Bond of Brothers
Although he was a teammate of his famous big brother Joe '50 at Brown, George Paterno '50 found himself overshadowed by his sibling. Eventually George became the Penn State football broadcaster, describing his brother's machinations for twenty-four years and writing a book, Joe Paterno: The Coach from Byzantium. Now George is reflecting on it all from his retirement condo in Southampton, N.Y. "I've had my opportunities," he told New York Newsday in November, assessing his relationship to his brother. "I've had a different kind of life."
Ouch!
Twenty years ago, after unsuccessfully battling Georgia State University for denying him tenure, Jeffrey M. Duban '71 went from the classroom to the courtroom. Now a lawyer, he represents professors and lawyers locked in their own academic disputes. "I was a professor. I know the system," Duban told the Chronicle of Higher Education in December. "[University administrators] will not say Եuncle' until you have them against the wall with your knee in their crotch."
Save the Shakes!
When Andrew Richardson '75 was in sixth grade, a teacher used to offer milk shakes as a reward for shagging fly balls. The shakes were from Newport Creamery, a legendary Rhode Island ice cream chain, and when the company filed for bankruptcy last year, Richardson was appointed the company's trustee. Now he's playing hardball to save the milk shakes and their makers: "I get excited," Richardson told the Providence Journal in January about the case. "I get angry."
The People's Choice
David Yassky '86 beat out a crowded field to win a seat on the New York City Council last fall. "He has a very odd brain," Yassky's wife, Diana Fortuna, told the New York Times in January. "He has absolutely no sense of direction. He loses his keys, his credit card." Despite all that - and the added challenge of having moved to Brooklyn only in 1998 - the 37-year-old Brooklyn Law School professor still managed to claim the seat.
Role Playing
Laura Linney '86, who was nominated for an Oscar for her acting last year for You Can Count on Me, was back on screen in January opposite Richard Gere in The Mothman Prophecies. "I really need to have a deep personal attachment to the work," Linney told the New York Post in January. "Otherwise it's inhumane. The hours are silly. It will rob you of your humanity." Linney is scheduled to appear opposite Liam Neeson in a Broadway revival of The Crucible in March.
Skating Tiger, Sudden Love
When Danielle Melito Wu '96 went to China in 1993 during her junior year, she wasn't expecting to fall in love. But that's what happened after a young peasant farmer named Bao Chuan Wu approached her at a roller-skating rink one day. "We've been together for eight years and still, every day, we look at each other and can't believe it," Melito told the Hartford (Conn.) Courant in January. "If there is such a thing as soul mates, we're it." The couple's daughter, Shoshana Hai Wan, was born in October.
An Everyday Champion
After surviving cancer three times as a student, Doug Ulman '99 (see "Going for the Goal," September 1997) established the Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults to help support young cancer victims. A varsity soccer player at Brown and an avid marathoner, Ulman was recently selected from 10,000 nominees as one of six finalists in the Wheaties national search for "everyday champions." Although Ulman finished as a runner-up in the competition, he can now be found in supermarkets across America dribbling a soccer ball on the back of the new Wheaties Energy Crunch cereal box.
