The Wesleyan Connection

Mark Saba ’81

Mark Saba ’81 recently released Painting A Disappearing Canvas (Grayson Books), a collection of poems spanning 30 years. Centering on his Polish and Italian roots in Pittsburgh, the poems focus on the subject of family life and universal themes of what it means to be alive.

Paolo Valesio, professor of Italian literature at Columbia University, writes in the book’s foreword that Saba is a “writer who meditates on the entanglement of his roots and who sounds as if he is tenderly worried that his children not be too bound up with this entanglement while at the same time he is concerned that they do not forget it.” Exploring these complications in such pieces as “Poem of Forgiveness” and “My Mother Straightens Her Babushka,” Saba creates a lyrical autobiography that, at the same time, connects his own experience to the greater American landscape.

Saba is also the author of the novel The Landscapes of Pater, about a boy’s search for a father figure and trip to his ancestors’ birthplace in Sardinia, and the novella Thaddeus Olsen, within the collection Desperate Remedies, which explores issues of identity, privilege, and the state of higher education in the United States. His narrative epic poem “Judith of the Lights” won the Mellon Poetry Award as part of the collection Three Women: Touching the Boundaries of Life. Besides writing poetry and fiction, Saba works as an illustrator and graphic designer at Yale University.

Poetry book by Mark Saba ’81

Vivian Chau Best ’03

Invited to participate in a local TEDx Talk, Vivian Chau Best ’03 spoke on her “Give It Fresh Today” —or G.I.F.T.—program, in which people at farmers markets will buy a little extra to donate it to homeless shelters. She said she was traveling in Chicago when she first saw a donation table at a local farmers market and was determined to bring the concept back to Hawaii, where she now lives.

She notes that people normally give canned food to a shelter, but the table in Chicago challenged her to think about “what it would feel like to eat something that was fresh, eat something that was in season, eat something that was locally grown.” Additionally she points out that buying more local produce “votes for local availability”—the greater demand for fresh produce translates to dollars invested in farmlands.”I didn’t expect this cause to come and find me, but it did,” she admits.

Already a weekly shopper at the farmers markets in Honolulu (“I love locally grown food”), she started her produce donation program with handmade signs, a basket for food and a jar for monetary donations. Other local organizations and school groups have also gotten involved with G.I.F.T, adding signage and table coverings to raise the visibility of  the project, as well as regularly contributing food and money. (more…)

Refuge Point’s Sasha Chanoff ’94 speaks on Lost Girls of Sudan.

Sasha Chanoff ’94 and the organization he founded, RefugePoint,  were featured prominently on several national media outlets recently, including a special on 60 Minutes on Sunday, March 31. RefugePoint works throughout Africa identifying refugees in life-threatening situations and relocating them to safety.

The CBS news show, 60 Minutes, aired a two-part 20-minute special March 31, on the resettlement of the Sudanese Lost Boys and what has happened over the past decade since they’ve arrived in the United States. Chanoff was instrumental in facilitating this story and was featured in the segment, which included footage of his original contact with these boys whom he helped to relocate and ease their adjustment. “It’s a group that’s lost in time,” Chanoff observed when he first met the boys in the refugee camp and was giving them information about life in America. His information sessions even included passing around a handful of shaved ice: “This is what winter feels like in America,” he told the youngsters, who each held the mound of snow,  shivered, laughed, and passed it on to the next boy.

Boston’s NPR-affiliate WBUR aired a segment on how Sudanese orphaned girls were overlooked in the Lost Boys resettlement. Host Sasha Pfeiffer interviewed Sasha Chanoff and Yar Ayuel, one of the 89 Sudanese girls who made it here with the thousands of boys. Chanoff calls the oppression of girls and women “the great moral challenge of our century.” He adds: “Humanitarian agencies have to put girls front and center. They have to consider the particular vulnerabilities that girls face. Because if they don’t, girls are overlooked and they’re forgotten. That’s what happened with the Lost Girls of Sudan, and that’s what’s happening today in many situations as well.”

Additionally, The Boston Globe published an op-ed from Chanoff about why the Sudanese girls were overlooked.

“This shines the light on some of the horrors refugee children face and the inspring success of those who have the opportunity to rebuild their lives. I hope we can continue to also draw attention to the plight of overlooked and forgotten refugee girls, who often face even greater danger,” Chanoff said.

Also see:

http://www.wesleyan.edu/magazine/magazine/alums/09-3/awesleyanfamily_alums.html

http://community.blogs.wesleyan.edu/2011/07/02/sasha-chanoff-%E2%80%9994-of-refugepoint-political-turbulence-deadly-for-refugees/

http://newsletter.blogs.wesleyan.edu/2010/08/03/chanoff-94-receives-humanitarian-award/

http://wesconnect.wesleyan.edu/s/1318/index_social.aspx?sid=1318&gid=1&pgid=1160&cid=2404&ecid=2404&ciid=7611&crid=0

https://newsletter.blogs.wesleyan.edu/2010/12/02/chanoff-%E2%80%9994-darfur-resettlement-on-abc-world-news/

http://www.wesleyan.edu/patricelli/videos.html

#THISISWHY

Stephen McCarthy ’75 speaks in the Patricelli Center on March 28.

“Being called a salesperson is not a perjorative term,” said Stephen McCarthy ’75. McCarthy, senior vice president of KCG Capital Advisors and co-founder of Wesleyan Alumni in Philanthropy and Public Service, led 10 students in a “Social Entrepreneurship Boot Camp” March 28 at the Patricelli Center.

The session on “business plan essentials” covered what it takes to sell an idea, get funding and launch a project. McCarthy stressed the importance of knowing your audience when pitching ideas, leveraging funding to attract new investors, lining up advisors and measuring success.

He also sampled and critiqued proposals he is currently reviewing for the N.Y.U. Stern School of Business $200K grant competition, and encouraged aspiring Wesleyan entrepreneurs to study that type of competition to learn what funders are looking for in start-ups.

The boot camp is the first in a series of sessions designed to foster social entrepreneurship sponsored by the Patricelli Center for Social Entrepreneurship, Wesleyan Alumni in Philanthropy and Public Service (WAPPS) and the Wesleyan Career Center. To learn more, follow the Engage blog at  http://engageduniversity.blogs.wesleyan.edu.

Jennifer Sorenson ’01

Jennifer Sorenson ’01 is one of only three women from the Natural Resources Defense Council’s San Francisco office to be recognized as a “rising star.” In an NRDC press release, the women were lauded as “represent[ing] the next generation of the Bay Area’s environmental movement, seeking innovative new solutions to the world’s greatest environmental and health challenges.” Sorenson was one of 12 lawyers to receive a Distinguished Environmental Advocates Award at the American Bar Association’s Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources (SEER) at their annual spring conference in March.

Sorenson serves as chief litigator in a case challenging the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s refusal to ban the non-therapeutic use of antibiotics in livestock feed, although this same practice has been proven to diminish the effectiveness of some antibiotics in treating infections in human patients. Last year, the federal district court ruled in favor of NRDC and the other citizen group plaintiffs in two major decisions; the case is now up on appeal in the Second Circuit.

“It’s a tremendous honor to be recognized by the ABA’s Environment Section,” Sorenson said in the NRDC release. “The award is a testament to the strength and vision of NRDC’s Litigation Team, which gives junior attorneys the training they need to bring cases that can make a real difference in people’s lives.”

Previously, Sorenson worked on an environmental justice case in Dickson County, Tenn., which settled with an agreement by the government to place lower-income rural communities on public water, because their well-water had been contaminated by chemicals leaching from an unregulated landfill.

Andrew McCulloch ’76

Andrew McCulloch ’76, president of Kaiser Permanente’s Northwest region, was one of a team of 11 “Health Care Heroes” honored as Statesman of the Year by the Oregon Business Association in 2012. Instead of one “Statesman,” the association decided to recognize pre-eminent contributors to health reform.

Kaiser Permanente is an integrated health care delivery organization combining a nonprofit insurance plan with its own hospitals and clinics. With over 37 hospitals, 17,000 doctors, and a state-of-the-art electronic medical record system, the organization has achieved highly coordinated and personalized patient care while focusing on keeping people healthy and preventing illness. As president of the northwest region, McCulloch oversees the operation of this integrated health care system, encompassing both medical and dental care, and providing services  to nearly 500,000 members in Oregon and southwest Washington. Under his leadership, the company has received accolades for clinical quality and patient satisfaction. Prior to joining Kaiser Permanente in 2006, McCulloch was president and CEO of Community Mercy Health Partners in the Dayton/Springfield area of Ohio. He holds a master’s degree in hospital and health care administration from the University of Minnesota. A fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives, he received the Regent’s Award for outstanding contributions to the field of health care administration.

Additionally, McCulloch has hired a Wesleyan summer intern for the past two years and now has formally established an annual Cardinal Internship at KP, with this, the third Wes intern, for summer 2013.

The state of Oregon is currently a leader among states in the effort to transform its health care system, expanding Medicaid through unprecedented care coordination among providers. Oregon received a five-year, $1.9 billion grant from the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, employing many of the same concepts that have guided Kaiser Permanente’s system for decades: focusing on prevention and chronic disease management, and linking care with an electronic medical record. This goal is to improve health outcomes and reduce cost increases.

Learn more in this video.

Jesse Lansner ’96

The 36th annual American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, held in Brooklyn, N.Y. March 8–10 proved to be a great place for Wesleyan alumni to shine. Out of nearly 600 contestants from all over the country, Jesse Lansner ’96 came in 57th; Olin Documents Librarian Ehrhard Konerding MALS ’82 came in 62nd—both in the top 15 percent.

“This is my fifth time at this competition,” said Konerding, adding, “my first year, when Jesse and I were rookies, we got second and I got third in that category.”

Konerding noted that the puzzlers tend to know each other, traveling around in the same circuit of contests, and the competition is best described as genial. “This is not something everybody does,” he said. “You realize that you are fortunate enough to have this talent—or skill, or curse—and you like to spend time with others who do, too. I think it’s all about making associations pretty quickly; the same clue can have different answers, from very obvious to ones that require nonlinear thinking.”

Ehrhard Konerding MALS ’82

Other Wesleyan alumni in attendance included Sabina Brukner ’82, and Ed Stein ’6o. Stein, who was profiled in the previous issue of Wesleyan Magazine with his original Wesleyan-themed puzzle, gives frequent seminars—on campus and in his community—on the art of completing crossword puzzles. A creator of puzzles, as well, he has had several accepted for publication in the New York Times.

Dan Shannon ’01 and Annie Shannon

Betty Goes Vegan (Grand Central Publishing) by Annie and Dan Shannon ‘01 is one of the first comprehensive, everyday cookbooks for creating meals for today’s vegan family. This must-have guide features more than 500 recipes inspired by The Betty Crocker Cookbook, as well as hundreds of original, never-before-seen recipes that may also entice meat eaters. In preparation for the book, the authors attempted to cook all the Betty Crocker recipes vegan-style.

Cookbook by Annie and Dan Shannon ’01

The book offers insight into why Betty Crocker has been an icon in American cooking for so long—and why she still represents a certain style of the modern super-woman nearly 100 years after the nation first encountered her. Betty Goes Vegan introduces new classics for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert, including omelets, stews, casseroles, and brownies.

Dan and Annie Shannon live in Brooklyn, New York. Dan was previously the director of Youth Outreach & Campaigns for PETA and is now a senior strategist for the social movement strategy consulting company Purpose. He does the dishes. Annie has worked at the animal advocacy organization In Defense of Animals and as the fashion industry liaison for the Humane Society of the United States. She does most of the cooking.

Authors web site

Singer-songwriter Tess Amodeo-Vickery ’07 debuts her first music video “When I Think about You” on YouTube. The video was filmed in Rome, Italy with director Federico Iris Osmo Tinelli.

Jodi Daynard ’79

Jodi Daynard ’79 recently published her first novel, The Midwife’s Revolt (Opossum Press), a work of historical fiction set during the founding days of America. The novel centers on midwife Lizzie Boylston from her grieving days of widowhood after Bunker Hill, to her deepening friendship with Abigail Adams, and finally to her dangerous work as a spy for the Cause. Daynard takes the reader into the real lives of colonial women patriots and explores human connections in a violent time.

Novel by Jodi Daynard ’79

According to Publishers Weekly, the book is “a charming, unexpected, and decidedly different take on the Revolutionary War.”

Daynard also is the author of The Place Within: Portraits of the American Landscape by 20 Contemporary Writers. Her essays have been nominated for several prizes and mentioned in Best American Essays. She has taught writing at Harvard University, M.I.T., and in the MFA program at Emerson College, and served for seven years as fiction editor at Boston Review.

Author website

Read an excerpt from The Midwife’s Revolt

Leonard Burman ’75

Respected tax scholar Leonard Burman ’75 is the co-writer (with Joel Slemrod) of Taxes in America: What Everyone Needs to Know (Oxford University Press), a clear, concise explanation of how the U.S. tax system works, how it affects people and businesses, and how it might be improved. This highly accessible book, organized in a question-and-answer format, describes the intricacies of the modern tax system in an easy-to-grasp manner.

Book by Leonard Burman ’75

The book starts with the basic definitions of taxes and then examines more complicated and controversial issues. They address such questions as: How much more tax could the IRS collect with better enforcement? Why do corporations pay so little tax, even though they earn trillions of dollars every year? And what kind of tax system is most conducive to economic growth?

In his Forbes magazine review, Howard Gleckman says that the book “is no polemic for tax reform, but it is a powerful brief for such an effort. [The authors] are satisfied to describe how the law works, what taxes do to those who pay them and the economy at large, and how today’s revenue system was created. That design will make it a well-thumbed resource in the upcoming tax reform debate.”

Burman is Daniel Patrick Moynihan Professor of Public Affairs at Maxwell School of Syracuse University.

From left, Jason Forde ’01, Terrance Williams ’02, Andre Charles ’06, Justin Weir ’02 work with an afterschool program devoted to developing student athletes academically, socially and athletically.

Five years ago, Terrance “Munch” Williams ’02 began coaching a group of 12-year-old boys, playing basketball in the gym of a New York City recreation center. Now, that same group of boys is ranked first in the country, champions of the 16u Invitational Division at the Las Vegas Fab 48 tournament.

The boys are members of Team SCAN, an afterschool program devoted to developing student athletes academically, socially and athletically in the South Bronx and East Harlem areas. Under the management and coaching of Justin Weir ’02, Williams, Andre Charles ’06 and Jason Forde ’01 work with Team SCAN to provide a variety of extracurricular programming for a wide age range of kids. Winning championships is only one part of the plan.

Williams originally created the team while working for the Supportive Children’s Advocacy Network (SCAN) as Center Director of the Mulally Recreation Center. He came across a group of talented 11- and 12-year-olds, willing to learn how to properly play basketball. When he brought the kids to compete in the Hoops On the River Youth Basketball Tournament in 2008, Williams bumped into Weir and Forde, who were running the competition.

Afterwards, Williams invited the two men to observe his team’s practices, and he offered them an opportunity to get involved. “We were all looking for a way to get back,” says Forde, who played intramural basketball with Williams at Wesleyan. “We all love the sport of basketball, playing together and watching basketball.”

Forde and Weir joined Williams in coaching the kids to compete in more tournaments— not only locally, but also in Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) competitions “outside of the New York area, to give them an idea of how life is outside the city.”

The new coaching team also decided that Team SCAN should serve a greater educational purpose as well: With programming for both middle and high school-level boys, Team SCAN aims to “hold them accountable for being a responsible student as well as a responsible citizen, and stay out of trouble.” They hope to help the kids get admitted and transition into private or boarding schools and to prepare them academically, as well as socially, for college and life.

“We track their grades, get their report cards, and if there are any issues we have an open line of communication between not only the kids but with their advisors,” Forde says. Team SCAN requires a minimum GPA of 2.5 from each kid. Not only is that important in school placement, but it also meets the NCAA requirements for college athletes. The program provides a wide array of academic supports services to accomplish this goal, from tutoring to SSAT (Secondary School Admission Test) and SAT prep classes. (more…)