Arts and Beholders

Critics, pictures and memories.

Thel-Defense

After reading Noel Perrin's "Artists 22, Philistines 14," ["Curmudgeon," October], I felt I must rise to the defense of my favorite campus sculpture, Thel. Like Mr. Perrin, I walked past that so-called "line of progressively larger pyramids" many times, not understanding their connection. Then one day, I hppened to look down at Thel from the roof of Fairchild (don't ask!) and the connection suddenly became clear those "pyramids" represent the feathers, shaft, and tip of a large arrow slicing through the ground. Thel isnot a conceptual piece—the arrow looks quite realistic from above. At the time, I remember being amazed and delighted at my delayed recognition of the sculpture. Perhaps Mr. Perrin's opinion of Thel would change if he were to take a bird's-eye view.

HANOVER, N.H MICHAELG@ETAK.COM

During Noel Perrin's sculpture walk of the campus, he missed one on the cast face of the Gilman biology laboratory. The sculptor, Huxley Jones, named it Breakthrough. Professor Bill Bal lard '28 alwayscalled it Breakwind

ETNA, N.H.

Revisiting Poetry

The most tactful way to describe "A Poet (Visiting)" by Sarah Messer [October] is as the most self-centered, self-aggrandizing and smug article that I have read since listening to the same attitude from past versions of visiting English lecturers 30 years ago.

Being a poet has never been about staking exclusive claim to enthusiasm, youth, angst or self-declaration of grcatness. When did poetry become "Sticky or Itchy" (a game for children at camp); when did poetry become the art of gratuitous footnote slams at the dead; when did poetry become the exclusive property of trained academics; and When has the Dartmouth Alumni Magazine been reduced to printing the psychopolitico-babble of guest faculty?

Can't you simply publish instead a quality poem (sans angst) of some promising undergraduate?

ELMIRA, N.Y.

Sarah Messer's piece "A Poet Visiting" gives poetry a bad name. Being "inwardly full of form" is awesome, beautiful and terrible. It is great when the true genius applies the hard labor of diligence to create art. On the other hand, anyone who "dares to be a poet" lives in a fool's paradise. In fact, the most well-known professional poets of recent times Fel Castro, Indira Gandhi, P.W. Botha were too savvy to label themselves as poets or show up at workshops. Yet when it came to excuse or pretext they were never wrong.

I do not mean harm to anyone, least of all Indira Gandhi. I'm just trying to scrape some of the nailpolish off my claw. (How many of you masters of poetry trivia get that reference? Can you feel it?)

MINNEAPOLIS, MINN.

Writing as Art

David Shribman'sessay "Miraculously Builded" [November] is a masterful example of writing as an art form a beautifully crafted profile of Ed Lathem, and indeed, without intention, of David himself. Be sure to let us all know what Ed Lathem had to say about David's essay.

DUXBURY, MASS. VOXREED@MINDSPRING.COM

Military Realities

I am deeply offended by Professor Colleen Randall's description of the military as "Grown men acting out childish fantasies.... They are unaware of the real consequences of their actions" ["Objét D'artmouth," October]. This is an extraordinarily bigoted statement that would surely have raised an outcry had the subject been any group other than the military.

It is entirely appropriate that art be used to illustrate the horrors of war. However, one must remember that acts of war, for better

or worse, are expressions of governmental policy. Our elected and appointed officials promulgate strategies that ultimately determine targets. If you have an objection to a military action, look first to the civilian leadership. There are no rogue pilots careening through the air choosing targets at will. Furthermore, as a witness to military actions of various kinds, I can assure Professor Randall that the consequences of proposed actions are invariably considered to the point of exhaustion. The U.S. military routinely provides everything from massive operations of liberation to educational benefits to untold thousands of young people. Nobody is more aware than I that the miltary is far from perfect. However, if asked to guess whether the military or Dartmouth has had a greater positive impact on the world, I would certainly choose the former.

LIEUTENANT COMMANDER MEDICAL CORPS, U.S. NAVY WASHINGTON, D.C. OLLAYOS@AFIP.OSD.MIL

Editing Life

In your obituary of Frank Kappler '36 ["Obituaries," June] you stated that he "authored many reviews, profiles (à la Tithe) and books, including the Best of Life, LifeGoes to the Movies, Life Goes to War and Life:The First 50 Years." Frank wrote many articles for the various magazines, as well as some for the first three books you list. If anyone "authored" these books it was my late husband, David E. Scherman '36, who completed his long career as photographer and senior editor of Life with that task after the magazine became a monthly. Frank, incidentally, was one of my husband's oldest friends, and Dave was instrumental in bringing him to Time Inc.

STONY POINT, N. Y.

Presidential Ranges

You should have taken a closer look at the illustration accompanying April's "Presidential Range." I'm surprised no one picked up on the blatant sexism. The male side has drafting tools, a map and construction details. The female side has flowers and trees and decorator imagery.

NEW YORK, N.Y. SNUTT@SLCEARCH.COM

I find President Wright ["Presidential Range," May] most lucid and at his most delightfully communicative when he is writing as a historian.

HICKORY, N.C.

In President Wright's article ["Presidential Range," May] is the sentence, "Dartmouth's research faculty takes undergraduate teaching very seriously; my teaching would emphasize this commitment." It is my understanding that the job of all of the College faculty is teaching undergraduates. Is the "research faculty" an additional and separate organization teaching only specific courses?

ALLENTOWN, PA.

President Wright replies: "Iused 'research' asan adjective to describe the (singular) Dartmouth faculty. Dartmouth, unlike many research universities, does not have a separate research facility. All of the faculty in the arts andsciences teach in the undergraduate curriculum.One of Dartmouth's strengths is the commitmentof our faculty to undergraduate teaching."

Car Critique

One can only commend Professor Perrin ["Curmudgeon," September] for his well- intentioned views on the environment and the role electric cars might play in protecting it. I would just like to make several comments for his consideration.

To run electric cars, you need to make electricity. It is not that electric cars do not pollute, rather they shift the problem from the tailpipe to the power station. Each source of electric power generation has its drawbacks, whether it be coal, natural gas, oil, nuclear or hydro. Alternative energies such as solar and wind cannot, at this time, generate the quantity of electricity needed to "refuel" a large national fleet of electric power cars, and there are those that would argue that even wind-power farms are noisy and unattractive.

While the thought of several or even a few hundred all-electric cars zipping around Hanover and being plugged in upon arriving at their destination is actually rather quaint, the question is whether this would work in large cities with hundreds of thousands of people commuting to and from work. Apart from issues such as crime and vandalism, the need to rewire cities to provide electric power to cars would itself be an extremely energy intensive exercise.

Cars in the United States are the cleanest burning in the world, thanks to strict goverment regulation and the inventiveness of engineers at the oil and car companies who were instructed to make running a car meet those regulations. The problem is, as Professor Perrin hints, that U.S. drivers use too much gasoline. In fact, more than 10 percent of total world oil demand ends up being burned in cars in the United States. There are other alternatives. One is cars owered by photovoltaic cells, which are becoming increasingly sophisticated. Professor Perrin also raises the subject of hybrid cars, which use an electric motor at low speeds that is recharged when the car runs on gasoline at higher speeds, thus eliminating the need to plug in the car for recharging. Another alternative being considered is fuel cells, a 160-year-old technology already used by NASA to power certain spacecraft.

I suggest that it is not with OPEC that the United States has a problem. The United States simply uses oil less efficiently than any country in the world, and its our fault. Basically, it's cheap and plentiful, and we're rich. But rich people need to breathe too, and Pro fessor Perrin is right to be helping tomorrow's leaders think about creative solutions that will most certainly be needed.

CAMBRIDGE ENERGY RESEARCH ASSOCIATES PARIS, FRANCE BOGIN@CYBERCABLE.FR

Pictures of Dartmouth

Adrian Bouchard's memorable photograph of President Dickey and students ["Imagemakers," June] is an outstanding example of Dartmouth at its best. The writer snidely contrasts it with"the truer, fuller picture of the modem College." I suggest the picture reflects the traditional and genuine Dartmouth, measurably superior to the gender-obsessed, politically correct, clashing culture of Dartmouth today.

PROVIDENCE, R.I.

George Wallace

Perhaps it's nit-picking, but Wallace Ford 70's description of George Wallace's visit to Dartmouth ["As We See It,"June] contains two errors. That visit, in which Wallace was drowned out by what Wallace biographer Stephan Leshar terms a "particularly raucous and unruly student audience," occurred in May 1967, not 1966. I remember it well because it was just about a month before I graduated from Dartmouth. Moreover, Ford errs in stating that at the time of the Wallace visit to Dartmouth, "four girls had just been murdered in the bomb blast in Birmingham." That tragic event occurred on September 15,1963. Ialso remember that event well, as it took place just days before I left home for my freshman year at Dartmouth.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI

Wallace Ford '70's ords immediately brought back all the excitement, joy, anger and pain of the late sixties at Dartmouth.

Like Wallace Ford, I closely followed the '68 presidential campaign, attended all the speeches by the touring candidates and hapened to get caught in the same whirlwind of protest the day that George Wallace visited Dartmouth. To me, George Wallace made Richard Nixon look good, and I went to hear his speech just to find out how he could twist the minds of good people into buying into his warped vision of America. When I arrived at Webster Hall there were campus police standing guard at the closed doors to the hall and no one was being admitted. This was strange in itself, given the openness of all the other candidates' speeches, but I soon felt in the air a growing reflection of my own hatred for George Wallace in the people locked outside of Webster Hall with me. By whaever twist of fate that occurred that evening I soon found myself pushing through the doors of Webster along with a large angry crowd of those people who wanted to get in and protest his speech.

Once inside there was a brief clamor and then we all found seats and waited for the

candidate to return to the stage. George Wallace had run off the stage followed quickly by his state trooper bodyguards when the prtestors stormed in but finally returned when he thought he could safely get another chance to deliver his cleverly veiled message of hate. We did our best to vocally show our disagreement with his beliefs, but I don't really remember his speech. What I do remember is joining the ensuing protest outside Webster Hall and helping to rock the car that carried this "embarrassment" of a human being.

Did we attempt to trample George Wallace's First Amendment rights that night? Probably. Did he repeatedly abuse the public forum in an attempt to derail American race relations? Most certainly. Would we do the same thing to Milosevic if he happened to drive into Manhattan one day? I hope to God we would. What I learned from Wallace Ford and others that day was to do what you feel is right and to always be ready to add your one drop to even the smallest wave of protest. Who knows where it might lead? Thanks, Wallace Ford.

MERRIMACK, N.H. JEFF@A3DS.COM

Remembrances

I was saddened to read about the death of John Kidder ["Obituaries," March]. I knew Professor Kidder in several contexts, and in each, he was a gem and an asset to the College. I had Professor Kidder my first term at Dartmouth, for Physics 15, "Honors Physics." I was possibly the worst student in the class. I straggled, I considered dropping the course, I performed very poorly on the first exam. Throughout it all, Professor Kidder spent as much time with me as I needed. He could tell that I loved the subject matter, and that was all that mattered to him.

After leaving Dartmouth and finishing graduate school, I wrote Professor Kidder to thank him for his impact on my Dartmouth experience. He was gracious in his response and surprised me by even remembering my nickname. I am sure that he touched the life of many a student as he touched mine. Dartmouth College is very much the poorer for having lost Professor John.

NEWARK, DEL.

Leonard Rieser '44's death was a big loss for Dartmouth as well as the scientific comunity. It is ironic that Len's initial contact with Dartmouth was by default. Len, Don Sheridan '44 and I went through Highland Park (Ill.) High School together and applied for the usual spread of Ivy League schools—most of which required college boards (now known as S.A.T.s). On our way to the tests, Don's car had a flat. By the time we fixed it and got to the test site, the test had begun and they wouldn't let us in. Dartmouth, which did not require college boards, accepted all three of us and we matriculated. Len transferred at the end of his freshman year, and Don and I went onto graduate.

I can't speak for Don or Len, but that flat was one of the most fortuitous events in my life.

LOCUST GROVE, VA.

When one reaches my age, memories become more important and one feels inclined to give thanks for the moments in life that were rich and meaningful. The English department— from 1934 to graduation in 1938—was superlative and as an English major I remember, after 61 years, professors Pressey, Cox, McDuffie, Henderson, Lambuth, Darden and Robinson. Ben Pressey (head of the English department) and Sid Cox were not only great teachers, they were friends to whom I could always go with my problems, my questions, my opinions of various authors. Pressey opened a new world to me by taking me to Woodstock, Vt., to meet and talk with Sinclair Lewis and his wife, Dorothy Thompson. Sid Cox invited me to visit and talk with Robert Frost—in Sid's home, as they were close friends. Many times in my life the philosophy and advice from these men have carried me through crises of one sort or another. At age 83 I remember these men and am forever grateful for what they taught me; more importantly, they helped me grow from boyhood to manhood.

COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO.

Luckiest Alum

Judson Hale '55 muses that he may be the luckiest alumnus who ever lived ["Portraits of the Heart, "June]. This frivolous claim must not be allowed to stand unchallenged. I had always secretly felt that the title was mine.

My father was a railroad clerk and I was the fifth of his eight surviving children. There was always enough to eat, but my mother managed this logistical feat thanks to an ever-substantial balance-due at the neighborhood grocery. At the table, the topic of a college education never came up.

One of the high lights of my high school experience was a basketball trip to White River with an attendant visit to the Dartmouth campus. It was Carnival time and the ice sculptures lent a surreal cast to the event. This place was where dwelt the ghosts of near-mythic sports heroes with names like Masters, Broberg and McCleod. attainable! I fled the choking sawdust of a remote village in northern Vermont by joining the U.S.Navy in 1941. My assignment to convoy duty in the Atlantic-Caribbean theater in 1942-43 was not the way to longevity at the time. One evening, as I stood watch in the radio shack, I filled out a V-12 application form from the Naupers magazine. I squeaked by and named Hanover as my first choice, based partly on that winter fantasy of recent memory.

After 27 months of brute labor interspersed with the joy of discovery, I received my degree and commission in June of 1946. I need no physical reminiscence of Baker Library or of Dartmouth Row. Their clocks are as much a part of me as is my mother's knee. Lucky? Try astronomically unlikely odds!

DERBY, VT,

Global Appeal

I recently went on a vacation to Costa Rica, and I brought a copy of a recent issue of the Dartmouth Alumni Magazine to read on the plane. When I arrived at our hotel in San Jose, I tore off the address label and threw the magazine in the trash. A week later, we stayed in the same hotel. We stopped by the front desk, and something on the desk caught my eye. I saw the words "On the Hill" and looked curiously at the Costa Rican clerk, who didn't speak a word of English. A minute later, I realized that he was sketching a picture from the magazine I had left in the trash a week before!

I am glad to see that the DartmouthAlumni Magazine is reaching such a wide audience.

SOMERVILLE, MASS.

Skiing Moosilauke

The review of Dartmouth skiing ["Dartmouth Undying," March] interested me because I attended the national downhill race on Mt. Moosilauke in February 1933. Ford Sayre '33, a fraternity brother of mine at Phi Gam, needed a few men to patrol the race. Although I was not a skier, I volunteered. Five of us left Hanover and reached the base of the mountain at noon; the temperature was zero. The winds at the top of the mountain were very strong, so Fordie said we would have to wait until evening, when he hoped they would die down. About ten o'clock that night we started up the carriage road, snakeskins. on our skis, and we made good progress until we reached a spot above the tree line. Fordie told us to take off our skis and we would follow him to the winter cabin. I remember taking off my mittens to unfasten my skis and I didn't think I could get them back on my hands were so cold. It was pitch black, the winds strong, 40 degrees below zero, and I was very scared. Fordie had spent several summers on the mountain so he knew every inch of the way. Single file we followed on our hands and knees; after 300 yards we were finally safe in the tiny winter cabin. The stove was started, plenty of blankets and food found. I can tell you it was a great relief to be there.

At six the next morning, it was a sight I'll never forget. A beautiful sunrise, drifting snow, clear as a bell and unbelievable views in every direction. As for the race it- self I don't remember much except skiers flashing by at top speed.

MARBLEHEAD, MASS.

Hollywooders

Let's give Holly Sorensen '86 the benefit of the doubt and say that there are so many successful alums in Hollywood that it's hard to keep track ["Big Green in Tinseltown," April], Here's another she missed: Bob Berlinger '80, who has directed almost 150 hours of network primetime TV; directed 18 network pilots, seven of which have been sold to series; and on cable created the first half-hour comedy for Lifetime as well as directed for Showtime. He's been nominated for the Directors Guild of America award for outstanding achievement for a comedy series, and most recently received a Humanitas prize for an episode of SportsNight he directed.

SEATTLE, WASH. KEITHPI@HOTMAIL.COM

One significant omission from "Big Green in Tinseltown" is Paul Lazarus, '77, a significant Hollywood director whose credits (available at www.us.imdb.com/Name?Lazarus,+Paul) include: Everybody LovesRaymond, Friends, Mad About You, MelrosePlace, Beverly Hills, 90210 and L.A. Law.

SAN DIEGO, CALIF. ROBIN@FELIX.ORG

Bill Phillips '71, Dave Schaefer '63 and Ken Corwen '94 added previously unmentioned names to the enormous roles of alums working in film, theater and television. Still on the Missing in Action list (mixing metaphors, yes, but this is about the film industry, which has become in itself an oxymoron): William Hjortsberg '62 was responsible for turning Tom Cruise into a knight in Ridley Scott's production of Legend and for making Robert De Niro actually act in Angel Heart, based on Hjortsberg's own novel. Cliff Osmond '60 was "discovered" by Billy Wilder, made Kiss MeStupid bearable, acted in hundreds of film and television shows and won all sorts of awards for TV-writing as well. Oscar Arslanian '60 books Fabian, Paul Anka, and the Forgettable '50s all over the place, and, with his wife, Nyla, runs the Hooray for Hollywood Chamber of Commerce Annual Big Deal!

With the enormous numbers of Dartmouth students in the arts, when will the College begin to recognize film as something more than a charming two-hour pastime for merchant bankers? I direct the screenwriting program at Boston University (having been artist-in-residence at Dartmouth for three summers), and most happily snatched Bill Phillips '71 away full-time from the Big Green to teach screenwriting at BU. Bill is now an associate professor at Boston University instead of an adjunct at Dartmouth.

Grow up, Dartmouth. Either bite the bullet and create a genuine film program, or declare yourself for what you are, once and for all: establish a major in mime and the mystery play.

JAMESTOWN, R.I. SGELLER@EDGENET.NET

Dartmouth in D.C.

"The College on (Capitol) Hill" [January] listed alumni who had distinguished themselves in some fashion in Washington. The first entry noted that "Stephen Chase," class of 1826, presided over the impeachment trial of Andrew Johnson. Well, no, he didn't. The Dartmouth alumnus and former chief justice who presided over the trial was Salmon P. Chase. If this Stephen Chase guy had tried to preside over the Senate I think Chief Justice Chase would have been justifiably irked.

I also thought it a bit churlish to dismiss the contributions of Nelson Rockefeller '30 with a smirking reference to his death, but that's a whole other matter.

Oh, and there was another egregious error in the article. It failed to mention entirely my role, as counsel to Senator Jack Danforth (R-Mo.), in helping to draft the special prosecutor provisions of the original Ethics in Government Act. All I can say is, it seemed like a good idea at the time.

ALEXANDRIA, VA.

Name that Tune

A friend at work (Wesleyan '93) told me of a college song that he learned, called "The Old College Medley," with a series of verses, one each for various colleges (Amherst, Williams, Dartmouth, Brown and Wesleyan). Dartmouth's verse goes as follows: "I want to go back to Dartmouth, to Dartmouth on the hill. Way up on top of Dudley's Bus, Away from all the noise and fuss. I want to go back to Dartmouth, to Dartmouth on the hill. I want to go back, I want to go back, to Dartmouth!"

Does anyone know the origin of this song, its other verses or the explanation for the reference to the "top of Dudley's Bus?"

WINCHESTER, MASS. MARWE@AGLRELAW.COM

When. What. Who?

We need help reconstructing a D.O.C. jaunt that took place in late May or early June 1945. Some dozen of us Dartmouth students rode the U.S. Navy truck from Hanover to the Ravine Camp at Moosilauke. We were unergrad navy and marine V- 12s and civilians. We climbed the Snapper Trail to the summit, ran into a snowstorm on top, and descended via the old Beaver Brook Trail to the Lost River Road northeast of the mountain. We lost the trail in the snow, ran into heavy blowdown from the 1938 hurricane, and painfully worked our way to the base of the mountain. Daylight was running short. We were lost. We luckily ran into an abandoned cabin and gladly slept on its dirt floor. The next morning we found our way to the Ravine Camp. We remember that a marine V-12 veteran of the South Pacific broke out in a malaria attack near the summit, that one of us had an insulin reaction, and that Ross McKenney rightfully expressed considerable displeasure to us at the Ravine Camp on our failure to return the previous day. We recall that Dick Repko '48 and the late lan Macartney '48 were aboard with us. If you remember anyone else, fill us in.

10214 DEL MONTE HOUSTON, TX 77042 JAYURSTADT '49 3381 RAILROAD AVE. GREENWICH, CT 06830

A bird's-eye view putsThel inperspective.