January/February 2015

No Silver Bullet

David L. Marcus ’82 talks to Dana Goldstein ’06 about her book The Teacher Wars: A History of America's Most Embattled Profession.

Getting Through College

We all want to see more low-income kids get into college. But who helps them once they're in?

Girl Power

GALS, a school for girls founded by Liz Wolfson ’89 and Nina Safane ’09, aims to empower its students' minds and bodies.

Stop Those Plants!

A U.S. Forest Service ecologist studies one of Alaska's greatest and least-known threats: invasive plant species.

Hometown Warrior

In 1942, Walter Paster ’50 went off to war. His ambition was to return to his hometown to live in peace.

Island Life

Shirley W. Mayhew ’48 looks back at on sixty years of living in the same house on Martha's Vineyard.

Never a Free Man

University Curator Robert P. Emlen on the life and death of a slave who helped build University Hall.

Art or Craft?

Quiltmaker Sabrina Gschwandtner ’00 makes traditional quilts out of a very unusual material.

Fresh Ink

New books by alumni and faculty inclues a thriller about a stalker and a road-trip conversation about art and life.

L.A. Story

Compser Gabriel Kahane ’03 draws inspiration from craigslist and the streets of the City of Angels.

Teach Our Children Well

A reporter explains why blaming teachers for the failures of our public schools is dead wrong.

Keeping Secrets

A Pulitzer winner on trail for protecting sources, James Risen ’77 takes on the national security state.

Labor of Love

Patricia Lansing ’96 curates The Power of Style: Verdura at 75 on the work of master jeweler Duke Fulco di Verdura.

Comedy Star

Tracee Ellis Ross’94 lights up black-ish, a new ABC sitcom about a black family's adjustments to race.

The Art of Dissent

The murders at Charlie Hebdo in France are a reminder that many governments also fear and try to silence political cartoonists.

Making a Splash

The men's water polo team made to the NCAA Championship tourney for the first time since 1990.

Records Fall

During the field hockey team's 9–8 year, Meghan O'Donnell ’15 was one athlete who helped lead the way.

At Sea

Charlie Enright ’08 and Mark Towill ’11 anchor the youngest team competing in a sailing race across the world’s five oceans.

Art From Lobster Ropes

Artist Orly Genger ’01 constucts a meandering woven sculpture on the Front Green.

Confronting Historic Wrongs

After more than a decade of study and planning, Brown unveils the Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice.

Veteran's Day

In November, President Paxson honored military veterans with a wreath and watched a student join ROTC.

Artists and Teachers

Four working alumni artists returned to List Art Center in the fall to teach aspiring artists how to succeed.

Real-World Change

For only the second time ever, Brown has three Rhodes Scholars this year. Who are they?

Deserving To Be Here

Renata Martin ’14 grew up without a green card and any hope of college. Now she's a Brown alumna.

Mail Room

Readers praise the role of athletics and discuss the actions of CIA man John Rizzo ’69.

From the President

President Paxson outlines Brown's plans for giving students real-world experience solving problems.

Worn Stories

You know that shirt, dress, or pair of shoes you can't throw out? Take a look: it may be a memoir in disguise.

A Way of Teaching

A Central Falls charter school staffed by more than 20 alums is drawing national recognition.

Saving Central Falls

After a long slide into poverty, once-prosperous Central Falls, Rhode Island, is looking for a comeback.

The Judge

U.S. District Court Chief Judge Joseph Tauro ’53 was the first federal jurist to legalize same-sex marriage. He forced Massachusetts to end its barbaric treatment of developmentally disabled children in state schools. For 40 years he's been making sure government lives up to its responsibilities to treat all people as equals under the law.

Obituaries

Obituaries from the January/February 2015 issue.

Strange Brew

Will Bunch ’81 talks beer with the author of The Brewer's Tale: A History of the World According to Beer.

Beer Through the Ages

William Bostwich ’07 looks at what our history of making and selling beer tells us about ourselves.