January / February 2008

Women's Hockey

A Cut Above

You want a scotch and a shoe shine with your trim?

The Czar of Transfat

Why Big Brother wants to save you from your own gluttony.

Railroad Artist

Using tile, she connects travelers with America’s past.

Green Graveyards

She wants her body to keep the land going.

Did He Really Say That?

You report that Lee Silver, in rebutting Francis Fukuyama’s argument that every evil that bioengineering might be able to eliminate has its good, picked bipolar disorder as a counterexample (“Playing God,” Elms, November/December).

Swearer's Wisdom

Reading the “finally” article on Howard Swearer in the November/December issue reminded me of his closing remarks at the June 1990 weeklong seminar at Brown on the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Charcoal Peanuts

What a treat to read “The Panicked Person’s Holiday Gift Guide” (November/December). As I usually have most of my Christmas shopping done early, I found the guide more a catalog of adventures than of gifts. So many different alumni, from all eras, have pursued their own passions—to fantastic effect.

American Tastes

“The Diva of Cool” (November/December) certainly validates H. L. Mencken’s observation: “Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public.”

More Randy

Thank you for the article on Randy Pausch, as well as for all the other informative and inspirational articles you’ve published over the years. The morning after reading that piece, I watched Randy’s entire lecture online, then ordered two DVDs of it, one to give to the high school where I taught until retiring two years ago.

Randy's Way

Still Going

After fifty-eight years at Penn State, Joe Paterno ’50 enters the College Football Hall of Fame.

Game Day

Recent highlights from Brown sports

Replay

Looking at women's basketball

Bitter End

After a perfect Ivy season, the men’s soccer team stumbles in the NCAA tournament.

Obituaries -- Jan/Feb 2008

A Long Way, Baby

No Baby Doll

This little Zapatista is a lesson in politics.

Fresh Ink

The World According to Sebby Lane

A haunting debut novel about perception, memory, and the arc of grief.

Just Let Them Play!

A historian appraises the bicycle-helmet generation and their coddling parents.

Critic's Corner: Glenn Kessler

Is Condoleezza Rice’s staunch support of George W. Bush’s foreign policy a matter of political opportunism or something else?

Trading Fast Tracks

David M. Gross’s career speeds into control.

Beyond Apple Pie

Vermont’s bounty inspires fine cooking and reading.

Laura Linney

Craving a little baby-boomer black humor in the dark days of winter? Check out Laura Linney ’86 in The Savages.

Deconstructing a Genre

Jumper, a collaboration between Doug Liman ’88 and Simon Kinberg ’95, adopts sci-fi formulas only to turn them on their heads.

Forget Harvard

How Brown could benefit from the end of early admissions elsewhere.

All in the Family

Brown commissions a table handcrafted by a furniture maker whose ancestor cofounded the University.

One-Liners

Brown goes international.

Landmines

Landmine Survivors Network (LSN) executive director Jerry White ’86 recounts how a landmine blew off his lower right leg while he was hiking in Galilee during his junior year at Brown.

Opening the Doors

Can the John Carter Brown library be more than a haven for specialized academics?

In Defense of Plagarism

Ethicist Randy Cohen expounds on the difference between artful imitation and outright theft.

Premier Primaries

Are New Hampshire and Iowa really the best states for picking a president?

HPV and Cancer

New research about a common strain of the sexually transmitted HPV.

Blurred Vision

Blurred vision and perception

Tasting the Gold

She has been a world champion. In one year competing for Brown, she rewrote the Ivy record book. Now gymnast Alicia Sacramone ’10 has her eye on a medal at this summer’s Olympics in Beijing.

How Brown Turned Me into a Right Wing Religious Conservative . . .

... and why I'd still send my kids to college there.

Tough Love

Eric Rodriguez ’08 grew up avoiding gangs and drugs in Los Angeles. As a young man, he served in Iraq. How he ended up at Brown is a story of luck, determination, and an unconventional kind of smarts.