Seen & Heard

QUOTE/UNQUOTE "My wife says whatever I do,it won't involve a coat and tie." —FORMER MAINE GOVERNOR ANGUS KING '66 ON HIS PLANS NOW THAT HE'S LEFT OFFICE

QUOTE/UNQUOTE "What I perform has nothing to do with personal experiences....I look back and think I must be possessed.' -PERFORMER GORDON JAMES '91, ON HIS ONE-OF-A-KIND SHOWS

Dartmouth alums may have caught some familiar sounds during NBC's remake of Carrie on November 4 (and considering that 12 million people watched it, odds are there are one or two of you out there). In NBC's remake, as Carrie was announced as prom queen, the music in the background sounded distinctly like "Dartmouth's In Town Again." The fight song merged into the "Dartmouth Touchdown Song," and then, during the climactic scene when pigs blood is dumped on Carrie, "As the Backs Go Tearing By" filled the air. The music was an homage by the films executive producer Mark Stern '85 to his alma mater and, yes, it is authentic: the music was recorded by the Marching Band....It is amazing what a name change can do. David Friedman '92 now goes by David Benioff, and these days he is rubbing elbows with some serious Alisters. You may have read his first book, The 2sth Hour, and maybe you saw the movie—the Spike Lee joint, backed by Disney, premiered in December in New York and Los Angeles. You single women out there may have taken notice last year when he was named one of People magazines 50 most eligible bachelors. Recently the LosAngeles Times brought us up to speed on his ventures, and they are many. Among them: a screenplay for a remake of the Ernest Hemingway classic For Whom The Bell Tolls. "It was sort of a dream come true," Benioff told the Times. "The head of the studio basically said, 'pick your book.'" Despite his accomplishments, Benioff remains wary: "I always dread I'll screw up. I think you can have success, but you always know you're judged by the last thing you write"...Ralph Damiano '76 has come a long way since his freshman year in med school, when he was asked to sit with patients whose diseases or medications made them violent or physically threatening. Damiano is now the chief of cardiac surgery and the John Schoenberg Professor of Surgery in the Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine. In 1998 he performed the first robotically assisted bypass graft in the United States, and he continues to pioneer the use of robotics as he researches ways to improve the technology. "We have three basic missions at Washington: clinical care, research and education," Damiano recently told the school newspaper, the Record. "Robotics merges them all together, which is very gratifying"...Geologist Karen Harpp '86, who has most recently been researching the origin and evolution of the Galapagos Islands, has earned the 2002 Donald and Carolyn Biggs Earth Science Teaching Award from the Geological Society of America. The honor recognizes the accomplishments of teachers early in their academic careers, according to the Oneida, NewYork, Daily Dispatch. "I take a hands-on approach, having them do what scientists actually do and explore the world around them, be it using geology or chemistry or any other science," says Harpp, an assistant professor of geology at Colgate University in Hamilton, New York. "There's nothing as exciting as making a discovery yourself or being able to explain something you've wondered about for years—why mountains are found in certain places and ocean basins in others, why some volcanoes erupt and others just ooze lava. This is something that also helps demystify science for the students, when they realize that it's a creative, dynamic and exciting process of discovery and that it helps explain how the world works." Harpp specializes in geochemistry, volcanology and introductory geology and also teaches a course on the advent of the atomic bomb.... The San Francisco Chronicle recently tackled the charter school debate raging in California with a feature story on the new Lionel Wilson College Prep Academy in Oakland. The principal there is Troyvoi Hicks '90, an Oakland native who tells the Chronicle he is fulfilling a dream he has long had to return to the area and start a school....Christopher Berg'89 was featured in another section of the Chronicle—in a profile by Eve Kushner '90—winning accolades for his book AMAZEing Art Wonders of the Ancient Worlds. Berg created maze art in the book with impressionistic line drawings of famous old architectural structures such as the Parthenon, the Colosseum and the Mayan pyramids. Berg is a trivia master who can discourse on any number of topics: As the article says, "One would be wise to snag him as a lifeline on Who Wants to Be A Millionaire!" Look for an exclusive piece of Berg's work in a future issue of DAM.... How many of you in the New York area have attended a catered clambake in recent years, be it at a rooftop party in the city, a tailgate at Giants Stadium or some major event such as the New York City Police Foundations annual party? The man behind the bake is Jim Sanford '59, who attended his first clambake at Lake Sunapee near Hanover at age 8 and never lost the love. Sanford now owns Catered Clambake in New York City and was recently profiled by the Columbia News Service, the news syndicate of the Columbia School of Journalism. Several years ago Sanford developed an urban, portable clambake (stocked with seaweed he brings in from Maine) that enables him to cook clambakes for 100 people in the space needed to park a car. Sanford is a popular man during the summer—he caters up to 60 parties a year, and many of his clients keep coming back for more. "I'm probably not making as much money as other Ivy League graduates because I only work five months a year," he says, "but I'm doing what I love."...The Wall Street Journal profiled the new attitude being taken at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York—and front and center was director Maxwell Anderson '77.The "Leisure & Arts" section praised him mightily: "Less visible but perhaps more important than recent collecting coups are the ways in which Mr. Andersons Whitney has quietly become a model for responsible, foresighted museum stewardship, with an eye to enhancing not only itself but the entire field. More creatively, he forged a series of innovative collaborations with a variety of educational and cultural institutions." In July Anderson and his museum will unveil "The American, Seen," an exhibit that explores how foreign artists view America....In keeping with the museum clique, Valerie Steele '78 received words of praise in Judith Thurman's. "In Fashion" article in the November 18 New Yorker. Steele is curator at the Museum of the Fashion Institute of Technology, and the piece dealt predominantly with Steele's recent installation there titled "Femme Fatale: Fashion and Visual Culture in Fin-de- Siecle Paris."...James DeMarco '59, owner of the third-largest cranberry-producing operation in the country, has long been a lightning rod in the cranberry world. DeMarco recently made news when he announced he would sign an option with the New Jersey Conservation Foundation to sell or donate nearly all his land to the preservation organization. It is a tidy sum of property: DeMarco, his brother and his sister own nearly 800 acres of prime cranberry bogs and more than 9,400 acres of pristine woodlands in the heart of the Pine Barrens region. "My family has been involved here for many years," DeMarco said in a large article in The NewYork Times. "But you reach the point where you have to think about going forward. I love the area. I love the land. I don't believe in cutting trees."...Clifford Rust '86 would certainly understand the reason we end with his amazing tale: In show business, the goal is to leave them wanting more. TheBoston Globe chronicled his return to singing with the distinguished Handel & Haydn Society prior to its first appearance this winter. What made it so incredible was that in July he injured his spine while mountain biking, an accident that often leaves people as quadriplegics. "The initial prognosis was that he'd be in a wheelchair for eight months to a year," says Judith Rust '84, his wife of 14 years. And to sing, he had to re-learn everything, starting with breathing and movement. "It was just incredible therapy on every level, physical and mental," says Rust, whose recovery is progressing. As Handel's chorus would declare, Hallelujah!

Karen Harpp '86

Mike Mahoney is associate director of athleticmedia services at Northwestern University inEvanston, Illinois, and the 92 class secretary.