Good to see an idea from Williams infiltrate the University of North Carolina:

Last year, graduate student and teaching assistant David Ticehurst had a few students from his Astronomy 101 class over for dinner.

Ticehurst went out and got barbecue, and he and his students discussed the stars until late in the evening.

He thought it was such a good idea that now he is trying to secure funding so professors and TAs can host similar events without taking money out of their own pockets.

Ticehurst, who spent his undergraduate years at Williams College, a small liberal arts school in Massachusetts, said his former school has a similar program that helped shape his undergraduate experience.

“I think it’s a really good idea,” he said. “It gives the students a chance to see the real world outside of the classroom.”

Ticehurst still needs funds for the program. Last year he sought $5,000 for the program from the Graduate and Professional Student Federation in addition to a matching contribution from the provost’s office.

“It’s like the University was just waiting for someone to come along with this idea,” he said. “They are always talking about developing a more intellectual climate, and that’s what this does.”

He said he is planning on designing a Web site where instructors can submit proposals and share stories about programs.

He also wants to make a presentation in front of the Faculty Council to get them excited about the program, which initially evolved out of class discussions.

Having the students over for barbecue was something Ticehurst, who is a certified barbecue judge, had talked about with his students all semester, he said.

When it came time to host a pilot event, he thought that would be the perfect time to try it.

Michael Johnston, a sophomore who was in Ticehurst’s astronomy lab, signed up to help Ticehurst after enjoying the first program.

“It was funny at first because you’re seeing all of these faces you’re used to seeing at 8 a.m. when nobody is awake,” Johnston said. “It was awkward at first, but we found enough to keep the conversation going.”

Johnston also said seeing the instructor outside of the classroom setting makes him or her more approachable.

“It makes it seem like you have some sort of connection to this person that’s teaching you,” Johnston said. “Instead of just seeing this giant brain at the front, you see a little more of a person.”

I have no doubt that the evenings I spent drinking wine and chatting with professors till late at night were more valuable to me than a good many of my classes. I only regret that I did not do it more often.

Rita Forte ‘03, aka DJ Backside, previously designated as coolest Eph by no lesser an authority than myself, is still going strong — she was recently noted as one of ten hip hop artists to watch by a website that I can only assume knows something about hip hop (at the very least, more than me).

Nevertheless, I hereby declare a new coolest Eph — her classmate “Miyachi Master” Chunk the Monk (Ryan Burtch, 26), who learned to juggle the Miyachi (a rectangular palm-size beanbag) as a “flair bartender” after studying Buddhism at Williams College, and now does so professionally at F.A.O. Schwarz in Manhattan.

Chunk the Munk and DJ Backside have already set a high bar for the class of ‘03 — how cool must that reunion have been in June?

Check out this glowing profile of Jameel Jaffer in the Toronto Star. Jaffer’s new book, Administration of Torture: A Documentary Record from Washington to Abu Ghraib and Beyond, is available on Amazon. Link here and here for previous Jaffer coverage.

Lest anyone fear that Ephblog is suddenly developing a liberal bias, I also note an equally glowing recent profile of Jeff Nelligan, an Eph from the other end of the political spectrum …

Remembering the end of the Korean war:

July 27 is not one of those days that stirs the American soul like Dec. 7, July 4 or June 6.

We have so many memorable days in our history that forgiveness is appropriate if you can’t recall that on that day in 1953, the guns fell silent along the line of battle in Korea. Three years of killing was at an end. This year, it’s the 55th anniversary of the cease fire, so maybe there’ll be a bit more ink and airtime.

I carry in my mind’s eye recollections of two officers who paid a price while serving their country. Both were fellow second lieutenants - a rank sometimes regarded as below that of private - in the field artillery. I served with both and knew them well enough to say they were among the best, brightest and likable young men you might want to know. And, they were leaders.

[...]

First, let me tell you about Nimrod Torkomian. He was one of 200 who were in the initial formation for D Battery, Field Artillery Officer Candidate Class 17 in January 1952. Ninety of us made it to the finish line in June. “Tork” - everyone gets a nickname in the Army - must have stood on tiptoes to get in. He was 5 feet tall, maybe. But he was in superb physical condition, easily meeting the many physical demands placed upon us. He had the barracks wit needed to get through six months of OCS.

After graduation, we spent a few months in artillery battalions stateside before what we thought was the inevitable - orders to become forward observers across the hills of Korea.

Tork wound up as a forward observer with the 555th Field Artillery, an ill-fated outfit if ever there was one. They were overrun not once but three times during the course of the war, often because they weren’t given the protection they needed. Worse, their guns fell into the hands of the North Koreans and Chinese. This is close to a mortal sin for an artilleryman.

In March 1953, the Chinese caught a South Korean infantry unit unprepared and walked all over the 555th. Tork and his forward observer team were isolated at an outpost. They held out until they were out of ammo, and then stuck a white handkerchief tied to a rifle out a firing port. Tork wrote an eloquent essay about this experience, sharing it with all of us at our most recent reunion. It is not a good feeling, he said in a classic understatement, to be marched north when the U.S. Army is somewhere south of you.

The good news is that he survived, was exchanged not long after the armistice and is enjoying life in California.

Other OCS classmates tell their tales of the last day of the war when we get together. For one, it was being sent up on the line when other units were standing down in anticipation of the cease fire. Ma Parker’s son may not make it home in one piece after all, thought Roy Parker, now a lawyer in Tupelo. Another brought his wounded radioman down for help and went back to fire more missions. And so on.

Then there’s James Dorland from New Jersey, who was commissioned just before me out of OCS. We were both assigned to an anachronism, a mule artillery battalion in Camp Carson, Colorado.

When the expected orders for overseas came, Jim’s were for Korea and mine were for Germany. He accepted his with a baffled grin, and I thanked some gnome in the Pentagon for his wisdom in sending me elsewhere, even if there was a twinge of guilt.

Some years after Al Gore invented the Internet, I began to crawl the Web to find out what happened to Jim. It didn’t take long to find out that he’d been shot down over North Korea in March 1953 while calling in artillery fire as an aerial observer. He was first listed as MIA - missing in action - and later that changed to KIA - killed in action. His remains have yet to be returned.

Jim was tall, lean, witty, a graduate of Williams College. He was a quiet leader, dependable, demanding and respected, and I will never forget being his friend and serving with him.

Speaking of jobs, here’s an article from the Bennington Banner about an Eph who found a dream one. Dan Cohen, a graduate of the Master’s program in art history, has been the curator of the Louisville Slugger Museum and factory since 2006. He used to work at the Clark. He’ll be in the area Sunday to give a gallery talk at the Bennington Museum about the baseball bats on view in “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” with a particular focus on Louisville Slugger and its history. Lucky guy.

I don’t whether this is a permanent exhibit, but SM might want to check it out next time she’s in town. The museum is right on Main Street (Rt.9).

The New York Times has an article on Erin Burnett ‘98. I’ll leave it to # 1 Fan to discuss it.

Daniel Drezner is featured in today’s New York Times online edition discussing the challenges posed to humorists by Obama.  (I attempted to embed the video, without success). 

An Eph was the “star” of the All Star game last night.

An emotional George Steinbrenner, the Yankees’ principal owner, delivered four baseballs to the mound as part of the pregame ceremonies. It was Steinbrenner’s first visit to the Stadium this season.

After the All-Star teams and 49 Hall of Famers were introduced, a golf cart carrying Steinbrenner appeared along the warning track. Steinbrenner was weeping as he was driven to the mound. He received a polite ovation.

When the cart pulled on to the field, Steinbrenner gave the baseballs to Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford, Reggie Jackson and Goose Gossage, the four Yankee Hall of Famers who were on the field. Ford and Berra kissed Steinbrenner and Jackson and Gossage hugged him.

Since Steinbrenner’s health has eroded in recent years, he has not been as much of a presence, physically or vocally, around the Yankees. Steinbrenner, who turned 78 on July 4, has owned the team since 1973. Rodriguez said the Stadium and Steinbrenner were “the two biggest stars” of the game.

Steinbrenner is class of 1952.

As I was watching the swimming Olympic Trials last night, who should appear on the screen but Lindsay Payne! Payne won the 100 breaststroke in the NCAA Division III nationals all four years, and racked up many wins. I know her from a winter study photography class; here are her photos.

In the 100 breaststroke semifinals at the Trials, she tied for 8th with another swimmer (Jessica Botzum), so to determine which of them would make the final, the two swimmers had a match race last night — just two swimmers in the pool, with 14,500 spectators. It was very exciting to watch! Payne started out with a small lead, then at the flip turn they were tied, then Botzum pulled ahead a bit, and in the last stroke it was so even that they touched at the same time. The touch showed that Payne beat Botzum by 0.02 seconds.

Payne will compete tonight in the final (start list - PDF). It will be televised tonight from 8 pm - 9 pm eastern time on channel USA. She will be in lane 8. Y’all come watch now!

In my regular truckload of political news yesterday and today, I noticed a little gem about Williams’ regular contributor and building namesake Edgar Bronfman, Sr. (of Seagram’s fame).  Well, technically I think the building is named after the whole Bronfman family, many of whom contributed to the building, but still…Edgar was the initial Williams connection so far as I know.

Former World Jewish Congress President Edgar Bronfman headlines a group of prominent Jewish leaders from New York who are signing on to support the Barack Obama campaign.

The Obama Jewish Leadership Council of Metro New York plans to meet next Tuesday. Other participants include Merryl Tisch, Howard Milstein, Penny Pritzker, Tom and Andi Bernstein and New York Reps. Jerrold Nadler and Steve Israel.

(Another piece from Politico on the same fundraiser)  There are some very interesting names on that list, but Bronfman obviously stood out.  I am still impressed that he and the family donated for a building - and later many other things - when he didn’t actually graduate from Williams (would have been class of ‘50, got his bachelor’s from McGill in ‘51).  We gave him an honorary degree in 1986 though, and a Bicentennial Medal in 2005.  Funny, the honorary degree isn’t indicated in his entry in the online Alumni Directory.  The announcement re: the Medal also is cagey about his graduating or not, saying only that he was “a member of the class of 1950″ but the other entries state “after graduation from Williams in 19XX.”  Subsequent to the family giving $1.25 million of the $3.9 million needed for the building (bit of history here with fabulous ’60s pictures), several other members of the Bronfman family also went to Williams (Samuel II ‘75 and Matthew ‘81 - sons of Edgar, and Stephen ‘86 - nephew of Edgar, son of Charles who actually spearheaded the family fundraising for the building).  There is also a Fiona Wood ’81 that comes up when you search the directory…hard to track all the family members so I assume she fits in there somehow.  Google can only give you so much info.  Bronfman also gave $5 million in 2003 for scholarships “to help extend need-blind admission to all international applicants” which should make David proud.  He also gave money toward the building of the Jewish Religious Center.

I wonder if this means that Obama will get an ugly, overly concrete building for his campaign HQ now?  I know there are those out there who sing the praise of strange ’60s and ’70s concrete & brick architecture like that of Bronfman (seen around campus in Greylock, Sawyer library, Prospect), but I have always found the interiors of such buildings cold, the sound quality terrible, and the weird odor from the concrete during warm humid days somewhat disconcerting. 

Let me be clear that I fully applaud the ideals of a unified science center, and I appreciate how much space it provides.  It allowed advances in science at Williams in a very real way (read the above link with the fun pictures).  But starting out as a math major and spending much of my first two years in there and also spending many long nights there in my later years as a tutor with the Math/Science Resource Center, I grew to detest its cramped classrooms, often dim interior, and weird echoes.  Perhaps I am alone in thinking this…and at least it doesn’t have the bizarre waffle ceilings like Greylock, but it’s not my favorite bit of Williams.  I personally think it’s one of the examples of technically “great architecture” without thinking about people enjoying of the use of the building.  I’m sure those who disagree with me will freely comment below.  My opinion may also be biased by spending much time of late in the large number of similarly styled government buildings in and around DC.  It just seems weird to me that if you accidently brush a wall on the INSIDE of a building, you could skin your knuckles.

I should point out that the Jewish Religious Center is a truly gorgeous building - inside and out - that is functional, filled with light, and beautiful.  So I guess Bronfman’s involvement doesn’t actually require an ugly building…this just gave me a fun hook to tie a few different comments about Williams together ;)

Anyhow, viva la generous rich alums!  I’m sure this bit of fundraising will lead to all kinds of interesting commentary in the MSM, especially with some of these folks’ former support of Clinton and the fact that Bernstein is a former classmate and supporter of George W.  Too bad most bios of Bronfman don’t mention Williams at all…maybe some will now link to this little item?

Jameel Jaffer ‘94, Director of the A.C.L.U.’s National Security Project, responds forcefully to John McCain’s support for the Bush wiretaps in today’s New York Times. 

KERA’s (Dallas)  Krys Boyd recently interviewed tropical field biologist Meg Lowman ’76 on Boyd’s always fascinating “Think” program.

http://podcastdownload.npr.org/anon.npr-podcasts/podcast/77/510036/91173599/KERA_91173599.mp3

The interview ranges over a variety of topics, from Lowman’s creation of the first tree canopy walks (she was the force behind the one in Hopkins Memorial Forest), being an international field biologist, teaching (she is a professor at New College of Florida, where she teaches undergraduates), life as the single mother of two boys while working in the field, and women in science. More than anything, I was struck by how much her identity as a parent shapes her worldview and values. She and her sons (who are now in their early twenties, and destined for scientific careers of their own) have collaborated in writing about life growing up in a field scientist’s family.

Those of you who are at Williams for reunions can try out a canopy walk for yourselves tomorrow (assuming the rain stops):

Sat., 1:30 - 5 p.m.  Hopkins Forest: Visit the Treetops on the Canopy Walkway

The walkway is a pair of tree platforms set 70 ft. above the ground and originally used for research. Platforms are linked by a cable bridge and accessed via a wooden ladder. Participants are harnessed to safety cables, and aided by guides. Space limited; long waits possible; first come, first served; no children under 12.

(It’s safe, but a challenge if you have height anxieties. Even if you don’t ascend, it’s worth walking over to HMF just to look at the structure. There will be an open house in the forest at the same time, so you could stop in at HMF headquarters and see the museum of farm implements, buy some homemade maple syrup, and view some of the other exhibits. And if you are outdoorsy, don’t miss the bird walk and the hike, both of which are also on the main reunion schedule.)

Listening to the interview or seeing the canopy walk might interest you in reading Meg’s books for the layperson:

Life in the Treetops: Adventures of a Woman in Field Biology by Margaret D. Lowman (2000)

and

It’s a Jungle Up There: More Tales from the Treetops by Margaret D. Lowman, James Burgess, Edward Burgess, and Ghillean T. Prance (2006) (written with her sons)

Lowman has a website, canopymeg.com. Officialy, her title is Margaret D. Lowman, Ph.D., Professor of Biology and Environmental Studies and Director of Environmental Initiatives, New College of Florida, but, if one just adds “Mom,” the subtitle of her website encapsulates it rather nicely: “Author, Adventurer, Tropical Rain Forest Canopy Biologist.”  She is very much a proud product of  the  Williams Center for Environmental Studies, and the College has celebrated her accomplishments by honoring her with a Bicentennial Medal.

Even as far back as 1913, Williams was doing its best to establish a nest egg for the future.  An article in the wonderful New York Times archives describes then-President Garfield’s announcement of a $2 million endowment effort.  True to form, he already had about 25% lined up and more pledged to match.  This effort was announced at the “alumni luncheon” following commencement.  I wonder if Morty will have any exciting announcements this weekend during reunions?

I continue to enjoy the fact that Williams College news made it to the New York Times with great regularity back in the day.  Including such exciting events as the alumni beating the varsity basketball team in a game.  Yes, really.  I can’t find the link again at the moment, but it was great.  In the 1920s, someone wrote in with that bit of news - including the roster and some form of a box score from the game - and it was published in the Times.

You can see the article in its original form (scanned a little crookedly, but readable) here.

WILLIAMS SEEKS $2,000,000.
President Garfield at Commencement Tells Endowment Plans.

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., June 25 — At the alumni luncheon following the commencement exercises at Williams College to-day, President Harry A. Garfield announced that the college would attempt to obtain an endowment fund of $2,000,000.  Half of the first million appeared to be in sight, he said.  The General Education Board of New York, Rockefeller Foundation, had offered $100,000 when the college should raise $500,000.  Mrs. Russell Sage had contributed $50,000, and $200,000 more had been promised conditionally.  To this, President Garfield said, $150,000 might be added from an estate over which litigation recently ended.

The need for $1,000,000, Dr. Garfield said, was immediate, as that sum would hardly do more than make up the annual deficit, and a second million must be had to do justice by the teaching force and the future.  The college, he pointed out, had prospered by buildings presented, but giving for endowment had not been popular and the faculty as a result had been kept on low pay.

President Garfield said that while the salaries of the teachers at Williams had increased more than $50,000 in the last twelve years, the maximum paid to any professor was only $500 in excess of the amount paid in 1900, and the largest amount now received by any professor was $3,200.  The President believed desirable to raise the maximum at once to $4,000, with corresponding increases to all professors and assistant professors.

Williams graduated 115 young men with the degree of bachelor of arts.  Among the honorary degrees conferred were these:  Doctor of Laws, Charles B. Wheeler, ‘73, of Buffalo, a Justice of the New York Supreme Court; Master of Arts, Albert Rathbone, ‘88, lawyer of New York.

Copyright (c) The New York Times, originally published June 26, 1913

Thoughts on professor salaries as an effective fundraising ploy?  Did everyone notice the names of those donors?  I would love to know whose estate was being challenged - possibly over the gift to Williams?  Any Williams history buffs know what famous alum or former prof died sometime around 1913?

I’d also like to say that this shows some shrewd planning by somebody.  Capitalizing on the strength of our alumni to start building those funds way back when undoubtedly built a foundation for the massive pile of cash we’re sitting on today.  Granted, Williams graduated a lot of young men from old money families, so this kind of strategy was likely old hat to them although it seems practically clairvoyant to those of us brought up without trust funds, family homes, and other such personal “endowments.”

Some Eph connections in this year’s Tony nominees: First, the once, present, and future most prominent Eph in theater, Stephen Sondheim, is receiving a lifetime achievement award. Adam Schlesinger (who is also a member of Fountains of Wayne) received a nomination for his score to Cry-Baby, which was also nominated for best musical. Best bet for future Eph nominee: Jason Howland.

The Great Orange Satan reports on how this year’s race for Connecticut’s 5th District is shaping up:

The Fifth is Connecticut’s least Democratic district (D+3.7). Republican Nancy Johnson represented the area for 24 years until 2006, when she was defeated by Democrat Chris Murphy.

Murphy, 34, has had a remarkable record of political success, particularly for such a young guy. Fresh out of college at 22, he managed the campaign of Democrat Charlotte Koskoff, who ran against Johnson in 1996 and came within one point of unseating her. After graduating from law school, Murphy then defeated a 14-year incumbent to win a seat in the State House, then captured a Republican-held seat in the State Senate before defeating Johnson quite badly in 2006, winning by 12 points after a series of nasty attacks by the Johnson campaign. Since his election, Murphy has proven to be a popular Congressman and an excellent fundraiser, currently sitting on a $1.5 million war chest.

The Republicans hope to take this seat back with State Senator David Cappiello, who has been forced to run away from his unpopular president in this Dem-leaning district. Needless to say, that hasn’t gone over especially well with his based [sic] (though he and Bush appear to be getting on fine, as Bush held a fundraiser for Cappiello at Henry Kissinger’s house a few weeks ago).

It appears that the line of attack will be to paint Murphy as a DC insider who is soft on terrorism-indeed, it appears that that is already what they’re doing. As DemFromCT notes, however, it’s unlikely to work:

This is a winning strategery for McCain and Republicans… why? It’s not 2002 any more. The inept Republican fear campaign played badly for Nancy Johnson in 2006 and Rudy Giuliani in 2008. Why would it work better now?

Alas, it’s going to take a Democratic win in November to purge the system of the idea that Republican fear and smear still work. Chalk that up to yet another reason to vote Democratic.

Hear, hear.

The Republicans are dreaming big about CT-05, but I don’t think this is the year they’re going to stop Chris Murphy’s meteoric rise.

Race tracker wiki: CT-02 CT-04 CT-05

What proportion of Williams students should come from abroad?  The debate on the relative merits of international candidates is an Ephblog staple, and last week, the topic re-emerged following the publication of a New York Times article on elite Korean prep schools.  The piece detailed the intense academic environment at the Daewon Foreign Language High School in Seoul, which students attend with the goal of eventually gaining acceptance to a prestigious American university.

We, however, have a man on the scene.  Williams graduate Joe Foster teaches at the Daewon School and was quoted in the Times article, testifying to the dedication of his students.  He was kind enough to discuss, via e-mail, his experience at an education institution very different from those we are accustomed to.

Ephblog: How did you wind up at the Daewon School?

Foster: Well, my parents are both teachers and I was raised at a boarding school in California, where my father was a dean, so I’ve been around education all my life. Maybe for that reason I always harbored some resistance to both school and teaching. After the dot-com crash, though, I was ready for a change and some travel, so I came to Seoul. I didn’t have much of a long-term plan, but I got a job teaching SAT prep and really took to it — in fact, I completely fell in love with teaching. I stayed at that job for four and a half years, and the first time I looked for something else I stumbled across the Daewon position. I’ve been at Daewon for just over a year.

(more…)

We hope you have noticed the recent addition to the EphBlog sidebar - the pictures are randomly drawn from over 2000 Williams-related photos on Flickr. Clicking through on these pictures will take you not only to some excellent photography, but snippets of life like the following from “stenz”:

Chadbourne on the Williams College campus. My senior year, my friends and I lived on the top floor of the house.

I first kissed my wife here after watching a really awful movie (Event Horizon), which she will never let me live down. I kept a different schedule than my friends (up late and at the art studio and then slept in until lunch), so I was usually gone while crazy things were happening, but I was there in the morning when everyone else was in class. That meant I usually was the one who got in trouble with the cleaning person and forced to clean up things I wasn’t part of - but I figured it was just karmic retribution for other events in the past for which I surely had been a terrible person.

Some notable clean-up events I can recall were after an apple war (someone was nice and left out a bowl of apples, which my suite mates were less nice about [w]hen throwing around the house), another was a jar of spinach dip going into my toilet, a few brooms and such being thrown out windows or awful pictures off of the internet being hidden in various places, and then the big one was after nationals a bunch of drunk xc guys absolutely destroyed my room and finalized it by coating it all with Vaseline Intensive Care Lotion - the room never really recovered from that one.

If you have Williams-related photos you’d like to share, we encourage you to contribute them (tagged with “williamscollege“) to Flickr.

Williams track coach Ralph White called Caroline Cretti “the greatest female distance runner in school history.” This Sunday, she will be racing the OT marathon in Boston alongside Michelle Rorke ‘06 and America’s top 161 other marathoners. Caroline has more All-American certificates than I could reasonably count up right now. Here is her profile on the Boston Trials website, and here is an excerpt from an interview with her:

Was it difficult to make the decision to pursue professional running, or was it something you knew you wanted to do?
ZAP actually contacted my coach, Pete Farwell, and I thought it sound like an amazing opportunity. You can’t really get a better setup than ZAP. After that, my eyes were opened and I started looking at other places around the country, very superficially—just sort of looking at their web sites. I came down to ZAP, checked it out, and we liked each other. Once they made the first move, it wasn’t a hard decision for me to make.

Did you get strange reactions from anyone when you told them what you’d be doing after college?
Oh for sure, from pretty much everyone [laughs]. I got a couple of reactions at Williams that were like [Cretti puts on a condescending tone], ‘Oh, so you’re just going to be running?’ It was sort of the what-a-waste-of-a-degree reaction. And then, of course, there was the ‘That’s amazing! Congratulations!’ reaction. And then a couple people who I knew in the running world were skeptical, but they looked into it and took it upon themselves to make sure I was making the right decision, which was helpful. And then a lot of people just had no idea what I was talking about. You get all sorts of reactions.

What would you say has been the biggest difference so far between being a professional runner and being a collegiate runner?
This is a roundabout way of answering your question, but being a division III runner, you are surrounded by people, situations, and experiences that are dramatically different from the professional world and the division I world. Every other athlete here ran division I and their experiences in college were so unbelievably different than what I had at Williams that I think, for them, the adjustment is a lot less dramatic.

But in terms of my own experience, the difference is that right now I’m doing a couple of writing [jobs] on the side, but basically all I do is run. By that I mean that my life is based on running. If I’m not running, I’m doing something that will help me run better. Versus, at Williams, it was go to practice—and I worked really hard at Williams for running, don’t get me wrong—but at the same time I had papers and I had social [obligations]. Here it’s just running.

To see Caroline run, come to Boston (details) on Sunday morning.

Eph alums (and hedge fund superstars) Andreas Halvorsen ‘86 and Chase Coleman ‘97 had pretty decent years in 2007, making $520 million and $400 million respectively. Of course, next to the $3.7 billion John Paulson made, that is mere pocket change.

This Sunday is the Women’s Olympic Trials Marathon in Boston. Two Ephs — Michelle Rorke ‘06 and Caroline Cretti ‘06 — have qualified and are running. I hope that many of you in the Boston area will consider coming out to watch. Here is the course (click for details):

The race starts at 8:00 on Sunday morning, and will last between two and three hours. Over the next few days I will link Michelle and Caroline’s profiles so that you can learn more about them, and perhaps decide to come to the event.

I was poking around on EphBlog looking for something, when I realized I’d never really looked at the Ephblog Quote Wall. Looking over it, I saw this:

In some respects what we say may never matter, yet history has proven time and again that there are sometimes cases where one voice has made a difference. The most successful of these though were always the ones who were compassionate in their cause and careful with their words. — M. Esa Seeglum ‘06

I’ll be honest that I have no idea what inspired this quote or who the author is (the link on the page was broken). But it lead me to reflect on my time at Williams and some of those who had inspired me. It also made me contemplate Larry’s suggestion that we might discuss people at Williams that had great influence on us, be it professors, fellow students, townsfolk, staff, or otherwise. I suppose this could be for the better or for the worse, but I’m hoping better. For any recently admitted students who have stumbled upon us, I hope this can give you a flavor of why we Eph Alums are so involved (sometimes overly so) in our alma mater. As you can see from this blog, our fierce loyalty involves sometimes equally fierce criticism because we want Williams to continue to improve. But I think it is safe to say that Williams has had a great impact on the lot of us, and it is good to periodically step back and remember why.

For me, there are quite a few people who had great influence on me, but I’ll start with one here. Professor Bill Darrow, Chair of the Religion Department and all-around great guy. Of course, he is a brilliant professor, but I had a number of brilliant professors at Williams. There was something extra in the way he managed to welcome students to explore complex questions, to challenge us and yet make us feel “safe” in some way to do it. He taught tutorials in his cramped office in the Stetson maze with books surrounding you on all sides, wearing what can only be described as “Cosby sweaters.” He was like a caring uncle or grandparent - but a really, really smart one. For those of you out there who know him, you’ll also recall his particular manner of speaking where his voice dropped when he made a point and how he would kind of look upward as he reached for words sometimes.

I came to Williams as a little overachiever, as most of us did. I didn’t do so well in my first Religion class - at least for me - and my confidence was shaken. Indeed, my first semester grades were my worst by far at Williams. But I was lucky enough to have Prof. Darrow as my advisor. He was encouraging, gently pushing me to still take his 300-level tutorial as a freshman the way I had originally planned (coming in, I had quite big plans for myself). What possessed me to think I could handle it, I don’t know. What possessed him to encourage me to keep going with it, I don’t know that either. It was remarkable. I was challenged every week, struggling with texts that I only partially understood, trying to put together a 10-15 page paper or critique another student’s each week, and I’m sure looking like a complete idiot. But it was one of the most valuable experiences of my time at Williams. I got through it, proved to myself I could stack up with other students despite the immense self-doubt I was feeling at the time. It also lead me to major in Religion, the subject where I, on average, had some of my lowest grades. But Professor Darrow convinced me that was okay, he was one of the first people to help me realize the value of just thinking, and thinking hard about things. There didn’t have to be a problem to solve, the pursuit itself was worthy - and the grades, while important, were not the best judge of a successful course.

I stuck with it, and “Papa D” continued to challenge me, and comfort me, through my time at Williams. During our senior major seminar for religion, the group of 10-12 of us spent Wednesday afternoons together at the top of Hopkins Hall discussing birth and death (yes, the actual topic of the seminar), and often staying late after class still discussing the issues. We also managed to use the Sixth Sense, Bladerunner, and the Neverending Story in our presentations in that class, showing the sense of humor he also exhibited toward us! He encouraged us to gather for lunch beforehand (and came to my co-op once for it, to my great thrill), to continue these discussions, to explore the flights of ideas hatched in the mind of 21-year-olds late in the afternoon.

It was his office I cried in the spring of my junior year when everything seemed for the moment to be falling apart around me. I was trying to serve on the JASC, had a suicidal first-year in my entry, a paper due in his class and another, some other student-activity related issue happening, and it was the first anniverary of an old friend’s death. I went in to ask for an extension on the paper (which he always gave to anyone), and ended up spending part of the afternoon there with him, the stacks of books, and a box of kleenex. He probably doesn’t even remember it, but his compassion reflected all that was good about the close student-faculty relationship at Williams to me.

I had the good fortune to serve as his TA in my final semester. When we talked about the job, he mentioned the value he saw in going back to those texts from Religion 101, the ones that he knew had given me so much trouble at the beginning. It was a way to complete the circle of my time at Williams. He actually thought about things like that - the full cycle of education and growth, and how it impacted his students.

Going forward in my life, I have sought to model that combination of encouragement and support - with a little push to challenge oneself. I also have to pause sometimes and remember the value of things that aren’t so task-oriented. Reading important books and thinking important thoughts are good things. So there is my (somewhat sappy) anecdote for you all about someone at Williams who influenced me. I hope that others will add their own posts in the commentary. And if you don’t, I’ll be forced to add more of my own!

There’s a new connection between Williams and the Bush family, and I don’t know how David missed this one.  Jenna’s fiancee, Henry Hager, will be working for Constellation Energy, which is helmed by none other than oft-discussed-on-this-site Mayo Shattuck.  I will leave it to David to figure out a way to tie this news to a photo of Mayo’s wife in a bikini. 

Posted below at what is hopefully a better resolution for reading.(*)

(*) Not only can I not add a comment to that post, at this point I don’t seem to be able to enable comments for this post.

I just got an e-mail from adminhelpdesk@berkeley.edu asking me to verify my williams.edu account information so that my account would not be deleted:

Dear Williams.Edu Email Account Owner,

This message is from williams.edu messaging center to all williams.edu email account owners. We are currently upgrading our data base and e-mail account center. We are deleting all unused williams.edu email accounts to create more space for new accounts. To prevent your account from being closed, you will have to update it below so that we will know that it’s a present used account.

I was wondering if anyone else got this. It’s well done spam, I have to say that. I almost believed it — why wouldn’t Williams want to cut down on unused accounts? — until I noticed that it asked me for my username and password (and it is allegedly sent from berkeley.edu). So, don’t any of y’all write back to it, ya hear?

Last time that an Eph was mentioned in a New York Times correction? Today! (Thanks to reader David H.T. Kane ‘58)

An editorial on Sunday about Macedonia’s bid to join NATO misspelled the name of the United Nations mediator trying to resolve a dispute with Greece over Macedonia’s name. It is Matthew Nimetz, not Nimitz.

Nimetz is class of 1960 and a former trustee (jpg). The original editorial noted:

One thing about the Balkans, they have the most esoteric crises. NATO is holding its summit meeting next week, and wants to bring in three Balkan states — Albania, Croatia and Macedonia. But Greece, a NATO member since 1952, is threatening to veto Macedonia’s membership over its name.

The name “Macedonia,” is shared by the former Yugoslav republic and northern Greece. Viewed from outside, this seems hardly serious. But in the crowded Balkans, such spats invariably draw on centuries of carefully nurtured slights and myths — in this dispute, both sides have claimed Alexander the Great, the greatest of history’s Macedonians, dead for 2,331 years — and can quickly flare into conflicts.

From the moment Macedonia declared independence in 1991, the Greeks vehemently objected to the new state’s use of a name and symbols they regard as theirs. As a result, the United Nations provisionally designated the country as “the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia,” or Fyrom. Athens has since normalized relations and many countries, including the United States, have abandoned the clumsy Fyrom in favor of Republic of Macedonia, which is what Macedonia calls itself.

A mediator for the United Nations, Matthew Nimetz, has proposed a bunch of what strike us as totally acceptable compromises, most recently Republic of Macedonia (Skopje).

With luck, this will not lead to endless dispute in the EphBlog comments between the Macedoniaphiles and Macedoniaphobes. [That means you, David Broadband!] Nimetz has been working on this controversy for more than a decade. Impressive patience!

Think that the life of a high level mediator is all fancy parties and high-level dialog? Consider some of the vitriol that Nimetz needs to deal with: (more…)

United States Trade Representative Susan Schwab ‘76 is pushing hard for Congress to ratify the free trade agreement with Colombia and warning economic illiterates about the dangers of gutting NAFTA by “renegotiating it” or imperialistically and unilaterally demanding that other countries adopt our labor, wage, and environmental standards.Read the excerpts from the U.S. News & World Report interview for more detail.

Robbi Behr ‘97 is close to motherhood.

So, yesterday I had to go in and pre-register at the hospital for delivering this big fat baby of ours. I had a bunch of paperwork I was supposed to fill out beforehand, so I diligently went ahead and started working on it. It was asking for all kinds of information, like your medical history, how often you drink alcohol, “Mother’s Maiden Name” “Mother’s Married Name” “Mother’s Date of Birth”. So I’m filling this thing out answering the questions and putting my mom’s information in all the places they ask for it. The farther down the form I got, I started to wonder - why the hell do they need to know my mom’s level of education? Or her social security number? Why aren’t they asking anything about my dad???

Silly me. I’M the mother in question. Not MY mother. I had to scribble everything out like a moron who didn’t know her own name.

Fit for parenting? You decide.

Anyone who can paint like Robbi is more than fit. Good luck!

Most recent Eph to enter the priesthood? Jeff Ossinger ‘05.

Q: What would you say to a young man who thinks he may have a vocation?

A: “Be not afraid.” I echo these words of John Paul II, found throughout sacred Scripture, because I believe that fear is perhaps the greatest obstacle to entering the seminary. We are afraid of what following Christ will cost. But I would encourage a young man who thinks he might have a vocation to be a priest to consider the promise that Christ gives in return: “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the Gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time…and in the age to come eternal life” (Mk 10:29-30). It is true. Consider this promise often in prayer, “Be not afraid,” and remember that “the measure of your life will be the measure of your courage” (Matthew Kelly, author and speaker).

Read the whole interview. The real diversity at Williams is invisible from the outside but shines from within.

Looking to experience something different? Go to a meeting of Williams Catholic. Given that Father Caster’s favorite book in The Little Prince and favorite vacation is Positano, Italy, you can be certain that he will make interesting dinnertime conversation. And tell him that EphBlog sent you!

The site is wiox.org. It has been active since December, but it went live about the same time that EphBlog switched over to WordPress, and I didn’t want to make an announcement while this blog was switching over, for fear that it wouldn’t get out to the readers.

Anyway, if you know anyone who was part of the program, pass this along and let them know it’s out there. I hope it will be the one stop shop for info leading up to the 25th anniversary of the Williams-Oxford program in 2010.

Mayda del Valle ‘00 is performing at the University of Delaware tonight. If you go, tell us about the show. Previous post here.

Wouldn’t it be cool if we could provide a listing of every public performance/speech/debate/whatever featuring an Eph? A calendar for forthcoming events for “All Things Eph?”

If we build it, they will come.