January / February 2007 – Brown Alumni Magazine

My Pal, Alexander Calder

How an adman persuaded a great sculptor to create an unusual form of art. [Brief Profile]

The Gambler’s Friend

Making the world a better place for poker players. [Brief Profile]

God’s Creation

A rabbi advocates more fully including gays into the religious practice of Conservative Judaism. [Brief Profile]

The Quarterback

A former Bears standout tries to make it in the Arena Football League, one bench at a time. [Brief Profile]

Wash and Wear

After a murder, even a threadbare T-shirt has meaning. [Alumni POV]

Squash

Both the men’s and women’s teams were off to disappointing starts. At their first home squash weekend in early December, both teams lost decisively to both Princeton and Penn. . . .

Women’s Hockey

Speaking of winning streaks, on December 5 women’s ice hockey Head Coach Digit Murphy became the winningest coach in Division I women’s ice hockey history. . . .

Men’s Hockey

Just two months into their season, the Bears had compiled six victories, more than they managed all of last year. . . .

Women’s Basketball

Last year the women took the Ivy title, putting up a stunning 12–2 record in league play. . .

Men’s Basketball

Despite the upset over Providence College, the team’s record stood at 4–7 two months into the season and before the start of interleague play. . .

Awards Watch

Read about all the awards that were recently won by Brown alumni. . . .

The Messenger

Lincoln Chafee ’75 was the only Republican senator to vote against going to war in Iraq. His approval rating among Rhode Island voters last fall was 63 percent. But none of that protected him in his bid for re-election. Not only does he understand why voters kicked him out of office, he thinks November’s Republican defeat is good for America.

No Degrees of Separation

As documentary filmmakers, Rory Kennedy ’91 and Liz Garbus ’92 tell stories of ordinary people facing extraordinary political and social controversies. Their empathy provides an emotional depth you won’t find in news stories or the arguments of talking heads.

Tree Huggers

As poets and lumberjacks, Stephen Philbrick ’71 and his son Frank ’01 have crafted a life that combines nature, poetry, and manual labor. Out of that mix has come an unusual book and a deeper love for each other.

Thoreau’s Math

A glimpse of the writer through algebra.

The Path He Took

W. Duncan Macmillan ’53

The Surgeon of Last Resort

Hermes Conrad Grillo ’44

Obituaries

A listing of the obituaries for January/Feburary 2007.

Does Art Imitate Nature?

Or does nature imitate art? A sculpture begs the question.

Choose Your Words Carefully

Writing would be much easier, says Salman Rushdie, if its purpose were merely to entertain.

All Is Flux

It’s not every day you’ll see artists throw a masterpiece in a river.

Since Last Time

The admission office received 2,317 early decision applications—61 fewer than last year’s bumper crop; the 2.5 percent drop followed Harvard and Princeton announcements that they were eliminating early decision altogether….

A Vision That’s Bearing Fruit

After a marathon of gala kickoff events that began in Providence in October 2005, crisscrossed the United States, and hit London this fall, Brown’s five-year, $1.4 billion Campaign for Academic Enrichment ended its first year solidly ahead of schedule.

Making Virtue Hip

With a film company and a new magazine, Ben Goldhirsh ’03 hopes to prove that doing good can also make money.

Radio Therapist

Czerina Patel ’96 is using the airwaves to make change, first in New York, now in South Africa.

Fresh Ink

A list of new books by Brown alumni and faculty.

Critic’s Corner

Sam Emerson, the protagonist of Elegy for Sam Emerson, the eighth and most recent novel by Hilary Masters ’52, is in a good place professionally speaking. . . .

Family Feud

A crime writer uses the relationship between two Brown brothers to explore how slavery wounded families as well as a nation.

Step Aside, Clark Kent

When Masi Oka ’97 tried out for the role of geeky superhero Hiro Nakamura, he knew he had it cold; all he had to do was play himself.

Where’s the Beef?

The new Ratty sounds wonderful, and bravo to John O’Shea and the administration for all their culinary innovations. . . .

Auteurs, Unite!

Since the BAM's last report on the Ivy Film Festival, which ran in the July/August 2005 issue, this entirely student-run event has remained the fastest growing of its kind in the eastern United States.

Then and Now

Peter Ian Asen ’04 is hardly qualified to make comparisons between the Brown he attended so recently and the the University of thirty-five years ago.

Who’s That Bear?

The man wearing the brown bear costume in your “Chug-A-Lug” photo is none other than Gus Bickford ’86. . . .

Helping Clinton

President Simmons was not the only Brown contributor to the Clinton Global Initiative at its annual meeting back in September.

Who Are You?

Kudos to the 13 percent of the members of the class of 2010 who declined to be pigeonholed by ethnicity and race.

Sobering Thoughts

What an inspiring essay by Molly Hurley Moran ’69 on giving up alcohol . . .

Police Stop

There’s simply no justification for campus police inflicting bodily harm on someone whose sole infraction is stubbornly refusing to stop or to show a Brown ID . . .

Teaching Republicans?

I wish Lawrence Goodman would have asked Pratik Chougule ’08 if he would be willing to risk his life in the Iraq war that he thinks can be won. . .

Who Defends Freedom?

To preserve, protect, and defend the U.S. Constitution is the reason I enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1968. . .

Hope for Rare Diseases

I read with interest the essay by Daniela Gerson ’00 on finding information about her rare disease and discovering an online community of others who are living with it . . .

Don’t Just Sit There

The November/December cover article on Jim Yong Kim ’82 was especially compelling (“The Healer”).

His True Loves