Are You a Renaissance Soul?
14 Swarthmoreans find a way to juggle many interests.

Margaret Neisser Lobenstine ’65 divides the world into two categories. One includes those highly focused, decisive individuals who come into the world knowing exactly what they want to do when they grow up. ...the other category, the one comprising people Lobenstine calls “Ben Franklins.” Inventor, publisher, writer, philosopher, public citizen, statesman, Francophile, founder of a university and a post office, and all-around Promethean thinker, Franklin was what Lobenstine calls a “Renaissance soul.”


Notes for Life
The Chester Children’s Chorus comes of age.

Just before 12:30 on a Saturday afternoon in early June, six children gathered around a piano 4 miles from their homes in Chester, Pa. They sang a song about how easy it is to go home, written by a man who never had to run a car pool. Associate Professor of Music John Alston’s left hand floated through the air, conducting as his right plinked out a melody on the piano. “Goin' home, goin' home,” the children sang, “I'm a-goin' home.”


Spreading Their Wings
Class of 2001 graduates venture into the "real world."

Tumbling from the nest of college life into the work world requires graduates to find their wings as they explore new territories.


A World That Is Not Just Ours
Bill ’72 and Amy Vedder Weber ’73 challenge us to preserve wildlife.

When Henry David Thoreau wrote that most people live lives of quiet desperation, he clearly did not have in mind Bill ’72 and Amy Vedder Weber ’73.


Letters From the Front
Daily Uncertainty Outside Jerusalem

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Commencement 2002: Metamorphosis

At 9:15 a.m., the front porch of Parrish Hall is nearly empty, but this Sunday is not a sleepy one in Swarthmore. In less than an hour, the Clothier Hall bells will peal, and the procession will begin. The Class of 2002 is about to graduate.


Also in this issue:

Profiles
Kathryn "Sis" Sonneborn Read ’31 and Doris “Doss” Sonneborn Lippincott ’35 were raised to volunteer and are still going strong.
As another “Renaissance soul” Chris King ’68 has personally experienced the richness—and divisiveness—of finding time for many interests. Kevin Huffman ’92 has returned to Teach for America.
Our Back Pages
Why We Need Dreams: The Meaning of Swarthmore Becomes Clear.
By Arlie Russell Hochschild ’62

Books and Arts
Gorillas and Honey
Go ahead. Sit next to him. Adrien deSchryver’s suggestion was part tease, part dare. Amy hesitated, then smiled as she began to crawl toward Casimir, a massive silverback scowling at us from beneath a tree about thirty feet away.