November/December 2009

Tea and Sympathy

In 2004, Sarah Havens '99 was a mere second-year lawyer, only a few years out of Georgetown Law School, when her firm elected to represent eight Guantánamo detainees.

High Principles

Terry Walsh ’65 remembers saying, "You know, there is a moment in your life where you have to quit muttering and go do something." He signed up his law firm, Alston and Bird, to represent four Guantánamo detainees.

The Defenders

When the U.S. Supreme Court declared in 2004 that the “enemy combatants” held at the Guantánamo detention camp were entitled to the protections of the Geneva Conventions, lawyers rushed to their defense. Then things really started getting tough.
Business & Entrepreneurship

You Are What You Make

This year's BAM gift guide offers a glimpse into the roots of creativity.

A 12-Step Program for Car Addicts

Twelve things you can do to loosen your vehicle's grip on your life.

Car Wreck

Automobiles drain our pocketbooks, pollute our air, kill our family and friends, and clog our roads. Yet many of us love them, and most of us can’t live without them. Is all that about to change?  

Arguing About History

Too Much Info

Library Love

What Hip-Hop Teaches

Gifted Historian

Smart Development

The Buzz Online

A summary of reader feedback posted at brownalumnimagazine.com

Obituaries

Game Day

Replay

The men's rowing team added pink to the school colors at the snowy Head of the Charles regatta, where it raised money to "Pull for a Cure."

A Starter in Spirit

She might not have had the skills to star as a player, but Lindsay Gottlieb '99 is on her way to becoming an elite coach in women's collegiate basketball.

Recital

Cellist Martha Niemiec '10, was the featured soloist for a Shostakovich piece performed by the Brown University Orchestra.

The Big One

Historian Gordon Wood lays out some suprising facts about our country's early history.

Since Last Time

Night Lights

An economist measures a country's prosperity by how many lights it burns.

Veggie Hogs

The quest for the edible auto.

Back to the Moon

Two scientists independently confirm the presence of lunar water.

Stimulating Research

Brown receives more than $31 million in federal stimulus funds. Here's how it's being spent.

The Supreme Sacrifice

"If it is willed that I shall pay the supreme sacrifice, I hope that it will be in the same way, so there will be no suffering....," excerpt from a 1918 letter read at the Veteran's Day rememberance, 2009.

Freedom's Guardians

Brown remembers its war dead on Veterans Day.

America's Mistakes

Former Pakistani president Musharraf visits campus and advocates peace talks in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Legends

Brown welcomed the famed Nigerian author Chinua Achebe, best-known for his 1958 work Things Fall Apart, to the faculty.

Wall Art

The German studies department marked the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and were given hammers to smash their facsimily in solidarity.

An Alternate Reality

N.Y. Times reporter David Rohde '90 discusses his seven months as a Taliban hostage.

Read These Books

A professor and an alumna are nominated for this year's National Book Awards.

Fresh Ink

A Real Fish Story

Filmmaker Lauren Oakes '04 documents the fight between miners and salmon fishermen in Bristol Bay, Alaska.

Critic's Corner

They're loud, they're brash, and outrageously funky. The Revolutionary Snake Ensemble, led by Ken Field '74, has been reaping rave reviews.

Shakespeare for Everyone

How six alums wowed New York audiences and critics with their stripped-down production of Cymbeline.

Advice

In his ongoing effort to help the black community, actor Hill Harper '88 has written two books of advice for young adults.

Prized

This fall, Edwidge Danticat MFA '93 received one of those phone calls from a stranger that ominously begin, "Are you sitting down?"

To Belong Is to Live

The life and work of Clarice Lispector, one of Latin America's most revered writers—and one of the least known in the United States.

His Double Life

Jihan Bowes-Little '02 is a London investment banker turned hip-hop artist.

The Meaningful Life

Why in an age of distraction writing well matters more than ever.

Star Gazer

H.P. Lovecraft before he wrote his "weird stories."

He Asked the Big Questions

A Farewell to Professor emeritus of political science and bioethics Edward Beiser.

The Prince of Pops

A Farewell to Erich Kunzel '60 AM.

He Had Talent

A Farewell to Tom Korman '55.  

A Thoroughly Modern Woman

A Farewell to Ruth Bugbee Lubrano '23.  

Squawk Box

Rose Shuman '01, '02 AM: How dorm-entrance intercoms inspired a way to give Internet access to villagers in the developing world.

Selling It

How to get fans to the ballpark despite a losing team is the challenge for Jim Leahey '88.

The Principal

How a student of Brown, Thomas Hassan '78, is changing one of the country's leading prep schools.

The Author of Quilts

Lucy Diggs '63 states that preserving a craft means embracing the imperfect work of the hands in an age of computer-assisted perfection. 

Smart Dressers

Glamour magazine picked these three Pembrokers for its "ten best-dressed college girls" in the 1960s, but they weren't just stylish.