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Northwestern welcome letters from readers. We reserve the right to edit for space and style. Send letters to

Northwestern
1800 Sheridan Road
Evanston, IL 60208
Fax: 847-491-3040
E-mail: letters@northwestern.edu

Bravissimo! . . .
I just finished reading the Jan./Feb. 1999 issue of Northwestern and wanted to let everyone who is responsible know that it is greatly appreciated. It certainly makes me feel proud to have gone to a school that produces so many successful and important people . . . in all disciplines.
Diane Brzezinski (SESP97)
Lemont, Ill.

[Northwestern] is a good read and certainly the best since I graduated 37 years ago. With a good mix of articles and excellent use of color and graphics, there is something of interest here for all members of the Northwestern family.
James Nichols (GSM62)
Chagrin Falls, Ohio

Congratulations on the first issue of Northwestern magazine. All of you involved in its production have really got it right! The layout, organization, artwork and especially the articles are so well done that it was difficult to put the magazine down until it was read cover-to-cover. I'd like to let you know that receiving such a well-conceived publication has made this alum proud to be connected to Northwestern.
Howard Walchak (WCAS56)
Evanston

I just finished reading the Jan./Feb. 1999 issue and I must tell you how terrific it is. I am proud to be a music graduate, so the music articles are most interesting to me, but this whole issue was terrific. Good work!
Cathy Venable (Mu89)
Tulsa, Okla.

Congratulations on the beautiful new format. For a long time I've read the alumni magazine and have consistently found articles with unusual and important information. But this issue! It's attractive with lots of color and good artwork, and I loved reading about what Northwestern grads are doing. Fellowships, Nobel Prizes, contributions in a variety of fields. I liked "Global Dreamers," "Nurturing Nature," "Analyzing Asia" and "Mole, Olé!" As I read it, I thought there's more to this than Newsweek. Thank you for the magazine and the top-notch job you're doing.
Elizabeth Mast Colby (SESP39)
Sacramento, Calif.

Congratulations on the new Northwestern magazine! I just read the premier issue and think it is great. Not only is it very well organized, but I particularly like the primary focus on alumni.
Louise von Frantzius Bronoski (WCAS49)
Park Ridge, Ill.

. . . Taking Issue
I have just received my issue of Northwestern and finally slogged my way through the Alumni News section. Unfortunately, the layout made this extremely difficult. Articles were jumped to pages unlisted, and lists were run down sides of page after page instead of being all together for easy reference.

The strangest part of the whole thing was pages 58-63, where alumni news of those still alive alternated with the obituaries. Please don't do this. You find yourself wondering if the person whose name you recognize is dead or alive.
Alice Crancer Rudolph (WCAS79)
Wilmette, Ill.

And Taking Umbrage (Tusc, Tusc)
Your map and story ("Remembering Tuscany," Jan/Feb 1999) totally omitted an entire Italian state: Umbria. Your map spreads the word Tuscany royally across the two states without so much as a "by your leave" for Umbria. Those signs with Umbria on top? And Tuscany with a big red line through it on the bottom? They can start those right on the edge of both Cortona and Montepulciano. But Tuscan, they both are. And proud of it. Perugia and Assisi, on the other hand, would argue that they are quite nicely settled in central Umbria. In fact, the Perugia shown on your map as being in Tuscany? It is actually not only in Umbria, but the capital city of Umbria. I think this is why you can find perfectly lovely Umbrians today who will tell you they have had it just about up to here with all the Tuscany this, Tuscany that. I think I'll just leave this issue home when we go back to Umbria next month. Wouldn't want to be the cause of some border incident.
Stewart Vreeland (GJ72)
Yarmouth, Maine

Rotary Roast
Although I enjoyed reading the article "Global Dreamers" in the Jan./Feb. 1999 issue of Northwestern, I was surprised to see no mention of the Rotary Foundation's Ambassadorial Scholarships Program. Headquartered right here in Evanston, the Ambassadorial Scholarships Program is currently the world's largest privately funded international scholarship program, study institution, language school, or vocational/practical training institute abroad. For 1998-99, there are four foreign students enrolled at Northwestern and two students abroad from Northwestern who are studying through an Ambassadorial Scholarship, which provides funding of up to $23,000 for one year. Applicants must have completed at least two years of university/college coursework or the equivalent by the time they plan to study abroad.
Harvey Newcomb III (WCAS90)
Scholarships Program Supervisor
The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International
Evanston

Button up Your Overcoat
On reading "Rating Northwestern" [News on Campus, Jan./Feb. 1999], I couldn't help but laugh at the comment from the student who said, "One thing I wish I had known before coming here is it's cold. Real cold. If you come here, you'd better bring a really big winter coat." Those comments brought back memories of my first winter. When I came to Northwestern in 1949, I didn't even know the difference between a topcoat and an overcoat. I can remember telling my father at Christmas that the weather wasn't too bad, and I thought I could make it through the winter with my topcoat. By mid-January, I called him and said, "Look, I have found this great overcoat for $60. I wonder if you could send me that much money." Of course he did and I acclimated.
Sutton Marks (GJ51)
Jackson, Miss.

Paging Maureen Holohan
After reading Liza Berger's article about Maureen Holohan ["High Hoops," winter 1999], she's a must for a book-signing here.

My husband, Richard, and I own a newspaper that has been in my family since 1892, and we also operate an independent book and magazine store. Girls basketball here is big right now since [Montgomery County] is the home of the Nokomis Lady Redskins, 1998 and 1999 Class A state champions. The team's star is Molly McDowell, which makes a perfect promotional fit with Holohan's first book, Friday Nights by Molly.
Nancy Bliss Slepicka (WCAS69)
Hillsboro, Ill.

Different Yardsticks
The item touting an increasing average SAT score, "Better and Better" [News on Campus, winter 1999], called to mind a session in the auditorium of Deerfield [Ill.] High School in 1971, when my son was a junior.

The high school had arranged for representatives of institutions of higher education to talk with parents. A gentleman from Northwestern University represented the four-year private colleges and universities. He passed out the entrance applications of a girl from Florida and a boy from Appalachia. He asked for a show of hands as to which one we thought would have been accepted at Northwestern. The girl was from an affluent city, a cheerleader, very popular, a good student with good SAT [scores]. The boy was from a poor area, an average student with average SAT scores. Each of them included an essay on why they wanted to go to Northwestern.

The girl essentially [wrote], "My daddy said it was a good school." The boy said, "As I worked in my daddy's tobacco field, I dreamed of the day I might possibly go to college." The show of hands was 90 percent for the girl and 10 percent for the boy (including our vote). The boy [was] accepted and had a 3.85 out of 4.0 grade average in the Technological Institute in his junior year. The girl was not accepted. The girl's application interviewer's notes said, "She would be a good student who would neither add to nor detract from the University."

To me, that's what Northwestern is. I would hope that [the University's] desire for higher academic average goals never leaves out the student who is willing to make a sacrifice to reach to his or her goal.
Paul H. Nylin (McC50)
Cedar Rapids, Iowa

A Good Nudge on Class Notes
[Monica Metzler's] thoughts on class notes in "Class Act" [Purple Prose, Jan./Feb. 1999] speak precisely to the point. It will be interesting to note whether the content and quality of future class notes change as a result of your observations.
Dick Marra (GSM74)
Carol Stream, Ill.

What I do when I receive a first issue of Northwestern magazine is to immediately go to the back page in search of a wry, entertaining essay with an appropriate cartoon. OK, I did look through the class notes first, but only out of professional curiosity.

Taking a cue from Metzler, a Podrazik class note: With some apprehension, Wally Podrazik (S74) recently stepped into a wicker basket the size of a card table (and just as high), attached to a hot air balloon. As he and his wife, Grace, reached a height of 2,000 feet, they looked out at sunrise over the Fox River in Illinois and concluded that they had found the perfect place to celebrate her latest birthday.
Wally Podrazik (S74)
Chicago

OK, I'm busted. I'm one of the many [who] go straight for the class notes. Frankly, I'm not sure I'd bother with the publication at all if it weren't for the notes. But at the same time, I do also feel a bit like Myra in the cartoon that illustrated your article. I'm not married. I don't have any kids. I'm not a partner in a law firm, or a vice president of marketing. I think my life is interesting but, then again, I'm aware of the intrinsic bias in that statement! I hope you are getting inundated with notes and e-mails from all the "Myras" out there. I'd love to pick up the next edition of the magazine and see the fruits of [Metzler's] labor!

For me, one of the true treasures of the Northwestern experience was the opening up of horizons - new people, new cultures, new ways of doing things, new ways of thinking. I hope that Metzler's article might be the impetus to have the notes reflect this more thoroughly. As for me, here it is in a nutshell: Six weeks after graduation, I moved to Sydney, Australia, for what was supposed to be a 6-to-12-month internship with a large retail firm in market research. Eight years later, I returned to the U.S. . . . Luckily, I gained dual citizenship and harbor a plan to return to the land of Oz in the not-too-distant future. It's been a long, strange trip so far and I hope it stays that way. For now, I keep busy as communications manager for a private, not-for-profit child welfare agency in my "real" life and I moonlight as sponsor/media relations manager for Champ Car driver Shigeaki Hattori.
Paige Pell (SESP 85)
Indianapolis, Ind.

Mansion Memories
Lee Prater Yost's history of the John Evans Center for Alumni and Visitors, ["This Old House," News on Campus, Jan./Feb. 1999] brings back many memories. I was informed by Thomas A. Gonser, former University vice president for development [and public relations], that Rufus Dawes donated (not sold) the house and property to the University, and he also added a yearly gift for its upkeep equivalent to what the real estate taxes would have been. The house has well served the University.
Russell Kohr (WCAS42)
Lake Forest, Ill.

In 1955, I was the director of alumni relations and occupied the office located in the northeast corner of the building.

The view from my office was so spectacular it was almost impossible to accomplish anything.

I should add that it was in this building that McLean Stevenson (S52), assistant director of alumni relations launched his career, but that's another story.
Richard Slottow (GJ50)
Belvedere, Calif.

I can't recall venturing more than a few steps inside the front door of the John Evans Center while I was at Northwestern. Its opulence intimidated me terribly, for I was a poor boy on scholarship from rural northwest Georgia, just barely managing to make ends meet. But I did spend a considerable amount of time in Alice Millar Chapel, which was built while I was an undergraduate.

Professor [emeritus] Grigg Fountain accepted me into the chapel choir in 1962, I think. At the time, University Chapel services were conducted in Lutkin Hall, where we choir members sat on the stage just behind the organ console. I clearly remember the announcement of plans for a new religious center, the unveiling of the building's design and, especially, professor Fountain's participation in the design of the marvelous organ that was to be installed in the choir loft.

The hours I spent in that building in rehearsal and at Sunday morning services were among the happiest I knew at Northwestern. For a brief time each week, I was able to forget how cold and hungry I often was, transported not so much by the music, or even the service, as by the enveloping warmth of Grigg Fountain, who was then and is now an exemplar of all that can make human beings nearly divine.

If you could clarify at some point in a later issue whether the 1955 Alice Millar Religious Center and the 1964-65 building I saw constructed are the same, it would be useful, if for no other reason than to know I am not altogether losing my mind.
Marcus L. Overton (S65)
San Diego, Calif.

Editor's reply: Your mind is fine; ours is a bit hazy. The Alice Millar Chapel was dedicated on Nov. 19, 1963. Thanks to professor emeritus Dick Leopold for also catching our mistake. He attended the dedication ceremony.

From Far and Wide
. . . many thanks to you for your kindness in keeping me informed about the change and progress in various aspects of the University.
W. Kludum (G73, GMcC78)
Bangkok, Thailand

Northwestern . . . always brings back golden memories of my six years in Evanston. Still, I keep the pride and dream in my heart just as in my Evanston time. I would like to extend my sincere appreciation to the alumni editor and staff for having the alumni magazine reach me in Korea without fail. I will have a new post as president of FAG Hanwha Bearing Co. with 1,500 employees. Thank you very much again for all the correspondence.
Poong Yoon (G68, GMcC71)
Kyunggido, South Korea