SCOPE FALL 2013


Volume 44, Number 1


COLLYER VICE PR ESIDENT FOR ADVANCEMENT Michael Casey


EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS Dan Forbush


EDITOR Susan Rosenberg srosenbe@skidmore.edu


ASSOCIATE EDITOR Paul Dwyer ’83


pdwyer@skidmore.edu


CLASS NOTES EDITOR Mary Monigan


mmonigan@skidmore.edu


DESIGNERS Michael Malone


Maryann Teale Snell WRITERS


Kathryn Gallien Bob Kimmerle


Peter MacDonald


Maryann Teale Snell Andrea Wise


EDITORIAL OFF ICES Office of Communications Skidmore College 815 North Broadway


Saratoga Springs, NY 12866 518-580-5747


www.skidmore.edu/scope SKIDMORE COLLEGE


Switchboard: 518-580-5000 Alumni Affairs and College Events: 518-580-5670


Communications: 518-580-5733 Admissions: 518-580-5570 or 800-867-6007


Scope is published three times a year by Skidmore College


for alumni, parents, and friends.


Printed on recycled paper (10% postconsumer)


LETTERS


Food and trust I read with great interest the discussion on food (“Goliath vs. Bantam,” spring Scope). In my “Anthropology of Food” course, we en- gage these same issues—what to eat and how to source your food. As Michael Pollan has argued in his fa- mous book The Om- nivore’s Dilemma, American con- sumers don’t have cultural food tradi- tions to guide them to healthy and ap- propriate choices, and supermarkets overflow with processed food that’s full of flavor and empty of nutri- tion. Last year, dur- ing my sabbatical research in Japan, I encountered the op- posite: plenty of cul- tural guideposts but


not enough food to choose from.


Japan is a land rich with cultural food tradi- tions. Although there is a “moral panic” about what young people are eating today—instant ramen was voted to be the best invention of the 20th century!—the average Japanese citi- zen knows what is good and proper. Elemen- tary schools devote enormous time and ener- gy to helping their students not only taste and know proper Japanese food, but actually like it. So far, so good (except for the 6-year-olds, who don’t like vegetables), but the March 2011 triple disaster of earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown changed that. Beyond the tragedy of more than 15,000 lost lives, a nuclear plume moved unevenly over the northern half of Japan. As farms were contaminated (some with trace amounts, oth-


DO THE WRITE THING


Scope welcomes letters to the editor. Send your comments by e-mail to srosenbe@skidmore.edu or mail


c/o Skidmore College. Letters may be edited for clarity and length.


ers lost for centuries), the idea of what is “proper” and “healthy” food became scram- bled. With limited scientific consensus on how much nuclear contamination is “safe,” individuals were left to decide for themselves what food to eat. Most trusted the government’s assur- ances, but many didn’t. Most stayed put, but some fled Tokyo or sent their families away. Most continue their lives in more or less the same ways, but oth- ers try to avoid food from affected areas or even restaurants altogether. This tragedy has cleaved Japanese society, and whether it’ll be- come whole again remains to be seen. The act of eating is always an act of


trust and a renewal of social bonds. As food (products, cuisines, restaurants) races around the world, sitting down to dinner is often our most significant act as “global citizens”—for better or for worse.


Kenji Tierney, assistant professor of anthropology, Skidmore College


Profound professor


For Ed Hausman (spring Scope, “In Memori- am”), the classroom was a sacred space in which the mysteries of music were explored with intelligence and humor, but above all with profound reverence. He was often eco- nomical in his speech, but every word was as precise and weighted as liturgy. Sometimes you had to listen to the silences—Ed said as much in his as most professors do in a life- time of lecturing. If you were paying atten- tion, he might just have changed your life.


Alexandria Halloran Zander ’68 Newton, N.J


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68