called The Society for the Relief of Women and Children 1797–1997. Her book documents 200 years of women helping women and the development and evolution of social welfare in New York City.
Ed Ofgant finished being “chair of the Financial Planning Association of Massachusetts: an exciting experience. I actually had my ticket in hand to San Diego for 3:00 p.m. September 11, 2001.” On February 23, 2002, Nathan D. Talbot married Ruth M. Talbot in Key West. Nathan and Ruth live in Marathon, Florida, where Nathan teaches Hispanic students English, science and math.
“This winter, a 30-year retrospective exhibition of 43 sculptures and 63 drawings was held at the Fuller Building, 808 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston University,” writes Nicholas Edmonds. “The show was seen by approximately 2,000 people,
including many from Milton’s Class of 1955. Catalogues are available (617-358-0922) or you can visit the Web site at www.nickedmondssculptor.com.”
Knoblauch, Doug Glanville, Lance Berkman and Barry Zito to name a few.”
Robert “Mike” Whitney is chairman at LandVest, “which continues to grow and gain more interesting, national marketing and consulting projects. I have really appreciated the lunches organized by the Boston area ’55ers, sparked by Bob Crook.”
Keith Brodie was honored as the 2001 Distinguished Alumnus of the Year from New Canaan Country School.
Edward Burke and his wife, Naomi, made Caroline McMullan Burke a grandmother in September 2000. “Returning from a vacation, with a change of planes in Minneapolis, we met Molly at age three days.” Caroline writes, “They have visited each Christmas.” Deborah Dunham married Arnold Gershon on June 8, 2001, in New York City. John Wylde’s Wareham Gatemen won the 2001 Cape Cod Baseball League Championship. “It was our fourth title in the past 14 years. We have been blessed with great players: Mo Vaughn, Chuck
Anne Wyatt Brown is teaching at the University of Richmond. Her daughter, Natalie, was expecting Anne’s first grandchild in April 2002. Robert G. Fuller Jr. “recently attended a training seminar conducted by the Episcopal Diocese of Maine for laity interested in preaching. Among the other attendees, to my surprise and pleasure, was classmate Larry Rotch, who currently enjoys semi-retirement from his engineering career, and with his wife, Emily, lives in the rural hamlet of Liberty, Maine. Ray and Sarah Faxon Houlihan have settled into a “wonderful routine of spring and summer in Chestertown, Maryland, and winter in Naples, Florida with some very interesting travel in between.
Philip Rand traveled to Argentina, Antarctica and Chile at the end of 2001. He is still awaiting the publication of his paper given in Holland (Leiden) in a volume on the writer and the city. Rand gave a paper at the University of London in 2000 on Zola, Bulwer-Lytton and the end of the Second Empire. Lisa Graves Wardlaw returned from a trip to the Galapagos with Loca Floats. Lisa is still pursuing her real estate career on Squam Lake.
Caroline Constant’s latest book, Eileen Gray, came out last year. Caroline loves her new job as professor of architecture at the University of Michigan. Suzette Alsop Jones “is head of the visual arts at the Dana Hall School in Wellesley, Massachusetts, where she teaches painting and architecture. “Working hard to paint, garden, and ‘be there’ for my husband, Tom, and my daughter, Tess, who is living with us for the moment with her boyfriend. They are back from two years of teaching in China. My older daughter, Sarah, is in her last year of medical school in Albuquerque, New Mexico.” Lee Dennison Roussel is returning to the U.S. and leaving the Foreign Service after 24 years to be closer to her two daughters and the rest of her family.
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Class of 1957, front row (left to right): Avis Bohlen, Penny Hull, Anna Luciani, Helen Wilmerding Milner, Jim Bowditch. Row 2: Susan Smith Faith, Lisa Graves Wardlaw, Anne Marbury Wyatt-Brown, Hal Fuller, Peter Moore, Frank Yeomans. Row 3: Tita Hayes Gratwick, Debby Jaffe Yeomans, Kitt Gregg, Prentiss Higgins, John de Neufville, Robert Shaw, Robert N. Hubby.
Peter Dickson adopted a baby girl from China – Ellis Jing Hua Dickson. He is “starting as a father all over again.” Peter’s older children are 28 and 30.
Joan Coburn Casini and her husband, Nicolo, celebrated the birth of their first grandchild in December 2001: Alessandro Marmi, the son of their daughter, Elisa, and her husband, Stefano.
Peter Reed Pavan is professor and chairman of the department of ophthalmology at the University of South Florida College of Medicine, Tampa, Florida. Peter is “actively engaged in clinical research and patient care in the field of vitreoretinal surgery and medicine, and just finished a two-year stint as president of the local Harvard Club. Lindley Greenough Thomasset now has five grandchildren: Carly, Dylan, Ian, Anne and Sierra. “Being a grandmother is neat. We’re putting an addition on our house so we have better storage space and a large bathroom for the future.” Lindley runs a communication skills workshop at Iona College and would like to meet Dale DeLetis to compare notes.
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Class of 1962, front row, (left to right): Mary Shepard, Dina Roberts Bray, Katty Davisson Chace, David Millet, Arthur Nash, Pam Watson Sebastian, Natalie Mittendorf Gallagher. Row 2: John Carter, Amy Bright Unfried, Marty Andrews Locke, David Fuller, Charles Wyzanski, Bo Thorne Niles, Cherry Forbes Wunderlich. Row 3:William Ames, Harley Laing, Philip Chor, Julie Cheever, Barbie Welch Orlovsky. Row 4: John Macomber, Robert Rugo, Romesh Roy, Art Perry, Tack Chace, Wilson Pile, Suzette Alsop Jones, Lee Dennison Roussel.
“Our lives continue to be unpleasantly hectic with four adolescent children,” writes Holly Cheever. “Our first born, Jesse, is at Wesleyan University. Our second child, Caitlin, will leave us in the fall for Connecticut College, where she will play ice hockey. We note our convenient ‘empty-nesting’ with a mixture of sadness, nostalgia and relief. Robin, tenth grade, and Brenna, eighth grade, provide us with plenty of distractions, while Dean overworks in the field of environmental law, and I overwork in veterinary practice and everything else.” Augusta MacAusland and Bruce Droste were married at their farm in Winchester, New Hampshire on October 14, 2001. The Reverend Jon Appleyard, husband of Ruth Wiggins ’69, officiated, assisted by John Kerry. “In attendance on that day were a bevy of
Class of 1967, front row (left to right): Clive Stanbrook, Jenny Lester, Bill Quinby.
MacAuslands: Augusta’s sons, Jamie ’99 and Johnny ’01, Russel ’66, Teddy ’71, Edith (Mabrey) ’72, and her son, Teddy ’03. They were joined by other Miltonians Daniel Cheever Jr. ’60, Bob Warren ’68, and Kip Perkins ’69.
Hagerty and Bob Sinicrope have been pretty regular correspondents, either by phone or email. It would be great to hear from others. I certainly hope to revisit the campus later this year. Until then, work hard and certainly play hard!”
“Hello, fellow Miltonians,” writes John Sussewell. “All is well on the Atlanta front. I’m busy these days with real estate and most certainly music – playing drums. What did you expect? Atlanta has many fine musicians. John
Sarah Dixwell Brown’s daughter, Heidi Zimmerman, is a sophomore at Macalastar College in Minnesota.
Cannell ’69, Michael Cannell, and J. Carlow Cannell; and his sister, Cynthia Gross.
Catie Marshall is the communication’s director for the New York City Board of Education. “We are the largest system in the country, employing 80,000 teachers and serving 1.1 million children, two of whom are mine – Morgan (11) and Ian (8).”
Class of 1972, (left to right): Susannah Carr (Tooey) Voorhis, Paul Hanley, Polly Brazelton, Willy Brazelton, Jessie Hill, Leslie Dickersin, Dick Guest.
Timothy Brown finished his 20th year teaching at the Lawrenceville School and was appointed director of the Teaching and Learning Program – a new program which will inspire teachers to get involved in professional development and share their teaching ideas with each other. Timothy and his wife, Barbara Elkins, have three children: Jen (16), Nat (13) and Gabe (13).
Currie Barron’s husband, T.A. Barron, an author, was invited to speak to Milton middle school students in early March. “As I had not been back to Milton Academy since our fifth reunion, it was a great pleasure for me and Tom to visit the School in its current magnificence. The kids, Denali, Brooks, Ben, Ross and Larkin, are finally old enough for me to travel more easily. I am busy in Boulder,
Edmund Chan ’77 with his son, Jonathan, and wife, Chris.
Colorado, with family life and various music projects involving piano, voice, recorders and viola.” Peter Cannell died on May 18, 2002, as the result of a brain tumor. Peter was a former director of the Smithsonian Institution’s book-publishing division and an expert on songbirds. He is survived by his wife, Amanda Henderson Cannell ’73; his three children, Tom, Oliver and Louisa; his brothers, William
Betsey Crow Blake’s mental health column has been reinstated as a regular monthly feature of the local Sentinel and Enterprise newspaper. As the director of public relations and publicity for the local department of mental health’s citizen’s advisory board. Betsey was highly praised for planning the department’s annual “May is Mental Health Month” kick-off event on May 1,2002.
Robert Brace is delighted to report that his daughter, Alison ’08, will be entering Milton this fall in Class VI. Robert looks forward to becoming re-involved with the school. After 18 years, Kym Lew Nelson left Procter & Gamble to start her own consulting business, the KLEW Company. The KLEW Company focuses on purchaseand-supply chain consulting and training. Kym’s daughters Alexis (10) and Sydney (14), are doing well. Kym’s husband, Michael, is a financial analyst for ADVO Co.
Class of 1977, front row (left to right): Joana Jebsen Cook, Fred Stubbs, Grace Hornor Evans, Helen Gamble, Gigi Morris, Becky Stone, Betsy Prout Letter, Noni Keefer-Delgado, Sara Britton Minor, Yoshi Belash, Ellen Sibley, Kelly Connelly Evans, Nina Bramhall, Christy Stubbs Hensel, William Fenn Roslansky. Row 2: Mike Ryan, Danny Evans, Jennifer Evans Lussier, Heather Faris, Mimi Ellis Storey, Brad Singleton, Lina Waingortin Blumberg, Ben Procter, Beth Young Goettisheim, Sarah Henry Lederman, Liz Bisbee Borné, Sara Greer Dent. Row 3: Charlie Truslow, Laura Spence-Ash, Margie Barrett, Ann Maney, Alex Bok, Eddie Miller, Richard Leigh, Anne Ricketson Avis, Lisa Fletcher Cronan, Louise Taylor, Sisi Gallagher, Kay Maslin Fullerton, Margaret Smith Bell. Row 4: George Mullen, Derek Mercer, Sam Perry, John Young, Joe Merrill, Rick Smith, Peter Gregory, Chris Trakas, John Pride, Morris Tyler, Tom Chase, Charlie Hays, Michael Williams, David Giandomenico.
Janice Seidel Nieman has launched her own talent management/recruitment firm in New York. The firm specializes in the communications market. William Nixon’s Web site is www.mycabinfever.com. His poetry books are When I Had it Made, (Pudding House Publications) and The Fish Are Laughing, (Pavement Saw Press).
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James Hitchcock Graham, son of Victoria Hall Graham ’81, and her husband, Mark, was born on January 17, 2002.
Class of 1982, front row (left to right): Toby Cabot, Margie Talcott, Joan Morse, Scott Ritter, Ben Schneider, Eric Kjellgren, Nancy Upton, Eric Howard, Mariah Mackenzie, Belle Hunnewell Stafford, Ramsay Fairburn. Row 2: Jeremy Crigler, Veronique Choa, Greg Duncan, Brien Jacobsen, Lili Wright, Frances Storey, Karen Rubin Hawkes, Oliver Hawkes, John Feldman, Joanie Brewster, Mark Robinson, Peggy Faesy MacKenzie, Meave O’Marah, Nick Gray. Row 3: Tom Payne, Nat Lipman, Matt Trieschman, Bonnie MacDonald, Dan Norton, Nat Burke, Stephen Bell, Phil Robertson. Row 4: Matthew Huntington, Paul Turci. In remembrance of John Fraser and Abigail Mackey.
Anne Avis and her husband, Greg, were the recipients of the 2001 Conservation Award given by the Montana Land Reliance. Reacting to the Bozeman development pressure, the Avises protected 17,000-acre ranch west of Clyde Park that includes two miles of Brackett Creek and surrounding drinking water sources. In addition, the Avises have been strong financial supporters and proponents of the Montana Land Reliance. Elizabeth Burns’s novel, Year of Meteors, will be out from Sourcebooks next year. “Twenty-five years! I can’t believe it has been 25 years already!” writes Edmund Chan. “Life has been too fast and too busy for my liking. My wife, Chris, and I (married 14 years!) have a wonderful three-year-old, Jonathan. Life revolves around him now. Also time to think about his attending Milton someday?”
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Noni (Joan) Keefer and her husband, Fran, will celebrate their 10th anniversary this year. The couple has fun with their children, Kyle (8) and Alice (61⁄2).
A lawyer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, William “Butch” Selman and his wife now have two children: Mackenzie (3) and Lucas (11⁄2).
Sarah Swett wishes she could “save the world with knitting needles, loom and a bit of yarn…well, a lot of yarn.”
Jeanne Thrower Aguilar recently caught up with Margaret Bergan Davis ’76 on a trip to Chicago in May. It was the first time they had seen each other since graduating from Mount Holyoke together 22 years ago. “We realized we have lots in common with wonderful husbands and children, challenging careers and rewarding volunteer opportunities. Our husbands are away much of the time, so we laughed about our ‘subsidized single parent’ status. It was wonderful to renew an old friendship.”
Bryan Austin and his wife, Sierra Bright ’81, opened the Samuel Sewall Inn in Brookline, Massachusetts last year. The inn is a 117-year-old building, which Bryan and Sierra restored themselves. For more information, visit www.samuelsewallinn.com. Haley Klein is happy to announce the publication of her first book, The Way of Change: Finding Joy in Your Journey. “Thanks to all classmates who have already bought their copies, especially Jessica Warren Bennett, who may have bought one for everyone she knows! I am off and running on the next one, which I hope will be out in the fall of 2003.”
Julie Lamont finished her Ph.D. in environmental planning in October 2001. She is now a freelance environmental consultant, currently working on a steelhead trout and creek restoration project in Berkeley. She was recently elected to the executive committee of the Sierra Club’s San Francisco Bay Area chapter.
Christian Zimmerman and his wife, Deb, are expecting their second child. Their son, Zane, was born in May 2000. Christian works at Pike Industries, a construction materials and asphalt paving company in New Hampshire. He enjoys time with his family, rock climbing, skiing, windsurfing, mountain biking and traveling.
Nathaniel Abeles and his wife, Paula, had an eight-pound baby boy on December 14, 2001. The head coach of the NEFL semi-pro football team, Oliver Bustin, won the championship last October. He and his wife, Teresa, celebrated their 15th wedding anniversary in Paris and Nice, France in February. Opening an art-and-healing studio in Providence, Rhode Island, called Starfire Studio, Valerie Claff does private healing sessions and runs classes and workshops celebrating free and soulful creative expression. She had a recent
exhibition of her paintings at the Gallery Naga on Newbury Street called “Fire and Water.” Valerie teaches at Clark University in Worcester. Brewster Conant Jr. finished his Ph.D. in hydrogeology last year at the University of Waterloo, in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. Brewster works at Wilfrid Laurier University. Brewster and his wife, Bernadette, enjoy their three children. Victoria Hall Graham and her husband, Mark, welcomed James Hitchcock to their crew. James Hitchcock Graham was born on January 17, 2002, and joined his brothers, Spencer and Henry. Lisa Marr is a family physician and also enjoys time at home with her two daughters, Haley (6) and Erin (4). Lisa also found her way back into the rink for some women’s ice hockey. Matthew Moore discovered that his Milton theatre teacher, Peter Phinney and wife, Gail, were living in Palos Verdes. “We’ve reconnected and are planning a mini-Milton BBQ. We also saw Ben Schneider ’82 perform in a show he wrote and directed.”
Joan Brewster writes, “Life in the Denver area is great. I can’t believe I have put up with the snow at Breckenridge for 14 years! Come visit. We live right on Meadow Hills Golf Course.” Since Milton, Veronique Choa has held a number of jobs, including: waitress, caterer, professional cook (at Biba in Boston), gallery manager, New York City fundraiser, secretary, database manager, sound recordist, production assistant, adventurer, graphic designer, Web designer, philanthropist, mother of two plus a stepson, and artist. Veronique writes, “I still don’t know what I want to do, but I’m having fun trying to figure it all out. Love to all.”
Class of 1987, front row (left to right): Tony Torres, Mindy Jeffry Davies, Lori Dandridge Cunningham, Alex Neville, Michael D’Esopo, Melissa Coleman, Claire Sledge Smith, Elsa Smith, Molly Smith, Reid Smith, Lex Mathews. Row 2: Tim Donohue, Abby Smith Davis, Kate Zilla-Ba, Billy O’Flanagan, Alison Fitzgerald, Jessica Abeles-Wong, Philip Utsch. Row 3: Meg Robertson, Alethia Jones, Nick Schmid, Chris Dusseault, Chloe Breyer, Catharine MacLaren, Gillian Foster.
“I’m still slaving away over the microscope in Woods Hole, Massachusetts,” writes Antonie Chute. “I don’t spend as much time at sea as I used to, just a few weeks a year. I live near lots of nice beaches and ponds with my three cats…I’m turning into a cliché.” The Milton Alumni Soccer Team showed real grit this year: after falling behind 3–0 to Nobles’ Alumni on the road, they regrouped (thanks to some halftime adjustments by Mr. E), held play in the Nobles end during the second half, and came back to win the game, 4–3. Michael Richmond broke his finger early in the game while playing goalie, but says it was worth the pain to keep playing. Susanna Hodges Salk lives in Roxbury, Connecticut, with her husband, Eric Salk, and two sons, Oliver (7) and Winston (2). Her play The Beacon Hill Book Club will premiere in September at the Seven Angels Theater in Waterbury, Connecticut. Susanna is also a contributing editor to Elle Décor magazine.
While working to bring the Barnes Citizen Building (www.bckbarnes.com) up to speed, Charles Barnes has taken on additional activities. For the past year, he’s run the St. Louis District Office for U.S. Senator Kit Bond. MacGill James is living in Baltimore, Maryland, with his wife, Erica Esh James, an art conservator from Montana. They were married in 1997 and had their first child, Harrison Henry Johnston James, on March 27, 2002. MacGill is an international oil broker.
Claire Messud finished two years as a visiting writer at Amherst College in May. “My third book, The Hunters: Two Short Novels was published last fall and was a finalist for this year’s PEN/Faulkner Award. Most excitingly, my husband James and I had a little girl, Livia Violet Aude Wood, born July 19, 2001.” Laura Sloan Ongaro gave birth to her second daughter on November 8, 2001. “Zoe, who is four, loves having a baby sister. Meg Cabot and I heard Coco Bacon read from her new novel at the Newtonville Bookstore” in March. “She was great!”
Lucie Greer ’84 and Martha Carroll Casey ’84 celebrate at Martha’s wedding to Tom Casey on June 8, 2001, in Osterville, Massachusetts.
Martha Carroll married Tom Casey in Osterville, Massachusetts on June 8, 2001. Milton graduates in attendance were the bride’s sister, Lesley Carroll Hauser ’86, Richard Shea ’80, and Lucie Cooper Greer. Martha is a member of the litigation department at Taylor, Ganson & Perrin in Boston. Tom Casey is a portfolio manger at Standish, Ayer & Wood in Boston.
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couldn’t thank them enough. Otherwise, I work on business news which keeps me in New York. Matthew Katz is almost finished with his residency in radiation oncology. He and his wife, Dana, enjoy time with their son, Benjamin Aaron (10 months).
Class of 1992, front row (left to right): Phoebe Knowles, Nicholas Burling, Molly Wheat, Justin Blumensteil, Adam Burr, Mitchell Gelber, Jared Cahners, Patrick Yachimski, Jeff Kirkman, Tanya Earls. Row 2: Derek Frederickson, Clint Murray, Molly Merrill, Jason Spingarn-Koff, Laura Chauncey, Yeng Felipe, Carolyn Mansfield, Johanna Aberia, Phaedra Yachimski, Erika Mikkelsen. Row 3: Chris O’Donnell, Haven Ladd, Cyrus Frelinghysen, Philip Ravenscroft, Laura Tatelbaum, Kendra Motley, Diane Popeo, Nadia Boulos, Cristina Courey, Eliza Mahony, Jennifer Carpenter, Ivan Ting, Patrick Dundas, David Wolman. Row 4: Jep Madara, Gordon Lanpher, Peter Scoblic, Kim Steimle, Shanon Kearney, Danny McGuire, Reed Johnstone, Enrique Colbert, David Leopold, Maise Wormser, Noah Messing, Tim Dempsey, David Franklin. Row 5: Gurpreet Kanwal, Adam Hudson, Merrick Axel, Michael Breyer, Tim Pieh, Jonathan Horwitt, Nathan Bihldorff, Sophie Coquillette, Cale Miller, Tim Pappas, Heidi Baer, Meg Aldrich, Andrew Weiner, Dara Arons, Emily Lloyd, Amanda Filley, Derek Nelsen.
Sarah Smith Gerritz moved to Guilford, Connecticut, and is expecting her second child this April. Sarah is a family physician. Stephen Kagan is happily married and living with his wife, Vidya, in Needham, Massachusetts. Rachel Weber Sabates gave birth to a son, Spencer Louis Sabates, on February 27, 2002. David Schore has two daughters: Hunter Rose Schore and Tyler Morgan Schore.
Karen Euler lives in Hingham, Massachusetts, and works at Strekalorsky and Hoit, Inc., an architectural firm. Karen is, “trying unsuccessfully to meet Ruta Brickus and her husband, Quinn, for lunch sometime, between here and New York.” Laurie S. Kohn married Christopher Murphy in July 2002. Laurie is a professor at Georgetown Law School.
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Sean Mullen and his wife, Lara, had a son, Jonathan, on December 22, 2001. Diana Gardner Vogel was married on November 18, 2000 to Ralph Vogel.
Cecilia Ashton Wong was born to Jessica Abeles-Wong and her husband on January 23, 2002. Melissa Coleman is living in Portland, Oregon and doing freelance Web design. She and Eric Wallace are engaged to be married in Maine, September 2002. Stephen Griffin and his wife, Doreen, announce the birth of their son, James David Griffin, on October 8, 2001. Catherine MacLaren lives in New York City and is the associate executive director of a psychotherapy training institute specializing in cognitive-behavioral therapy. Catherine started work on her dissertation and teaches as an adjunct professor at the New York University School of Social Work.
Margaret “Peggy” Rousseau lives in Jacksonville, Forida with palm trees, orange trees and a pug. “I work for a large nursing home as the in-house nurse practitioner. Margaret is in touch by wire, letter and satellite with various Miltonians – Sarah Hutchinson ’72, Mellie Anderson, Jason Peckham and Tommy Lee. Peter Wiemeyer and his wife, Nicole, are living in Simsbury, Connecticut with their three sons: Klaus (24 months) and twins Oren and Reese (9 months). Peter works for Hartford Financial Services.
Mark Simmons is living in Kalamazoo, Michigan attending Western Michigan University. He is in the College of Aviation, working on a second bachelor’s degree in aviation flight science. Mark earned his private pilot’s license in October and will graduate with his commercial license, multi-engine rating and instrument rating next winter. He is in touch with Ali Danois, Mike Foley, Dan Hermann, Joe Koltun, James Slavet, Drake Holliday, and Kirt Frederickson, as well as Sarah Constant ’87, Keisha McClellan ’87 and Jon Slavet ’85 who are all doing very well. David Wiborg and his wife, Amy, are enjoying their new home and Japanese garden in Framingham. After working on the Yawkey Ambulatory Care Building at Massachusetts General Hospital, David joined a team at Cambridge Seven Associates, Inc, that is designing and renovating three red line MBTA stations, one of which is the Milton community’s beloved Ashmont Station.
Mary Ackerman works in New York City as a television reporter for Fox News Channel. “We all got hit pretty hard by September 11. I was up for two weeks – not leaving my gas mask or ‘Ground Zero’ behind. Whatever JZ and speech team taught me always comes through in a crisis like that! I use their help everyday and
Pari Lee Palandjian, third daughter of Tracy Pun Palandjian ’89 and Leon Palandjian, was born May 1, 2002.
Class of 1997, front row (left to right): Nick Burchfield, William Hutchinson, Josh Stolp, Sam Walcott, Rollin Simmons, Katie Wade, Laura Ford, Chuck McNamee. Row 2: Kirath Raj, Soraya Freed, David Rand, Alex Helm, Sylvia Mincewicz, Andrew Wheat ’90, Amanda Pegg, Holly Kohler, Hilary Sargent, Jenny Shoukimas, Sarah Case, Sara Shaughnessy. Row 3: Jared Miller, Liz Ward, Francesca Texidor, Matthew Courey, Jessica Higgins, Frances Tilney, Kate Scott, Caitlin Sweeney, Esther Freeman, Debbie Accetta, Patricia Murphy, Eve Manz. Row 4: Matthew Kennedy, Drew Hendrickson, Scott Golding, Alexi Evriviades, Jonas Greenberg, Peter Curran, Jeff Cooper, Ethan Kurzweil, Josh Frank, Mike Margarite, Audrey Beaton, Sarah Kenney, Anthony Panza, Jamie Scott, Erick Tseng. Row 5: Kyle Quinn, Greg Stutman, Luke Crowley, Jason Dillow, Parker Everett, Jack Donahue, Jim Meeks, Jonas Peter Akins, Keri Hughes, Lily Pollans, Dave Bihldorff, Josh Olken, Eno Sarris, Mike Silverstein, Nima Safabakhsh.
Milton graduates pose for a picture during Nat Kreamer and Anne Christine Walzel’s wedding in Houston on November 3, 2001. Front row (from left to right): Peter Garran ’94, Nat Kreamer ’95, Edward H. Fenster ’95 and Katherine Rochlin ’95. Back row (from left to right): David M. Weld ’94, Wat H. Tyler ’95 and Spencer E. Dickinson ’93.
Victoria Wilde Jette and her husband, Peter, are pleased to announce the birth of their son James Halney on November 1, 2001.
On Mother’s Day, Meredith Talbot and her husband, David, welcomed the arrival of their first child, Max Talbot Litvak. The three live in New Haven, Connecticut where Meredith is finishing her last year of residency in internal medicine and David is starting a cardiology fellowship at Yale New Haven Hospital.
Tim Carey finished his first year of residency in internal medicine at Vanderbilt. His wife, Suzi (Fryzel), whom he married last September, is in her second year of residency in pediatrics. Amy Smith is living in ski country in Breckenridge, Colorado with husband, Eric Handley, and son, Dakota Smith Handley.
Kate Brooks Leness was married to Tony Leness on August 18, 2002, in Northeast Harbor, Maine.
After graduating from Denison University outside of Columbus, Ohio, Rem Johannsen married “a beautiful opera singer named Robin on August 4, 1996.” They lived in Dayton and Cincinnati for a few years before moving back east to New Jersey. While Robin builds her performing credits, Rem teaches English and runs the theatre department at Highland Park High School. Next fall, Robin and Rem will move to Berlin, Germany for 10 months so that Robin can perform eight roles on the Deutsche Oper Berlin stage. Jason Koff recently moved from Berkeley to Brooklyn, and works as an independent documentary producer. “I’m happy to report that my film Robofly won a National Student Emmy – first place for documentary – from the National Academy of Television
Arts and Sciences in Los Angeles. The documentary, about insect flight and the quest to build the world’s first robotic fly, was my master’s thesis at the University of California Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, and was nationally broadcast on the PBS series LIFE 360 in January.”
Isabel Ames works at The Doe Fund in New York City, an organization that helps homeless men transition back into the workforce. She is getting married in September 2002 and looks forward to celebrating with many Milton alums.
Kenneth Levey and his brother, Thomas Levey ’99, returned to Hong Kong for Christmas and spent several days in Shanghai. Ken got his CPA and is working for PricewaterhouseCoopers in the New York City office. Thomas was elected to Phi Beta Kappa at Yale.
Sarah McLean lives in Taiwan and studies Chinese and teaching. “I’d love to be in touch with other classmates living in Asia or planning a trip this way!”
Nat Kreamer married Anne Christine Walzel on November 3, 2001 at St. Anne’s Church in River Oaks, Texas.
Phillip H. Dickinson ’96, left for Fort Campbell, Kentucky on March 5, 2002, bound for Kandahar, Afghanistan to join the 101st Airborne Division in Operation Enduring Freedom. Serving as an infantry platoon leader for an indefinite period, Phillip would love to hear from anyone. He can receive mail at 2LT Philip Dickinson, B. Co. 1/187IN, APO 09351. Hillary Drohan is engaged to Michael Flynn, a fellow graduate of Brown University.
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Deaths 1924
A number of Milton alumni gathered to celebrate Kate Brooks’s marriage to Tony Leness on August 18, 2002, in Northeast Harbor, Maine. Back row (from left to right): Michael O’Keefe ’91, Penn Lindsay ’91, Alexandra Ames Lawrence ’89, Tom Cleveland, Emily Brooks ’97, Kate Brooks Leness ’91, Tony Leness, Toby Gannett ’91, Anne Tucker ’93, Isabel Ames ’93, Alex Kerry ’92. Front row (from left to right): David Brooks ’96, John Tucker ’96, Holly Burnes ’66, Lars Albright ’93 and David Millet ’62.
Michelle Buckley is in Berlin, Germany on a scholarship to conduct graduate research in German cultural history. Michelle came across an old issue of the Milton Alumni Magazine while in a Berlin bookstore last December. Audrey Hallow has moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, and teaches fourth grade. Frances Tilney will attend Oxford next year for a two-year M.Phil. degree in Latin American Studies and International Relations.
Mike Descoteaux graduated from Northwestern in June 2002. In March 2002, three Chicago theatres staged his original concept musical This Time. David Moore traveled across the country on roller blades last summer to raise money for the Cam Neeley Foundation of Boston. He raised a total of $10,000 by rollerblading across 16 states in two months.
76 Milton Magazine
In September, Elizabeth Simon started working at Sonoma Technology, a small research and consulting firm specializing in air quality, located just north of San Francisco. She looks forward to hanging out with Brook Hooper, who will remain at Stanford next year to complete a one-year intensive teacher-certification program.
Dorothy L. Stevens Sylvia H. Watson 1926 Elizabeth Sanderson 1928 John L. Grandin Jr. John M. Morse 1932 Eleanor Hallowell Lippincott William C. Quinby, Jr. 1933 Martha Rogerson Estabrook 1935 Carolyn P. Williams Humphrey H. Swift III 1936 Hoima F. Cherau Thomas B. Hunnewell 1939/40 Robert G. Greeley 1943 Edward B. Twitchell 1944 Willard Baldwin Peter R. Goethals Hugh M. Watson Theodore T. Whitney 1945 Graves Desha Hewitt Allan R. White 1946 Ann J.R. Levinson 1948 Robert L. Marks 1951 Alexis L. Belash 1953 David A. Brayton Jr. 1957 Richard S. Higgins Friends Andrew Sloan Ruth Bayard Smith
He served on the surgical staff of Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) from 1946 to 1996. A leader in the development of the surgical treatment for severe burns, he was the assistant chief of staff at Shriners Burns Institute for Children in Boston from 1969 to 1985 and a founding surgeon of the Adult Burns Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital until his retirement from active practice. In addition, at various times he served as chief of surgery at several Massachusetts hospitals, including Milton Hospital and Boston City Hospital. For more than 35 years, Dr. Quinby taught part time at Harvard Medical School, and he was also an instructor in pediatric surgery at Boston University from 1960 to 1965. His articles appeared in The New England Journal of Medicine, The Journal of Trauma, and The American Journal of Surgery.
Friends Andrew Sloan, beloved son of J.D. Sloan, died tragically in a car accident on August 20, 2002, in Cleveland, Ohio. Many graduates will remember Andrew from their days in Hallowell House or Goodwin House. J.D. was a member of the faculty from 1988 to 1993 when he and Carly Wade were co-heads of Hallowell (1988–1991) and Goodwin (1991–1993).
He served Milton Academy as the School doctor from 1952 to 1979 and was president of the alumni association on the board of trustees from 1964 to 1967. Dr. Quinby graduated from Harvard University in 1936 and from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in 1940. At Johns Hopkins, Dr. Quinby interned in surgery and medicine and then served as a captain in the Army Medical Corps in Fiji, India, Burma, and New Zealand during World War II.
Dr. Quinby enjoyed golf, sailing in Maine, and skiing with fellow members of the Schussverein Ski Club in Jackson, New Hampshire. Dr. William C. Quinby, Jr. ’32, a general, pediatric and burns surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital for half a century, died Thursday, August 15, 2002, at Milton Hospital. He was 88. Dr. William C. Quinby, Class of 1932, was a loyal and involved graduate for all of his adult life.
He leaves his wife, Susan Whiteley Quinby; two sons, William III of Charleston, South Carolina, and Jonathan S. ’73 of Woodside, California; two daughters, Marguerite Quinby Eberle ’69 of Concord and Susan S. ’71 of Seattle; and seven grandchildren.
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