Taryn Simon ’97 photographs things the rest of us will never get to see—like these capsules containing radioactive cesium and strontium at the Hanford nuclear-waste storage facility in Washington state. In an interview on Charlie Rose this spring, Simon said the image’s similarity to the shape of the United States was what captivated her. Her formal large-format portraits of curiosities and well-kept secrets are on display at the Whitney Museum in New York City through June 24; they’ve also been published as a book, An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar. Simon writes that the nuclear facility’s 1,936 stainless steel capsules hold more than 120 million curies of radioactivity—the most under one roof in the country. Jonathan Schmitt ’98 and Althea Wasow ’96 helped produce and write the book.
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Valuing Life
In her letter to the editor (Mailroom, March/April), Alice Lemos ’81 PhD condemns politicians such as Lincoln Chafee ’75 for championing abortion on demand and having a “cavalier attitude towards the sanctity of life.” Senator Chafee voted against authorizing the president to attack Iraq.
The Haggadah and Gays
The Passover Haggadah provides an interesting context for the comments of Phillip N. Jacobs ’79 on gay synagogues and gay people (Mailroom, March/April). He writes: “[H]omosexuals, like all people, are G-d’s creations, and as such we must treat them with kindness. However ... it must be clear that their behavior is ... not to be condoned.”
Teaching Doctors
While we can welcome “A Major Milestone” (Under the Elms, March/April) in the form of a $100 million gift to the medical school, one can only hope that Brown will begin to prepare new doctors for the fact that, while we’re spending twice as much per capita as any other nation, the World Health Organization has ranked us No. 37 in the effectiveness of our health-care non-system.
Life Lessons
In response to “Fitting In” by Amy Ramos ’87 (Alumni POV, March/April): As a low-income student accepted in a need-blind period when Brown was increasing the ratio of public- to private-school students, Ms. Ramos points out a number of very real differences in the environment. In a sense, we lucky ones gained a greater education at Brown than most.