May / June 2007

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.

Rods Per Hogshead

I have learned to be suspicious of measurements given in unfamiliar terms. (In a Simpsons episode, Grandpa boasts of his car’s fuel economy as so many “rods per hogshead.”)  Sometimes even using familiar terms, such as feet and seconds, can be confusing.  Your article on bats (“To Build a Better Batmobile,” Elms, March/April) breathlessly refers to their speed as “up to forty-nine feet per second.”

Whirlwind

The article about Professor Dietrich Neumann and Ed Huff and their experiments with panoramas (“The Virtual Magic Carpet,” Under the Elms, March/April) was fascinating, especially for someone like me who loved Neumann’s classes.

Owners’ Rights

I want to thank Lawrence Goodman for his nice article about me and my organization, Citizens for Pets in Condos Inc. (“Getting Her Fur Up,” The Classes, March/April). I have a few corrections to make.  Unfortunately, the article did not include my full name, so classmates who did not see Waldner might not recognize me after so many years, even though my first name is unusual.

Apologist Nutterguff

I attended the Nonie Darwish lecture (“Rain Date,” Under the Elms, March/April) and was both surprised and disappointed when the Q&A session deteriorated into apologist nutterguff. Professor John Tomasi, whose job as moderator admittedly was not an easy one, reminded me once again that political correctness seems to have replaced serious education at our institutions of higher learning.

Charles Nichols

I was saddened to read of the death of Professor Charles Nichols (March/April). I was a senior the year he came to Brown. Although he was recruited to head the Afro-American Studies program, he also taught, within the English department, a course on Jewish literature of the Holocaust and post–World War II era, which I took. We read Elie Wiesel, Jerzy Kosinski, Saul Bellow, and others.

Lamp Posts

I disagree strongly with the claim that a 15-watt fluorescent bulb equals the quality and strength of light given by a sixty-watt incandescent bulb. I tried replacing the seventy-five-watt incandescent bulb in a walk-in closet with the stated compact fluorescent equivalent. It was as if the power had suddenly been usurped by a surge from some unseen appliance.

The Sweetest Memories

In 1960, I was stationed briefly at Fort Dix during basketball season, and one January night I managed, still in uniform, to slip up in time for the tip-off at nearby Princeton. Stan Ward, a remarkable, wonderful guy, was the coach. Mike Cingiser ’62 was playing, and I grabbed a seat behind the Brown bench.

The Electronic Trader

Gordon Macklin ’50

The Boy Dean

Nils Y. Wessell ’35 AM

Obituaries

Obituaries from the May/June 2007 issue.

Pucked Off

Meredith Ostrander '02 Her team just won the National Women’s Hockey League championship. Now, why isn’t she famous?

Matchmaking Unlikely Bedfellows

Jeremy Symons '92 The campaign to stop global warming brings together tree-huggers, hunters, and evangelists.

Brain Power

Mona Lisa Schulz '82 She has an MD and a PhD, but the skill she relies on most is intuition.

Peaceable Giant

China’s ambassador rattles a saber and preaches harmony.

Data Points

Today, South Africa has one of the world’s highest rates of HIV infection, with an estimated 5.5 million people living with the disease. 

Forget the War on Terror

Rick Santorum calls it like he sees it: a war on “Islamic fascists.”

It’s in the Air

The Green goes wild for Spring Weekend.

Test Positive for Breast Cancer?

A new study finds that an MRI should be your next step.

Moderator of the Trustees

Tom Tisch ’76 describes his goals as the University’s new chancellor.

How to Live

President Simmons argues for more support for the humanities.

Exam Time

Pushing forty, the New Curriculum gets a checkup.

Men’s Tennis and Men’s Golf

By March 9 of the 2007 spring season, the men’s tennis team was 11–2 and appeared primed to capture its third straight Ivy title. But the Bears hit stiff league competition and dropped its first four conference matches to fall out of the running for the title.

Equestrian

After starting its regular season on September 30, the equestrian team competed all year with the goal of reaching nationals for the first time since 2004.

Lacrosse

Men’s lacrosse had a bounce-back season in its first year under head coach Lars Tiffany ’90. After going 2–11 last season, the Bears started the season on a roll. After losing in overtime to the always tough University of Maryland Baltimore County the men reeled off four straight wins.

Track and Field

The men’s track team has had many great individual performances all season long. Paul Rosiak ’07 ranks first in the Ivy League in the javelin with a top throw of 222 feet, eight inches, an astounding twenty-two inches more that his nearest competitor.

Softball, Rowing, and Crew

While the baseball team thrived, the softball team struggled. Under the tutelage of first-year head coach DeeDee Enabenter-Omidiji, Brown lost eighteen heartbreaking games by three runs or fewer.

Women’s Tennis

After losing its first three Ivy matches, the women’s tennis team won the next four.

Women’s Water Polo

Women’s water polo labors in the shadows of the season’s more popular sports, which is too bad.

Baseball

The baseball team won its first-ever Ivy championship in early May after it beat Lou Gehrig Division winner Penn. 

Trashy Reads

Pulp comics were puerile, debauched—and addictive.

The Giveaway Pile

You live, you die, your stuff goes out to the curb.

Just Smart Enough

Research by 2006 Nobel Laureate Craig Mello ’82 has given scientists a way to turn genes easily on and off. As one of last fall’s Nobel Prize winners, Craig Mello has received a level of wealth, publicity, and acclaim seldom granted to a scientist who spends his days observing a microscopic worm.

Is This Thing On?

Some bloggers are making enough money to hire staffs to quit their day jobs and blog full-time.

Martha’s Woes

Why did prosecutors go after Martha Stewart so fiercely? 

Fresh Ink

Check out the new books published by Brown alumni.

Iraqi Life Online

Michael DiBenedetto ’03 is using the Web to broadcast documentaries about three college students in Baghdad.

TV’s Arbiters of Taste

Jonathan Adler ’88 and Margaret Russell ’80 play the bad cops on Bravo’s Top Design.

Critic’s Corner

Taryn Simon ’97 photographs things the rest of us will never get to see.

Promises to Keep

A science writer tries to penetrate the hype surrounding stem-cell research.

Table Talk

A self-described accidental hustler, Heather Byer ’90 tells how she wrote an equally accidental memoir.

The Zen of Pool

Nine years ago Heather Byer began shooting competitive pool around New York City. Her memoir, Sweet, is the story of how she lost herself to the game.

The View from the O.R.

War is always with us, and as long as men and women are wounded in battle, doctors will try to save their lives.