March / April 2007

The Queen of Thin Mints

How to sell 10,000 boxes of Girl Scout cookies. [Elms]

The Dough in Dumplings

Making food that’s both fast and delicious, Kenny Lao has found a tasty way to success.

Future Shock

If you want to know what the next big thing will be, ask Marian Salzman.

Balancing Security and Convenience

Ever have a carry-on item confiscated at the airport gate? Blame Kip Hawley.

Getting Her Fur Up

Imagine a world where pets would never be banned. Maider Genser calls it heaven.

The Modest Professor

Charles H. Nichols ’48 PhD

The Man Who Knew Too Much

E. Howard Hunt Jr. ’40

Obituaries

A listing of the obituaries for March / April 2007.

Chafee’s Way

I am writing as a staunch conservative Republican. Lincoln Chafee was a Republican in Name Only (RINO), and I actually welcomed his defeat as a way of “cleaning house” of abortion-loving liberals. . . .

A Piece of History

The piece of wooden goalpost depicted in your November/December issue is not the only one that’s been preserved from Brown’s 38–14 victory over the Harvard Crimson at Cambridge in 1949. . . .

Theology of Sex

I believe it was around ten or eleven years ago that Beth Simchat Torah made news by hosting the first same-sex marriage ceremony of two Jewish men. . . .

Military Irony

Need further evidence of Brown’s non-interest in the military? Look at the photo in the January/February issue depicting last fall’s Veteran’s Day ceremony. . . .

Math Test

I enjoyed your short article on the Thoreau papers in the January/February issue (“Thoreau’s Math,” Finally). . .

History Lesson

In “Choose your Words Carefully” (Elms, January/February), Lawrence Goodman could have used the correct words to describe the “early twentieth-century mass murder of Armenians” by the Ottoman Empire. . . .

Good Reading

I get a copy of your magazine because my daughter is a second-year student at the Brown medical school. I read it from cover to cover, except, obviously, the class notes. I have been enlightened, entertained, and educated. . .

Meal Plans

For my first meal at Brown, during the fall of 1964, I asked at the Ratfactory for a corned beef sandwich, and the meat came on buttered white bread. What a long, handsome way the dining rooms have come. . . .

Squash and Skiing

The ski team entered this season with high hopes after a very strong 2006 campaign.

Men & Women's Track

The men’s and women’s track teams have used this indoor winter season as preparation for the competitive outdoor meets coming in the spring.

Men & Women's Swimming

This year the men’s swimming team looked to improve on last year’s seventh-place finish at the EISL championships.

Women's Fencing

The winter season’s only league championship came from the women’s fencing team.

Wrestling

The wrestling team had what was probably the most exciting win of the winter season.

Basketball

After finishing its nonconference season 5–10, the Bears, as of late February, had gone 5–7 in the Ivy League, including a 4–3 record at the Pizzitola Center.

Hockey

At times this season the men’s hockey team has demonstrated strong potential.

Women's Gymnastics

After an up and down 2006 season, the gymnastics team looked to regroup this year.

Attention, Wal-Mart Shoppers

It’s opening day at Wal-Mart’s new Providence store, and Steven P. Hamburg, Brown’s Ittleson Associate Professor of Environmental Studies, has his head inside a frozen-food case. He’s examining the strips of LED lights that illuminate the chicken tenders. When his head emerges he is grinning. “These aren’t mine, but that’s a cutting-edge technology,” he raves...

Circuits of Magic

The crude, miraculous world of early computing.

Playwright Laureate of Grief

Sarah Ruhl ’97, ’01 MFA has achieved meteoric success by combining an avant-garde aesthetic with characters who feel grief and joy in a way we can all understand.

The Sweetest Moment

Twenty-five years ago the basketball team had one of the worst seasons in Brown history. And one of the most hopeful.

In the Land of the Sick

Professor, novelist, AIDS researcher, and physician Michael Stein’s first work of nonfiction, The Lonely Patient, tries to understand illness from the patient’s point of view.

Folk and Roll

Tender, graceful songs and lots of Reuben sandwiches.

No Strings Attached

Lili Haydn ’92 has played violin with Herbie Hancock, Jimmy Page, George Clinton, and the L.A. Philharmonic. Her instrument, she says, is like a stem cell: it can grow into anything.

Stuff, Stuff, and More Stuff

How the British learned to decorate.

The Making of a Gumshoe

Jonathan Groff ’83 produces his first sitcom for NBC, with Clea Lewis ’87 and Andy Richter.

Horror Show

A traveling exhibition brings home the crisis in Darfur.

Socratic Rap

Martin Luther King Jr. brought together “the best of Jerusalem and Athens” says Cornel West.

The Virtual Magic Carpet

Architectural historian Dietrich Neumann takes students for a ride.

To Build a Better Batmobile

Bats reveal the secrets of their agility.

The Conductor’s Commitment

Daniel Barenboim tells students, “Play with everything that is in you.”

Rain Date

After an invitation, a retraction, and much ado, Nonie Darwish speaks at Brown.

A Major Milestone

The Medical School is renamed following a $100 million gift from the Warren Alpert Foundation.

Fitting In

Universities like Brown are admitting more low-income students. But what happens once they get there?