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Pomona College Magazine is published three times a year by Pomona College
550 N. College Ave, Claremont, CA 91711
Online Editor: Mark Kendall
For editorial matters:
Editor: Mark Wood
Phone: (909) 621-8158
Fax: (909) 621-8203
PCM Editorial Guidelines
Contact Alumni Records for changes of address, class notes, or notice
of births or deaths.
Phone: (909) 621-8635
Fax: (909) 621-8535
Email: alumni@pomona.edu
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Sagehens Sound Off
Letters to the Editor
Too Liberal?
At least seven of the articles George E. Sayre ’56 (Fall 2006 PCM)
listed directly relate to
raising families and keeping them together— or about overcoming great
obstacles to find success. Those sound like pretty conservative ideas to
me—and I think would directly apply to all those Pomona graduates who
are working and raising families.
If he is primarily looking for articles about alumni and students making
money, he might appreciate the stories in the last issue aboutstudent-run
businesses, or about Economics Professor Gary Smith’s research. But
since Pomona was not a career- or business-oriented college, I fail to
see why the alumni magazine should have that focus. Personally, I read
PCM to get my mind off of my job and to get inspired about other things.
Finally, at least for the older alumni like himself, I challenge his
assertion that the vast majority of Pomona graduates made themselves
without government assistance. As has been extensively documented in
Tamara Draut’s book Strapped, many people in his generation got a lot
more support from the government in most areas of life than the young
alums of today are getting. I hope you never compromise on your
excellent magazine articles just because someone calls it “too liberal.”
—Nate Derby ’97
Seattle, Wash.
I have never considered earthquake relief, autism, disabilities or
honeymoons to be political topics—neither liberal nor conservative. They
are simply human issues. Add to that, “the lonely lives of older
people”—a group we all find ourselves joining in time. I have no
statistics to challenge those that George Sayre ’56 seems to have access
to; I don’t know what is “dear” to my fellow liberals or what the “vast
majority of Pomona graduates” relate to. But I personally find the
articles in Pomona College Magazine to be interesting,
challenging and enlightening.
—Charles Finn ’85
Oceanside, Calif.
Remembering “Hank” Lee ’37
I am writing regarding your article on Henry Lee ’37 that appeared in
the Fall 2006 PCM.
Professor Claudia Rankine “says she doesn’t know much about Lee”. My
acquaintance with “Hank” was as a student employee on the dishwasher at
the girls’ dormitory during 1934-35. He was a physically solid,
medium-sized man about 5’6” weighing about 150 pounds. He was a
good-looking man with brown hair, brown eyes and a friendly face. We
worked every
night after the dinner serving, clearing the dirty dishes and putting
them through the
steaming dishwasher. It was an uncomfortable environment on those hot
summer days. He
was impressive to me because not only was he working his way through
college but he was
enrolled in the College ROTC program and was a member of the Pomona
football team.
s a football player he wasn’t a “scat back” but a lineman playing guard.
Hank had a pleasant easygoing manner. He was an interesting
conversationalist and easy to talk to. He was a good team worker and
never griped or complained. The steamy dishwasher is not an ideal place
for conversation but Hank joined in with the usual give-and-take that
goes on among students doing non-academic jobs. But, there was never any
indication of his poetic abilities.
I hope that this thumbnail sketch of my remembrance of Hank puts a
little light on what Hank was like to a fellow student employee working
his way through college.
—Walter C. deRenne ’38
Solana Beach, Calif.
Coffee & Milk
In response to a letter by Steve Graff ’75 (Fall 2006 PCM) regarding
“Coffee & Milk” that appeared in the Spring 2006 PCM, let me set the
record straight. Sanitation is not an issue. Besides being natural,
breastfeeding is clean. Feces are not. No comparison here. We have
restrooms to contain waste products from our bodies that can potentially
cause the spread of disease. I’ll change my baby’s diaper there, but I
won’t go there to nurse her.
In addition, breastfeeding is not about your comfort. It is about the
physical and emotional health of both mother and child. Many states
recognize the tremendous importance of breastfeeding by legally
protecting a mother’s right to nurse in public. For the uncomfortable,
uninitiated or uninformed, let me provide a little breastfeeding
information and etiquette.
Information:
• The best food for human babies is human breast milk. By far.
• Babies have very small stomachs and need to eat frequently (much more
frequently, by the way, than adults poop).
• Nursing provides benefits in addition to being a great food, such as
comfort and touch.
• Mothers are still human. We have every right and need to go out and
live our lives as
normal while we have nursing children.
• Nursing is completely sanitary.
• The World Health Organization recommends breastfeeding until your
child is at least two years old.
Etiquette:
• Breastfeeding moms need positive reinforcement. If you are brave
enough, look her in the eye (not the breast!) and smile. Congratulate
her for breastfeeding.
• If you are not that brave, simply avert your eyes and mind your own
business. (This tactic will keep you from seeing anything you don’t want
to see.)
• If you are uncomfortable, remember that emotional discomfort doesn’t
mean there is something wrong—it is a sign that you have room for
growth.
Thank you to each and every mother who has breastfed her baby in public.
You have done yourself, your baby and your sisters a good turn.
—Julie S. Nathanielsz ’89
Newfield, New York
Politically Correct Challenge
Political Correctness is thought to have emerged from the Seven Sisters,
the elite and venerable women’s colleges of Eastern U.S. It has,
however, been warmly clasped to the
bosom of the Liberal Left in Britain. An award is offered annually to
most outstanding “politically correct” arrest made by the British
police. This year the award has been shared by
two divisions of London’s “finest.” The first episode occurred at an
otherwise peaceful street protest, when a college student approached a
mounted policeman and said, “Excuse me, officer; I’m sure your horse is
gay.” He was immediately arrested and charged with causing “emotional
distress to the horse and its rider.” He was later released with a
warning as to his future conduct. The second case actually went to
court. Two railwaymen from the London Subway were charged with eating
“jelly babies” (English confectionary) in a racially provocative manner.
A passing policeman evidently saw them bite the heads of black jelly
babies. The case cost some $500,000 to bring to court but immediately
collapsed when the
constable was unable to assure “my learned friends” that the two men had
not eaten “jellies”
of different colours in the same manner.
I will send a bottle of the finest Scottish malt whisky to anyone at
Pomona who finds better examples of "polite" poliece behaviour in the
"Land of the Loonies"-- my beloved Southern California.
—John Cameron ’64
St. Andrews, Scotland
The Alphabet Sentence
In “Saying It With Humor” (Fall 2006 PCM), writer Anne Shulock ’08
quotes Clifford Wu’s [Class of 2008] description of the sentence “The
quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog” as “the shortest one using all
26 letters in the alphabet.” It is not. One shorter sentence using all
26 letters, though not necessarily the shortest, is “A quick brown fox
jumps over the lazy dog.”
—Steve Kass ’77
Madison, New Jersey
Sagehens Remembered
I noticed this story in the Nov. 22, 2006, Arizona Republic: Arizona’s
“A Mountain” is otherwise known as Sentinel Peak (elevation 2,885) and
sits a couple miles west of campus. A 160-foot high and 70-foot wide
rock and mortar block “A” was constructed by students between November
1915 and March 1916 in commemoration of an upset football victory over
Pomona. For decades, freshman students whitewashed the "A” at the start
of the fall semester, but in recent years the paint scheme has changed
to the school colors of red, white and blue. It’s nice to know we’re
remembered.
—Robert Clark ’78
Tempe, Ariz.
Crosby Mystery Solved
I’ve just opened the very handsome Fall 2006 edition of PCM. As I wasn’t
expecting to find
a notice of my crime novel (Deadly Secrets: A Paris Mystery) in this
issue, coming across it in BookMarks was a pleasant surprise, and I
thank you. I am puzzled, however, to discover
that I am a member of the Class of 1970, an honor I don’t deserve.
Congratulations on yet another enticing issue.
—Virginia Crosby
San Francisco, Calif.
Editor’s Note: In the 2000 Pomona College Alumni Directory,
Virginia Crosby—an emerita
professor of Romance languages and former director of college relations
at Pomona—is listed
with a “70H” after her name. After a bit of sleuthing of our own, we
discovered that honorary
alumni status was quietly bestowed on Crosby and a number of other
trustee and faculty
members by the Alumni Office some years ago. It was that listing that
apparently confused
our fact-checkers.
Albums Take Us Back
I recently purchased an LP (yep, vinyl ... I’m an old guy) which was
Fred Waring and the
Pennsylvanians College Memories from about 1956. One of the cuts was a
song they titled
“Torchbearers” (which they attributed as from Pomona College ... where,
they inform
the reader, Waring discovered Jack Best and Robert Shaw ’38). I had
never heard this
song before, but after the 30th playing, I’d like to tell you that it
joins the list of the Top-
100 most beautiful melodies I’ve ever heard. If your College is as
beautiful, I regret staying
in the East most of my academic career.
—Ross Hartsough
Honesdale, Penn.
Carolyn Lyon Tribute
Speakers at the Carolyn Lyon (wife of Pomona’s sixth president, E.
Wilson Lyon)
Memorial Service, held Sept. 30, 2006, at Bridges Hall of Music, spoke
of her impressive
memory. Here is my contribution: My mother, Gertrude Horn ’19, died in
1973 and was one of the alumni recognized in the annual observance in
Memorial Court that spring. Mrs. Lyon spoke with me, remembering her,
and said, “Your mother arranged matilija poppies for the stage of Big
Bridges for your graduation.” That was in 1954! Nineteen years later she
remembered those flowers!
—Perdita Horn Myers ’54
Idyllwild, Calif.
Immigration Reform
Maybe I’ve missed it in prior issues, but I haven’t seen any articles
about immigration
reform. As liberal as Pomona is nowadays, I’m sure that both the
students and faculty have
very forceful opinions on what laws should be enacted by the next
Congress regarding this
very important issue. After retiring in 1991 from a large farming
operation, I decided to start an agriculture consulting company. Having
grown up in Southern Mexico and being fluent in Spanish, I have had many
opportunities to talk to both growers and farm harvest employees about
what might happen concerning this tremendously important topic.
Just California alone needs approximately 500,000 agriculture workers
per year to plant, grow and harvest crops. In addition, almost every
state in the U.S. now has a sizable Latino population doing jobs (here
we go) that us Anglos simply will not do ... and for the most part, they
are not being paid “substandard” wages as many opponents to a
comprehensive immigration reform law would like for us to believe. A
good example of this is the legal compliance audits I do every year for
Driscoll Strawberries. Their growers employ thousands
of Latino workers of both sexes whose piecerate earnings year after year
run from $7 to
$21 per hour. Not too shabby. Constructing a 700-mile fence to “seal our
borders” is ludicrous and won’t accomplish that goal anyway. The only
way to effectively “seal” our border with Mexico is to enact a sensible
guest worker program (not amnesty again) that will permit enough Latino
workers to enter this country on a temporary basis to do the work that
would otherwise be left undone. The key is to have a temporary work card
that using holography would be next to impossible to forge even by
Tijuana standards. No guest worker card, no work; that and only that
would seal the border! Of course this would have to be accompanied by
forceful employer sanctions (the Immigration Reform Act of 1986 has
employer sanctions that have never really been enforced). This problem
is not going away and will become more and more serious with each
passing year ... let’s hope the new Congress comes up with some
sensible, humane solutions.
—Robin Cartwright ’58
Solvang, Calif.
47 Sighting
As a second-year medical student, I was happy to discover that there
would be one less number I’d have to memorize for my course on the
respiratory system. When calculating the
alveolar partial pressure of oxygen, one has to take the barometric
pressure and subtract the
vapor pressure of water at 37ºC. This number is of course 47 mmHg.
PAO2=(PB–47)–PaCO2/R
—Grant E. Keeney ’03
Seattle, Wash.
We welcome letters from alumni and friends. Letters may be edited for
length, style and clarity.
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