What everyone should know about ...
A Quarterly series
By Shahrukh Rafi Khan
A number of factors created a financial crisis this fall bigger than any seen since the Great Depression. These included easy money (low interest rates), deregulation since the 1970s and lax regulation under the Bush administration, bank and mortgage dealers aggressively pushing housing loans because complex packaging of mortgages into securities let them pass the risk on to others, and management’s focusing only on short-term bonuses and operating with exceedingly high debt. Any one of these is bad enough; combined, they created the perfect storm. With financial markets integrated worldwide, the crisis inevitably went global. The crucial questions now are, will the short-term solutions work and what can we learn for the future? (More)
In late August, the first students moved into the first residence hall to be built on campus in more than forty years. The building opened to generally rave reviews (and some complaints as kinks, especially with the One-Card access system, were being worked out). Here’s a peek inside MHC’s newest student quarters.
(Photography by Ben Barnhart)
“ My friends at other colleges are very jealous.”
—Casey Cokkinias ’10
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Jane E. Zachary Named New Alumnae Association Executive Director
Jane E. Zachary, director of alumni relations at Chatham University in Pittsburgh, began work in January as the new executive director of the 
Alumnae Association of Mount Holyoke College. She replaces W. Rochelle Calhoun ’83, who left last summer to take the job of dean of student affairs at Skidmore College.
Zachary, who holds a law degree from the University of Pittsburgh and served as a court administrator in the Pennsylvania judiciary for more than fifteen years before making a move to alumnae relations, is a graduate of Chatham, which was established as a women’s college in 1869.
“I am firmly committed to the education and advancement of women globally, and to the development of leadership skills in women,” Zachary said. Her enthusiastic support of women’s education, the liberal arts, and fostering women’s connections for the purpose of lifelong learning and personal achievement makes Zachary an excellent fit, said Mary Graham Davis ’65, president of the Alumnae Association.
“Her background in the legal profession and court administration, combined with her experience expanding alumnae relations activities at Chatham University, will serve our association well.
Jane will oversee our association as we undertake our own global expansion, increase our use of technology to reach our alumnae, and participate more fully in the lives of MHC graduates through significant interest groups, continuing education efforts, and career-focused activities,” Davis said.
Zachary began work first as a law clerk at the trial and appellate court levels and later as executive administrator of the Superior Court of Pennsylvania. She also served as director of the family division of the trial court in Allegheny County.
A generalist with diverse interests, Zachary said she decided to leave the field of law to work in a more “positive, consensus-building environment.” During her tenure at Chatham, she instituted numerous programs to engage alumnae and students and to honor the traditions that define a women’s-college experience.
“Jane brings the combination of high energy, intellect, and interpersonal skills that will engage both our alumnae around the world and our colleagues on campus in our mission of connecting alumnae to Mount Holyoke and to each other,” Davis added.—M.H.B.
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Nonfiction
Black Frankenstein: The Making of an American Metaphor
By Elizabeth Young
(New York University Press)
In this book, Young interprets the figure of a black American Frankenstein as it appears throughout nineteenth-and twentieth-century U.S. culture. She argues that the Frankenstein monster has served as a powerful metaphor in U.S. culture over the last two centuries for both reinforcing racial hierarchy and shaping anti-racist critique.
Elizabeth Young is professor of English and gender studies at MHC, and author of Disarming the Nation: Women’s Writing and the American Civil War.
China: Fragile Superpower
By Susan L. Shirk
(Oxford University Press)
Since the pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square, Chinese leaders have been haunted by the fear that their days in power are numbered. Unless we understand China’s brittle politics, Shirk argues, the United States faces the possibility of unavoidable conflict with this fragile communist regime.
Susan L. Shirk ’67 is the former deputy assistant secretary of state responsible for U.S. relations with China, and is director of the Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation at the University of California–San Diego.
Christian Sisterhood, Race Relations, and the YWCA, 1906–46
By Nancy Marie Robertson
(University of Illinois Press)
Robertson has written a “thorough history that while focused on the YWCA, tells the larger story of interracial work,” says a reviewer in the American Historical Review. Robertson finds that even in one of the most progressive organizations of the time—the YWCA ended its own policy of segregation in 1946—the history of civil rights was not one of inevitable progress but of continuing tension and negotiation.
Nancy Marie Robertson ’78 is associate professor of history and philanthropic studies at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, where she also directs the women’s studies program.
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Go Ahead, Say It! Frank Talk About Tough Topics
In a plugged-in, battery-charged, Bluetooth kind of culture where we are all consumed with the desire to communicate, the one thing you’d think we’d be good at is dialogue. Not so much.
Turns out that active listening and respectful sharing, especially when it revolves around the issues of race, class, and sexual difference, is hard work and takes a lot of practice. Three campuswide discussion groups at MHC aim to help us polish this desirable skill set.
By Lisa Wlodarski Romano ’89
The Quarterly arrives. I open to the class notes, and sigh. Another mother of three gets a promotion at her multinational corporation. Or publishes a book. Or lands a tenure-track professorship.
Should I write in? Nah. I do Suzuki piano with my three kids. I’ve organized the Great Books discussion circles at my sons’ elementary school. I’ve joined my church choir and sometimes sing solos. But success? Travel? Prestige? That’s what other alums want to read about, I imagine. So I lurk on the fringes of alumnaehood.
I’m a stay-at-home mom. But although I never heard motherhood discussed when I was on campus, in every aspect of my life I’m drawing on some part of my college experience. And I’m not the only one.
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Learn How to Run
Thank you for the cover story (summer 2008) on “Politicos.” As a state representative in Colorado, and formerly a member of our elected state board of education, I have often wondered who else is in elected office among our alumnae. I would be interested in having those of us in office connect more directly, perhaps through the new Mount Holyoke Facebook application. I also wonder who else is out there raising a family while in elected office. I just had a daughter, Zoe Grace, in August.
I would encourage any alumna interested in running for office or becoming more involved in politics to look at the work of the White House Project (www.whitehouseproject.org) that trains women interested in running for office. They host “Go Run” weekend workshops in locations across the country. As one of their trainers, I have seen women complete their training, run for office, and win their elections the first time out. I appreciate the attention to a topic that is near and dear to my heart and hope it is the first of many stories on the subject.
—Karen Middleton ’88, Aurora, Colorado
Government Not the Answer
Professor Doug Amy’s Web site, Government is Good (www.governmentisgood.com), reinforces what we were all told in school—that government is good. Former Treasury Secretary William Simon wrote: “One of the things that I learned during my tenure in Washington is that the civics-book picture of government operation is completely inaccurate … A more accurate image would be that of a runaway train with the throttle stuck wide open—while the passengers and crew are living it up in the dining car.”
Although there are many well-intentioned people who work in government, many people are waking up to the reality that government is not as good as we thought. The economic crisis that we are facing is largely the result of the government/Federal Reserve’s mismanagement of monetary policy. On top of that, government continually spends more than it brings in. When was the last time we had a balanced budget? Our government sends us into senseless wars that kill innocent people and it comes with a heavy price tag that you, our children, and I will pay for.
It took 194 years for the government to accumulate the first trillion dollars of public debt; by 1986 the public debt passed the $2 trillion mark, having doubled in five years. Now the public debt is more than $10 trillion.
Thanks to the lack of discretion and wasteful spending of the government, each member of my household’s share of the debt is $33,925.40, and that is the same for every person in your household, too. And Professor Amy says we need more government? The government that we have is not sustainable. More government is not the answer.
—Mary McPhillips Menendez ’89, Kingston, New Hampshire
Got Opinions? Let Us Know!
We continue to welcome letters for the printed Quarterly. Indeed, we crave them. What’s the use of singing our hearts out to an empty theater? We need your ideas, your opinions, your letters. Surely, you have an opinion about how to live green in a browning world or how to handle being a stay-at-home mom. Or perhaps you’ve seen the land art profiled in Erin Hogan’s book and want to share your comments. Let us know what you think! Please!
Of course, we will edit your letters for accuracy, length, and clarity. (There ain’t nothin’ that don’t git better with some good editin’.) [Really, you’ll thank us.—the editors] You can also post your comments online (There's a "comment" box at the end of every article.). We especially like hearing from you by e-mail. Send your thoughts, then, to mbomann@mtholyoke.edu. You’ll feel better—and so will we.
Calligrapher Sally Mangum has a way with words—she makes them beautiful, and surrounds the letter forms with richly colored designs. And she does this for some of the most prestigious customers in the world, including the British Lord Chamberlain’s office.
As holder of a “royal warrant” for calligraphy, Sally displays the royal coat of arms on her business cards and letterhead. But she doesn’t advertise, as referrals bring her business.
“My work consists of a wide range of commissions including invitations, letterhead, diplomas, menus, and monograms for stationers and corporate and private clients,” she says. “I also take on illustration and heraldic commissions.” Those range from drawing pen-and-ink family crests to an illuminated scroll listing all the chaplains at the Tower of London since the fourteenth century. (More)
By Abid Shah
Mubarik Ali Khan, a top classical Indian music vocalist, showed little enthusiasm when Zeb Bangash ’04 was introduced to him as a possible student in 1999. However, after her first lesson—a test run taking Bangash through basic scales to gauge her voice and musical sense—his indifference melted. “From now on I have made you my daughter,” Khan said. “If you are willing to work hard, you can become a classical vocalist.”
(More)
Welcome to the “blogazine” (blog+magazine = blogazine) version of the Mount Holyoke Alumnae Quarterly. You’ll find the same articles as in the printed magazine; however, here we also post extras, and you may also comment on any article. Click the “comments” link to the right of the article title to read comments from others or to post your own. If you can’t find something, use the search tool, browse the categories below, or browse the archives.
