Boston: Aaron Bartley '96 and Belle Brett '69 organized a team of Swarthmoreans to participate in the October City Year Servathon. Eedy Nicholson '78, a member of the Alumni Gospel Choir, invited the ensemble to perform at her church. The program featured selections from their recording, Hallelujah! Amen.
Chicago: Robin Mamlet, Swarthmore's dean of admissions, was honored at a Connection gathering at the Mid-Day Club, hosted by Parker Hall '55, with help from Darius Tandon '94 and Sara Giddings Bode '57.
Los Angeles: President and Mrs. Alfred H. Bloom spent a weekend with LA-area alumni. They cheered on the Garnet Tide at the Pomona-Pitzer game, greeted the team at a postgame party, and attended a reception on the UCLA campus. Walt '70 and Suzanne Cochran-Bond '72 and daughter Lisl '97 coordinated both events.
New York City: Among recent activities were a Manhattan organic vegetarian brunch, organized by Debbie Branker Harrod '89; a Long Island cocktail party arranged by Karen Ohland '83 and catered by Alexandra Troy Beattie '83 and wine proprietor Geoffrey Troy '75; an evening with the Festival Chamber Music Society, planned by Connection chair Jim DiFalco '82; and a performance piece by former faculty member Chin Woon-Ping, directed by Assistant Professor Allen Kuharski, acting director of Theatre Studies.
Philadelphia: Connection chair Martha Salzmann Gay '79 scheduled a busy fall that included a Vietnamese dinner; volunteering for the Greater Philadelphia Food Bank, with help from Betty Londergan, wife of Larry Schall '75, and for Habitat for Human-ity, assisted by Evelyn Malkoun, mother of Dan Malkoun '97; a campus panel on "Balancing Work and Family Life," featuring David Cohen '77, Cynthia Jetter '74, Julie Pierson Lees '77, Nancy Lehman '87, George Telford '84, and Davirah Timm-Dinkins '93; and a tour of a microbrewery by head brewer Eric Savage, son of Bob Savage, the Isaac H. Clothier, Jr., Professor Emeritus of Biology.
Seattle: Sara Hiebert '79, assistant professor of biology at Swarthmore, presented her research on hummingbird torpor at a potluck party at the home of Deb Read '87.
Washington, D.C.: Gretchen Mann Handwerger '56 and Eric Schnadig '88 welcomed alumni to happy hour at Buffalo Billiards, a restaurant/pool hall owned by Mark Handwerger '85. A book club started by Sue Willis Ruff '60 is meeting monthly, using a curriculum designed by Philip Weinstein, Alexander Griswold Cummins Professor of English Literature.
You can get the latest information on upcoming alumni events and activities around the country on the Connections home page: www.swarthmore.edu/Home/ Alumni/Conn.
Lake Wales, Florida: The Garnet Sages will host their annual gathering at the Highland Park Hills Inn and Golf Course from Tuesday, Feb. 3 to Sunday, Feb. 8.
Los Angeles: The LA Connection and Al and Peggi Bloom will honor incoming CalTech President David Baltimore '60 at a reception Jan. 11 at the Vista del Arroyo Courthouse in Pasadena.
Philadelphia: On Jan. 11 Philly alumni will take an insider's tour of 30th Street Station. In March the Connection will volunteer at the WHYY public broadcasting phona-thon before meeting for dessert at the Painted Parrot.
Seattle: Area alumni are invited to a guided tour of the seismology laboratory at the University of Washington on Feb. 4.
Externships are brief, real-life work experiences that enable students to "pick a career and try it on for a week" according to Kate Doty '00, who participated in Swarthmore's 1997 extern program in Washington, D.C. The program is expanding to include Baltimore, Boston, New York City, and Philadelphia.
Students this year had a variety of experiences, ranging from "seeing" patients and observing surgery with an orthopedic surgeon to working in a preschool with children who had been exposed to crack in utero.
Alumni and parents may participate in the 1998 program by offering students housing or externships during the winter and spring breaks, Jan. 12&endash;16 and March 9&endash;13.
If you are interested in serving as an externship host or work sponsor, please call the Alumni Relations Office (610) 328-8402 or e-mail alumni@-swarthmore.edu.
The Alumni Council invites you to nominate alumni for two awards that will be presented during Alumni Weekend in June: the Joseph P. Shane Award, for outstanding service to the College; and the Arabella Carter Award, for extraordinary service as a community, regional, or national volunteer. Please send names and descriptions of the nominees' activities to the Alumni Relations Office by Friday, Feb. 27. The Council is especially interested in alumni whose efforts have received little or no previous recognition. Those who will celebrate reunions in 1998 are most likely to be on campus Alumni Weekend.
Swarthmore's Office of News and Information has electronic access to stories in large daily newspapers and national magazines that feature the College or mention it. But the staff relies on sharp-eyed alumni, parents, and friends for copies of items in smaller dailies, weeklies, and other publications.
If you see a reference to the College that the staff may not know about, and you're able to forward a copy, please send it to Tom Krattenmaker, the College's public relations director.
Have you recently changed your address? Your name? Your area code, e-mail address, or any of the other digits that mark this numerically charged era?
Please tell Swarthmore's Alumni Records Office when any or all of the above transpire. Its new e-mail address is alumnirecords@swarthmore.edu.
A highlight of Alumni Weekend '98 will be a celebration of the Swarthmore Folk Festival, which enlivened the campus for two decades. In the vintage photo above, Elizabeth Pope '47 dances to Richard Dyer-Bennett's guitar music at the first festival in 1945. Here's the tentative schedule for the June folkfest:
Register via the Alumni Weekend 1998 brochure, to be mailed April 1. Questions? Contact Arnold Gessel '54 at arnold_gessel_54@alumni.swarthmore.edu or at (610) 565-1964.