Reed College Magazine March 2022 by Reed College

‰ MARCH 2022

The Birth of the Modern Inside Reed’s unforgettable Humanities 211/212 class

TO G E T H E R AG A I N AT L A S T !

Reunions / June 9–12 This year’s schedule will include beloved traditions such as the Stop Making Sense dance party, the Alumni Talent Show, a faculty lecture, class events, and more! Alumni from all classes are encouraged to attend. Visit reunions.reed.edu for details.

Class of 2020 Commencement / June 12 In celebration and recognition of the class of 2020, we are in the early stages of planning a formal commencement ceremony to take place during Reunions 2022. To learn more, visit reed.edu/commencement.

Registration for Reunions opens April 2022!

reunions.reed.edu

FEAT U RE S 12

Understanding Reed’s Endowment.

How it works, and why it matters BY CHRIS LYDGATE ’90

Eid Al-Fitr Makes Its Animated Debut

After growing up watching reactionary stereotypes, a screenwriter creates space for nuanced Muslim characters. BY MEGAN BURBANK

The Birth of the Modern

Inside Reed’s unforgettable Humanities 211/212 Class.

Gendered Dialogues

Reframing the Renaissance through the study of women BY MICHAEL P. BREEN

Sofonisba Anguissola, Self-Portrait At The Easel, c. 1556−57

AND DANA E. KATZ 20

Cultural Encounters

Looking beyond East-meets-West to understand how early modern cultures changed one another BY DANA E. KATZ AND MICHAEL P. BREEN

This Must Be the Place

Mailbox

Eliot Circular

BY MICHAEL FALETRA

Varieties of Human Experience

Other Courses in the Humanities Program at Reed

Would Frodo Wear Tie-Dye? And Other Paideia Concerns

B O O K S , F I L M S , A N D M U S I C BY R E E D I E S

By William Neuman ’84 30

A Lady of Letters: Jaki Moore Svaren ’50

A L L T H I N G S A LU M N I

Alumni Chapter Leader Profiles

The People’s Advocate: Peter Haberfeld ’63

Reedie Libs this March ReConnect with your Reedie Community Making Reed in Minecraft

In Memoriam H O N O R I N G C L A S S M AT E S , P R O F E S S O R S , A N D F R I E N D S W H O H AV E D I E D.

Advocates of the Griffin

Reunions 2022

Class Notes N E W S F R O M O U R C L A S S M AT E S .

Happy Birthday Scriptorium Calligraphy Initiative releases classic manual by Jaki Svaren

Reediana Things Are Never So Bad They Can’t Get Worse

NEWS FROM CAMPUS

Autonomy and Authority

Exploring the ways in which revolutions in early modern technology and scientific thought animated discussions about power.

DEPA RTMENTS

Object of Study W H AT R E E D S T U D E N T S A R E LO O K I N G AT I N C L A S S

Dragonglass, they call it.

Reed Magazine march 2022

This Must Be the Place lauren labarre

‰ march 2022

www.reed.edu/reed-magazine 3203 SE Woodstock Boulevard, Portland, Oregon 97202 503/777-7591 Volume 101, No.1 REED MAGAZINE Interim Editor

Katie Pelletier ’03 503-777-7727 pelletic@reed.edu writer/In Memoriam editor

Randall S. Barton 503-517-5544 bartonr@reed.edu class notes editor

Joanne Hossack ’82 joanne@reed.edu art director

In a Hum 211/212 conference with Prof. Michael Faletra, students examine early modern texts and contexts.

Tom Humphrey tom.humphrey@reed.edu grammatical kapeLlmeister

Virginia O. Hancock ’62

Paths That Cross It will be years before we come to terms with the experience of living through a global pandemic, and it will certainly take much longer before we fully understand how this interval of crisis has shaped human history. Somewhere in the middle of 2020, we came to speak of the “before times,” meaning the time prior to this major disruption. That label, of course, also held the promise of there being, at some point, the “after times.” As I write these words, we have not yet arrived at those after times, but signs of better days are on the horizon. There are parallels between current times and the early modern era that our Reed humanities faculty write about so eloquently in this issue. As they note, the rise of print culture produced changes that reverberated around the globe, and digital technologies have similarly transformed the world as we know it. Lockdowns and remote meetings have exacerbated our reliance on devices. Screen time tends to dislodge us from the present moment and place us in a suspended reality. However, both print and digital tools have aided and enhanced our ability to communicate, and, in our recent experience, have helped to build bridges and cross paths while we waited for the crisis to subside. 2

Reed Magazine march 2022

REED COLLEGE RELATIONS

Here at Reed, we are heading to the conclusion of another hard-won academic year. Now, more than ever, we value seeing our friends, colleagues, and loved ones in person. We do not take this togetherness for granted. The learning, creating, and caring that takes place

However, both print and digital tools have aided and enhanced our ability to communicate, and, in our recent experience, have helped to build bridges and cross paths while we waited for the crisis to subside. on this campus every day sustains us in the here and now and gives us strength to persevere as we look forward to the after times and all the promise that tomorrow will bring. Over the time I have been writing for the magazine, it has been a pleasure to work with the incomparable Chris Lydgate ’90. His talents as a writer and editor, coupled with his dedication to the college, have made this an informative and meaningful publication. Please join me in wishing him the best as he writes his next chapter. Audrey Bilger President of Reed

vice president, college relations

Hugh Porter director, communications & public affairs

Mandy Heaton Reed College is an institution of higher education in the liberal arts and sciences devoted to the intrinsic value of intellectual pursuit and governed by the highest standards of scholarly practice, critical thought, and creativity. Reed Magazine provides news of interest to the Reed community. Views expressed in the magazine belong to their authors and do not necessarily represent officers, trustees, faculty, alumni, students, administrators, or anyone else at Reed, all of whom are eminently capable of articulating their own beliefs. Reed Magazine (ISSN 0895-8564) is published quarterly by the Office of Public Affairs at Reed College. Periodicals postage paid at Portland, Oregon. Postmaster: Send address changes to Reed Magazine 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd, Portland OR 97202-8138

Letters to Reed Write to us! We love getting mail from readers. Letters should be about Reed (and its alumni) or Reed (and its contents) and run no more than 300 words; subsequent replies may only run half the length of their predecessors. Our decision to print a letter does not imply any endorsement. Letters are subject to editing. (Beware the editor’s hatchet.) For contact information, look to your left. Read more at www.reed.edu/reed_magazine.

Remembering Prof. Ed Segel

The day after I heard the news about Prof. Ed Segal’s [history 1973–2011], death, I reached for my copy of the Reed magazine. It was perched precariously on top of a pile of books to be read just at the right moment, which turned out to be a cold fall morning. A sense of community seeped through the pages and the Reedie-ness distracted and enveloped me as I caught up on the comings and goings of our town. Who knows when we will gather to remember

After 13 years, editor of Reed Magazine moves on.

Fellow Guardians of the Trees

I read with great interest and appreciation the review of Guardians of the Trees by Kinari Webb ’95. We are local supporters of Health in Harmony—the US headquarters is in Portland. We have met and/or hosted many of the principals of H in H—staff, board members, and Dr.

leah nash

Lydgate Bids Farewell

those we have lost in these COVID times. Ed’s death coming on the heels of Paul Bragdon’s passing made me so very sad. Of course neither is a surprise given their ages, but it feels like the end of an era, definitely my era—the 1980s. Beyond my time as a student listening to Ed lecture, he continued to be a strong presence on campus long after retiring. I could always count on seeing him with a twinkle in his eye and a witty retort as I scurried past, keeping the wheels on the bus at bustling alumni events. I closed the magazine and tears flowed. I’m having a hard time imagining Reed without Ed; it will not be the same. May your memory be a blessing, Professor. Mela Kunitz ’87 Portland, Oregon

BY CHRIS LYDGATE ’90 To begin, to begin, how to begin? The blank page is a wily foe. In my days at Reed, I’ve faced it on hundreds, even thousands of occasions. Usually, all it takes is a glance at my wristwatch and a shot of espresso from the Paradox Café to kick me into gear. Now the time has come to write my last editor’s letter. The blank page looms larger than ever; the ticking of the watch is a slow, relentless thud. I fill the empty space with promising ideas, but they lead nowhere. Perhaps I’m obsessing over the lede because I don’t want to say goodbye. For the past 13 years, it’s been my honor to serve as editor of Reed Magazine. Together we’ve visited the sinister hells of ancient China and the radioactive ruins of Chernobyl. We’ve plumbed the paradoxes of Zeno and the vertigi-

nous infinities of M.C. Escher. Discovered how the brain can learn to hear shapes. Pondered the birth of a new language, the sociology of sport, the siege of Vienna, and the sinister event horizon of a black hole. We’ve wandered the pathways of campus in search of the Doyle Owl, the giant snowball, the sports car buried under the library. We’ve seen how Reed played a foundational role in the lives of so many students and alumni— both in the classroom and beyond. And yet I’m acutely conscious of the fact that we’ve barely scratched the surface.

Webb herself. This is an organization of committed, innovative, successful people. Supporting it improves human lives, saves habitat, and offsets global warming. You can get a lot of bang for your buck. Most NGOs do their Good Works by working on problems that they have identified from afar. By contrast, H in H asks the local people what their issues are—health care often is at the top—and leverages that toward forest protection. Less logging is good for orangutans (where Kinari started) and protects tropical forests (the “lungs of the planet”), a major carbon sink. The big question is whether “radical listening” (Kinari’s phrase) can work outside the Indonesian forests—they have started work in Madagascar and in Brazil—and whether it can be scaled up. Climate change problems tend to be big and diffuse, and radical listening is by nature local and specific. But it works . . . I recommend that you look into Health in Harmony (healthinharmony.org) with checkbook at the ready. Lee Littlewood ’68 Ann Parker Littlewood ’68

I’ve loved being your editor—a deceptively simple term that contains multitudes, such as correspondent, conjuror, prospector, chaff sorter, cheerleader, stage manager, stuntdouble, mischief plotter, folk historian, and armchair psychologist. But it’s time for me to move on. I’m delighted to pass the baton to the illustrious English major Katie Pelletier ’03, who has done a sterling job editing features and Reediana for the last five years. I can’t sign off without offering my heartfelt thanks to the amazing crew who have contributed so much to the magazine over the years: Katie, Tom Humphrey, Randall Barton, Joanne Hossack ’82, Robin Tovey ’97, Ginny Hancock ’62, and John Sheehy ’82. Different people define Reed in their own way. To some, it’s an education. To some, it’s an adventure. To some, it’s an ideal. To me, first and foremost, it’s a community. I’m grateful to you—the alumni, professors, students, and staff of Reed College—who sustain and support this singular community. It has been an honor to write about you.

march 2022 Reed Magazine

Eliot Circular news from campus

photo by lauren labarre

Would Frodo Wear Tie-Dye? And Other Paideia Concerns BY RANDALL S. BARTON

SWORD PLAY: Partners spar during the Reed Lightsaber Academy, held during Paideia.

Seneca, an eminently quotable Roman Stoic philosopher, once observed ,“My joy in learning is that it enables me to teach.” For more than 50 years, Reed students returning from winter break have shared their learning at Paideia, a week of classes, presentations, and workshops led by members of the Reed community. These classes often run the gamut from the sublime to the ridiculous. Even the ridiculous, held in low esteem by society, takes on new meaning and context when studied seriously. To mitigate COVID19 risks, this year’s Paideia was limited to current Reed students, faculty, and staff, and some classes were presented online. Offerings included a virtual tour of the evolution of 20th-century architecture, exemplified by such on-campus examples as the Collegiate Gothic works of A.E. Doyle, the modernism of Pietro Belluschi and Neil Farnham ’40, and the postmodernism of the Zimmer Gunsul Frasca era. Another class offered an introduction to the tools and techniques of digital fabrication, Budding musicians were able to learn the basic electronics design and construction skills to build their own synthesizers. Aspiring mycologists became acquainted with the kinds of mushrooms that grow in the Pacific Northwest, including prominent fungi in the canyon. Would-be Skywalkers learned how to duel with lightsabers. A crash course in tie-dyeing was in service to those who hold tie-dye as the plaid of the Reed clan. Ardent ursinologists explored the global worship of bears, discussed bear conservation efforts, and learned to identify which of the eight species of bears they were most like. “A Beginner’s Guide to The Silmarillion” introduced J.R.R. Tolkien’s fictional mythology about the realm in which The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings take place. Rounding out the selection were Queering Rock Climbing; A Beginner Guide to Arabic; Show Me How You Burlesque; and Chinese Calligraphy.

Reed Magazine march 2022

Eliot Circular

Happy Birthday, Scriptorium! Celebrating 10 years of serifs and glyphs, metal nibs and oak gall ink, and the generous support of a small group of alumni and friends who made it possible.

p h o t o b y m at t d ’a n n u n z i o

Calligraphy, a transformative mind-body practice once taught at Reed by Prof. Lloyd Reynolds [art 1929–69], has been embraced by a new generation, thanks to the Calligraphy Initiative in Honor of Lloyd J. Reynolds, which celebrates its tenth anniversary this year. The initiative is the creation of Stephanie Snyder ’91, director and curator of the Douglas F. Cooley Memorial Art Gallery, and Gregory MacNaughton ’89, the Cooley’s community engagement professional and the leader of the Calligraphy Initiative. The idea was sparked while they were working on an exhibition at the Cooley in conjunction with Reed’s Centennial: Lloyd Reynolds: A Life of Forms in Art, which Snyder curated with then-special collections librarian, Gay Walker ’69. Understanding the rich heritage of calligraphy at Reed, Snyder and MacNaughton were inspired to revive the tradition, as were alumni who attended the exhibition and urged them forward. Stephanie and her spouse, Jonathan Snyder ’91, donated the funds to start the project, and several others joined them, allowing the Calligraphy Initiative to be established. Gregory MacNaughton ’89 worked with Reedies and community members who had studied with Reynolds to design the Scriptorium program for the Reed community, while furthering his own calligraphy education with Jaki Svaren ’50; MacNaughton met with Jaki each Monday for seven years, until her recent death in November 2021. The history of calligraphy at Reed began in 1938, when students met informally at Reynolds’s home to study the italic hand along with Reynolds who was teaching himself. Then in 1948, Reynolds began offering calligraphy through his Graphic Arts Workshop. Beautiful, hand-lettered cards and flyers began to appear along hallway walls and bulletin boards. Dangling from

A calligraphy classic by Jaki Svaren ’50, prominent student of Lloyd Reynolds, has been reissued by the Calligraphy Initiative.

tree branches were rain- and wind-battered weathergrams, slips of simple brown kraft paper calligraphed with short, often stunning poetry. The practice of calligraphy and Reynolds’s classes deeply influenced students’ lives. “Calligraphy clicked with the Reed character—at least the way Reynolds taught it. [. . . ]His classes were never simply about the thing—they were about everything,” wrote Todd Schwartz in his profile of Reynolds in this magazine. After Reynolds’s retirement, the calligraphy program at Reed continued under Robert Palladino, but in 1984 it was removed from the curriculum as an accredited course. As the years went on, sightings of weathergrams and such grew rarer and rarer. “For many alumni of my generation, the discontinuation of calligraphy instruction at Reed was like an amputation of one of Reed College’s many limbs. And the reestablishment of calligraphy instruction was a kind of restoration that made Reed whole again,” says David Snyder ’65, who regularly shows up to Scriptorium via Zoom. “Okay, a bit of a hyperbole, I will admit,” he says. “But I want you to understand that the Calligraphy Initiative and Scriptorium are a big deal.” What started out as a modest group of Reedies in 2012 has grown into an event called Scriptorium, with classes in italic, Chinese, and Arabic calligraphy three times a week. Students, alumni, faculty, and staff are invited to join; all materials are provided and no prior experience is necessary. The course is not for credit, but is rigorous and enjoyable. “Greg MacNaughton is a wonderful, dedicated calligraphy instructor,” Snyder says, “and I hear this all the time from people!” Guest instructors have included luminaries like Sumner Stone ’67 and Jaki Svaren ’50. Particularly notable, however, is the intergenerational community that the initiative has nurtured. “I show up to Scriptorium twice a week. I chat with students, assuring them that they can get through their degrees, and I meet up with the same alums who attended while I was a student,” says Nikki Johnston ’19.

“If you are the ‘instant potatoes type’ (one used to immediate success who expects to eat ten minutes after hunger is evident), you must revise your expectations. Calligraphy, just as any real art, takes a long long time,” says Jacqueline (Jaki) Svaren ’50, with characteristic aplomb, in her iconic manual, Written Letters: 33 alphabets for calligraphers. The manual—a spiral-bound, handlettered book—was originally published in 1975. Now rare and sought after by calligraphers, it has been reissued this spring by the Reed College Calligraphy Initiative in Honor of Lloyd J. Reynolds, a program of the Douglas F. Cooley Memorial Art Gallery at Reed. Addressed to a “fellow calligraphy student,” it contains detailed notes, analysis, and examples for each letter in 33 historic scripts—and is leavened with light-hearted humor, wisdom, and plenty of strong opinions. Jaki Svaren, who died in 2021 (see In Memoriam), was a student of Reed professor Lloyd Reynolds [English and art 1929–69]. Reynolds (See opposite.) In the introduction to her book, she thanks Reynolds, whose “dedication to beautiful letters and to the betterment of the human condition are a constant inspiration.” Jaki was important in her own right. In the afterword of the new edition, Gregory Macnaughton ’89, director of education and outreach at the gallery, tells about an afternoon viewing of some educational films

that Reynolds had made in 1976. “Since the room was full, some visitors had to stand just outside the door. Two women stood at the door frame, one silently and intently watching, and the other chatting and interjecting as images of Reynolds’s hands made beautiful letters on the screen. After some time, the talkative one turned to her neighbor and said, ‘Reynolds was good, but he had a student who was amazing: Jaki Svaren, she could do anything. Have you heard of her?’ she asked. The quiet woman looked at her and said, ‘I am Jaki Svaren.’” The book is available through John Neal Books.

In December 2021, in honor of the 10th anniversary of the Calligraphy Initiative, Stephanie and Jonathan Snyder started an endowed fund to secure the initiative for generations to come. The original donors include Anita Bigelow ’67 and Marian Christensen • Marguerite Cohen ’75 and Joseph Roberts • Laura Fisher ’68 and Robert Bissland • Kevin and Colleen Gotze • Laurie Halpern ’71 and Bill Benenson • Lucille Harris Pierce ’43 • Susan Snyder and David Snyder ’65 • Janet Svirsky ’74.

Prof. Jackie Dirks ’82 [history] notes that the classes “Give real meaning to the idea of Reed community.” She says, “This is a concrete example of the college contributing to the greater good: calligraphy classes are cross-generational, inclusive, and based on a long-standing commitment to making beautiful letters by hand,” On the occasion of their gift, Stephanie and Jonathan wrote, “Over the last decade, we have witnessed the study of paleography

and the practice of calligraphy transform students’ understanding of writing as an evolution of symbolic forms with multiple origins across the globe, almost all of them pictographic and spiritual in origin.” In a statement that encapsulates the ineffable quality of practicing calligraphy, a weathergram hanging recently from a tree on the Great Lawn read, “I can’t tell you, but you feel it.”

Reed Magazine march 2022

Advocates of the Griffin

News of the Alumni Association • Connecting Reed Alumni Around the Globe

EDITED BY KATIE RAMSEY ’04

ALUMNI CHAPTER LEADER PROFILES Reed’s alumni chapters have spent the last two years building community where they can, as they have done for decades. With the pandemic they had to find new ways. From monthly virtual events and online cooking classes to in-person events like Shakespeare on the Common plus a few (safe!) TTTs and restaurant outings, alumni chapters have approached making connections during the pandemic in different ways. We are sharing the stories of a few of our chapter chairs and why they give their time to Reed and Reedies. We are incredibly grateful for all chapter chairs’ continued involvement and their work strengthening the Reed community. Alumni chapters are looking forward to the return of in-person events when alumni can gather face to face once again. Chapters are active in Austin, the Bay Area, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Europe, New York, Portland, Puget Sound, Southern California, and Washington, D.C. To get involved in your local chapter or to host an (in-person or virtual) event, please contact alumni@reed.edu.

Carlie Stolz ’13

P S YC H O LO G Y Austin Chapter Chair

What do you do when you’re not volunteering for Reed? By day, I work

full time as a fundraiser and copy editor for a local nonprofit. By night, I attend classes in pursuit of my master’s degree in counseling. This, of course, means that I dedicate a lot of my off hours to homework, but I’m usually fine with that. I’ve also become a bit of an indoor cat since quarantine started, so I spend a lot of my free time reading fantasy books (and trying to write my own—don’t ask), getting back into visual art, volunteering for other political and human rights organizations, and trying in vain to remember to take my vitamins. What’s your favorite chapter event memory? I should probably lie and go with

something more thrilling than this, but if I’m being 100% honest, it was the time at Crow Bar when our group photo got completely derailed because we saw a dog. Somewhere on the Austin chapter Facebook page, there’s a snapshot of us holding our hands out in a desperate bid for this dog’s attention, and I could not be more pleased. What’s your favorite event that you’ve hosted or organized? The group trip to the

Blanton Art Museum on free admission night was really enjoyable. Considering all the parking and meetup location logistics involved, it also went surprisingly smoothly! We started at the museum cafe to enjoy the winning combination of pizza and wine, then made our way to the exhibit, intermittently dispersing and converging for casual discussion as we walked through.

Reed Magazine march 2022

We also did a trivia event that was an absolute delight (shoutout to Ace Furman ’16 for emceeing and writing the questions!), albeit light in attendance. I’d love to throw another one and see if we get a better turnout, but I know we’d still have a great time with another small yet mighty group. What motivates you to be a chapter chair?

I love getting to know other Reedies—and connecting other Reedies with each other! I’ve seen some great professional connections and genuine friendships come out of chapter events, which always makes my grinch heart grow three sizes. But! The Austin chapter is in serious need of steering committee members! If you have an idea for an event or are willing to help with setup/teardown at nearby chapter gatherings (especially in North Austin, which is a total beast for me to travel to in traffic), please reach out! What is a general thing that you enjoy in chapter events? Hearing stories from

Reedies Olde and Nu is always fun. I know the generation gap can seem pretty vast when you look at Social Media Pages That Shall Not Be Named, but when it really comes down to it, it’s the same as it ever was. When were you last on campus and for what? I was there in September 2019

for the most recent in-person Forum for Advancing Reed (approximately 84 years ago in COVID time). I highly recommend attending, by the way. It’s probably the most underrated on-campus alumni event because it’s hard to make focus groups, lectures, and scheduled social time sound exciting, but I promise it’s a lot of fun!

Wayne Clayton ’82

Johanna Colgrove ’92

E N G L I S H L I T E R AT U R E

Chapter Leadership Council Chair, Europe Chapter Chair

RELIGION

Southern California Chapter Chair

What do you do when you’re not volunteering for Reed? My profes-

sional time is devoted to working as an employment law yer, which has been extremely gratifying over the years. I have the opportunity to help individuals with work issues, which so often are so fundamental to clients’ sense of self. When I’m not working, I am fortunate to spend time with my wonderful family, reading, and walking. What’s your favorite chapter event memory?

I cannot pick a single one, but I have so many wonderful memories from the book club meetings we host. I have been involved with the chapter’s reading group for 15 years and heading up the coordination for the group for about 8 years. Throughout this time, it has been such a wonderful (and evolving) group, and we all feel such connection and community. Basically, an ideal way to continue the Reed conference. What’s your favorite event that you’ve hosted or organized? A few! The salon meet-

ing with Suzanne Hanchett ’62, who is a social anthropologist, the Zoom salon with professor of English and humanities Laura Arnold Leibman (held during the pandemic), and many of our book club meetings (both in person and virtual).

What do you do when you’re not volunteering for Reed? I’m a program

coordinator for nanobiology BSc and MSc at TU Delft in the Netherlands. I live in Leiden with my husband, Greg Byshenk ’89. I volunteer with a local migrant group that provides services to various migrant populations—mostly Syrian at the moment. There’s tutoring for kids, an advice desk, and cooking low- cost meals (where I do things) in between COVID shutdowns. Beyond that, I do a lot of cooking interesting food, making friends, walking the dog, crocheting, and seeing how many plants I can fit in my two-square-meter garden (a lot). I love living in a small Dutch city, walking and biking everywhere. What’s your favorite chapter event memory?

The Alumni Westwind on the Oregon coast, sponsored year after year by the Portland chapter. I loved watching the children grow up together and a crew of volunteers cooking massive amounts of food for a crowd. One year a bunch of people hauled a 50-lb. bag of potatoes to the front deck and sat there peeling them while chatting. What’s your favorite event that you’ve hosted or organized? Westwind. The whole

organizational process was a lot of work but also a lot of fun, with everyone contributing to making the magic happen for a weekend on the coast no matter the weather—Reedies, their families, kids, grandparents, siblings. Lifelong friendships are made. I ran it for 17 years (with a LOT of help). It’s pretty cool to be able to point at a community thing like that and say, “I made that happen.” What motivates you to be a chapter chair?

There’s something special when you get some Reedies together, who’ve maybe never met, especially across generations. They find that common bond of curiosity about the world, critical thinking, and often a dark sense of humor. When I first came to campus and met other Reedies, I had that moment of “These are my people, and future friends.” Without my teenage stupidity, I find it even easier to relate to Reedies. When I think “Someone ought to . . . ,’’ I try to respond with “Well, why not me? I’ll bet I can figure out how to do that.” When were you last on campus and for what?

For most of 30 years I lived within two miles of campus. Since 2018, I’ve been nine time zones away. I was last in Portland in the fall of 2019 for a memorial service for my grandma (she lived to 101). I made it to campus briefly to meet up with Amy in the alumni office.

Eve Lyons ’95

PSYCHOLOGY Boston Chapter Chair, Chapter Leadership Council Representative to the Alumni Board

What motivates you to be a chapter chair?

My love of Reed and Reedies and the community I feel with fellow Reedies.

What do you do when you’re not volunteering for Reed? I work

some of the smartest, most interesting, and most maddening people in the world.

What is a general thing that you enjoy in chapter events? Overall, the intellectual

as an expressive arts therapist at an outpatient clinic. I also teach as an adjunct at Lesley University. And I write—my writing group is currently four-sevenths Reedies!

What’s your favorite event that you’ve hosted or organized? I love hosting apple pick-

stimulation among kindred spirits. When were you last on campus and for what? I was last on campus in October

2019 for the inauguration of President Bilger. Such a wonderful event!

ing every fall. What is a general thing that you enjoy in chapter events? I like ones with food and

also active ones! What’s your favorite chapter event memory? The Boston vegan bake off was

especially awesome. Such good food too! What motivates you to be a chapter chair?

I like seeing Reedies reconnect. Reedies are

When were you last on campus and for what? I visted campus “just because” in

summer of 2021 and showed my nineyear-old the canyon. We wanted to go to the pool hall but it was closed due to COVID.

Reed Magazine march 2022

Advocates of the Griffin

REUNIONS 2022—BACK TOGETHER AT LAST! Save the date for Reunions, June 9–12. Does your class year end in a 2 or 7? If so, it’s your reunion year! Join us on campus for annual traditions including fire dancing, Stop Making Sense, the Alumni Talent Show, a faculty lecture, and Reedie revelry. Special addition: you’re invited to celebrate with the Class of 2020 for their long overdue commencement! Registration for Reunions will open in April 2022! To learn more about Reunions and Alumni College go to reunions.reed.edu.

REED ON THE ROAD 2022 This spring, Reed is going back on the road! The events below will give you an opportunity to hear college updates from Audrey Bilger, Reed’s 16th president, and attend a lecture from Professor Pancho Savery [English] from the new Humanities 110 curriculum. NEW YORK: March 22, 2022, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem SAN FRANCISCO: March 23, 2022, American Bookbinders Museum SEATTLE: March 24, 2022, Town Hall

10 Reed Magazine march 2022

WE’RE PLAYING REEDIE LIBS THIS MARCH! Fifty-eight percent of Reed’s brilliant minds receive financial aid. To match the surge in need this year, Reed grew its financial aid budget 25%—in one year. That feat was made possible by many generous donors last year. The Annual Fund’s “REEDIE LIBS ” (i.e., MadLibs for Reedies) campaign this March will raise essential(!) funds for financial aid as Reed continues to meet 100% of demonstrated

need for every admitted student. If 1,000 donors make a gift between March 18 and 31, trustee Win McCormack has agreed to give $100,000 to Reed. Gifts of every size are an investment in this generation of Reedies. Grab a pen or mouse, mark March 18 on your calendar, and support the academic dreams of current students.

(RE)CONNECT WITH YOUR COMMUNITY! Did you know the alumni board’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee started three identity-based affinity networks? The Alumni of Color Network, First-Gen Alumni Network, and LGBTQIA2S+ Alumni Network provide unique opportunities for community-building and engagement for alumni from historically marginalized/ minoritized communities. Email alumni@ reed.edu or use the QR code to sign up today!

COMRADES OF THE PODCAST Burn Your Draft, a podcast hosted by Amelie Andreas ’24, engages Reed seniors and recent graduates in discussion about the thesis experience.

COMRADES COMRADES OF COMRADES THE PODCAST

New episodes are released every two weeks during the academic year. Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

OF THE THE PODCAST PODCAST OF

Burn Your Draft fall 2021 episodes:

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or wherever you get your podcasts. Burn Your Draft fall 2021 episodes:

MAKING REED IN MINECRAFT Are you a Minecrafter? Have you always wanted to try Minecraft, but never knew how to get started? Join Christopher Bruns ’86 and other Minecraft aficionados at 5 p.m. on the third Thursday of every month as we recreate a 1:1 scale model of our beloved campus in a virtual world. Reedies of all skill levels are welcome. To join us at our regular meetings or for more information about how to get started with Minecraft, email alumni@ reed.edu.

#19:Burn “Deducing Indeducible with Rowen Bangs ’20, Math/Philosophy” Yourthe Draft fall 2021 episodes: blogs.reed.edu/burn-your-draft #20: “Sexual Politics in Argentina with Dashiell Allen ’21, Spanish” #19: “Deducing the Indeducible with Rowen Bangs ’20, Math/Philosophy” Burn Your Draft fall 2021 episodes: #21:#20: “Micro to Macro Mahaliawith Dryak ’20, Environmental Studies” “Sexual Politicswith in Argentina Dashiell Allen ’21, Spanish” #19: “Deducing the Indeducible with Rowen Bangs ’20, Math/Philosophy” #22:#21: “Afghanistan and the Ethan ’19,Studies” History” “Micro to Macro withTaliban Mahaliawith Dryak ’20, Sandweiss Environmental #20: “Sexual Politics in Argentina with Dashiell Allen ’21, Spanish” “Afghanistan and the Taliban with Ethan Sandweiss ’19,’21, History” #23:#22: “Identities in Superhero Comics with Precious Romo Art” #21: “Micro to Macro with Mahalia Dryak ’20, Environmental Studies” #23: “Identities in Superhero Comics withGarcia Precious Romo ’21, Art” #24: “Gaps between Cells with Segovia ’21, Burn Your Draft is made through #22: “Afghanistan andpossible the Taliban withgenerous Ethan Sandweiss ’19, History” #24: “Gaps between with Segovia ’21, Biochemistry andCells Molecular Biology” funding from Seth Paskin ’90, podcast host ofGarcia The Partially #23: “Identities in Superhero Comics with Precious Romo ’21, Art” Biochemistry and Molecular Biology” Examined Life. Seth’s vision andwith guidance is invaluable. #25: Queer Outdoors Lauren Mondroski #24:“The “Gaps between Cells with Segovia Garcia ’21, ’21, History” Thank you, Seth! Producer Nate with Martin ’16 manages the ’21, History” #25: “The Queer Outdoors Lauren Mondroski #26: “Subservient Citizens with Abhi Rajshekar ’21, Political Science” Biochemistry and Molecular Biology” podcast for the Center for Life Beyond Reed. #26: “Subservient Citizens with Abhi Rajshekar ’21, Political Science”

#25: “The Queer Outdoors with Lauren Mondroski ’21, History”

#26: “Subservient Citizens with Abhi Rajshekar ’21, Political Science”

blogs.reed.edu/burn-your-draft blogs.reed.edu/burn-your-draft blogs.reed.edu/burn-your-draft Your Draft is made possiblethrough through generous generous BurnBurn Your Draft is made possible funding from Seth Paskin ’90, podcast host of The Partially funding from Seth Paskin ’90, podcast host of The Partially Examined Life. Seth’s vision and guidance is invaluable. Examined Life. Seth’s vision and is invaluable. Burn Your Draft is made possible through Thank you, Seth! Producer Nateguidance Martin ’16generous manages the Thank you, Seth! Producer Nate Martin ’16 manages the funding from Seth Paskin ’90, podcast host of podcast for the Center for Life Beyond Reed. The Partially podcast for the for Life Beyond Reed. Examined Life.Center Seth’s vision and guidance is invaluable.

Thank you, Seth! Producer Nate Martin ’16 manages the podcast for the Center for Life Beyond Reed.

Reed Magazine march 2022 11

UNDERSTANDING REED’S ENDOWMENT

How it works, and why it matters. BY CHRIS LYDGATE ’90

The brilliant professors solving equations on the blackboard. The students deeply engaged in debating Plato’s Republic. The Gothic halls rising up from the mist. None of it would be possible without the mysterious source of energy that pulses through campus much like Iron Man’s arc reactor—yes, we’re talking about Reed’s endowment. That endowment, combined with annual gifts from alumni, parents, and friends—plus tuition revenue—is fundamental to Reed’s operation. It allows Reed to offer financial aid, pay professors’ salaries, invest in student services, heat the classrooms, run the sports center, and bring up the footlights in the theatre. And yet whenever I find myself in conversation about Reed’s finances, I am struck by the misconceptions people often harbor about the endowment, especially what is and is not possible when it comes to spending it. In the Beginning The history of the college’s endowment stretches back to 1904, when Amanda Reed died, bequeathing her fortune to an “institution of learning.” The Reed Institute was funded in 1909 with the sum of about $3 million—worth more than $96 million today.

This fabulous sum allowed the trustees to embark on an ambitious plan for the college, spending generously to construct grand buildings such as the Old Dorm Block and Eliot Hall, hire professors, and recruit a dynamic young president, William Trufant Foster. But the halcyon days did not last long. In the mid-1910s, the economy of the Northwest sank into a deep recession. The value of Reed’s endowment, which was primarily invested in local real estate, dropped by half. Making matters worse, the rental income generated by the properties plunged even farther. Meanwhile, America’s entry into World War I in 1917 further exacerbated the financial squeeze by cutting enrollment. By 1918, Reed’s graduating class had shrunk to a mere 37, and the college was facing an operating deficit of $50,000. President Foster and the trustees appealed to Portland’s wealthy citizens for support, but met with a stony reception—Reed was perceived as a hotbed of pacifists and radicals. The college was in financial crisis. Reed weathered the storm by slashing costs and launching a fundraising drive, which more or less set the pattern for the next 50 years. Whenever lean times struck, the college scraped through by appealing to supporters for cash or—as a last resort—selling

off its dwindling stock of properties. By 1971, the value of the endowment had fallen to $4.4 million, barely the size of the annual budget at that time. This situation was unsustainable. The Forest and the Trees Imagine you own a stand of maple trees. There are two ways to earn money from a maple tree. You can chop it down and sell the timber. Or you can tap it and harvest the sap to make syrup. Chopping a tree down yields a big windfall, but then it’s gone forever. Tapping a tree produces less cash, but you can do it again next year. Moreover, if tapped with care, the tree will keep growing, and produce even more sap the next time around. On a basic level, this is the directive behind an endowment. When donors give to the endowment, they do so with the caveat that the gift won’t be spent down. The money is given to the college to safeguard and grow, creating a dependable source of income for years to come. The trustees have a responsibility (and legal restraints) that limit how much can be spent each year—as well as how much risk they can take in investment decisions. Reed’s current endowment is the result of decades of philanthropy, investment decisions, and discipline. As of June 30, 2021, its value stood at $779 million.

REED COLLEGE HISTORIC IMPACT OF ADDITIONS TO THE ENDOWMENT ADDITIONS AND PERFORMANCE

1974 ENDOWMENT INCREASED BY PERFORMANCE $800 million $700m

2005 Campaign Announcement $600m

$500m

1995 Campaign Announcement $400m

1983 Campaign Announcement $300m $200m

$100m 0 1974

1978

1982

1986

1990

1994

1998

2002

2006

2010

2014

2018

2021

Dates are fiscal year end

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Endowment trustees at Reed and other institutions have flexibility in determining the percentage of investment earnings that can be applied toward current needs and a responsibility to preserve the endowment’s purchasing power for future generations. Reed trustees’ current policy is to withdraw 5% of the endowment’s value averaged over the prior 13 quarters. The purpose of the averaging is to smooth the levels of income received by the college, sustaining support for its programs in times of both rapid endowment decline and rapid growth. In the most general terms, schools invest with the goal of sustaining 8% in average growth over time. The assumption is that no more than 5% of this growth will be spent, leaving the remaining 3% to account for inflation. Philanthropy Matters Endowment earnings don’t run the college alone. The endowment and the Annual Fund are separate pools of money that work in tandem, providing 35% of the college’s operations, strengthening academic and student programs. Unlike endowment funds, Annual Funds can be spent fully in the year they are received and are available for use in areas of greatest need. For example, Reed is one of only a handful of colleges that commit to meeting 100 percent of the demonstrated need of all admitted students. As Reed builds more endowed support for financial aid, the Annual Fund can contribute to meeting critical need in the meantime. Together, the Annual Fund and the endowment help the college grow less dependent on tuition revenue. The income generated by the endowment supports almost 30% of Reed’s annual operating budget, a percentage that has been slowly rising over the decades. When the coronavirus spread across the globe in 2020, colleges saw precipitous drops in enrollment and simultaneously faced increased operating expenses. As a result of these pressures, many private liberal arts colleges cut staff, shuttered departments, eliminated faculty tenure lines, or closed entirely; thirty-five non-profit, four-year liberal arts colleges have closed in the last three years

alone. According to the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO), 1200 colleges have closed in the last five years. The Reed community responded to these uncertain times by generously making recordsetting levels of Annual Fund gifts. These donations, along with the financial model that Reed has developed and implemented since the turbulent ’70s, made all the difference in supporting academic and student life programs as well as the college’s robust response to the pandemic. The Bottom Line The endowment boasted 40% growth over the past year. Investment strategy played a key role. But it is important to note that growth of this magnitude would not be possible without the many gifts to the endowment over the years. You need only compare two scenarios to see why: without additions, since 1974 the endowment would have grown a mere 50 million dollars. Meanwhile, in our scenario, regular additions to the endowment have compounded over the years, increasing that performance by an extraordinary ratio. Ongoing contributions matter. Along with strong investing, philanthropy is important to ensure that the endowment retains its value, especially in the face of difficult circumstances such as changes in interest, inflation, downturns in the economy, pandemics, and more. A dependable source of income like endowment interest helps Reed set long-term goals—build science labs, dormitories, and add faculty, to name a few. It allows the college to keep a low student-to-faculty ratio and to recruit students from a variety of backgrounds. It means the college can offer programs to support students during their time at Reed and take confident steps into their careers after college. The endowment, supported through philanthropy and careful management, means Reed can continue to offer a rigorous academic education, encouraging independent thinking for many generations to come—perhaps in perpetuity.

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EID AL-FITR MAKES ITS ANIMATED DEBUT

After growing up watching reactionary stereotypes, a screenwriter creates space for nuanced Muslim characters. BY MEGAN BURBANK

Last May, screenwriter Nabeel Arshad ’12 made history, but unless you live with a preschooler, you may have missed it. Nabeel wrote an episode of the children’s show Mira, Royal Detective focused on the Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr. When “The Eid Mystery” aired on Disney Junior, it was the first time an American animated series featured a story line about the holiday. “We were conscious of: This will be the first time kids will see themselves on TV celebrating a holiday that they actually celebrate,” said Nabeel, and for kids who don’t, “this will be their first exposure.” A CGI-animated series set in a fictional kingdom in India, Mira follows its eponymous heroine as she brings verve and determination to low-stress mysteries. When Nabeel found out about the show, he said, “I was like, ‘Oh, this would have been my dream show to watch as a child,’ because I can’t think of any cartoon show that was set in India when I was growing up.” With a diverse cast and setting, Mira sets a high bar for representation, subverting damaging stereotypes with a light touch. This is by design. In a tweet shared after “The Eid Mystery” premiered, Nabeel described the impact of so many limited, bigoted portrayals of Muslim and South Asian characters. “Unfortunately, growing up it was pretty rare to see South Asian or Muslim

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representation on TV,” he wrote, citing The Problem with Apu, a documentary written by comedian Hari Kondabolu examining the harms caused by characters like The Simpsons’ Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, who was voiced by a white actor, Hank Azaria. That documentary, wrote Nabeel, “pretty accurately captures what it was like growing up for me. Outside of Apu, it was mostly post-9/11 Islamophobic tropes, which really, really, sucked.” These negative depictions are well documented. According to “Missing & Maligned: The Reality of Muslims in Popular Global Movies,” a report partially funded by actor Riz Ahmed and released by the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative in June 2021, Muslim characters surveyed across 200 films were likely to be associated with violence and were virtually absent from children’s movies. Of the 23 animated films included, none featured a Muslim character. “The Eid Mystery” breaks through this erasure. Though Mira the Royal Detective herself is not Muslim, “The Eid Mystery” features her friend Sadia, who is. The central mystery, which Mira and Sadia solve together, involves an Eid tradition and concludes with Mira’s joyful participation in Sadia’s family’s Eid celebration. “It’s a holiday episode, so it should be fun,” said Nabeel. “Most holidays are meant to be fun, and it’s showing this is how we celebrate, and you’re welcome to be part of the celebration, too.”

He never set out to write TV for kids, but some of his experiences at Reed lay the groundwork for his work on Mira. He was an English major, and his thesis analyzed the nexus between wild places and character development in children’s literature. “I don’t know if it made me want to go into children’s media, but it definitely helped inform my work in it,” he said. After working through the subject matter with his advisor, Michael Faletra [English], he said, “a lot of the ideas that we discussed stayed with me.” Nabeel also credits professor Kate Bredeson [theatre] with his development in dramatic writing. As a student, he knew he wanted to write for movies and TV but found a dearth of opportunities to learn the craft. He was drawn to Bredeson’s playwriting class but hadn’t taken the course

In a scene from “The Eid Mystery,” an episode of the children’s animated series Mira, Royal Detective, Mira (right) solves the mystery of the missing Eid gift.

prerequisites. She waived them, and in her class Nabeel wrote the play that would help him get into graduate school in dramatic writing at NYU. Though Bredeson’s theatrical pedagogy stemmed from dramaturgy, not filmmaking, Nabeel has found it a useful way to

frame his writing for the screen. “I’m not a director,” he said, “but I do think about that when I’m writing: her sensibility and the things that she would consider when she was directing plays at Reed.” He recalled one experience outside the classroom that was equally influential. Tasked with organizing events at the Multicultural Resource Center, he decided to invite Barry Jenkins to campus. Jenkins is now known as the groundbreaking director of Moonlight—his awardwinning, lyrical study of race, gender performance, and queer romance—but he didn’t have that reputation at the time. “It was before he was famous at all,” said Nabeel. “He’d done one movie, which is my favorite movie of all time, but no one had heard of it.”

That movie is Medicine for Melancholy, a 2008 drama that went on to influence filmmakers like Lena Waithe, who told the New York Times that Jenkins was “speaking to the kind of writing that I wanted to do, which is to just show us in the sunlight —not positive light, not dark light, just the light of day.” But since no one he worked with had seen it, Nabeel remembered having to make the case for Jenkins and Medicine for Melancholy, saying, “This is a movie about race, and this is related to what we’re doing.” The center did end up screening the film, and Jenkins gave a Q&A at Reed. “Not that many people attended,” Nabeel recalled. “But I got to have dinner with him and a few other students, so it was fantastic. I’m sure he doesn’t remember me at all, but it was really cool.”

Reed Magazine march 2022 15

The Birth of the Modern

Inside Reed’s Unforgettable Humanities 211/212 course Starting in the 13th century, Europe witnessed the convergence and collision of profound historical forces that lead to an era of crisis and upheaval that would change the world forever. For better and for worse, the books we read, the cities we inhabit, the gods we worship, the virtues we proclaim, the wars we fight, the roles we play, the stories we tell, the ideas we hold, the power systems we perpetuate and against which we struggle were all indelibly stamped by these strange times and places. In this issue of Reed Magazine, we decided to dive into the remarkable two-semester course known as Humanities 211/212, The Birth of the Modern. We have three main reasons for doing so. First, the syllabus is crammed with unforgettable material. From Dante ’s Inferno to Sofonisba Anguissola’s The Chess Game, from the philosophy of Ibn Tufayl to the skepticism of René Descartes, from the map of Texúpa to the sketches of Galileo, the course presents some of the most dazzling intellectual and artistic accomplishments of the millennium.

Second, the course examines this remarkable era through a powerful multidisciplinary approach. This is not only a history course. Students grapple with great works of literature, monumental works of art, and profound ideas in philosophy. They also learn to consider these works in their historical context, which makes it possible to grasp both their meaning and their influence on later generations. Finally, the United States—and indeed much of the world—is confronted by a crisis of confidence. The coronavirus pandemic, climate change, structural racism, economic inequality, and political violence— together these issues challenge the fundamental assumptions on which our society is constructed. People sometimes describe this situation as without historical precedent. But the fact is that many societies have confronted calamity. By understanding their problems, looking at their responses, and assessing their outcomes, we may find new perspectives on our own predicament. —CHRIS LYDGATE ’90

Las Meninas (1656) by Diego Velásquez.

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Gendered Dialogues Reframing the Renaissance through the study of women BY MICHAEL P. BREEN AND DANA E. KATZ

Historian Joan Kelly-Gadol famously asked, “Did women have a Renaissance?” This question frames Hum 211/212’s engagement with gender in late medieval and early modern European art, literature, politics, and culture. Renaissance Europeans were highly attuned to gender, which profoundly shaped societal hierarchies and norms. Women’s lives were usually defined by their roles as daughters and wives, and legal restrictions constrained their ability to control property or act without the approval of a male guardian. Some women enjoyed access to educational, economic, and political opportunities, though often not those available to men. Contemporary medical and religious doctrines asserted that women were driven by their physical desires and prone to irrationality (traits that made them especially vulnerable to Satan’s lures), which further entrenched misogyny. Even virtues were gendered. Men were praised for courage, wisdom, and power, while women—even female rulers—tended to win renown for their piety, chastity, modesty, and obedience. Gender permeated late medieval and early modern European culture. Niccolò Machiavelli’s political vision, for instance, was explicitly masculine. A famous passage in his seminal treatise The Prince describes how a leader with virtù (vir, man in Latin) could use boldness, strength, and calculation to prepare for the onslaughts of the unpredictable (and feminine) fortuna. On the other hand, Baldassare Castiglione, an Italian courtier, described the power women held at court in their promotion of civility, decorum, and sprezzatura, or studied nonchalance. The authority wielded by figures such as the Duchess Elisabetta Gonzaga and her companion Emilia Pia at the court of Urbino tempered and restrained the aggression of male courtiers. Marriage, meanwhile, served as a potent religious and political

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In The Chess Game (1555), painter Sofonisba Anguissola subverts the traditional artistic representation of women.

metaphor. Faith “unites the soul with Christ as a bride is united with her bridegroom,” Martin Luther wrote, emphasizing how Jesus took on the “sins, death, and damnation” of humanity while bestowing “grace, life, and salvation” on his figurative spouse. Around the same time, statesman and philosopher Thomas More offered a scathing critique of Renaissance English society and morality through his description of the families inhabiting the fictional island of Utopia. The lives and works of several women

enable us to explore the gendered tensions and dialogues that permeated early modern European society and culture. Marguerite de Navarre, the sister of the early 16th-century French King Francis I, was widely admired for her intelligence and diplomatic prowess. Married for political reasons to men who shared few of her inclinations, and viewed with suspicion by many in the Church, Marguerite was nevertheless crucial to the promotion of humanist culture and religious reform movements in France. Her most famous work, The

STUDENT VOICES

Heptameron, a collection of 72 short stories, challenged male depictions of courtly life and chivalric culture, and asserted women’s right to define their own experiences, contesting the dominant, masculine versions of reality and morality. Marguerite’s book centered the perspectives and interpretations of her female storytellers, creating a text that questioned and resisted the gendered double standards that defined their lives. Gender biases also defined the early modern history of art. There were no female

counterparts to such venerated artists as Clouet, Michelangelo, and Vermeer because women historically were excluded from the art academies and patronage systems that were essential to their training and commissions. Women could not participate in academic learning because they were prohibited access to the nude model. Barred from studying anatomy or drawing the nude from life, women artists could not execute history paintings, considered the most important genre of academic art making with its biblical, mythological, allegorical, literary, or historical subject matter. Instead, they turned to portraits, still lifes, landscapes, and scenes of everyday life. The teaching methods of the academy may have favored monumental history painting; nevertheless, portraiture remained a prestigious artistic enterprise in early modernity, especially in the courts of Europe. Among portraiture’s female practitioners, Sofonisba Anguissola, a 16th-century patrician painter from the northern Italian city of Cremona, became renowned in her own time, ultimately attaining the celebrated position of portrait painter and lady-in-waiting at the Spanish court of Philip II. In the 1568 edition of Lives of the Artists, artist and historian Giorgio Vasari lauds Anguissola, writing: “Anguissola has shown greater application and better grace than any other woman of our age in her endeavors at drawing; she has thus succeeded not only in drawing, coloring, and painting from nature, and making excellent copies from others, but by herself has created rare and very beautiful paintings.” In The Chess Game (signed and dated 1555, seen here), Anguissola portrays her three sisters and their maidservant around the chessboard to showcase their discipline and erudition. By presenting the game as central to a woman’s humanist education, Anguissola provided a critical response to earlier depictions of women playing chess as emblematic of their deceit. Medieval and early modern literature on education gendered chess play. However, Anguissola contests gender distinctions in education through the portrayal of her sisters delighting in the strategy of the game and through the act of painting itself.

We asked students and alumni to tell us about their experience in Hum 211/212. Here is what they said. ANNEK E D E BO NT ’15 :

From discussing Thomas Aquinas under the shade of a big tree on a sunny day to staging a mock debate between Calvin and Luther on the topic of predestination, the course provided some of my most treasured academic memories from my time at Reed. Having now experienced other university systems, I see that the humanities program is one of the most unique and dynamic gifts that Reed gives to its students. ANJAL I R ED DY ’22: Hum 211/212 really pushed my research skills and writing ability. A paper I wrote titled “Spice Refines Race: The Pursuit of Pepper for Power’’ is the topic that sticks with me even as I write my thesis. I loved trying to understand how early modern Europeans saw the world and reconceptualized it, specifically lands native to my identity. A text that I loved very much was Rabelais’s Gargantua and Pantagruel. Also Geraldine Heng! R ACHEL VO GEL ’24: In the way that Hum 110 is designed to get freshmen accustomed to Reed and academia in general, only after taking Hum 211/212 did I feel like I really met those goals. More so than any other class, Hum 211/212 helped me to better analyze a broad range of texts and form my own opinions about them. AL L I SO N WAL L ACE ’22:

Our conference spent a lot of time talking about sprezzatura, a core concept in Castiglione’s Book of the Courtier. We discussed it within its context in the book and then broadened our thinking to investigate whether the idea had any modern relevance. We explored the idea of how to act as compared to how to be and asked whether a graceful, Castiglione-approved state of being could be achieved through action, or could elegance only be innate? It was as intriguing a conversation to me then as it is now!

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Cultural Encounters Looking beyond East-meets-West to understand how early modern cultures changed one another BY DANA E. KATZ AND MICHAEL P. BREEN

In 17th-century Istanbul, 10 Christian visitors entered the light-filled Mosque of Süleyman and were instantly awestruck. The men were “Frankish infidels with expert knowledge of geometry and architecture,” according to Ottoman writer Evliya Çelebi, who invokes them in his description of the mosque in his Book of Travels (1630). Gazing at the opulent interior and magnificent courtyard, the Christians bit their fingers in astonishment at the incomparable beauty and declared that “in all of Frengistan we have not seen an edifice built to such perfection as this.” The sultan of the Ottoman Empire who authorized the construction of this aweinspiring mosque, Süleyman the Magnificent, viewed himself as “Sovereign Lord of the Mediterranean . . . and the Land of Rum [Rome].” When the Western European monarch Charles V was crowned Holy Roman Emperor, Süleyman responded by commissioning a crown from Venetian craftsmen modeled on the papal tiara. Such cultural and historical entanglements defined the late medieval and early modern European world. We cannot understand early modernity or Europe without considering the cultural encounters that took place in and between Europe and the Islamic world. Studying the long history of cross-cultural communication between the so-called Orient and Occident helps us question those categories while providing new ways of thinking about the development of cultures. That is why the first weeks of Humanities 211 begin with Andalusian Muslim polymaths Ibn Tufayl and Ibn Rushd (Averröes): to underscore that the “Western humanities” are not specifically “Western” at all and that no culture exists in isolation.

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Nor do the humanities exist outside of time. The intellectual and cultural legacies of antiquity permeated the medieval and early modern world, providing a framework for philosophical inquiry, artistic and literary production, and political thought, as well as a basis for historical comparison. Ibn Tufayl’s philosophy, for instance, draws on Plato and Aristotle as well as the Qur’an and Muslim commentators. Ibn Rushd authored juridical writings, medical treatises, and theological tracts, but is best known for his commentaries on Aristotle. His rediscovery of Aristotle informed Latin scholasticism and later Renaissance humanism. Iberia was the main conduit through which Arab-Greek philosophy and science entered the Latin West, and the Aristotelian commentaries and systems of thought inspired by Ibn Rushd and his followers flourished in Renaissance Italy. Hum 211/212 returns to these Christian-Muslim dialogues throughout the year. Discussions of Don Quixote explore Cervantes’s intimate acquaintance with Islam, exemplified by his claim that the fictional Muslim historian Cide Hamete Benengeli was the true author of his masterwork. The complex diplomatic and cultural relationship between France and the Ottoman Empire provides a context for reading Molière’s comedy The Would-Be Gentleman. From Iberia to the Ottoman Empire, we examine philosophical texts, travelogs, novels, paintings, prints, and material culture, to explore the ongoing and multifaceted dialogues between early modern Europeans and the Islamic world. If the Islamic world and other civilizations in Asia and Africa were known (often with great inaccuracy) to medieval and early modern Europeans through classical works such as Ptolemy’s Geography and medieval texts like The Travels of Sir John Mandeville, they were completely unaware of the world of the Americas before the late 15th century. Hum 211/212 examines the devastating effects of the European encounter with the Americas and the long-term consequences of the wars, diseases, exploitation, and social destabilization that followed in its wake.

Indigenous people suffered military defeat and were physically, culturally, and spiritually separated from their lands. By the beginning of the 17th century, thousands had died from European diseases, and those who survived became converts to foreign religions and subjects of policies that forcibly resettled native people into Europeandesigned towns. One way Hum 211 interrogates the politics of colonization is through an examination of “New World” cartographic representations of such towns. These maps provide visual evidence of interactions between Europeans and indigenous communities. For instance, the late 16thcentury map of Texúpa (seen here) portrays hill glyphs in a gridded city plan that merges representations of past and present. Employed before the arrival of the Spaniards, the hill glyph was a cartographic device that denoted landscapes, on the one hand, and community, on the other. The map also features European iconography. As art historians argue, the inclusion of the gridiron plan and the church were not innocent markers of cultural communion but signs of the colonial quest for domination. Although the church and grid denote the power of the Spanish crown, the hill glyphs and a pre-Hispanic temple at the upper edge of the grid suggest that indigenous rites continued after the conquest. Our study of such entangled images and texts from the New World and Europe helps us understand how they functioned as instruments of both coercion and resistance. The encounter with peoples and lands previously unknown to Europeans resulted in transformations to their culture, prompting a gradual but ultimately fundamental reevaluation of the value of classical texts and authorities that had defined much of late medieval and Renaissance intellectual life. It also offered writers, thinkers, and artists new perspectives for evaluating and critiquing their own societies. In his sociopolitical satire Utopia, Thomas More portrays Raphael Hythloday, the fictional sailor who describes the ideal society

STUDENT VOICES K ASI E HEND ER SO N ’16:

Being originally from the Southwestern United States, I really connected with our reading of Bernal Díaz del Castillo’s The Conquest of New Spain. This text and my conference with Dana Katz allowed me the lens to think through how colonialism and language shaped my experience of my hometown, down to the ways in which the city streets and highways were designed in a colonial gridlock of power over the desert landscape. I use the ideas I fostered in Hum 211/212 all of the time. I currently work in a corporate setting, and every day I think about life under capitalism, and how we can connect meaningfully in a globalized world during a pandemic. I come back to what I learned and what I continue to think about from Hum211/212 to try to make sense of this topsyturvy world and how I fit in. Amid our multiple global crises, with our future feeling more unclear than ever, I find that I relate to the early modern disorientation. It’s helpful to go back to these texts to look for ways to remap my understanding of how to relate and how to go on.

This 16th-century map of Texúpa offers insight into colonial interactions between European and indigenous communities in the Americas.

of Utopia (itself located somewhere in the “newly discovered countries”) as a philosopher who “knew that the Romans have left us nothing valuable, except what is to be found in Seneca and Cicero.” Spanish thinkers such as Bartolomé de las Casas developed critiques of colonialism that produced new theories of natural and international law. And the French encounter with the Tupinambá people of Brazil prompted the

jurist and essayist Michel de Montaigne to reflect on the power of custom and cultural difference. Observing the readiness with which Europeans denounced Tupinambá practices, Montaigne notes how Europeans overlook their own greater cruelty towards their “neighbors and fellow citizens,” whom they kill and maim viciously “under color of piety and religion.”

I would recommend this course to everyone. It was one of those classes where as a sophomore you finally start to feel like you’re putting your thoughts together and getting the “Reed experience.” After a difficult first year, it was the first course I took that made me believe that I belonged at Reed, which might be why I have such strong feelings about it. Developing and sharing my ideas within the conference helped to nourish and make me confident in my intellectual pursuits. For the first time, I felt empowered to follow my interests and test out different arguments. This is also a huge testament to the amazing and supportive Hum 211/212 faculty.

Reed Magazine march 2022 21

Autonomy and Authority Exploring the ways in which Revolutions in early modern technology and scientific thought animated discussions about power BY MICHAEL FALETRA

Galileo’s Two Views of the Moon (1610), based on his observations through a telescope, advanced astronomy.

22 Reed Magazine march 2022

The introduction of the printing press with movable type created an explosion in the availability and sheer volume of printed books by the early 16th century. By midcentury, it is estimated that over a million separate titles were in print in practically every European language. The French writer François Rabelais referred to this dizzying proliferation of new print texts as “an abyss of learning”—and, indeed, the impact of print on the European mind is perhaps comparable to the impact of digital media on contemporary culture. Written accounts of the so-called “New World” by Columbus, Bernal Díaz, and Bartolomé de las Casas were consumed by a readership eager for new geographic and ethnographic information. Likewise, work in what we now call the sciences could be shared broadly and rapidly: Galileo’s Starry Messenger with its sketches of lunar mountains (seen here), the moons of Jupiter, and the rings of Saturn, not only radically altered people’s perceptions of the cosmos but also disseminated these ideas far more quickly than political and religious authorities could suppress them. The groundwork for the open sharing of what would come to be called “scientific” ideas was being laid. This new ease of access to books also meant that, for the first time in history, Christians in great numbers could actually own a Bible—which also meant they could read it privately, with or without the supervision of ecclesiastical authorities, and usually in the new vernacular translations into English, German, and other languages.

STUDENT VOICES

Martin Luther is perhaps best known as the face of the Protestant Reformation, but he stands also as perhaps the first media star of the Age of Print, a canny practitioner of the new medium. Through the power of print, his interrogation of religious authorities ignited a blaze that swept through Europe, creating deep fault lines within Christendom and inaugurating new configurations of the relationship between Church and state. Inspired by Luther’s principle of sola scriptura, or adherence to God’s Word as revealed in the Bible, early modern Christians began to rethink what it meant to lead a good life: for many, the institution of the Catholic Church no longer seemed the unassailable authority it had once been. The Christian freedom described by Luther liberated individuals from spiritual dependence on the Pope and the Roman church. Luther and fellow Reformation leaders such as Jean Calvin insisted on obedience to political authorities. But their ideas inspired others to question traditional political and social hierarchies and allegiances. These sudden changes in society and culture—and especially the decentering of traditional notions of religious and political authority—engendered a deep skepticism about how a person can know the world and behave in it. For the French essayist Michel de Montaigne, the chaos of the 16th-century world incited him to rely instead on his personal experience as the measure of all things. Slightly later, William Shakespeare’s plays likewise questioned easy assumptions about political authority, gender, race, and moral fiber. In Othello, for example, the villainous Iago ruthlessly deploys insinuations and hints to destabilize perception itself, causing the tragic hero to doubt his own eyesight. The play troubles the very notion of truth. And in Cervantes’s Don Quixote, the titular character’s mad romp through rural Spain highlights the dangers—and exhilarating pleasures—of living in a fantasy world that fails to align with objective reality.

For the mathematician René Descartes, the deep-seated uncertainty about the world hinted at by Shakespeare and Cervantes posed an unavoidable problem: how could mathematics, or any other form of knowledge, be part of a world plagued by such doubt? Descartes’s response was to formulate a new foundation for knowledge that would prove so influential for the history of philosophy that later thinkers would label it “the Cartesian revolution.” For Descartes, all of a person’s sensory input can be radically doubted, but the buck stops, so to speak, with the self-awareness of the thinking mind itself. As he put it, “I think, therefore I am.” The English philosopher Thomas Hobbes in his book Leviathan approached the problem of credible authority from a political perspective. As he saw it, humans in the “state of nature” were autonomous and selfserving, and so only a strong, centralized, authoritative government—an absolute sovereign—could maintain order in the world. Although his ideas were promulgated in the midst of a destructive English civil war, they would prove appealing to the absolute monarchies then holding sway over much of Europe. In Hobbes’s wake, John Locke formulated a different political solution: rather than advocate for subjection to an all-powerful sovereign, he posited that all human beings are by nature equal and that each possesses innate reason and rights. For Locke, the purpose of government was to ensure that the rights of one individual minimally constrained the rights of all others. This political philosophy forms the basis of modern liberal democracies, but the 21st– century world also displays the persistent allure of Hobbes’s more pessimistic and autocratic vision. The tensions between autonomy and authority that emerged so dramatically in the early modern world— and that animate the Hum 211/212 syllabus—are still very much at play today.

MARTHA CO HN ’19 : I thought I was going to stay in academia, pursue a literature PhD, and keep on trucking along in a purely intellectual world (the dream!). Instead, I’ve gone into finance and business consulting with plans to go into corporate/tax law. How things change. However, Hum 211/212 is an exploration of the history of the “real world” that I work in. I don’t get to talk a lot about Kafka at my day job, but I do think a lot about Hobbes! Having an understanding of the thought underlying political and social structures is invaluable in a professional context, and engaging in high-level thinking about the systems that we use to organize ourselves as people, in a social and corporate sense, is (in my professional opinion) an essential skill for anyone in a management position. I think that Hum 211/212 encourages that kind of thinking, and I would urge anyone considering a business track to take it. You can pick up the basics of the business world on the job, but, realistically, life happens, and you are not otherwise going to have the time or interest to sit down and read Montaigne until you retire.

My favorite theme of the course was how it traced the way people have organized themselves, defined their identities, and decided and reasoned what is important in the way we interact with each other. Understanding why [modern Western] societies are shaped the way they are, and how they got there, is invaluable to understanding and interacting with other people. The ways we define ourselves: as nations, states, individuals, is inescapable, and relevant far beyond an intellectual context. These ideas are all the more important to engage with both critically and compassionately in the current state of the world.

Reed Magazine march 2022 23

Varieties of Human Experience

Other courses in Reed’s Humanities Program

Humans make things. We make art, literature, philosophy, history, religion, music, science, and political and social order. Through these, we express ourselves, experience our lives, and find meaning and beauty in them. In studying the humanities, we delve into who we are and how we got here. We investigate the world and systems we have made for ourselves. And question them. Reed’s curriculum is distinctive in its dedication to multidisciplinary inquiry that revolves around the humanities. From the first-year Introduction to Humanities to Senior Symposium, these courses exemplify the kind of inquiry at the heart of a liberal arts education, developing a multidisciplinary mindset and honing critical thinking. These courses emphasize the development of thought while also immersing students deeply in diverse cultural contexts. They range over swaths of human history, spark intellectual curiosity, and deepen students’ understanding of human histories, cultures, identities, and the texts and ideas that emerge from them. Hum 110: Introduction to the Humanities

Hum 231/232: Foundations of Chinese Civilizations

As the only course required of all first-year students at Reed, Hum 110 serves as the college’s foundational writing course and introduces students to the skills and habits of mind necessary for academic inquiry in their future work at Reed. The current first-year humanities curriculum ranges widely over time and space, from the diverse cultures of the ancient Mediterranean and a deep dive into classical Greece in the fall to close looks at two of the Western Hemisphere’s great urban centers in the spring, Tenochtitlan/Mexico City and Harlem.

Covering the periods of the Qin and Han dynasties (Hum 231) and the Song dynasty (Hum 232), the interdisciplinary Chinese humanities program examines two of the most significant moments in Chinese history through the lenses of art, history, literature, philosophy, and religion, with emphasis placed on reading primary source materials, engaging in close analyses of artifacts, and examining the ways in which the distant past and a non-Western culture might help students navigate and nuance their contemporary moment.

Hum 220: Modern European Humanities

Senior Symposium

Hum 220 studies transformations of ideas, political institutions, social structures, and artistic expression from the Enlightenment to the mid20th century. It delves into the events that built the modern era, from the French Revolution to the Bolshevik Revolution, and covers topics like empire, colonialism, psychoanalysis, and modernist art.

24 Reed Magazine march 2022

In seminars led by small teams of faculty, this course turns the lens onto our own era, discussing how various authors and artists present and interrogate problems of our age, from the political to the personal. Selected works comprise a variety of genres, such as memoir, graphic novel, short fiction, poetry, sociological case study, film, and investigative journalism.

lauren labarre

Humanities 211/212 Faculty M ichael P. Breen is

Michael Faletra is profes-

professor of history and

sor of English and humani-

humanities and editor-in-

ties at Reed, where he

chief of H-France (www.h-

teaches and writes about

france.net). A historian of

the literatures of the

early modern Europe, he

Middle Ages. He is the

has published Law, City,

author of Wales and the

and King: Legal Culture, Municipal Politics, and

Medieval Colonial Imagination, translator and edi-

State Formation in Early Modern Dijon (2007), as

tor of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s History of the Kings

well as numerous articles on early modern legal,

of Britain, and cotranslator of Until She Beckons:

social, and cultural history.

Poems of Dafydd ap Gwilym.

“Hum 211/212 is a joy to teach. Examining these

“I see it as my central vocation at Reed to explore

incredibly rich and complex materials with students

alongside my students the vibrant imaginative worlds

never ceases to teach me something new. The

of medieval and early modern writers, artists, and

course provides a wonderful introduction to a fas-

thinkers. The Birth of the Modern enables us to take

cinating period while also prompting us to think

the ‘long view’ and to consider deeply how noth-

about questions and problems of vital importance

ing we take for granted about our modern secular

in the present.”

world—our technologies or philosophies, our political structures, our attitudes toward art or religion or ourselves—is inevitable.”

Dana E. Katz is Joshua

Lucía Martínez Valdivia

C. Taylor Professor of Art

is associate professor of

History and Humanities

English and humanities at

at Reed. Her research

Reed, where she teaches

explores representations

courses on early modern

of religious difference in

poetry, poetics, and aes-

early modern European

thetic and phenomenologi-

art. She is the author of The Jew in the Art of the

cal theory. She has published extensively on early

Italian Renaissance (University of Pennsylvania

modern English poetic form, music, and verse history,

Press, 2008) and The Jewish Ghetto and the Visual

and is at work on a book about reading and audiation,

Imagination of Early Modern Venice (Cambridge

or the mind’s ear. For 2021–22, she is an external

University Press, 2017). Her current book project,

faculty fellow at the Stanford Humanities Center.

“Materials of Islam in Premodern Europe,” studies the

“I adore teaching in Hum 211/212. The syllabuses

material effect of Christian and Muslim encounters.

include some of my favorite texts, works of art, and

“Teaching Hum 211/212 has been one of the great

even composers, and it’s an incredible privilege to

pleasures of my teaching career. I profit from my

introduce students to them. I get a chance to dwell

Reed students, who read the primary sources, as

at length in my areas of expertise, lecturing on texts

well as the modern theoretical texts, treated in class

like The Book of the Courtier, with its influential

with care to ignite dynamic classroom discussions.

thoughts on politics and personal style, or on the

I also benefit immensely from collaborating with

music of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation,

my Reed colleagues. They have motivated me to

in which I lead the class in singing examples. We

think between and through disciplinary boundar-

have time to read and think slowly and carefully,

ies and to draw from the disparate approaches

which has fostered some incredible and even reve-

of cognate disciplines in analyzing early moder-

latory discussions and papers. I also love the con-

nity. My colleagues have delivered lectures in the

text and insights provided by my colleagues in their

course that reaffirm my scholarly commitment to

lectures, which help expand my view beyond early

and pedagogical interest in interdisciplinarity. Such

modern England to the bigger European picture.”

methodological richness, analyzed through the lens of the Reed classroom, has pushed my own scholarship in new directions.”

Students in Humanities 211/212 meet in conference to discuss Don Quixote by Miguel Cervantes.

Reed Magazine march 2022 25

Reediana Books. Music. Film. Send us your work!

EDITED BY KATIE PELLETIER Email reed.magazine@reed.edu

When the Lights Go Out: An Examination of Venezuela’s Unraveling Things Are Never So Bad that They Can’t Get Worse By William Neuman ’84

How do you turn a failed coup into a successful, de facto dictatorship? For Hugo Chávez, it seemed easy. When the military action to overturn Carlos Andrés Pérez and his elected government failed on February 4, 1992, a 37-year-old Chávez took to the airwaves to surrender. His coherence and confidence made an indelible impression on the many Venezuelans watching the ordeal unfold on their televisions. For William Neuman, this moment reveals much about the history, present, and future of Venezuela—a country that adulated revolutionary leaders like Chávez. In Things Are Never So Bad that They Can’t Get Worse, Neuman excavates the story of Venezuela, a country that has seen its natural reserves of oil and complex leadership bring both great wealth and epic failures. He focuses on the expected names—Nicolás Maduro and Juan Guaidó appear alongside the “Liberator of Veneuzela” and first president Simón Bolívar and Chávez—but in a surprising and fresh way. In a blend of journalism and history, Neuman interviews ordinary people. Their perspective is what grounds the stories of these almost mythic men. Through the prism of the well-known and the everyday, Neuman elucidates what happened to a country that was once “a land of plenty.” He doesn’t anesthetize the cruelty of the past or present, but portrays the highs and heartbreak of the complicated country with lucid language. Neuman’s record is incisive rather than expansive: some years are condensed in one paragraph. Other moments, particularly 26 Reed Magazine march 2022

those focused on its leading figures, slow down in fascinating detail. Neuman’s Chávez is hubristic and unwavering, inspiring followers to Chavismo, the “deeply conservative” political philosophy: “He wanted the nation to go backward—back to a golden age when Bolívar and other titans strode the land and Venezuelans were pure of heart . . .” Maduro, the handpicked successor of Chávez, appears as a coarse yet still-savvy younger brother figure. Neuman shares an anecdote when Maduro would send his reports to Chávez and “Chávez would send them back with the spelling and grammatical errors marked in red pen.” These moments of specificity about the people involved make these major players come alive in a sea of political machinations. However, Neuman doesn’t linger long on the men. For a book that includes so much detail, the major players remain a bit elusive. More idiosyncratic consideration is given to the people of Venezuela, to excellent effect. Neuman clearly spent much time travelling and talking to people in the country. Standouts include the author Luis Britto García, an aging Chavista and intellectual; Hilda Solórzano, who lives in extreme Caracas poverty with pragmatism; and José Chacón, whose bookstore contains only eight books. Neuman allows us to see the store vividly: “It was dim inside Chacon’s shop, not because the power was out but because the bulbs had burned out and not been replaced. Instead of books, the shelves held oversize models of insects made by a local aficionado.” These stories are whirlpools of emotion in the midst of political intricacy, and it is easy to fall into their eddies of human

experience. Although Neuman acknowledges the still-present divide between the rich and poor Venezuelans, he rarely tells the story of those not in extreme straits. A loose organizing theme, one marked in chapter names, is the “blackout.” Neuman writes, “There was only darkness. The headlights of cars slashed white channels through the night . . .” Interspersed throughout the account, these describe the many instances when Venezuela’s electrical grid falters—due to human error, political ineptitude and greed, or something as straightforward as a blown

These stories are whirlpools of emotion in the midst of political intricacy, and it is easy to fall into their eddies of human experience. transformer, an incident which the government blamed on “cyberattacks and electromagnetic pulse attacks and snipers firing on transformers.” The chapters act on the reader perhaps much like the loss of electrical power does on Venezuelans, incessantly reminding us of the failed promise of leadership. Neuman shows how the events, people, and motivations that take place across decades are firmly connected, and still unfolding. Towards the end, Donald Trump makes an appearance along with Juan Guaidó, both shown to be acting in a rush of odd decisions and brute planning to try to replace Maduro with the opposition leader. As readers know, neither was successful. By the end, when Guaidó’s efforts seem sure to fail, what is left? What remains, Neuman makes clear, is the “glorious green expanse of the elongated Ávila mountain,” and, enveloping that breathtaking landscape, the promise of more trouble. —NORA HICKEY

Twentieth Century Mouse Genetics: A Historical and Scientific Review In his latest publication, Bob Erickson ’60 identifies the contributions of historic mouse genetics studies and examines how those discoveries are still shaping medical genetics today. Researchers, students, and clinicians will find fresh inspiration to engage in human genetics research employing mouse models and to translate those findings to clinical practice. Bob draws upon a 50-year career of research in human and murine genetics and patient care at the University of Arizona College of Medicine in this comprehensive volume. (Elsevier, 2022)

Cell Boundaries: How Membranes and Their Proteins Work Don Engelman ’62 and coauthors delve into the structural and organizational principles underlying cell membranes, in a new textbook. A leader in the field of biophysics for more than 40 years, the Higgins Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry at Yale University builds a robust foundation for understanding the organization of lipids and the folding, assembly, stability, and function of membrane proteins. Asserting that progress toward understanding cell membranes depends strongly upon the concerted use of both biology and physics, this book aims to broaden the knowledge of bioscience students. (Garland Science, 2022)

If You Give a Man a Tesla Written by Renee Burns Lonner ’64 as a parody of a beloved children’s series, this comedic take on a particular intersection of gender and culture illustrates how “men’s lifelong preoccupation with cars that go vroom is now a fascination with cars that go silent but are genius . . . (like their owners).” Renee is a management consultant for major corporations and a licensed psychotherapist in Los Angeles. (Independently published, 2021)

REED COLLEGE MASTER OF ARTS IN LIBERAL STUDIES

“My work in technology is professionally rewarding but also intellectually one-dimensional. I was hungry for deeper engagement with the broader world of ideas and a guiding structure within which to do so. Participating in the MALS program has given me the opportunity to engage in the free exchange of ideas in a supportive, structured community of like-minded individuals. In my time at Reed I have experienced personal growth and significant scholarly development, and this is due in no small part to the academic excellence and attentiveness of the teaching staff, the dynamic dialectic of the class conference, and the diversity of course work.” —DEREK FINN MALS ’21

Learn more at reed.edu/MALS.

Reed Magazine march 2022 27

REEDIANA Achieving Success as a 21st Century Manager A new book by Dean Frost ’77, professor of business administration at Bemidji State University, is about taking personal control of your management career by planning for development opportunities outside of training sessions or university degree programs. This guide includes self-evaluations for cognitive competence, virtual competence, emotional competence, cross-cultural competence, socialization competence, health competence, and competencies in spotting leadership differences and situational recognition. (Business Expert Press, 2021)

Techno-Magism: Media, Mediation, and The Cut of Romanticism Orrin Wang ’79, a professor in the English department at the University of Maryland, explores how British Romantic literature abuts and is organized around both print and nonprint media. The book explores not only the print, pictorial art, and theatre of early 19th-century Europe but also later technologies such as photography, film, and video. In thinking about the relationship between Romanticism and media, Orrin argues that media studies can benefit from a more robust confrontation with, or recovery of, the arguments of deconstruction. (Fordham University Press, 2022)

Anti-Leftist Politics in Modern World History: Avoiding ‘Socialism’ at All Costs Liberals, conservatives, extreme nationalists, and others have all come up against oppositional politics for the past 200 years. In his latest book, Philip B. Minehan ’82 traces the patterns of such hostility. A professor of history at California State University Fullerton, he presents examples from Britain, France, Germany, and the United States; the British in India; European fascism, the U.S. and Britain as they operated in China and Indochina; from Kenya, Algeria and Iran; and from Central and South America during the Cold War. (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2021)

28 Reed Magazine march 2022

Divine Messengers: The Untold Story of Bhutan’s Female Shamans Journalist Stephanie Guyer-Stevens ’86 and anthropologist Françoise Pommaret traveled to the Himalayas to meet seven living Bhutanese female shamans and to share their stories, intimately connected with the Buddhist ideas of karma and rebirth. The resulting narrative provides a rare look inside the world of these brave women who continue to impact the spiritual lives of the Bhutanese as mystics, healers, and travelers to the netherworld. (Shambhala, 2021)

Tell the Turning Artist Lucy Bellwood ’12 produced some 40-odd inkwash illustrations to accompany poems by Tara S h e p e r s k y. “Lucy’s gently exacting studies of flora and fauna, and her comfortably broken-in diorama landscapes, become a space for poet and artist to meet and compare notes as they set off on a quest for the everyday holy, with the independence afforded by true kinship.” (Bored Wolves, 2021)

Find Me In her new thriller, Alafair Burke ’91 sets up the story of a young woman whose disappearance leaves her best friend reeling and an NYPD homicide detective baffled. Together the women search for the truth beneath long-buried secrets and reveal the power of female friendship along the way. A prolific author of crime mysteries, including The Wife, Alafair draws upon her years as a prosecutor and professor of criminal law at Hofstra to craft page-turning tales that end up on the New York Times bestseller list. (Harper, 2022)

Once We Were Slaves: The Extraordinary Journey of a Multiracial Jewish Family Prof. Laura Leibman [English] writes about an obsessive genealogist, and descendent of one of the most prominent Jewish families since the American Revolution, in her latest book. Blanche Moses believed her ancestors were Sephardic grandees, yet she found herself at a dead end when it came to her grandmother’s maternal line. Using family heirlooms to unlock the mystery, the narrative overturns the reclusive heiress’s assumptions to reveal that two sibling relatives actually began their lives as poor Christian slaves in Barbados. While their affluence made them unusual, their story mirrors that of the largely forgotten population of mixed African and Jewish ancestry, and it sheds new light on the fluidity of race—as well as on the role of religion in racial shifts—in the first half of the 19th century. (Oxford University Press, 2021)

The Diaries of Judith Malina, 1958–1971 Prof. Kate Bredeson [theatre] has collected the diaries of Judith Malina—artist, activist, and lifelong diarist— from a seismic period of her life and a formative era for her company, the Living Theatre, in a new book. This latest volume is part of a larger project to gather, edit, and introduce the unpublished diaries of a key figure in late 20th-century theatre. Here Bredeson covers 13 years as Malina records her days, beginning in New York and ending in Ouro Preto, Brazil. Also, she includes a significant critical introduction that situates Malina’s legacy in theatre history, discusses the influence of her theatre, examines the genre of diary keeping, and spotlights Malina’s work as an artist, activist, and diarist. (Routledge, 2022)

These trees which he plants, and under whose shade he shall never sit, he loves them for themselves, and for the sake of his children and his children’s children, who are to sit beneath the shadow of their spreading boughs. HYACINTHE LOYSON

SECURE YOUR FUTURE AND REED’S

1866

Support a transformative education for future generations of Reedies. With a charitable gift annuity, you can receive a dependable cash flow for life—regardless of market fluctuations. When you establish a charitable gift annuity at Reed, you can • receive fixed payments for life; • earn a charitable income tax deduction; • reduce recognition of capital gains taxes by donating stock; • support Reed’s future.

Contact the office of gift planning to receive a custom gift calculation and to confirm we offer annuities in your state. SANTI ALSTON 503-517-7937 ALSTONS@REED.EDU

Reed Magazine march 2022 29

Class Notes

These Class Notes reflect information we received by December 15. The Class Notes deadline for the next issue is March 15.

Class Notes are the lifeblood of Reed Magazine. While a Reed education confers many special powers, omniscience is unfortunately not among them; your classmates rely on you to tell us what’s going on. So share your news! Tell us about births, deaths, weddings, voyages, adventures, transformations, astonishment, woe, delight, fellowship, discovery, and mischief.

Grandpa John Cushing ’67 chugs along in the Portland Marathon.

Email us at reed.magazine@reed.edu. Post a note online at iris.reed.edu. Find us on Facebook via “ReediEnews.” Scribble something in the enclosed return envelope. Or mail us at Reed magazine, Reed College, 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd, Portland OR 97202. Photos are welcome, as are digital images at 300 dpi. And don’t forget the pertinent details: name, class year, and your current address!

EDITED BY JOANNE HOSSACK ’82

1952 70th reunion 1960

Bob Erickson has a new book out on mouse genetics. (See Reediana.)

1961

World welcomes Barack Obama, George Clooney, and Fritos corn chips.

1962 60th reunion

“If you are in or near Kansas City, a city with great beauty, arts, BBQ, and lovely people, do reach out by email or phone,” writes Irene (Heller) Bettinger. Don Engelman’s new book on cell boundaries will help you understand what’s holding you together. (See Reediana.)

1963

World welcomes Brad Pitt, Whitney Houston, and audiocassettes.

1964

We were pleased to hear from Renee Burns Lonner: “I have always hesitated to write because I was at Reed for only two years, having transferred in my junior year to UCLA, to be home with an ill mother. Reed is absolutely my identification point when I think about

30 Reed Magazine March 2022

the education and skill set development that is and has been central to a varied and totally satisfying professional career. And I’m not done yet!” Renee had two works published within three months last [season]: an article, “In Defense of (Very) Long-Term Therapy,” in the July/August 2021 issue of Family Therapy Magazine, and a short book, If You Give a Man a Tesla, “mostly goodnatured gender humor with the Tesla just being the vehicle (sorry, couldn’t resist).” Renee continues about Reed, “To say that I learned ‘critical thinking skills’ at Reed is an understatement— every class and every subject focused on that. I learned to love problem-solving in all its forms. Reed has a very special place in my heart and I know, in the hearts of countless other alums.” (See Reediana.)

conscious design, with special emphasis on good versus bad chairs. You can find the interview at rnz.co.nz/.

1967 55th reunion

John Cushing started the Portland Marathon with a lingering cold. While crossing the Reed campus after passing mile 17, he collapsed from dehydration, face-planted into Botsford Drive, and was not able to finish. “I fell on an isolated slope of Botsford Drive; nobody saw me. One truck passed me going uphill as I was lying there, but did not stop. I am OK.” Whew! Glad you’re OK, John!

1968–69

One ringy-dingy . . . two ringy-dingies . . .

1965

What’ll it be this evening? Swanson TV dinner or SpaghettiOs?

1966

Galen Cranz was interviewed on live New Zealand public radio on October 5 for the program Nine to Noon. (Galen’s Kiwi friend says, “It’s a top-notch radio programme.”) The topic was body

“I give to Reed financial aid in gratitude for the aid I received to support an exceptional education.” — M O L LY K I N G ’ 0 9

giving.reed.edu

Galen Cranz ’66 heartily approves of these chairs. Left to right: the HAG Capisco, designed by Peter Opsvik; the Salli, by Veli-Jussi Jalkanen (known as Vessi) from Finland; and the Stokke Flysit, designed by Peter Opsvik. Photo by Chelsea Rushton. All hail to the griffin and rose! Photo by Eric Ladner ’72. Seth Grosshandler ’79 and a bird in San Diego before the pandemic. Steve Fowkes ’75 with his updated epicylindrical periodic table. Richard Stern ’73 and grandbaby enjoy his retirement.

After over 40 years practicing tax law and the arrival of his third grandchild, Richard Stern decided to retire. “What a pleasure!”

1974

James Madden writes, “Getting old. Still teaching—maybe even figuring out how to do it . . . or maybe illusions of old age.”

1975

Steve Fowkes just finished a Patreon book-writing project, Natural Anti-Viral Self Defense, which was immediately published in PDF format and made available on Patreon (in serial, multicolor format) and at projectwellbeing.com/ steve/ (in black and white). It represents 18 months of effort, manifesting in six serial releases on Patreon, and is freely downloadable at no cost (one page asks for donations). “My personal motivation for writing it was the COVID pandemic, for which ‘official’ misinformation upset my sense of justice.” Its 368 pages, 638 footnotes (references and annotations), and 75 graphics cover “nutrition, innate and humoral immunity, the spectrum of ‘preexisting conditions,’ antioxidant defense, redox buffering, hypometabolism, repurposed generic pharmaceuticals, ACE-2 and CD147 receptors, coagulopathy, clotting, crony science, VAERS, censorship, public-health policy, and manifest idiocy.” Last October, in a hotly contested three-way election, David Olson was elected mayor of the bustling metropolis of Cathlamet, Washington, for a fouryear term that began this January. Good job, David!

1976

1970

Randall Kay writes, “My niece-in-law (actually, grandniece-in-law) Kiana Fields [’25] is a freshman this year. You’re both lucky!”

1971

Brian Clarke Jones has moved back to Portland and is enjoying retirement. Welcome back, Brian!

1972 50th reunion

“All hail, Alma Mater, new born of the West / Where the mighty Columbia flows, / Thou fortunate heir of the

pioneers’ quest, / All hail to the griffin and rose.” Ten years after graduation, Eric Ladner lugged his 4" × 5" view camera up from the Bay Area; 40 years later, he unearthed a negative from that trip depicting the aforementioned griffin and rose on campus, and kindly sent us the photo. Check it out!

Paul Shaw delivered an online talk in November on “The Lettering and Type of Push Pin” for Poster House in New York (https://posterhouse.org), which accompanied their exhibition about the Push Pin studio. He was to have led an in-person tour of the exhibition on July 16, but as of this writing it’s been postponed due to COVID. Sigh. Paul also edited CAST-IT #5, a type specimen from CAST (a digital type foundry in Italy) devoted to part of a text from The Practice of Typography by Theodore Low De Vinne.

1973

1977 45th reunion

David Perry’s classmates Sheldon Hochheiser and Laura Leviton visited the weekend before Thanksgiving. “Great to see them!”

Dean Frost recently published a book with Business Expert Press. (See Reediana.)

Reed Magazine March 2022 31

Class Notes 1978

Uncontrollable urge? You want to tell us all about it?

1979

Since graduating from Reed with a thesis consisting of a composition of a quintet for piano and winds, Seth Grosshandler has had two careers, and maybe a third one is in the offing. During the “lawyer years” Seth continued playing and performing piano, but didn’t compose—though he’s been making up for it since his retirement from law in 2018. During the pandemic, he composed a sonata for violin and piano that will be played at two upcoming festivals. A livestream of a performance of that piece by Suite Française led to a commission from the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra (to premiere and be livestreamed in June), which in turn led to a commission from the Symphony of the Mountains in eastern Tennessee. He’s also been taking printmaking classes at the School of Visual Arts and the Art Students League in NYC, and recently won a competition to have some of his works shown at the Affordable Art Fair in NYC in March. Seth has a Soundcloud page and a YouTube channel, and a personal website is on the way. When not working, Seth continues to play the piano, cycles whenever possible, and lives in Hillsdale, New York, with his husband and cat. Orrin Wang’s new book was published in January. (See Reediana.)

1980

World welcomes Lin-Manuel Miranda, Christina Ricci, and Huy Fong’s sriracha sauce.

1981

John Selker has been a bit busy. He oversees a network of 620 climate observation stations across 23 African countries (TAHMO.org), runs an NSF facility (CTEMPs.org), and has a large undergraduate-led environmental sensing lab (OPEnS.org). But to round things out, he decided to run for Congress, seeking the seat being left by Peter DeFazio (selker4congress.org). He would love to have Reedies support his latest congressional project! Karen Toyooka has been at PCC for 22 years now. She looks forward to chatting with the students during the Phonathon every year. “Oh—and we’ll be grandparents for the first time by the

32 Reed Magazine March 2022

end of the year,” she wrote in November. Congrats, Karen, and we’re looking forward to baby pics!

1982 40th reunion

Matthew Benacquista is semiretired in Red Lodge, Montana, working part time for the National Science Foundation for a few more months, and playing music in a band at the local bars. Philip Minehan teaches in liberal studies and honors at Cal State Fullerton, and recently published a book with Bloomsbury Press. (See Reediana.)

1983

Thomas McNalley joined the faculty at UC San Francisco in August of 2020 and is practicing pediatric rehabilitation and palliative care at both the Mission Bay and Oakland campuses.

1984

Congratulations to Alex Adams on her election to the National Academy of Medicine in October! Alex is a researcher at Montana State University and the director of MSU’s Center for American Indian and Rural Health Equity. The academy cited her work “partnering with Indigenous communities in the Midwest and Montana and pioneering communityengaged research methods.” Alex writes, “I had some great teachers at Reed and I met my husband, Erik Adams, MD, PhD, there and made many lifelong friends. Kim Garcia ’85 and I are collaborating on several short films for children (see turtleislandtales.org) as part of my team’s

research dissemination and wellness promotion work for families with young children. My thesis work was done under Dr. Kent Thornburg at OHSU. I am forever grateful to him and to Reed for letting me work in his lab and getting me started out on my medical research journey.” William Neuman’s book on the collapse of Venezuela is coming out this month. (See Reediana.)

1985

Last September, the Library Foundation of Los Angeles appointed Julie Tugend as interim president. In this role, Julie will guide the operational functions of the LFLA and act as the liaison to the LFLA Board. Julie is a management consultant and executive coach with over 30 years of executive-level experience in philanthropy, government, and the nonprofit sector, and with civic involvement dating back to the beginning of her career, when she served as an aide in Mayor Tom Bradley’s administration.

“I treasure my years at Reed and want to ensure future students have the opportunity to experience Reed’s many gifts.” — R AC H E L R E E D ’ 0 7

giving.reed.edu

Wayne Turner ’86 and Mister enjoy social distancing on hiking trails. Good times in the great outdoors with Lauren (Asher) Rosenthal ’95 and family. Wayne Turner ’86 got a tattoo!

The LFLA supports the LA Public Library in its effort to provide all 3.8 million Angelenos with equitable access to thousands of free programs, resources, and services.

1986

Stephanie Guyer-Stevens has coauthored a book on Bhutan’s female shamans. (See Reediana.) Wayne Turner marks his 10th year as a senior attorney with the National Health Law Program, where he works on Medicaid, prescription drug coverage, HIV/AIDS, and protections against discrimination in health programs. He also is in his fourth year teaching LGBTQ Health Law and Policy at Georgetown University Law Center. Wayne and his dog Mister enjoy social distancing on hiking trails in West Virginia and Shenandoah National Park. Wayne also recently acquired his first tattoo!

1987 35th reunion

We were delighted to see that Mark Galassi was hailed by the Santa Fe New Mexican for its “10 Who Made a Difference” for 2021. The paper singled out Mark for inspiring young people to pursue careers in computing. He founded the Santa Fe Chess Club, developed a coding workshop for sixth graders, and offers a paid internship for high schoolers through the Institute for Computing Research. His day job? Astrophysicist at Los Alamos National Laboratory, exploring black holes and gamma rays. Good on you, Mark.

1988

World welcomes Rihanna, Adele, and Lunchables.

1989

After five years in London, Peter Goodman has moved back to the US, settling

in the Lower Hudson Valley. He’s still covering the global economy for the New York Times, and he had a new book published in January. (See Reediana.)

1990

Did you break your left foot on the fourth of July while driving Miss Daisy through the field of dreams to the dead poets society meeting?

1991

Tracy “Tess” Lavezzi Light has been awarded the distinguished 2021 Los Alamos Global Security Medal, which recognizes the exceptional achievements of active or recently retired employees who have made significant contributions to the laboratory’s global security mission. Tess is a lead scientist in Los Alamos National Laboratory’s EMP sensing project. Shula (Jill) Neuman spent the summer researching and writing a book about the female zeitgeist and how to understand female sexuality in a heteronormative world. She decided not to publish it because she doesn’t think the world can handle the solution.

1992 30th reunion

Write a class note; it’s not dangerous. Here we are now, entertain us!

1993–94

World welcomes Beavis, Butt-Head, and Justin Bieber.

1995

Lauren (Asher) Rosenthal is living in NYC, raising two kids, and finding silver linings daily.

1996

World welcomes Hurricane Dolly, Dolly the cloned sheep, and Dolly Parton’s 34th studio album.

1997 25th reunion

After a 10-year career as a research scientist in molecular biology, Pax Fox went back to school to become a nurse practitioner. He was recently promoted to the role of director of clinical quality at Ideal Option. The practice is focused on the treatment of substance use disorders.

John Selker ’81 loves to play in his machine shop, with fond memories of the Physics Shop where he got his start. C.R. Foster ’06 in Las Vegas for Recover Out Loud, with their new book Unsettled.

1998–2001

Congratulations to newlyweds Brian Searle ’01 and Julia Haskin ’03!

2002 20th reunion

Sarah Harvey ’07 in front of her Seattle gallery during its five-year anniversary exhibition.

World welcomes Amanda Gorman, Billie Eilish, and Furby.

Kater Murch, Becky Bart ’03, and their 11-year-old West (2032) are headed to Grenoble, France, for a sabbatical—a well-deserved break from midwestern winter and busy academic jobs at Washington University and the Danforth Plant Science Center. Matt Sorg is happily immersed in the writings of Fanon, Levinas, and MerleauPonty while working on a master’s in existential-phenomenological psychology at Seattle University and volunteering for the local crisis line/National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.

Reed Magazine March 2022 33

Class Notes

2003

On August 7, Julia Haskin and Brian Searle ’01 got married! Like so much else these past couple of years, COVID meant a change in plans: instead of holding a larger in-person shindig, they got married in his parents’ backyard in Vermont, with only immediate family there. However, they were joined online by everyone who couldn’t be there in person, including Reedies Paul Burdick ’01, Olya Chironda ’05, David Clark ’01, Amber Kingery ’05, De’Mel Mojica ’02, and Dustin Moore ’02. Hopefully everyone will get to celebrate with a belated in-person reception sometime in 2022!

2004–05

Starbucks achieves world domination.

2006

C.R. Foster’s new book, Unsettled: How the Purdue Pharma Bankruptcy Failed the Victims of the American Overdose Crisis, cowritten with recovery advocate Ryan Hampton, was published October 5 by St. Martin’s Press. (Maybe you read about it

34 Reed Magazine March 2022

in the New Yorker.) Unsettled is nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and will be adapted for the small screen in a limited series. Foster recently scripted the Recover Out Loud concert, hosted in Las Vegas by iHeartRadio and Variety and featuring stars like Macklemore, KT Tunstall, and Gary Owen. Meanwhile, Foster is still writing, teaching, publishing, and traveling to their heart’s content. This year, their work was featured in O: The Oprah Magazine, the Mic, Catapult, and many other places.

2007 15th reunion

This fall Sarah Harvey celebrated her five-year anniversary as owner and director of Harris Harvey Gallery in Seattle. Harris Harvey Gallery is a member of the Seattle Art Dealers Association and specializes in contemporary art by Pacific Northwest and West Coast artists. While earning her master’s degree in art history at the University of Washington, Sarah began an internship at the Lisa Harris Gallery (est. 1984). In the autumn of 2016, Lisa Harris passed the torch to then assistant director Sarah,

and the gallery reopened with its new name in a new street-level space near Seattle’s Pike Place Market. To mark this five-year anniversary, Harris Harvey Gallery hosted an anniversary show featuring a curated selection of old and new favorites from gallery artists. The exhibition highlights a long-standing commitment to local and regional artists, as well as reflecting the diversity of technique and creative vision that has been vital to the gallery’s history. See harrisharveygallery.com. Caitlin O’Brien-Carelli has started as a senior strategic information officer at the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, where she supports HIV treatment programs in West Africa. She encourages Reedies interested in pursuing epidemiology to reach out.

2008

I can see Russia from my house!

2009

Sally Passmore and Jamie Nemiroff ’07 got married on July 25, 2021, in beautiful Edmonds, Washington. Rabbi Jim Mirel ’69 officiated the ceremony, and

clockwise from top-left Jamie Nemiroff ’07 and Sally Passmore Nemiroff ’09 are married! From left to right: Rabbi Jim Mirel ’69, happy newlyweds Jamie and Sally, Tina Le ’08, Lauren Bedson ’11, Terra Herrmann ’13, and Nate Herrmann ’12. Lucy Bellwood ’12 produced many illustrations for her latest collaborative project; here are a few. Prolific artist Lucy Bellwood ’12. Jessica Wong Camhi ’14 has joined the New England Foundation for the Arts in Boston.

“Going to Reed was such a transformative experience for me, one I wouldn’t have been able to partake in if it weren’t for financial aid and the support of the Reed community!” — M E R CY B H A K TA ’ 2 0

giving.reed.edu

David Wills-Ehlers ’13 and first child Anastasia Day Wills share a quiet moment. Cool baby Lumu Shrestha-Bach is the daughter of Swati Shrestha ’10.

It was a summer (and Reedie-filled) wedding for Elise Ringo ’15 and Amelia Wolf ’15. Left to right: Prof. Jacqueline Dirks ’82 [history] with daughter Kay Lowe, James Shelstad ’14, brides Elise and Amelia, Emily Goldman ’14, Gracie Rittenberg ’15, Makenzie Curtis-Johnson ’12, Amelia’s mom Lisa Rackner ’81, and Prof. Steve Wasserstrom [Judaic studies]. October drizzle was braved at the wedding of Audrey Spaeth ’15 and Nick Mandel. Left to right: Kat Schelonka ’14, maid of honor Robin Byron ’15, bride Audrey, groom Nick, and Audrey’s aunt and uncle, Jerri Brown ’70 and Tracy Steelhammer ’70.

Reedies Tina Le ’08, Lauren (Brackenbury) Bedson ’11, Nate Herrmann ’12, and Terra (Vleeshouwer-Neumann) Herrmann ’13 were all in attendance.

2010

On November 6, Swati Shrestha and her partner welcomed daughter Lumu Shrestha-Bach into the world. “Giving birth to her is the hardest thing I have ever done,” writes Swati. “My partner and I met in Portland during my freshman year at Reed. We now live in Bangkok, and look forward to one day showing Lumu around our stomping grounds.”

2011

Could you please stop planking long enough to send a class note?

2012 10th reunion

Lucy Bellwood produced some 40-odd ink wash illustrations to accompany her friend Tara Shepersky’s poems in a new book, Tell the Turning. (See Reediana.)

David Wills-Ehlers and wife Ashley welcomed their first child, Anastasia Day Wills, through adoption on November 29, one day after her birth. The family lives on their farm in Gales Creek with other friends. This coming season you can find their produce through their CSA or at the local farmers market.

in Boston in the role of Program Coordinator, Public Art. Prior to joining NEFA, Jess served as the art collections data coordinator for the Mayor’s Office of Arts & Culture for the City of Boston, where, among other activities, she compiled a digital database of public art in the city. “Jess brings both her knowledge of the public art field and complementary skills to the role; she will be an important part of NEFA’s work to inspire more vibrant public life and spaces,” said program director Kim Szeto. “We are excited to have her as part of the team.”

2014

2015

2013

Jaye Whitney Debber and Garnett Puett ’13 tied the knot in August 2021! Jessica Wong Camhi has joined the New England Foundation for the Arts

Amelia Wolf and Elise Ringo got married on August 15, nearly 10 years after they first met at orientation. Amelia fell in love during their shared Hum 110 conference

with Wally Englert [classics 1981–2018], but Elise took until their shared Hum 210 conference a year later. It worked out. Audrey Spaeth married Nick Mandel on October 9 outside of Seattle. Other Reedies present included Kat Schelonka ’14, maid of honor Robin Byron, and Audrey’s aunt and uncle Jerri Brown ’70 and Tracy Steelhammer ’70. Despite some drizzle, a fun time was had by many.

2016

Avocado toast

2017 5th reunion

Maple bacon brussels sprouts

2018–21

So hungry . . . for news!

Reed Magazine March 2022 35

In Memoriam EDITED BY RANDALL BARTON Email bartonr@reed.edu

A Lady of Letters Jacqueline Moore Svaren ’50 November 20, 2021, in Seattle, Washington.

A leading figure in the revival of the art of calligraphy, Jaki spearheaded a national renaissance of the art form, putting Portland on the map as one of its centers along with England and Germany. She began her notable career as a student of Prof. Lloyd Reynolds [English and art 1929– 69], with whom she studied for seven years and whom she credited with changing her life. Jaki’s calligraphic works were exhibited throughout the United States and Europe, and her popular caligraphy manual, Written Letters, was reissued this year by Reed. “Calligraphy is ‘everyman’s art,’” she proclaimed, “a beautiful thing that anyone who wants to work at, can do. It elevates writing, an ordinary, everyday thing, to the realm of art.” Calligraphy had almost been forgotten as an art form when, in the early years of the 20th century, Edward Johnston rediscovered the square-tipped pen. Since the humanist revival of the 15th century, the handwriting world had fallen into what Jaki called “the quagmire of copperplate.” For hundreds of years almost all writing was executed with the pointed steel pen, which emerged in response to the printing styles of copperplate engraving. Reynolds’s calligraphy class was one of the most popular electives of its day, spurring a calligraphy revival that directly impacted such diverse communities as the San Francisco Beat poets, including Gary Snyder ’51, Philip Whalen ’51, and Lew Welch ’50, and designers and developers of digital type, including Sumner Stone ’67, and Chuck Bigelow. Jaki became one of Reynolds’s foremost students. Recalling his influence, she said “The calligraphy got students to come to the class. Then Reynolds took off, talking about the whole of the

human condition. It certainly wasn’t the letterforms that kept us entranced. As he made so clear, when you raise a daily activity to the level of art, you begin to look differently at the other seemingly simple aspects of your life. Lloyd Reynolds was trying to open us up to the miracle.” She finished her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the University of Oregon, and began teaching calligraphy and italic handwriting at Grant High School in 1957—in those days, Portland high school students were required to learn both. After five years at Grant, she moved to Portland State University, where she taught lettering and basic design. She spent most of her career teaching at Portland Community College, where she created its lettering program in the late ’60s. “Getting into calligraphy is like stepping into the narrow end of a funnel,” she said. “As you go further the medium keeps getting bigger and bigger.” While working full time as an instructor at PCC, and the busy mother of four, Jaki decided to write a calligraphy manual. She hoped it would enable her students to understand the Western letterforms. In the grand tradition of the scribes of antiquity, it would be done entirely by hand. For two years, Jaki worked nights and weekends to complete the project. Written Letters illustrates 33 different alphabets and provides detailed instructions for writing each letter. It became one of the most popular calligraphy books in America, influencing countless students throughout North America and the world. Jaki also wrote Lojor’s Letters, a space-age story about a boy and a gnome learning italic handwriting. She retired from PCC in the ’90s, but continued to correspond with and mentor students far and wide until her death. Jaki curated numerous exhibits of work by Portland calligraphers, founded and hosted

calligraphy retreats at Menucha Retreat and Conference Center in the Columbia Gorge, and taught workshops around the nation. She was president of the Western American Branch of the Society for Italic Handwriting. She and her husband, sculptor and fellow PCC teacher Russell Svaren, collaborated on mixed-media projects and exhibited their work around Oregon. “There are only two bequests we need to give our children: one is roots, and the other is wings,” Jaki said in a 2019 interview. She passed along both to her four children, Lynn Robert Carter, Jo Ann Byers, Eric Svaren, and Kelly Van Hee, who survive her. The Calligraphy Initiative at Reed College will host a celebration of Jaki’s life and work in spring 2022. Please email cooley@reed.edu for details. Jaki donated the royalties from the reissued Written Letters to the Calligraphy Initiative and would have been delighted to know others are supporting it.

The People’s Advocate Peter Haberfeld ’63 November 30, 2021, in Oakland, California, from a heart attack.

A community organizer and lawyer for the people, Peter used his wit and intelligence to fight the abuses of power. A lifelong learner, he was a fighter and a nurturer who was deeply engaged with the world and people around him. 36 Reed Magazine march 2022

He was born in Portland, eight minutes older than his identical twin, Steven Haberfeld ’63, and 10 years older than his sister Mimi, all children of a Swiss mother and Austrian father who emigrated to the United States to escape the rise of Nazism. Peter grew up on his family’s farms in the Willamette Valley and in rural Los Angeles County, where he attended high school.

Along with a love of animals and deep attachment to nature, as a teen he developed a solidarity with working people. Peter wrote his thesis, “The Great Dissenter: Mr. Justice Hugo L. Black and His ‘Absolutist’ Position Regarding First Amendment Interpretation,” advised by Prof. Richard Flathman [philosophy 1962–69]. He celebrated his

graduation by skipping the ceremony and riding the rails back to Oakland with a friend. He went on to earn a law degree at UC Berkeley’s Boalt Hall (renamed Berkeley Law in 2020) and embarked on a colorful career. He lived through times of excitement and struggle, and was proud of his arrest record: first during Berkeley’s Free Speech Movement of 1964; while working to register Black voters in Mississippi in 1967; during the People’s Park struggle of 1969; and finally with his wife, Tory Griffith, while protesting the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. He spent the “Freedom Summer” of 1966 in the South, and considered himself fortunate to work for C.B. King, the pioneering civil rights attorney in Albany, Georgia. Peter was deeply influenced by his mentor’s brilliance and profoundly affected by the glaring oppression and lack of equity for Black people in the Jim Crow South. After passing the bar, he worked as a lawyer, a labor organizer, and an organizer for political campaigns. His career began in the office of progressive attorney Francis Heisler, who encouraged him to go to Mississippi to help voters register. That shattering experience left him determined to defend the marginalized, abandoned, and powerless. His organizational engagements ranged from the National Lawyers Guild to the Black Panther Party and the United Farm Workers. Between 1968 and 1975, Peter worked as an attorney and organizer in California’s Central Valley, helping to direct a project providing legal help to Latino youth and farmworkers. He was the first staff person hired to run the new office of the San Francisco Bay Area chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, and worked briefly for the Youth Law Center and California Rural Legal Assistance (CRLA). He incurred the wrath of the conservative legal establishment wherever he went. When Gov. Ronald Reagan tried to defund CRLA, he cited Peter’s legal work, including his involvement with the Black Panther Party in Marysville. In 1975, Peter joined the legal staff of the United Farm Workers, joining Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta in the legendary battle to seek union recognition for farm workers. Fred Ross, who trained the UFW leaders in the art of organizing, was also an influential mentor. Peter organized and advocated for the backto-the-land folks in Shasta County and worked as a lawyer for the Department of Industrial Relations, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and the Public Employment Relations Board. Later, he was hired as a labor organizer for teachers in Fremont, Oakland, and Vallejo, California. He worked for the Oakland Community Organization organizing teachers and parents for school reform in Oakland. Ultimately, he worked at Siegel & Yee, where he fought his final court battles, including

HONOR THEIR

Memory IN THE SPIRIT OF REED

an epic case that ensured the survival of the National Union of Healthcare Workers. In retirement, he worked on the Obama campaigns and both Bernie Sanders bids for the Democratic nomination for president. Peter met his wife, Tory (Victoria), in 1994 while both were working on California’s universal health care effort, Prop. 186. They married in 2004, sharing a hatred of injustice and a drive for political organizing. While activism was a key focus of his life, Peter loved being a father, instilling confidence and athleticism in his daughters. He encouraged adventure, ensuring their exposure to the natural world through backpacking and river rafting trips; to the wider world through travel; and to their inner worlds by consistently inquiring about their perspectives on life. Fun and mischievous, he relished the absurd and loved challenging authority. He enjoyed working with his hands, throwing pots, harvesting olives, laying tiles, and crafting his beautiful home. He had an empathy for animals,and frequently took them under his wing. Peter is survived by his wife, Victoria Griffith; daughters, Demetria (Demi) and Selena Haberfeld Rhine; brother Steven; and sister, Mimi Haberfeld.

Melvin Harry Judkis ’39

September 3, 2021, in Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania.

Melvin Judkis, who preferred the mononym “Jud,” died two months shy of his 103rd birthday. Born to Russian immigrants who owned a general store in Portland, he excelled at Jefferson High School and graduated at the age of 16. Jud planned to follow in the footsteps of his older sister, Eva Judkis Berkham ’30, who had gone to Reed for a couple of years and then became an attorney. But after his first physics course with Prof. A.A. Knowlton [physics 1915–48], he stuck with physics. Knowlton

Honor your professors and classmates with a gift to Reed in their name. You can make Reed possible for the next generation.

giving.reed.edu

In Memoriam advised him on his thesis, “The Artificial Production of Snow and Ice Crystals.” Jud graduated from Reed, was drafted into the U.S. Army Air Force as an aviation cadet working in communications, and was in the first class to be trained in the new technology of airborne radar at the MIT Radiation Lab. Sent to England with the 14th Fighter Group in 1942, he landed in North Africa on the second day of the Allied invasion of World War II. Jud became the radar officer of the 15th Air Force, served in Italy and England, and returned to the U.S. with the rank of captain. After being discharged, he earned a BS in electrical engineering from Oregon State, worked for General Electric in Philadelphia, and then became a partner in a company manufacturing automobile trim accessories in Chicago. In 1956, Jud joined Westinghouse’s naval nuclear program to develop instrumentation for nuclear power plants and became supervising engineer of a design group that developed the first working solid-state frequency converter for controlling reactor coolant pumps. He left to join Westinghouse’s commercial nuclear program and became project manager for the Donald C. Cook Nuclear Power Plant in Michigan, which was the first nuclear power plant to have an ice containment. “In building nuclear power plants,” he explained, “one of the most expensive parts was the containment. The idea was, if you had a bank of ice that could absorb the steam, it would reduce the pressure on the walls, and it wouldn’t cost as much. That turned out to be a really interesting project. We built it, and it worked out very well.” More than 20 plants were built using the ice condenser design his team devised. When the nuclear power field began laying people off after the Three Mile Island accident, Jud returned to Westinghouse for another three years and then retired. Through an army buddy, he met Edna Weber, an artist and social worker who had worked processing prisoners of war for the Red Cross. They married in 1949 and raised two sons, James and Andrew, in Mount Lebanon, Pennsylvania. Jud’s military service made him a devoted antifascist who supported progressive causes, and he loved to talk about politics and art. When he and Edna moved to Cranberry in their senior years, he perfected his craft as a woodworker, building furniture and making dollhouses for his granddaughters. He exercised for 30 years with a wellness coach, which contributed greatly to his longevity, and his mind was sharp through his last days. He and Edna enjoyed traveling and furnished their home with art and antiques 38 Reed Magazine march 2022

brought back from their travels. She preceded him in death. Survived by his sons, Jud was interred at Arlington National Cemetery.

Lotus Simon Miller ’46 October 24, 2021, in Ames, Iowa.

Lotus was born in Portland, the younger of two sisters both named after attractive flowers. Her sister Calypso, however, preferred the nickname Mitzi. Lotus was president of her senior class at Reed and graduated as a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Prof. Ralph Macy [biology 1942–55] advised her on her thesis, “An Investigation of the Zonation of Intertidal Animals of Boiler Bay, Oregon,” a topic she chose to become more knowledgeable than her father in at least one area of natural history. She went on to graduate work at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, where she attended the last class of Aldo Leopold, a leader in both wildlife ecology and the United States’ wilderness system. Lotus was a teaching assistant in zoology and earned an MS in zoology with a split minor in botany and wildlife management. She taught biology in the innovative Integrated Liberal Studies program at UW, and her PhD research included some of the first work on the home range of mammals using radioactive tracers. After injecting phosphorus-32 into a meadow vole (Microtus pennsylvanicus) in the UW Arboretum, she was able to trace his movements by using a Geiger counter to examine 121 aluminum dropping boards laid out over an acre in a grid pattern. The resulting scientific paper published in Ecology was reviewed in the New York Times, and Lotus was inducted into Sigma Xi, a scientific research honor society. While she was in Madison, a mutual friend introduced her to Wilmer Jay Miller, a graduate student in zoology and genetics. After a two-year courtship, they were married by a Unitarian minister at Reed College in 1953. They moved to Woodland, California, where Wilmer worked in a cattle blood–typing lab at UC Davis, and ten years later to Ames, Iowa, where he became a genetics professor at Iowa State University. In the late ’70s, the couple and their two sons, Douglas and Alan, spent a year in Brazil, where Wilmer was invited to set up a cattle blood-typing lab for one of the São Paulo state universities. In the ’90s, Lotus and Wilmer returned to Brazil for three more years in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, made new friends, and experienced the natural history of the region. The Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Ames recognized Lotus for her contributions and volunteer efforts—particularly in

connecting children and grownups to the natural world. She cofounded and was president of the Ames Conservation Council; was active in the League of Women Voters, Friends of Foreign Wives, and the Ames Rock and Mineral Club; and chaired the nature study division of the Faculty Women’s Club. Lotus was a charter member of the Ames affiliate of the National Audubon Society and played a major role in saving the Ames High School Prairie for education, research, and recreation. She worked extensively on campaigns to prevent flooding of the Skunk River valley and Ledges State Park. Survivors include her two sons, Douglas Miller and Alan Miller.

Carol Joanne Hasson ’49

March 24, 2021, in Laguna Woods, California.

Carol grew up in Portland, where her father ran a produce market. After graduating from Grant High School, she worked for a year in the duplicating department of the Bonneville Power Administration. When the family moved to California in 1944, she began enrolling at the University of Southern California but decided she didn’t like anything about it. “I got on a streetcar and went home and informed my parents that I had not worked for a year to go to a school dominated by sororities or fraternities,” she said. She started at Reed as a math major in the fall of ’45, but soon changed her major to political science and wrote her thesis, “The Arab League: A Study in International Regionalism,” advised by Prof. Frank Munk [political science 1939–65]. “Reed gave me an education that taught me to think and develop my thoughts in a logical manner,” she said. “Consequently, I have continued to enjoy literature, history, science, and the arts in the world around me. I’ve been exposed to too many people that are only educated in their major, have not read any classic literature, philosophers, or basically the content of Humanities 11 and 21. And I’m a bit appalled. They’re well trained, but I wouldn’t call people who go through college in this manner educated.” After graduating, she worked in admission, helping to enroll the class for the fall of 1949. Through Ann Shepard [dean’s office 1926– 68] she got a job working for two dermatologists in downtown Portland. Deciding her job wasn’t leading anywhere, she left after two years, returned home to Los Angeles, and was briefly married. She began working at Hughes Aircraft Company, eventually becoming an electrical engineer and program manager. In her 33 years with the company, Carol spent 11 years working on the F-14 and programmed parts of a new radar mode called track-while-scan, retiring as a systems engineer. “Reed prepared me as a person, to maneuver in the world,” she said. “Someone once told me

when she was somewhat annoyed with me that she wouldn’t give me a nickel cup of coffee for my degree in political science. And I thought at the time, ‘Well, lady, every job you’ve had has been a failure.’ I managed to make a very good living, even though my degree was in political science. I think Reed prepares people as human beings.” For years, she lived with her partner, Samuel Vodopia, whom she described as “a charming, intelligent, and interesting male companion and best friend.” The two never married because, as Sam said, “marriage is the leading cause of divorce.” The two were big supporters of Reed, making frequent gifts to the endowment and establishing the Sam, Isabel, and Carol Hasson Scholarship, which honors the Hasson family. He survives her.

Mary McCain Rossborough ’49

September 21, 2021, in Danvers, Massachusetts.

During her childhood, Mary’s family moved frequently following her father’s work for the FBI. During the Second World War, they settled on a farm near Portland, but that early movement formed the backbone of Mary’s early education. By observing people in different parts of the country living under different conditions, she gained an appreciation and respect for the diversity in which we live. Mary graduated early from Oregon City High School, and because her father was opposed to her going away to college, she started at Reed. It was not an easy adjustment. “Lacking in self-esteem, I felt completely snowed by Reed and its high-powered students, especially those from the East and the Chicago North Shore suburban high schools,” she remembered. “Those students seemed selfconfident and possessed the knowhow to navigate the Reed system. I felt as if I didn’t even know the name of the game, especially in discussion groups, where I rarely opened my mouth. Nevertheless, I was awed and excited at the new world of learning and experiencing and thinking I was exposed to at Reed. The humanities courses opened up a whole new world.” She left Reed after two years and started prenursing courses at the University of Washington before dropping out to marry David Moment ’50, whom she had met at Reed. They completed their education at Roosevelt College in Chicago—Mary earned a bachelor’s degree in education—while living with David’s parents in Oak Park. The couple adopted two children and divorced after 22 years of marriage. Mary would go on to earn a master of education from Boston University and a doctor of education from Boston College. Over the years, she worked numerous office jobs and was a welfare worker in Chicago and an administrative assistant to the head of the psychology department at Boston College. She taught school for 14 years in the Waltham school district, first in the primary grades and then

remedial reading in junior high. In 1978, she married Robert Rossborough. She took an early retirement from teaching and moved to Marblehead with Robert. They traveled extensively until his death in 1998. Mary volunteered as a tutor at an adult literacy center. “It is rewarding to work individually with adults with learning disabilities who either had little schooling, or were not given special attention to their needs while in school,” she said. She also volunteered with Neighborto-Neighbor, and became interested in the issue of income distribution. “I saw what was happening to the wealth and income distribution in this country and joined United for a Fair Economy to learn about ways to educate and activate others on this issue,” she said. “This morphed into concern about the growing poverty in developing countries, which have seen a concentration of wealth for a few but poverty for the rest due to the policies operating in ‘globalization.’ Reed gave me a broadened base and wider outlook on possibilities and led to my current activism.” Mary was active at the Lifelong Learning Institute of Salem State University for 16 years, teaching and taking classes. She was predeceased by her two children, Rebecca Homans and Peter Moment.

Emmy Hammond Shakeshaft ’51

August 22, 2021, in Ames, Iowa.

Emmy was born in White Plains, New York, and came to Reed because she had determined it was like Sarah Lawrence with boys. She wrote her thesis, “An Introduction to the Work of Dylan Thomas,” advised by Prof. Donald MacRae [English 1944–73]. “My experience at Reed encouraged me to stay interested, engaged, open to new ideas and possibilities,” she said. “I was over 40 before any job I got made use of my BA in English literature; before that it was my ninth-grade typing that brought in the bread.” She married A.J. (Jerry) Shakeshaft in 1956, and 10 years later moved to Ames, Iowa, where Jerry taught political science at Iowa State University until he died in 1998. “I arrived in Ames, Iowa, with a typical snotty New Yorker’s attitude (let’s have an experience in America’s Heartland), but ended up enjoying it and being enormously grateful for it,” Emmy recalled. She worked as a copy editor of college publications until she retired, and was an inveterate volunteer—for the local adult literacy program, reading stories to first graders once a week and serving on the RSVP Advisory Council. She edited newsletters for the ISU Retirees and the Ames Area Spinners

& Weavers, taught beginning weaving and other textiles workshops for a local fiber shop, and kept herself busy spinning, weaving, dyeing, knitting, and felting wool. She is survived by her daughter, Kate Murray, and son, Tom Shakeshaft.

Estella Dee Cutler Brown ’52

April 1, 2019, in Eugene, Oregon, following a long struggle with asthma-related COPD.

Known as Dee at Reed, she married Richard Brown ’52 and wrote her thesis, “The Corps of Engineers in the Pacific Northwest, 18661890,” advised by Prof. Dorothy Johansen ’33 [history 1934–84]. Dee taught in elementary and middle schools and was an accomplished handweaver who was active in the Eugene Weavers’ Guild. She was passionate about organic gardening, woodworking, and art advocacy, but nothing was dearer to her than her family and friends. Survivors include her son, Brooks Brown ’83; daughter, Laura Coogan; and sister, LaRene Allen.

Jonathan Alper ’54

July 24, 2021, in Kalispell, Montana, from cancer.

Jon was born in New York City and at a young age moved to California. He attended Chadwick Academy in Palos Verdes Peninsula before coming to Reed. After a stint in the U.S. Army, Jon and a partner established a company, Marine Salvage and Dive. He was one of the original founders of the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon and owned a successful printing business in San Francisco. After retiring in Anacortes, Washington, he met Susie, the love of his life. She was from Montana and he had always dreamed of being a cowboy, so they headed back to the Big Sky to fulfill Jon’s dream. They started a popular bed and breakfast, and Jon, for whom organization and planning were key ingredients to contentment, busied himself with spreadsheets and alphabetizing spice racks. Susie survives him, as do his children, Jonathan Jr., Lyn, Christopher, and Libby.

Barbara Frank Beach ’54

November 7, 2021, in British Columbia, Canada.

Raised in a brownstone in New York C ity ’s Gre e nw i ch V i l l a g e , Barbara grew up in a family that had a strong sense of social justice. She was surrounded by progressive thinkers, artists, and intellectuals, and as a young girl at City and Country School, she learned to make pottery and play guitar, beginning a lifelong love for making music. Summers were spent at the family cottage on White Oak Pond in New Hampshire. Her broad-minded, Reed Magazine march 2022 39

In Memoriam

Wayne R. DeMott ’55

nontraditional upbringing led her to seek new ways of thinking and expanding her mind, and she met many wonderful people on her journey. She had never been west of Pennsylvania, but in the fall of ’51 she boarded a train and headed to Reed, terrified that she wouldn’t know anyone and would be terribly alone. As it happened, three other students from her tiny high school in Massachusetts had started at Reed the year before. Barbara signed up for both Humanities 12—a shortened version for science majors—and Humanities 21 her first semester. “Considering how much information I tried to take in at once, it’s surprising that I look back on the experience with such nostalgia,” she said. “I often wish I could take those courses again, now that I have some notion of what they were all about and might be able to make sense out of it all.” She wrote her thesis, “Thomas Hardy, the Novelist,” advised by Prof. Donald MacRae [literature 1944–73]. After graduating, Barbara married Austin Yates and lived in Minnesota for five years while he finished medical school. They had two children. Austin drowned in the summer of ’59 while working at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, and Barbara and her children went to live with her family. She married Marcus Beach ’50, and they moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, where Marcus became an English professor at the University of British Columbia. The couple had another child but divorced in 1975. Barbara continued to live in Vancouver. When her children were young, she stayed at home, making and selling pottery from her basement on and off for 25 years. She discovered bookkeeping and became the treasurer for various organizations and prepared income taxes. She was a tireless volunteer for many organizations, including the BC Potters Guild, the BC Recorder Society, the Unitarian Church, West Side Family Place, and as president and treasurer of the BC Memorial Society. Singing and dancing were always a big part of her life. Barbara met her friend and companion, Andrew, while contradancing and spent much of her last 30 years with him. She played recorder and sang in a quartet for fun, performing at senior centers around Vancouver. Barbara developed corticobasal syndrome, a neurological disease that severely challenged her ability to live the way she wanted. Eventually her suffering caused her to become an advocate for MAID (Medical Assistance in Dying). She was happy to have the choice to end her life in the way she chose, and, being true to her nature, died in a nontraditional way, peacefully and in comfort, surrounded by her children, Britton, Galen, and Alexia.

Born in Portland, Wayne graduated from Grant High School, where he played the bassoon in the orchestra. He wrote his thesis, “A Study of the Biology of a Pacific Northwestern Species of Halipegus,” with Prof. Ralph Macy [biology 1942–55] advising and went on to earn a degree in medicine from the University of Oregon Medical School. After completing his residency in pathology at the University of California Medical Center in San Francisco, he served in the U.S. Air Force, including an internship at Madigan General Hospital and as a general medical officer at Larson Air Force Base in Washington. In 1965, he married Lee Martha Hoffmann. They raised two children, James and Monica, in Westwood, Kansas. For more than two decades Wayne worked as a pathologist at Providence Hospital in Kansas City, Kansas, and was chief of staff. He was instrumental in teaching the medical technologists that Providence Hospital trained and coauthored Laboratory Test Handbook with his colleague and associate David S. Jacobs. Five editions and various formats followed, and the book was translated into 14 languages (including Hungarian). It covered topics from specimen procurement to result analysis for diagnosis and was a staple in labs around the country. One reviewer wrote that the Laboratory Test Handbook is to clinical testing what the Physician’s Desk Reference is to pharmacology. Wayne’s many interests included music, comic books, and postage stamps. He loved talking about ideas, everything from new business ventures to inventions and scientific discoveries. As a scientist, he loved bees. He was a gifted musician who played the piano from an early age. After a debilitating stroke in 2005, he resumed playing piano, entertaining fellow residents at his senior care facilities. He is survived by his wife, Lee Martha; his son James; and his daughter Monica.

40 Reed Magazine march 2022

September 18, 2021, in Kansas City, Missouri.

Glen Shipley ’55

November 25, 2017, in Portland, Oregon.

Growing up on a farm, Glen learned the work ethic that carried him through life. In high school, he decided that becoming a doctor would be perfect for his curious and caring nature. At Reed, he wrote his thesis, “Preliminary Investigations Aimed at Isolation of the Chromatophorotropic and Retinal Pigment Stimulating Hormones in Astacus trowbridgii,” advised by Prof. Lewis H. Kleinholz [biology 1946–80]. After earning a doctorate in medicine from the University of Oregon Medical School, Glen became a physician and psychiatrist, spending most of his career as director of the Student Health Center at Southern Oregon University. He met his wife, Laurie, when they were

both working at St. Vincent Hospital in Portland; they were married for 54 years. After retiring, they lived in Lincoln City and traveled extensively. After Laurie died, Glen moved to Beaverton to live with his son, Curtis, and daughter-in-law, Rachel, spending his days making art, going for walks, watching movies, and competing with the cat for his desk chair. He is survived by his sons, Matthew and Curtis.

Margaret Lin Folsom ’57

November 8, 2021, in Anacortes, Washington, from heart condition complications.

Born in Norwalk, Connecticut, Lin was raised in Darien and graduated high school from Putney School in Vermont. After graduating from Reed with a degree in biology, she earned a master’s degree in botany at the University of Colorado Boulder. Lin worked at a variety of biology labs, including in Berkeley, at Washington State University, and at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. In 1958, she married William Page; they had three children. True to her adventurous spirit, she and her husband took the family, including a golden retriever, to Gabes, Tunisia, where they spent a year learning the culture, food, history, and exploring the surrounding desert. Upon returning, the family moved to Gold Hill, Colorado, and then to Niwot, Colorado, where she worked in water and wastewater treatment for the City of Longmont. Lin moved to Lynnwood, Washington, to Arlington, and finally to Anacortes, which she loved because she couldn’t get enough of the water and loved wooden boats. Her favorite pastime was sailing Myrica, her wooden sailboat, and she was a board member of the Center for Wooden Boats, Anacortes Yacht Club, and OARS. With her favorite horse, Code, she was very involved in the hunter/jumper sport. She was active in the Kiwanis Club, Anacortes Planning Commission, Anacortes Senior Center, and the quilting club. One of the most inspiring and life-changing organizations for Lin was NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Her volunteer work through Family to Family, CTI training, and other NAMI outreach programs greatly affected her life, and she took great joy in helping others through her work. Lin is survived by her son, Edward Page; her daughters, Leah Burke and Margaret Stroble; and her half-brother, Donald Frothingham Jr.

Donald Scott III ’59

September 3, 2021, in Saint James, New York.

Born on New Year’s Day in New York City, Don spent most of his youth in Gladwyne, Pennsylvania, summering at the family home on Lloyd Neck. He attended Germantown Friends School and Reed College, and served in the U.S. Air Force Reserve. While in the reserve, he developed a love for engineering and mechanical tinkering. Don

was a motorcycle enthusiast and an avid racing fan who rode a Triumph Tiger Cub across much of England, Holland, and France. He was a passionate outdoorsman and environmentalist. As the longtime chair of the Atlantic Chapter River Touring Committee, he led many Sierra Club canoe trips in the New York metro area. He met his wife, Lisa Wurm, canoeing and kayaking on the Nissequogue River. Venturing further afield, Don canoed on Canadian rivers and sailed his catamaran through the Northeast, with favorite ports of call in Mystic, Connecticut; Block Island; and Nantucket. Later in life, he sailed many parts of the Caribbean and boated along rivers in England and France. He lived and worked in Manhattan until the mid-’70s, when he moved to the family home in St. James with his wife, Lisa, and son, Charles, until his death. A life member of the Clan Scott Society, the Sierra Club, and the Nature Conservancy, Don was a loving owner of a succession of Newfoundland dogs and took pride in providing pet therapy at nursing homes and elementary schools, receiving Volunteer of the Year recognition at Smithtown Nursing Home.

Mark R. Heilbrunn ’60

July 5, 2021, in Seattle, Washington, from a heart attack.

Born to Drs. Ruth and Gert Heilbrunn, Mark grew up in Seattle and graduated from Garfield High School. He graduated from Reed with a degree in biology, earned a medical degree from the University of Washington Medical School, and completed a five-year pathology residency program in anatomical pathology at McGill University and in clinical pathology at George Washington University. Mark practiced pathology in Lafayette, Louisiana, and then moved to Seattle, where he was a medical consultant for the Washington State Department of Health. He was a fellow of the American Board of Pathology, During the Vietnam War, Mark was a major in the U.S. Army, stationed in Germany. He spoke fluent German and had a passion for athletics, music, and languages. Throughout his life, he enjoyed reading and writing poetry, and had a great affection for reading and reciting Shakespeare. He was a longtime supporter of the Seattle Repertory Theatre. Educated in classical music, he played the recorder, the clarinet, and the oboe. Outdoors he was an excellent skier, tennis player, cyclist, and hiker. Upon retiring, Mark and his wife, Angela, moved to Medford, Oregon, to be closer to their children. He is survived by Angela; his son, Nicholas; and his daughter, Gillian.

Stephen F. Johnston ’60 October 8, 2021, in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

Born in Bozeman, Montana, Stephen spent his school years in Tacoma, Washington, and Portland. He was at Reed for four years and majored in chemistry, but got his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Minnesota. He worked for 3M, first in the magnetic products division and then in 3M pharmaceuticals, where he was part of the team working on the nitroglycerin patch. He met Barbara Meuleners on a blind date, and they married in 1965 and had two children, Jason and Jolie. Stephen was an avid golfer and enjoyed bowling, but his real passion was live theatre. He acted in 40 shows and was a board member at Lakeshore Players for 23 years. After havng been residents of White Bear Lake for more than 60 years, he and Barbara moved to Echo Ridge Senior Living in Oakdale, Minnesota. When Barbara died last year, Stephen moved to Polar Ridge Senior Living in North St. Paul. He is survived by his children and his sister, Nancy Erben.

Judith Forsythe Powell ’60 October, 26, 2021, in Hinsdale, Illinois.

At Reed, Judith wrote her thesis, “Variables Which Differentiate Release Patterns of Unmarried Mothers,” advised by Prof. Carol Creedon [psychology 1957–91]. She earned a master’s degree in social work from Smith College, became a clinical social caseworker, and then established a psychotherapy private practice in Chicago and Oak Brook, Illinois. Judith loved to travel with her husband, William Powell, and they made it around the world three times. He survives her, as do her two sons, Steven and Christopher Powell.

Patricia L. Lent ’61

April 17, 2021, in Portland.

Portland’s Lents district is named for Patricia’s ancestors, who came to Oregon over the Oregon Trail in 1852. He r m o t h e r, R u t h Gordon, came from orthodox Ashkenazi Jews, and while living in Seattle, Pat converted to Judaism in 1974. She graduated with honors from Jefferson High School and attended Reed for one year before finishing her bachelor’s degree in math and computer science at Portland State University. She worked as a manager and forecaster for Pacific NW Bell but had the soul of an artist. An avid supporter of the arts, she loved plays and ushered for the Portland Center for the Performing Arts for more than 30 years. Pat had a beautiful soprano voice; as a child she performed on radio. In later years, she sang with the Unitarian Choir, in a Portland production of

The King and I, and with Senior Center Choirs. She played piano, did creative dancing, loved to dance, studied Spanish and German, knew some Yiddish, and could read Hebrew. She practiced tai chi, did Volkswalking, and loved to travel. One of her favorite destinations was the Sylvia Beach Hotel in Newport, Oregon. A social person who was involved in her community, Pat volunteered for the Department of Veterans Affairs, the American Legion Auxiliary, and Meals on Wheels. She was on the Milwaukie planning commission as a Democratic precinct committee person and on the board of the Milwaukie Ledding Library. She is survived by her sister, Gerri Lent; brother, Zachary Lent; and daughter, Veronica Ayn Stahl.

Michael Humphreys ’64

April 4, 2021, in Brisbane, Australia.

Michael was born in the United States and wrote his thesis, “Response and Association Variables in a Three State Markov Model for Paired Associate Learning,” advised by Prof. Frederick Courts [psychology 1945–69]. He went on to earn a PhD from Stanford University. He lived in Brisbane, Australia, for the last 42 years, where he was professor emeritus of the School of Psychology at the University of Queensland and a fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia. In his research he made remarkable contributions to the science of human memory. Michael leaves behind his wife, Anita Steinerts, and daughters, Karin and Andrea Humphreys.

Marion Faber ’65

April 30, 2020, in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, from complications of pancreatic cancer.

Marion was the Scheuer Family Professor Emerita of Humanities and professor emerita of German at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. She was f luent in English, German, French, and Italian; the bulk of her scholarship involved the translation of works written in German and reflected her expansive interests in German history and culture—especially literature and music from the 18th century to the present. A prolific scholar, translator, and teacher, she was an expert on the Austrian composer Wolfgang Mozart and the German philosopher-poet Friedrich Nietzsche. Born in Southern California to second-generation Jewish parents from Russia and Romania, as a high school exchange student Marion traveled to Hanover, Germany. At the time, her knowledge of Germany was sketchy, but in her youthful idealism she believed “we must not hold grudges.” She discovered the delights of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and Schlagsahne (whipped cream), the first German word she ever Reed Magazine march 2022 41

In Memoriam looked up. By the time she returned to the U.S., she had gained not only an appetite for whipped cream, but a desire to learn about castles, classical music, and a sense of Germany’s history. Marion continued to study German, returning to Europe twice to live and study in Breisgau and Vienna. After beginning her bachelor’s degree at Reed, she finished at UC Berkeley, where she also earned a master’s degree. She received a PhD in German studies from Harvard University. In 1979, she joined Swarthmore’s faculty and published her dissertation, “Angels of Daring: Tightrope Walker and Acrobat in Nietzsche, Kafka, Rilke, and Thomas Mann.” During her 30-year tenure at Swarthmore, she taught German literature and culture, and developed interdisciplinary courses in film and media studies, women’s studies, and comparative literature. While she admired German composers and poets, Marion felt compelled to teach students about the dark side of German history and culture. She once noted that in her own formal education she’d never been in a class that fully engaged with the events of the Nazi period, let alone attempted to place them within the context of hundreds of years of German civilization. “It finally became important for me as a Jew, and as a teacher of German, to take the bull by the horns,” she said. Drawing on her deep knowledge of German culture, she designed a multidisciplinary course which examined its key forms, such as Romanticism, and raised a fundamental question: Could the Holocaust have happened anywhere else, and is there something unique to German culture that resulted in it? To prepare, she went to Berlin, visited the concentration camp at Sachsenhausen and the Jewish cemetery in Weissensee, and spoke with historians and philosophers. She took pains to distinguish for her students between German culture and German people. The class, in which students studied history, poetry, memoir, film, and artwork, culminated in a final exam that essentially asked: Is there a connection, and what is it? Marion worked with Swarthmore’s humanities librarian Stephen Lehmann on a new translation of Human, All Too Human, by the existentialist German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. “Nietzsche has a bare, sparse manner that hadn’t been captured in the 1907 translation,” she said. “We tried to be truer to the spirit of the original text.” The volume, which took three years to complete, received much praise and became a bestseller. She and Lehmann also translated a Thomas Mann novella, The Tables of the Law, and coauthored a biography of Bohemian-born pianist Rudolf Serkin, Rudolf Serkin: A Life. Her 1983 translation of Wolfgang Hildesheimer’s Mozart was a finalist for an American Book Award. In 1994, she translated the first English edition of Mass Rape: The War Against Women in 42 Reed Magazine march 2022

Bosnia-Herzegovina. The book of interviews with Muslim, Croatian, and Serbian women and girls helped raise awareness of the atrocities taking place during the ongoing war in the former Yugoslavia. Her final translation collaboration with Lehmann, In This Hour: Heschel’s Writings in Nazi Germany and London Exile, appeared last year. Marion was a talented musician who enjoyed playing her grand piano. Aurora Camacho de Schmidt, professor emerita of Spanish at Swarthmore, said, “In many aspects of her life [Marion] revealed the rigorous discipline of someone who accomplishes what she sets out to do and does it with an artist’s sensibility.” Marion volunteered time at the Chester Children’s Chorus and HIAS Pennsylvania, which supports low-income immigrants in building new lives in the community. She is survived by Stephen Hannaford, her husband of 44 years, and her daughters, Rachel and Dinah Hannaford.

Paul Meilleur ’65

May 28, 2021, in Ukiah, California, after flipping over in an ATV.

Paul was born in Spokane, Washington, and graduated from North Central High School. At Reed, he wrote his thesis, “An Analysis of the Concept of Teaching,” advised by Prof. Edwin Garlan [philosophy 1946–73]. After graduating, he moved to California, where he lived the rest of his life and worked as a computer consultant and handyman. He was driving an ATV up a steep hill when it began to flip over. His passenger escaped before it turned over, but Paul remained on the vehicle and was killed as it flipped over. A neighbor and friend said, “My understanding is he was climbing a steep path from his house to Clow Ridge Road. I do believe the path he was on had only been used going downhill. While quite the hermit, Paul was well educated. When in conversation, he had many good points to add. His presence, thoughts, and friendship will be missed.” Paul is survived by his sister, Marie Johnson.

John Mills Stidd ’65

June 14, 2021, in Los Altos, California.

John was born in Pendleton, Oregon, and attended Reed before enlisting in the U.S. Air Force, where he served during the Vietnam War. His keen mathematical talent and c o m p u te r t ra i n i n g brought him to Silicon Valley, where he worked for a series of tech startups and then for the famous Xerox research labs in Palo Alto.

John was a stroke survivor who courageously fought the effects of his stroke for almost 20 years. In spite of this, he never lost his keen sense of humor or his love for math, science, history, economics, political science, and music, and he completed the Jumble with his wife, Karen (Browne) Stidd ’65, every day. He was a master level bridge player as well as a keen student of Go and poker and a skilled and knowledgeable photographer who took classes with Ansel Adams. He studied Pali so he could read the earliest recorded teachings of the Buddha. He is survived by Karen, his wife of 56 years, and his children, Sean and Jessica.

Anthony Waters ’70

October 27, 2021, in Eugene, Oregon.

Born in London, Tony was introduced to the practice of law at a young age. His father was a barrister, and later a Queen’s Counsel, and at the dinner table father and son crossed and matched wits. It was rumored that Tony was the model for Rumpole’s son in John Mortimer’s British television series, Rumpole of the Bailey. He earned his BA in law and American studies at the University of Keele in England, which included an exchange year at Reed (1969–70), which he maintained was a pivotal experience. He went on to get his master of laws degree at Yale University School of Law and was a teaching fellow and instructor at the University of Chicago School of Law. As at Reed, he made lifelong friends at each institution. Tony was a professor at the University of Maryland School of Law and a visiting professor or scholar at law schools in Santa Clara, New Haven, Buffalo, Eugene, Portland (the Northwestern School of Law of Lewis and Clark College), Denver, Sri Lanka, and Bristol. As a law professor he published, as required, but he preferred teaching above all else. He said that he taught the Cs— consumer, criminal, constitutional, and contract law—which didn’t mean he hadn’t also mastered tax law, federal criminal law, and legal history. After his sojourns at the University of Oregon and at Lewis & Clark, Tony could not face the prospect of returning to Baltimore and took an early retirement from the University of Maryland, having been on the faculty for 28 years. He returned to the Pacific Northwest, where he owned and operated Natural Selection, a grocery store in Waldport, Oregon, and he periodically worked in law firms, the last time in a San Francisco consumer law practice. He met his wife, Laura Joyce Orr, while she was a research librarian at the University of Maryland School of Law, and they married in 1989. Tony wrote brilliantly on the law, including “The Property in the Promise: A Study of the Third

Party Beneficiary Rule,” Harvard Law Review, Vol. 98 (April 1985), and on animal rights law, with Lee Hall, “From Property to Person: The Case of Evelyn Hart” in the Seton Hall Constitutional Law Journal, Vol. 11 (Fall 2000). He spoke French and Italian fluently and was an inveterate traveler, making a fearless and resilient traveling companion. He followed English soccer and tennis and knew a great deal about horse racing, which may have had more to do with his extraordinary head for numbers than with the horses themselves. He had been a strict vegetarian since 1955, when he spent the summer on a family farm. A lifelong, outspoken advocate for animals, he loved and was loved by dogs. His interests included music, photography, art, mathematics, and history. Perhaps his most memorable trait was his wit, both sidesplittingly funny and piercingly truthful. His survivors include his brothers, Brian and Peter; his former wife, Laura; and his dear friend, Krystal. Donations can be made in the name of Anthony J. Waters to Reed College.

Mary Stuart Steinle ’71 October 20, 2021, in Portland.

Mary grew up number six in a poor family of eight during the Great Depression. At the age of 17, she was recruited for the war effort by Alcoa Aluminum in Portland. She married, had four children, got divorced, and earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Portland State University. She came to Reed, where her sister, Carolyn Russell ’66, was an alum, and earned a master’s degree in teaching. Mary taught business for years in Estacada, Gladstone, and Corbett high schools, and was department head at Corbett. After retiring from teaching, she worked part time as a public relations officer for the school district and was a substitute teacher. She became a licensed tax preparer and did tax returns, taught creative writing classes through Mt. Hood Community College, and led workshops on memoir writing. In 1972, she married Arthur Steinle, with whom she shared many adventures, including hiking, skiing, and traveling. They spent winters at their home in Yuma, Arizona. Preceded in death by Arthur and by her daughter, Barbara, she is survived by her son, Charles Brenton Jr.; daughters, Rebecca Brenton and Beverly Brenton; and stepchildren, Robert Steinle, Anne Steinle, and Linda Steinle.

Brian G. Foster ’81

July 2, 2021, in Portland, Oregon, from cancer.

Brian had the gift of making others feel included. At Reed, after writing his thesis, “Crayludes: Functional Characterization of the Neurodepressing Hormone in the Crayfish,” with Prof. Frank

Gwilliam [biology 1957–96] advising, he fed his experimental subjects, sauteed, to his orals board. He went on to a career in purchasing, working as purchasing manager for Photon Kinetics and as a program manager with Sun Microsystemss in Beaverton. Brian cultivated many talents, including music and dressmaking. He had a passion for couture and created many one-of-a-kind gowns, quilts, and costumes for his loved ones. He married his husband, Daniel Bunten, the instant gay marriage was legalized in Oregon and was a caring and devoted uncle to Claire Foster ’06. In addition to Claire, he is survived by his mother, Anne G. Foster, and siblings Scott Foster III ’77 and Sue McNelly. In his memory, the Portland Fashion Institute has established the Brian Foster Endowment to support the dreams of others.

Judson Gerwin ’82

January 3, 2021, in Ada, Michigan, of cancer.

Jud was born in Chicago, Illinois, where his first architectural endeavor may have been constructing Jud’s Eats when he was about nine. He began his professional career as an architect years later in Cincinnati. He later moved to the Grand Rapids area of Michigan, settling in Ada, where he began working for Sears Architects, designing homes from the modest to the magnificent and leaving his mark on the western Michigan landscape. An English major at Reed, he wrote his thesis on “The Exposure of the Reader: A Reading of John Hawk’s The Blood Oranges.” He studied architecture at the University of Cincinnati, receiving a BA in architecture/environmental design. Jud delighted in children, loved interacting with clients, and relished Sunday mornings with the New York Times and reading late into the night. Like the authors he loved, he could spin tales crafted to confuse, amuse, and ultimately pull in his listeners, particularly the naive ones. He is survived by his wife, Lynn Arnold, and his daughter, Hannah Gerwin.

Shirley Gibson ’94

November, 4, 2021, in San Francisco, California, from cancer.

In the words of her husband, Tim Pori, Shirley knew that the secret to happiness was in making other people happy. T houghtful, caring, and compassionate, she put others before herself, and did it with a wicked sense of humor. She was a smart, dedicated attorney who wore Wonder Woman Converse high-tops to the office where she fought against displacement and for fair and affordable housing for

low-income tenants throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. Diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer approximately 11 years ago, she fought the disease without complaint or fear of death, continuing to the end to extend kindness, energy, and dedication to the people and causes she cared about. As an undergraduate at Reed, Shirley wrote her thesis, “The Lonely Epidemic: AIDS and the U.S. Political-Cultural Revolution,” on the thenraging AIDS epidemic, with Prof. Darius Rejali [political science 1989–2021] advising. After graduating, she moved to San Francisco and met Tim in a local all-night diner where Shirley was waiting tables. Tim was driving for Yellow Cab. They were married in 1997. Shirley earned a JD from New College of California School of Law in San Francisco, where she was managing editor of the law journal. She interned at the Homeless Action Center in Berkeley and worked for the AIDS Health Project. Beginning her career as a public interest attorney with the Eviction Defense Collaborative, she helped pilot San Francisco’s day-ofcourt representation program for unrepresented tenants in settlement conferences and the Family Eviction Prevention Consortium rental assistance program. She also worked alongside her husband, Tim Pori, in his firm, representing plaintiffs in civil rights cases. In 2007, Shirley joined the Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County to develop their housing practice and eviction defense program, rising to become the directing attorney of their housing unit in 2011, a capacity in which she served for the rest of her career. The Western Center on Law and Poverty recognized her extraordinary contributions to social justice in the arena of housing stability for low-income tenants and homeowners with the Mary Burdick Advocacy Award in 2019. The daughter of a Unitarian Universalist minister, Shirley was a dedicated member of First Unitarian Universalist Society of San Francisco for nearly 25 years. The church presented her with its Rheiner Award “for devoting her legal career to advocating for low-income tenants seeking to maintain safe, adequate, and affordable housing in some of the most affluent communities in the world.” She died peacefully at home, surrounded by the family that survives her, including her husband, Tim; children, Georgia Pori ’22 and Milo; parents, Judith and Gordon Gibson; stepdaughter, Katelyn Steele; and sister, Robin Gibson Roysdon. Prof. Doris Desclais Berkvam, Prof. Marvin Levich, Enny Deutschman Schulz ’40, Alita Cavender Roberts ’51, Mary Lou Stearns Williams ’51, John Elwood (“Bud”) Clark Jr. ’58, Beatrice Louise Vincent Dick ’46, Christopher Ray ’57, William Ure ’57, Jean Ruth Arndt Fowler ’58, Nonny Frances Burack ’60, Jon Howard Appleton ’61, Mark (Peter) Shaffer ’61, Suzan Butler Mayer ’62, Charles O. Kuzminski ’65, Norm Hall ’66, Jorge M. López ’67, William T. Stewart ’73, Robert B. Hutchinson ’74, John Hidden Van Buren ’74, Rockwell Lanville (Chip) Brown III ’77, Kenton Black ’81, Robert Walter Avery ’89, Marcus Emmitt Smith ’00, Sophia Gabriel Carson ’24

Reed Magazine march 2022 43

What we’re looking at in class

Dragonglass, They Call It Ten thousand years ago, a young woman in what would one day be Japan fixed a black, glassy arrowhead to the shaft of her spear. Five thousand years ago, an elderly man on a Pacific island laid out the black, glassy implements he would use to give his grandson his first tattoo. Five hundred years ago, an Aztec emperor stood in a splendid palace surrounded by priests, and stared into a black, glassy mirror hoping to see visions of the future. Today, Klamath elders throughout Oregon continue to take their children to ritual sites to collect black, glassy stones. Most people today have little if any relationship to the volcanic glass we know as obsidian, which has long been prized for its translucency, color, and shimmer. But from the earliest periods of human history, societies all over the world have traveled and traded for obsidian, and used it to create tools, weapons, adornments, and ritual objects. Obsidian has long been prized not only for its sharpness, but also for its distinct physical properties. Its translucency, color, and shimmer make it an aesthetically pleasing material, with each obsidian source producing its own unique combination of hues and inclusions. In Anthropology 208: Obsidian Rocks! A Natural and Social History, we explore how, by studying stone objects and investigating what materials they utilize and the contexts in which they were made and used, we can learn much about the daily lives and relationships of ancient and contemporary peoples. —PROF. ALEJANDRA ROCHE-RECINOS

[ANTHROPOLOGY]

Flaked obsidian arrowheads made by American Indians from the Jackson Lake area in Wyoming.

44 Reed Magazine march 2022

phot0 by James L. Amos

Object of Study

This March

is here. Words of creativity, curiosity, compassion, & good humor from Reedies.

“Financial aid opens Reed to students, and when it does, Reed is made better for it.” —MIA BOYER-EDWARDS ’23 (SHE/HER), SOCIOLOGY

Make your your gift gift to to financial financial aid aid before before March March 31. 31 Make K ACK. MAC ORM McCOR WIN MCC STEE WIN TRUSTEE FROM TRU CH FROM MATCH ,000MAT $100,000 ORS==$100 DONORS 1,000DON 1,000 This year, more students required financial aid than ever before: 58%, up from 53% last year. To meet that need, Reed increased its financial aid budget by 25% in one year to support the academic dreams of Reedies. Donors like you ensure Reed meets 100% of demonstrated need for every student, every year. Scan this QR code with your smartphone camera. Then, follow the link to give! Or visit reed.edu/reedielibs.

Bring Reedies to Reed. Visit reed.edu/reedielibs.

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Adela Rueter ’24 and Kiara Vásquez ’24 rest in front of Reed’s rock wall during the Paideia class “Queering Rock Climbing,” held in January.

Reed College Magazine March 2022

Articles inside

Class Notes

Reediana

Varieties of Human Experience

Eid Al-Fitr Makes Its Animated Debut

Mailbox

Eliot Circular

Gendered Dialogues

Understanding Reed’s Endowment

Autonomy and Authority

Cultural Encounters