Flight of Orange Fancy

February 2, 2009:  Anne-Marie Slaughter has resigned as dean of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs to become director of the policy planning staff at the U.S. State Department. Anne-Marie, who also is the Bert G. Kerstetter ’66 University Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton, will remain a faculty member and take a public service leave from the University.

The policy planning staff provides policy analysis and advice for the secretary of state, and its mission is “to take a longer term, strategic view of global trends and frame recommendations for the secretary of state to advance U.S. interests and American values,” according to the State Department’s website.

Anne-Marie , who will report directly to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, will be the first woman director of the policy planning staff in the department’s history. Renowned diplomat and scholar George Kennan, a 1925 Princeton alumnus, created the office in 1947 and was its first director.

The complete Princeton press release can be found here. The State Department page for the Policy Planning staff is here.

September 17, 2007:  The Daily Princetonian has published an article about Josh Kornbluth and his renewed determination to submit a thesis in politics.  The article said,  "With his adviser's help, Kornbluth advanced through the thesis, even going so far as to complete his thesis in the style he often uses professionally: an extended monologue. "Citizen Josh," a one-man show, is his thesis. It tells the story of its completion and touches on his time at Princeton and his thoughts about democracy. It played in two theaters in the Bay Area for a total of 50 performances this summer."

September 14, 2007:  A story on the Engineering School's website about undergraduates and internships discussed the work of Florence Hudson at IBM.  This past summer she was the mentor of mechanical and aerospace engineering major Zhen Xia.  The article about the Preparing to Lead Internship program said,"Florence Hudson, the vice president of marketing and strategy for IBM mainframe System z, served as Xia's mentor throughout the summer. A 1980 Princeton graduate with a degree in mechanical and aerospace engineering, Hudson jumped at the chance to share what she has learned throughout her career. Over the course of the summer, she met with Xia regularly to discuss leadership and engage him in real projects."

strategy+business Interviews Anne-Marie Slaughter

August 19, 2007:  Business quarterly strategy+business interviewed Wilson school dean Anne-Marie Slaughter in its Autumn 2007 issue (interview not yet posted at the magazine's site). Published by the consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton, strategy+business talked to Anne-Marie about her new book, The Idea That is America:  Keeping Faith With Our Values in a Dangerous World. In his introduction to the interview, s+b editor-in-chief Art Kleiner wrote that Anne-Marie "argues that if governments can use networks to become more responsive, collaborative, and flexible, they will more closely embody the ideas and principles that fostered modern democracy in the first place."

---

Class Ivy: They Grow Up So Fast

June 21, 2007:  Sharon Keld sent in this picture of the class ivy, planted at the 25th reunion and now growing like a weed, so to speak. And speaking of Sharon, take a look at her blog, about her adventures in the Peace Corps in Morocco, http://27monthswithoutbaseball.blogspot.com/:

---

Marc Fisher Hits the Road to Promote New Book on Radio

February 4, 2007: Washington Post columnist and class secretary Marc Fisher is hitting the road to promote his new book, "Something in the Air: Radio, Rock, and the Revolution that Shaped a Generation."  According to Marc's website,

"When television became the next big thing in broadcast entertainment, everyone figured video would kill the radio star and radio, period. But radio came roaring back with a whole new concept. The war was over, the baby boom was on, the country was in clover, and a bold new beat was giving the syrupy songs of yesteryear a run for their money. Add transistors, 45 rpm records, and a young man named Elvis to the mix, and the result was the perfect storm that rocked, rolled, and reinvented radio."

Marc will be barnstorming through radio appearances in February and March to promote the book, with his schedule here.

---

John Rogers Mentioned in Articles about Barack Obama

February 4, 2007: John Rogers, head of Ariel Capital Management, is gaining mentions in articles about Democratic Senator Barack Obama as an advisor to the possible presidential contender.  A January article in the Chicago Tribune said,

Several other successful Chicago professionals are dinner and conversation companions. John Rogers, head of Ariel Capital Management, is a friend drawn into the family circle by Michelle Obama’s brother, Craig Robinson, with whom Rogers played basketball at Princeton University.

He also lives in Hyde Park and has occasionally played basketball with Obama—most recently at the 40th birthday party of Martin Nesbitt, president of Chicago-based PRG Parking Management and another informal Obama adviser. Also at that party was Jim Reynolds, chairman and CEO of Loop Capital Markets, who also provides regular counsel.

Obama deals with his friends much the same way he relates to everyone who crosses his path, Rogers said.

“He has this ability to connect and bring people together,” he said. “I’ve seen him wow people at the Commercial Club of Chicago, and then I go to New York to watch him with the Wall Street Project, a mostly minority crowd, and they’re hanging on his every word.”

Another Tribune article spoke more to John's involvement in the campaign:

"I am highly confident," said John Rogers, a friend of Obama and a prodigious Democratic fundraiser for many years. "People around the country who know that I'm engaged in this process have been calling me, people from coast to coast, Republicans and Democrats. They're experienced fundraisers and people wanting to get involved for the first time. I've never seen anything like it."

---

Spitzer '81 Names Nocenti '80 as Counsel to the Governor

December 7, 2006:  New York Governor-elect Eliot Spitzer '81 has named Dave Nocenti '80 as his counsel, as they take office on January 1, 2007.  He is currently counsel to Spitzer in his role as the state Attorney General.  According to an article in the New York Law Journal, Spitzer said about Dave, "He is somebody on whose advice I have relied on over the past eight years, somebody of stupendous intellect. He understands government. He is somebody with whom I have disagreed occasionally, but rarely won a legal argument with Consequently, I have absolute confidence that he is going to address every issue meticulously, thoughtfully, and with the public interest and the law in mind. And that is exactly what I would ask for in somebody in that position."

Dave earned a law degree from Columbia and then was an associate at the New York law firm of Chadbourne, Parke, Whiteside & Wolff for three years before serving as a procecutor for the U.S. Attorney of the Eastern District of New York from 1986 to 1990.  He joined the counsel's office of New York Governor Mario Cuomo as first assistant counsel, then became counsel to Queens Borough President Claire Shulman. He then became counsel to the Attorney General for Spitzer's two terms.

---

Dr. Ricardo Cigarroa Honored for Service with Supplement in Laredo Morning Times

September 24, 2006:  The Laredo Morning Times published a supplement today in honor of cardiologist Ricardo Cigarroa, upon his recognition by the Laredo Under Seven Flags Rotary Club as its 13th Paul Harris Fellow. A graduate of Harvard Medical School, he returned to his home town of Laredo, Texas and started the Laredo Medical Foundation and the Laredo Medical Group.  According to a biography in the supplement, Ricardo is the director of the Cigarroa Heart and Vascular Institute inside the Laredo Medical Center. He also created a scholarship fund for local students.

---

Cheryl Greenberg Publishes Book Examining Black-Jewish Relations

September 5, 2006: A new book, "Troubling the Waters: Black-Jewish Relations in the American Century" by Cheryl Greenberg, a professor of history at Trinity College in Hartford, CT., is getting strong reviews. Princeton University Press published the book, which it describes in these terms:

Drawing on extensive new research in the archives of organizations such as the NAACP and the Anti-Defamation League, Greenberg shows that a special black-Jewish political relationship did indeed exist, especially from the 1940s to the mid-1960s--its so-called "golden era"--and that this engagement galvanized and broadened the civil rights movement. But even during this heyday, she demonstrates, the black-Jewish relationship was anything but inevitable or untroubled. Rather, cooperation and conflict coexisted throughout, with tensions caused by economic clashes, ideological disagreements, Jewish racism, and black anti-Semitism, as well as differences in class and the intensity of discrimination faced by each group. These tensions make the rise of the relationship all the more surprising--and its decline easier to understand.

The Connecticut Jewish Ledger recently interviewed Greenberg about the book, in an extensive Q&A. In addition to Troubling the Waters, Cheryl is the author of "Or Does it Explode?": Black Harlem in the Great Depression and the editor of A Circle of Trust: Remembering SNCC.

---

Jonathan Fox Comments on Mexican Election on NewsHour

July 6, 2006: Jonathan Fox discussed the results of Mexico's presidential election on "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" on July 6, three days after the election. Here's the transcript. Jonathan is a professor in the Latin American and Latino Studies Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and here's his university bio page.

---

Report from New Orleans: Winston Weinmann's Update

 

March 15, 2006: My parents and one brother and his family all were well away from New Orleans for Katrina. Both of their homes, in the New Metairie area, took some water -- enough to ruin just about everything on the ground floor. My parents have been living on their second floor now for about three months.My brother moved his family here to Atlanta for the school year. My extended family is well, although some lost their homes.

---

'80 Angle With Sally Frank Emerges at Princeton Issues Rock Senate Hearings for Supreme Court Nominee Samuel Alito '72

January 15, 2006: An document involving Sally Frank '80 emerged last week as senators raised concerns about connections between Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito '72 and the Concerned Alumni of Princeton. The Daily Princetonian has provided extensive coverage of the basic facts of the controversy.

The Frank reference came as Senator Ted Kennedy, one of Alito's inquisitors, added a treasure trove of CAP- and Princeton-related documents to his website, here (see home page link for January 11, on the left). One is a PDF of an article from Prospect, the CAP magazine, from 1985 titled "In Defense of Elitism." The article's subhead makes clear its perspective: "What Sally Frank and other philistines should know." Frank filed the lawsuit that pried open the doors of all-male eating clubs to female members. The article criticizes Frank's "elitist fantasies" and makes other comments.

The article generated wide comment during the Alito hearings. Some of the commentary includes:

The Nation, "Alito's CAP Connection"

National Review, "Conservative Concerns" by Henry Payne '84

Professor Kim's News Notes, by Kim Pearson '78, a law professor who writes, "Sally Frank is my friend. And yes, I have a personal reason to dislike CAP, having been trivialized by them as a 'soft-boiled socialist.'"

Obsidian Wings

---

Classmates Gather for Festivities at Yale Football Game

 

---

Post-Reunion Celebration Draws '80 Members to NY Soiree

The Class of '80 had a fabulous cocktail party in NY at the home of CATHY LEEF MARTIN and Jeff Martin'77 to celebrate the outstanding results of our 25th Reunion Annual Giving Campaign: $5,001,980 from 59.7% of the Class. Attendees included, Class Pres KIM RITRIEVI, Special Gifts Chair KEN BARRETT, WENDY GERBER, IVAN ZIMMERMAN, ROB KASDIN, DAVID TANNER, JOHN ROGERS, KATIE HALL, TOM and Heli BLUM, ALICE GOLEMBIEWSKI PHILLIPS, DAVE ABRAMS, GORDON SMITH, RHODA JAFFIN MURPHY, CYNNIE ODGEN PORTER and VAN WALLACH. Letters from Andy and JEFF SHARP kicking off the campaign for our 26th are in the mail! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

---

 

Adam Bellow Joins Editorial Advisory Board of Open Source Media, Providing "Best of the Blogs"

 

November 21, 2005: Adam Bellow, an executive editor at large for Doubleday, has joined the editorial advisory board of new venture Open Source Media, launched earlier this month with the goal of bringing "gravitas and legitimacy to the blogosphere, to amplify the individual voices that compose it, and bring you the best of blogging as we know it." The site provides links to influential blogs, and other content. In his profile on the site, Adam discusses his long-term interest in digital media.

---

Amy Myers Jaffe Named One of Esquire's "Best and Brightest"

November 16, 2005: The Baker Institute’s Amy Myers Jaffe is on Esquire magazine’s 2005 “Best and Brightest” list, which appears in the December issue.

Jaffe, the Wallace S. Wilson Fellow in Energy Studies at the institute, and associate director of the Rice Energy Program, is one of 12 honorees in the contribution to society category. The magazine’s article about Jaffe calls her “a rarity among energy-policy experts … a voice of honest, nonpartisan reason.” The article includes her views on “Seven Ways to Fix the Oil Crisis.”  

For more than a year, Esquire editors researched and interviewed scores of experts for its annual list showcasing the top minds in the worlds of science, culture, education, and the arts. “This issue is about hope,” Esquire Editor in Chief David Granger said. “The search in and of itself was inspiring, as it became clear that ours is a land of dreamers who become doers. And as amazing as our honorees are, they merely represent this country’s great potential.”

Jaffe was one of four honorees on the list invited by Esquire to speak in New York at its 2005 Best and Brightest Imagination Session.

The issue, which hit newsstands November 15, includes Jaffe’s strategy for a sensible U.S. oil policy. Her recommendations for fixing the oil crisis include: building a “safety net” of refined product and energy reserves to avoid Hurricane Katrina type emergencies; doubling the fuel efficiencies of American cars; and taxing gasoline “by dollars not cents” as is done in Europe.

Jaffe, a Princeton University graduate in Arabic studies, leads the Baker Institute Energy Forum, a multifaceted program that promotes original, forward-looking discussion and research on the energy-related challenges facing society in the 21st century. Her research focuses on the subject of oil geopolitics, strategic energy policy—including energy science policy—and energy economics. She joined the Baker Institute staff in 1997.

---

Anne Holton Becomes First Lady-Elect of Virginia, as Husband Tim Kaine Wins Governorship

November 9, 2005: Family politics crosses party lines for our classmate Anne Holton. Anne, the daughter of former Virginia Republican Governor Linwood Holton, will become the First Lady of Virginia following the victory of her husband, Tim Kaine, a Democrat, in the gubernatorial race. Currently the Lieutenant Governor, Kaine defeated state Attorney General Jerry Kilgore. For more information on Tim and Anne, including family photos, go to the Kaine 2005 website. In addition to her new duties, Anne is a juvenile court judge.

---

John Rogers Featured in NY Times Article on Investing

October 31, 2005:  John Rogers of Ariel Mutual Funds penned his monthly column for Forbes Magazine, appearing Oct. 31. The new one, entitled "Emotional Investing," began, "Are you a bull or a bear? A Tortoise or a hare? Your answer is not as important as how you arrived at it. The investment world's biggest divide these days is between two competing interpretations of reality: the efficient market theory and behavioral finance. The University of Chicago, where I am a trustee, is home to two of the most distinguished champions of these beliefs: Eugene Fama for the efficient market approach and Richard Thaler for the behavioral one (article available online for a fee).

 

John was the subject of a business-section story in the New York Times on October 16,  titled "Sometimes, There is Strength in Smaller Numbers. The article begins, "John W. Rogers Jr. sticks to a familiar investing principle: buy what you know. For Mr. Rogers, a longtime Chicago resident, one such investment is the Tribune Company, which, among many other properties, owns the Chicago Cubs and The Chicago Tribune." (article available on the Times website for a fee). 

---

Rick Fernandes' Company, Webloyalty.com, Honored for Fast Growth by Deloitte

October 19, 2005: Rick Fernandes is another classmate putting Princeton on the entrepreneurial map. Rick's Webloyalty.com, a leading provider of online marketing and subscription services based in Norwalk, Conn., has been ranked No. 8 on the 2005 Deloitte Technology Fast 500, a listing of the 500 fastest growing technology companies in North America. This marks webloyalty.com's first year on the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 in its first year of eligibility. Rick is the CEO and founding partner of Webloyalty.com

 

Rankings are compiled from Deloitte's 15 regional North American Fast 50 lists, nominations submitted directly to the Fast 500, and public company database research, and are based on the percentage revenue growth over five years, from 2000-2004. Webloyalty.com grew 25,556 percent during this period.

 

In addition to ranking on Deloitte's Technology Fast 500, Webloyalty.com also ranked No. 1 on the 2005 Connecticut Technology Fast 50, which is a ranking of the 50 fastest growing technology firms in Connecticut.

 

"Being ranked in the top ten on the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 is truly an honor and validates our technology leadership," said Rick. "As the e-commerce industry continues to experience a high level of growth, webloyalty.com will continue to provide high-value, trustworthy and revenue-generating online marketing services and benefits to our e-commerce clients and their customers."

 

For a post-graduation update on Rick's career, his company's website notes, "Rick's 15 years of experience in direct and interactive marketing include several key roles at CUC International, Inc. As General Manager, he grew CUC's Auto Service from a start-up venture to a $100-million-dollar-a-year revenue producer. As President of CUC Interactive Services, he launched many of CUC's major Internet programs. And as President of Spark Services, a CUC subsidiary, he delivered innovative, database-driven, classified advertising to the radio industry."

---

  

Wilson School Celebrates Its 75th Anniversary; Dean Anne-Marie Slaughter Featured in Coverage

 

October 2, 2005: The Woodrow Wilson School kicked off its 75th Anniversary celebration this weekend with a speech by Secretary of State Condeleezza Rice at Jadwin Gym. Dean Anne-Marie Slaughter '80 introduced Sec. Rice. Today's story on the university website shows Ann-Marie speaking at the event (scroll down the page). For other coverage of Saturday's speech by Lt. General David Petraeus (M.P.A. '85, Ph.D. '87), take a look at the Tigerhawk blog. It also mentions Anne-Marie.

---

Notable Uses for a Reunions Hat; Can You Top This?

September 26, 2005: Anne Knight Weber brightened our day with these thoughts. Classmates with other uses are invited to submit them. For our first contributions, please visit the new "Poet's Corner" page.

 

I wanted to thank you for the great costume
and tell you where I've worn my twentieth reunion hat this summer.
A twenty-fifth reunion hat makes a certain statement:
with sailing clothes at the campground over July Fourth,
on my Sunfish for our weekly races here on Williams Lake,
as a sun protector in my first golf outing where I ended up paired with a scout for the Lions,
walking the dog on hot days,
at the Ann Arbor art fair,
riding on the pontoon boat for the boat rally,
welcoming newcomers to J.J's school,
in my own tent as a showing artist for the Waterford Art Fair,
as a sun shield during horse shoe games
and of course other places as well.

---

Richard Greenberg's Ready to Light Up the Great White Way and  Beyond, Again

September 26, 2005: In RICHARD GREENBERG's new comedy, "A Naked Girl on the Appian Way," Jill Clayburgh and Richard Thomas are parents whose lives are disrupted when their grown children return from a year in Europe.  The play opens in New York on October 6.  In January, the world premiere of Richard's "The Well-Appointed Room" will open at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre.

---

In the Wake of the Floods: Classmates Share Experiences of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita

Classmates Winston Weinmann, a native of New Orleans' suburb of Metairie now living in Atlanta, and Erica Lehrer, in Houston, have sent these thoughts on their familiess experiences in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. We have also added a note from Cintra Willcox of New Orleans. We will publish updates on the situations of other classmates in the region as we receive them.

 

September 27, 2005, from Erica Lehrer: We made it through the storm (Rita) unscathed! Leaving town turned out not to be an option, due to traffic gridlock etc., but we felt pretty secure staying put. The highway was a virtual parking lot. People were turning off their cars and pushing them, to conserve gas. Some people ran out of gas; others (not to many, thank goodness) succumbed to heat exhaustion because it was about 100 plus degrees and they couldn't keep their engines running. A number of Houston friends turned back after numerous hours and no progress while enroute to Austin or Dallas. My daughter Zoe's friend, for instance, drove 7 hours, turned around and was home in under 10 minutes!!!!!!!

 

We are not in a super low lying area though we do have a lot of big old trees. I was worried about the winds and losing electricity (which we did, but only for about 5 hours We had an amazing experience, actually. On Thursday, we went to the Menil (a museum), where 3 Buddhist monks were working on an elaborate, vividly colored sand mandala over the course of several days to coincide with a visit by the Dalai Lama. Talk about good karma!!!!!!! (Unfortunately, the Dalai Lama cancelled for obvious reasons.) Anyway, we returned the following day, a few hours before Rita hit, to see the monks complete the mandala, sweep up the mandala with a little whisk broom and  pour the sand into an urn. Then we all drove to the bayou where the monks performed a ceremony after which they threw the sands into the river . . . the ultimate statement about transience.

 

Also, while at the Menil, the executive director graciously gave us a private tour of the exhibits, featuring two black artists from the 30's, (altho the museum was closed for the storm). There were about 6 of us, including our friend David Prather '78, classmate of Rich's, who happened to be in town from L.A. for his theater work at the Alley and stayed with us through the storm. 

 

I bought some champagne (Veuve Cliquot) and while various friends worried and sent comforting emails and phone messages, David, Rich and I were sipping a bit of the bubbly poolside (after the storm). When the power went out, we went for a walk in the light rain to survey damage to the neighborhood. I was wearing my Princeton Baseball cap from our reunion. A jogger ran by, circled back and said, "Is that a Princeton hat?" Turns out, he was class of '85, and a neighbor. I can see his roof  from here (I'm working from home today) Thanks for your good thoughts.  We were very fortunate to have escaped Rita's wrath.  (I think it was the monks' blessings!)  Galveston and Beaumont were not so lucky . . . and poor NOLA . . .

 

September 22, 2005, from Erica Lehrer: Here in H-ton, it's a bit surreal as we "prepare" for Hurricane Rita, predicted to be a category 5 storm . . . A major surge is expected in Galveston. Parts of Houston (Galveston and Clearlake) have been evacuated. There have been heartbreaking accounts in the local pressof Katrina evacuees, now in Houston, being bussed and flown to ARKANSAS. About 2 dozen school districts in the Houston area are closed. My kids are out until Tuesday.  We'll see what the day brings.

 

I went down again last weekend to volunteeer at Reliant -- this time, inputting data to try to help people locate family members. In addition to my fellow Houstonians, the group of volunteers in my immediate vicinity consisted of a woman from Berkeley who decided she simply had to get on a plane and help out, a young man from Cleveland (a self-acknowledged computer geek who volunteered at the technology center around the clock because he felt the same compulsion), an engineer
from somewhere else, and the woman running the data-entry show, an accountant who was between jobs, also from the Bay Area.  It was inspiring to hang out with these well-intentioned individuals who had taken the time to make the journey.

 

My very first entry, as it turned out, was for a New Orleans woman at the Astrodome/Reliant Center who had my very own birthdate -- day and year! (what are the odds?)  It made me think about how each year she and I must have celebrated our birthdays, how our lives (no doubt very different) ran parallel until the moment they intersected -- very briefly -- as I input  her data, the names of her children, her former address etc.  It was something to contemplate, as you can imagine.

 

Here at work, we are backing everything up, cancelling depositions, moving all our office files to the interior offices, etc. . . . My family and I  have no immediate plans to evacuate, given where we live, but do have a contingency plan should the need arise,  with kids, cats, friends and their two chows!  I just pray that the damage will not be too severe . . .

 

September 6, 2005, from Cintra Willcox: Thank you so much for your concern and kind wishes.  It is such a boost to our spirits to know people are thinking of us. My husband, Wayne '75, and I are okay.  We left New Orleans early Sunday morning, August 28, and are now in Baton Rouge.  Thank heavens for the wondrous Princeton connection! A terrific couple, Judy and Andy Huang, has welcomed us warmly into their home here.  Their son Enoch '92 and my brother Ed Eglin '92 were roommates freshman year.  We will be everlastingly grateful to the Huangs.

 

Based on reports thus far, we are cautiously optimistic about our neighborhood, compared to other areas. Of course we are very anxious to return to our house as soon possible.  In the meantime, we are focused on locating the two members of the staff of St. Charles Avenue Presbyterian Church (where Wayne works) who remain missing and seeing about setting up a temporary office--maybe in Houston--from which the church can operate. We feel so fortunate, all things considered, and ache for the people and animals who have suffered and continue to be in horrible straits.  New Orleans will re-build, and our beloved city will be even more wonderful than ever.

 

Thank you again, and God bless you.

 

September 4, 2005, from Winston Weinmann: Robert and Cindy Weinmann arrived in Atlanta late Friday. They spent today looking at houses in the Brookhaven area where Winston and Mary Virgina Weinmann Coffman live. They may have found a rental that will be available in October. Between now and then they have gotten an offer to borrow a home from another YPO member who is out of town for a few months. Nicole, Bobby and Emily start Tuesday at Trinity School. Winston's children Eason and Whit, and Mary Virginia's daughter Sophie, go to Trinity. Robert is making plans to go to the Gulf coast to look at his Bay St. Louis and Gulfport Chrysler dealerships. He wants to find a camping trailer or motor home to use as a base of operations so he can stay there for some days.

 

My parents are still in Dallas, now with friends who live around the corner from my brother Giffen. They still have no fixed plans. Old Metairie, where both my parents and Robert and Cindy live is mostly under water. I estimate about 5-6 feet at street level. My parents' house is on a built up lot. The back patio looks to be under only about 1 foot. Robert's house is a bit lower.

 

We have no information about looting that may have taken place.

We learned today that Jefferson Parish will allow residents back in starting early Monday morning. Given the flooding in their neighborhood and the likely chaos as people start to return, my parents will wait for a while before trying to go to their house. The area will not be inhabitable for some time, even once the floodwaters drop. There is no electricity, no water, and the water system will have to be flushed before it will have water safe for drinking.

 

September 2, 2005, from Winston Weinmann: Many friends in Atlanta and around the country have been calling to check on us and our family in New Orleans. We know how they are, but are very concerned about New Orleans friends who we cannot easily contact. My parents left Saturday afternoon. My brother Giffen called them at 8:15 Saturday morning to say "You have two tickets on the 4:30 (pm) flight to Dallas. We'll meet you at the airport." So they left! They do not yet know where they will go next, but may go to their summer house at Epworth Heights in Michigan for a couple of weeks.

 

My brother Robert and his wife Cindy also left Saturday, for Orlando (hey, why not give the kids a good time while waiting it out?). Robert called yesterday. They are considering a temporary move to Atlanta. Both my sister Mary Virginia and I are here, in the same neighborhood. Robert is particularly concerned about school: Nicole in 6th, Bobby in 4th and Eliza in pre-K. We think there is space at Trinity School here (preschool through 6th grade), and at the Atlanta Girls' School (which starts with 6th grade). There is also the public primary school for our neighborhood, Sarah Smith, and several very good pre-schools.

We know next to nothing about my parents' and Robert's houses in Old Metairie (immediately adjacent to New Orleans). We had one report of a couple of inches of water in houses on Pelham St. across from Robert's on Monday morning. This was before the breach in the 17th street canal that allowed Lake Pontchartrain into the center of New Orleans. We hear of 9-10 feet floodwaters in "Metairie," but with no specifics. As of this morning the water in New Orleans started flowing out through the breach in the 17th Street canal as Lake Pontchartrain dropped back to a normal level, but that still leaves a lot of standing water.

Please let us know how you and your family are faring.

---

Marie Yovanovitch to Become U.S. Ambassador to the Kyrgyz Republic

August 21, 2005: Taking another step in her distinguished career of public service, Marie "Masha" Yovanovitch will become the U.S. Ambassador to the Kyrgyz Republic sometime this month. The White House announcement says it best:  "The President intends to nominate Marie L. Yovanovitch, of Connecticut, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Kyrgyz Republic. A career member of the Senior Foreign Service, Ms. Yovanovitch most recently served as Senior Advisor to the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs. Prior to that assignment, she served as Deputy Chief of Mission in Kiev. Ms. Yovanovitch has also served as Deputy Director of the Russia Desk at the Department of State and as a political officer in Moscow. She earned her bachelor's degree from Princeton University."

 

For the more geographically challenged members of the class, Madame Ambassador Marie will be presenting her credentials in the capital city, Bishkek, conveniently located near the border of bustling Kazakhstan. For more details, please refer to the ever-useful CIA World Factbook. 

 

---

Classmates Share Experiences of July 7 Terror Bombings in London

 

July 10, 2005: A few days after the London terrorist attacks, class officers sent words of concern and encouragement to our classmates who live in London. Several wrote back to Class Co-Secretary Marc Fisher with accounts of their experience of that horrific day.

---

Terence Wrong Produces Sizzling ABC Series "Hooking Up"

July 14, 2005: Tonight marks the debut of ABC's summer series "Hooking Up," executive-produced by Terence Wrong. World-spanning Terence, whose journalistic work has taken him to some of the world's dangerous zones, wades deep into the savage take-no-prisoners waters of online dating. ABC provides the details here. Terence also discusses the series on the website Zap2It.

---

Michelle Hensley Honored with Theater Critics Award

July 14, 2005: In June, Michelle Hensley in Minneapolis received the Francesca Primus Prize from the American Theater Critics Association for outstanding work in the American theater by a female theater artist. Her company, Ten Thousand Things, brings professional theater to people in prisons, homeless shelters and other centers for low-income adults. Michelle's next production is Antigone, a new version written for TTT by Emily Mann of McCarter Theater in Princeton.

---

Adam Bellow Publishes Remembrance of Saul Bellow: "Missing: My Father"

June 10: Adam Bellow recalled his father, Saul Bellow, in a New York Times op-ed piece published under the title, "Missing: My Father." The essay starts, MY father, Saul Bellow died in April. Today, June 10, would have been his 90th birthday. Since his death I think about him constantly. Yet in a strange and disconcerting way, he is no more gone today than he was a few months ago, or at any other time in my life." Read the rest here (registration required, available for a limited time).

---

 CFO Magazine Goes Mano-a-Mano with Greg Mankiw:

"Temperamentally, I'm a professor," he says.

June 6: CFO Magazine sat down to interview Greg Mankiw, now that he's back at Harvard after serving as Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors. Greg shares his thoughts on the CEA's influence, current economic trends, the IRS, outsourcing and other topics.  He also provides a touching answer to CFO's surprising last question: "What do you want to be remembered for?"

---

An All-Princeton Mega-Deal: Dan Ciporin '80 to Sell

Shopping.com to Meg Whitman '77's eBay for $620 Million

June 2: eBay has agreed to buy Shopping.com, a leader in online comparison shopping and consumer reviews, in a deal valued at $620 million. Dan Ciporin is Shopping.com's chairman and CEO.  Shopping.com provides the details here.

 

"The acquisition of Shopping.com will allow us to provide even more opportunities for our sellers," said Bill Cobb, president, eBay North America. "Shopping.com's comparison technology simplifies the online shopping experience and the Epinions' community of reviewers is a great match with our own. Together with the outstanding management team at Shopping.com, I believe we can accomplish some amazing things on behalf of our buyers and sellers."

 

eBay, of course, has marched ahead under Meg Whitman '77, president and CEO since March 1998. In February 2004 she donated $30 million to support what will be called Whitman College.

---

 

NY Times Turns to Steve Lieberman for Deep Insights

Into the Patent History of the Mae West Inflatable Life Vest

May 16, 2005: Today's New York Times quotes Steve Lieberman to help clarify the confusing status of who actually invented the "Mae West" inflatable life vest used in World War II.  The story amplifies (let's be charitable and not use the words "massive corrects") the obituary of Andrew Toti, who said he invented this type of vest. Then, the son of another man wrote the Times to say his father, Peter Markus, was the "inventor of record," not Toti.

 

Seeking to untangle the claims, the Times called on Steve, a partner and specialist in patent law at the Washington law firm of Rothwell, Figg, Ernst & Manbeck (for Steve's web page at the firm, click here). The Times wrote, "Mr. Lieberman said a patent search by his office at the request of the Times found that Peter Markus's 1928 claim is the earliest American patent for an inflatable life vest like the one commonly called a Mae West. Mr. Toti, he said, had patents for many other things, but not for a life vest."

 

Case closed.

 

 

---

Cynthia Lazaroff Studies and Preserves

Reefs at the Planetary Coral Reef Foundation

(Photo courtesy of Palisades Post)

 

May 6, 2005: Following the December 26, 2004, tsunami, the environmental role and status took on new urgency. As vice president of the Planetary Coral Reef Foundation (PCRF), Cynthia Lazaroff is in the front lines of coral reef issues. Writing to Orange Fancy, she noted, "Coral reefs have long been known to play a critical role in offering shoreline protection to coastal communities, but at no time in  history was this more apparent than during the tsunami - it has now been confirmed that the loss of life was dramatically lower in the locations where the coral reefs were intact and dramatically higher where they were damaged - the intact coral reefs acted as a natural break against the tsunami, resulting in smaller waves hitting the shore."

 

Based in Pacific Palisades, Cal., PCRF started its Coral Reef Satellite Mission to create a baseline of information about reefs worldwide and their evolution, which should be useful for groups working to preserve, protect, and manage reefs. PCRF is now in the fund-raising stage for the project, estimated at $150 million.

 

Cynthia adds, "In addition to working on the development of the CRSM, my focus at PCRF  is on education, public outreach, presentations and events - building  awareness about the coral reef crisis, etc.  I love bringing the invisible world of coral reefs to people of all ages, but especially  love working with kids - the Princeton Club of Southern California's  'Beautiful Minds' project recently invited me to bring our work to a  school in Compton - which was an amazing, touching experience."

 

More information about Cynthia's involvement in PCRF can be found in a March 28, 2004 online profile in the Princeton Alumni Weekly. (shown above is the PCRF research vessel, the RV Heraclitus.)

---

 

Peter Swire Discusses National ID Card Proposal on National Public Radio

May 6, 2005: A controversial proposal to standardize driver's licenses -- known as the Real ID Act -- passed the House Thursday as part of a large spending bill. For supporters, requiring applicants to prove residency is an important step in the war on terrorism. For critics, it's an invasion of privacy. Peter Swire, a law professor at Ohio State University and former privacy advisor to President Clinton, discusses the changes. The program can be heard here.

---

Hellooooooo, Oscar! Peter Elkind, Andy Weissmann Appear in Film Version of Elkind's Book, "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room"

May 6, 2005: Peter Elkind's book "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room," co-authored with fellow Fortune writer Bethany McLean, hit the silver screen in April. Alex Gibney directed the documentary, which stars Peter as "The Relentless Reporter" and Andy Weissmann as "The Implacable Prosecutor." (Andy served as Director of the Justice Department's Enron Task Force and as lead prosecutor of Enron CFO Andy Fastow and Lea Fastow, and many others).  Peter also gets a detailed bio on the official film website. Look for it at a theater near you.

---

 

'80 Scores Twice in Feb. 24 New York Sun, with Mankiw and Jaffe

Feb. 24, 2005: '80 fleshed out the New York Sun (subscription required to read the articles) nicely today with Amy Myers Jaffe's weekly column, "Energy Flows," with the latest column titled "Policy and Blue States."

 

Elsewhere in the Sun, Greg Mankiw's Council of Economic Advisors' "2005 Economic Report of the President was analyzed by Bruce Barlett, a senior fellow a the National Center for Policy Analysis. Bartlett did not particularly like the CEA's effort, saying, "I am disappointed by this year's report. It is bland almost to the level of pointlessness. it's as though a giant vacuum sucked all the life out of it." But don't take Bartlett's word for the matter: the CEA website has the complete PDF file -- see for yourself.

---

 

Jill Pilgrim to be Honored for Track & Field Support

Jill Pilgrim will be honored with the 2005 Larry Ellis Alumni Award at Reunions for her devotion to Princeton Track and Field and the USA Track & Field Organization.  As an undergraduate, Jill was an excellent sprinter and helped start the PU women's team.  In her junior year, the team was given Varsity status and won the Ivy League Championship in '79 and '80. She has continued to help USA Track & Field in her job as its General Counsel and Director of Business Affairs. She continues to lecture on athletes’ rights and volunteers in many sports related boards and government councils.

 

The award will be presented to Jill and Robert L. Duncan, Jr. '65 at the Track and Field Reception during Reunions on Saturday at 9:45 in back of Murray-Dodge Hall. The reception follows the completion of the 5K Fun Run.

---

Steve Rasmussen Explores Esoteric Topics as High Priest of Coven Oldenwilde

Steven Rasmussen has a day job as a reporter and community calendar editor for the Mountain Xpress newspaper in Asheville, N.C. He also serves as a Third-degree Gardnerian Elder, and High Priest of Coven Oldenwilde. Steve is also both a master astrologer (specializing in natal, horary, and mundane astrology) and musicologist (specializing in music theory and computer musicology).

Steve combines his writing talents and Wiccan practice to produce thought-provoking articles. For the Mountain Xpress, for example, he wrote "Here's looking at you, America: Peering closer at the eye in the pyramid, and other National Treasure symbols." The article gives the background on the myths and realities of symbols found on the one-dollar bill and elsewhere.

On his own website, Steve address these issues and gives details on his Wiccan activities. One article, "America Was Founded on Pagan Ideals," states, "Right-wingers claim that our nation was established in 1776 upon Christian ideals. They're wrong. Democracy and republicanism are historically Pagan ideals, directly opposed to churchly authoritarianism." Read more about it here.

Todd Beaney Releases CD, "Higher Ground"

Todd Beaney has released a CD called "Higher Ground," which he recorded this past summer with violnist Yoshiko Maruyama. Todd says it includes fresh, new renditions of some time-honored hymns, as well as some more contemporary worship songs. Todd did all the arrangements, for violin and piano. The CD sells for $15 plus $2 for shipping. Just send a check made out to Todd, at 71-C Avon Circle, Rye Brook NY 10573. He can also be reached via email. Todd teaches music in the Rye public schools and serves as the Minister of Music (a role that involves work as choir director, pianist, and worship planner) at the Wilton Baptist Church in Wilton, Conn.

Dana Scragg Frank Shares Writing on "Words into Bytes"

From her base in the Texas Hill Country, Dana Scragg Frank has been writing fiction and essays that appear online at Words Into Bytes. One set is called "Letters from the Country," and another "Traveling With Horses" (Dana and friend are shown below). In her day job, Dana spins words into corporate magic on the website of high-tech firm VIEO, Inc.

Tina Treadwell Produces New Play in LA on the Life of Sojourner Truth

Tina Treadwell is the producer of Sojourner, a new play about the life of Sojourner Truth, an ex slave who traveled throughout America denouncing slavery and slavers, advocating freedom and women’s rights, women’s suffrage and temperance (a generation before Harriet Tubman).

Sojourner opens at The Hudson Theatre in Hollywood on February 13 and continues every Sunday in February for Black History Month and in March for Women’s History Month, closing March 20.

Tina produced the original production of Dinah Was with Douglass Sills and helped launch the careers of Hilary Duff, Shia Lebeouf, Lee Thompson Young and NSYNC during her tenure as head of Talent Development and Music Specials at Disney Channel. She is now president of Treadwell Entertainment, an LA based company that develops and produces music driven, multi-cultural projects for TV, film and theater.

Ted Fishman's Book "China Inc." Explores Shake-Up in Global Economic Order

China today is visible everywhere -- in the news, in the economic pressures battering America, in the workplace, and in every trip to the store. Ted Fishman's new book "China Inc.:  How the Rise of the Next Superpower Challenges America and the World" explains how the profound shift in the global economic order has occurred -- and why it already affects us all. Ted's Feb. 15 appearance on National Public Radio can be found at the NPR archives.

Ted's essays and reports have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Money, Harper's, Worth, Esquire, USA Today, GQ, Chicago magazine, and Business 2.0. His commentaries have been featured on Public Radio International's Marketplace. A former floor trader and member of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, he ran his own trading firm until 1992. He lives in Chicago.

Steve Sklar's Blog, Frog Rhythms, Watches the World from France

Steve Sklar has joined the cutting-edge of communications with his blog called Frog Rhythms. The motto gives the blog's perspective: "Political musings from an American in France." Steve works as a translator and publishes his musings from Lyon. Vive le blog!

Houston-based Amy Myers Jaffe is writing a column that appears every Thursday in the New York Sun, a two-year old daily. Called "Energy Flows," the column focuses on the Middle East (e.g., Iraqi elections, OPEC) with plans to cover other U.S. and global aspects of energy and oil. 

The column grew from Amy's outreach work as the Wallace S. Wilson Fellow for Energy Studies at Rice University's James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy. She is also the associate director of the Rice Energy program, which conducts energy science research and policy. Amy's outreach includes public speaking and frequently briefing the print and broadcast media on energy studies and topics. For more information on Amy's work, see the Rice website. Amy is the first link at the top of the page.

In addition to the Sun column, Amy occasionally appears on CNN, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, and MSNBC. Amy tells us, "My big claim to fame this year is that I had the quotation of the week in the New York Times. That's easy to do when the price of oil goes above $50."

Alan Safran's Tough-Love Charter School

Since July 2002, Alan Safran has served as executive director of the Media and Technology Charter High School (MATCH) in Boston. Previously the senior associate commissioner of Massachusetts' Dept. of Education, the position enabled Alan to "get down in the trenches,” he said in a March 24, 2004 article in the Princeton Alumni Weekly. “I had a craving to be in a school. I wanted to be close to individual kids and their lives. I felt a hunger to contribute something directly to kids as opposed to policy changes that the schools may or may not implement.” More on MATCH can be found at the school's website.

Josh Kornbluth's 'Ben Franklin: Unplugged'

Josh Kornbluth revived his 1998 monologue "Ben Franklin: Unplugged" on Oct. 19 at the Magic Theater in San Francisco. Described by Josh as a "kind of a comic-historical auto/biographical mystery," BFU runs through Nov. 28. Josh writes on his website, "This piece was my first collaboration with director David Dower, with whom I more recently created 'Love & Taxes.'" Now's a great time to see it, since January 17 marks the tricentennial of Franklin's birth. Josh was also featured in the April 21, 2004 Princeton Alumni Weekly.

Eve LaPlante Reflects on an "American Jezebel"

Eve LaPlante has published her latest book, American Jezebel: The Uncommon Life of Anne Hutchinson, the Woman who Defied the Puritans. Published by HarperCollins, the book details the case of Anne Hutchinson, a midwife banished by the Massachusetts General Court in the 1600s and the model for Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter. LaPlante, an 11th-generation granddaughter of Hutchinson, captures this American heroine's life in all its complexity, presenting her not as a religious fanatic, a cardboard feminist, or a raging crank -- as some have portrayed her -- but as a flesh-and-blood wife, mother, theologian, and political leader.

Opening in a colonial courtroom, American Jezebel moves back in time to Hutchinson's childhood in Elizabethan England, exploring intimate details of her marriage and family life. The book narrates her dramatic expulsion from Massachusetts, after which her judges, still threatened by her challenges, promptly built Harvard College to enforce religious and social orthodoxies -- making her midwife to the nation's first college. In exile, she settled Rhode Island (which later merged with Roger Williams's Providence Plantation), becoming the only woman ever to co-found an American colony.

For more information, see the HarperCollins webpages about the book, or LaPlante's personal website.

Bob Silverman's Iraq Work Featured in Wall Street Journal
The March 17, 2004 issue of the Wall Street Journal had a front-page article about Bob Silverman's yeoman work as the "top U.S. administrator for the province that Saddam Hussein calls home." The richly detailed article discusses how Silverman "won allies in the heart of Iraqi resistance." Here's how Journal writer Yaroslav Trofimov summarized Silverman's work: "In the weeks after his meeting with the sheik [Naji al Jabara], Mr. Silverman engineered a revolution in the province. Through a mixture of cajolery, persuasion and edicts backed by U.S. military force, Mr. Silverman managed to pull leaders of several major tribes into the U.S. crafted political structure -- without turning Shiekh Naji's powerful clan into foes. . . . Along the way, Mr. Silverman dodged rockets, escaped a car bomb and helped discover an insurgent spy on his staff." The article is not available on line, but it is well worth finding at your local library. Silverman has returned to Washington and serves as deputy director of North Gulf Affairs in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs at the State Department.

Mankiw to Lead Council of Economic Advisors
Greg Mankiw pushes the knowledge envelope of the dismal science as Allie S. Freed Professor of Economics at Harvard. Look at post.economics.harvard.edu/faculty/mankiw/mankiw.html. Especially check out his intriguing article from The American Economist on his work style, “My Rules of Thumb,” available in PDF. In late February, Greg's appointment as Chairman of President Bush's Council of Economic Advisors got lots of public notice. The New York Times weighed in with an article titled, "A Salesman for Bush's Tax Plan Who Has Belittled Similar Ideas." Well, what's that all about?