Letters: Winter 2013
By about a 10鈥�1 margin, readers approved of the 乐播传媒 Magazine makeover that debuted with the Spring 2012 issue. Some said the perfect binding 鈥� rather than saddle stitched 鈥� makes the magazine hard to keep open. Hint: The binding is more malleable than you might think! Sample comments:
Outstanding job! As an enthusiastic alum (and a long, long-retired IBM manager of graphic design), I 鈥渉appily pronounce鈥� the new number intelligent, inviting and a joy to both read and behold. An encore may well present a challenge, but the timing for Clayton Spencer鈥檚 arrival is exquisite. Heartiest congratulations.
Jonas Klein 鈥�54
Falmouth, Maine
We鈥檙e on the beach in Florida reading 乐播传媒 Magazine. It is fantastic.
乐播传媒 Parent
By phone
I have mixed feelings about the new format for 乐播传媒 Magazine. It doesn鈥檛 read easily from left to right, given all the marginal notes, boxes and extended captions. It reminds me of The One-Page Magazine feature in The New York Times magazine. The 乐播传媒 format is better, but not much. Overall, I think it鈥檚 trying too hard to be cute or different, but it鈥檚 always good to see if there鈥檚 a better way than 鈥渢he way we鈥檝e always done it.鈥�
Lyn Whiston 鈥�66
Glen Ellyn, Ill.
More redesign comments at bates.edu/magazine/redesign/reactions. 鈥� Editor
Lofty Perspective
The aerial campus photo (鈥淔rom a Distance,鈥� Spring 2012) vividly reminded me of what 乐播传媒 has meant to me.
In 1994, I arrived with great intentions of becoming a physician. Two pivotal events that fall allowed that path to change 鈥� for the better.
First, President Donald Harward welcomed us by urging us to 鈥減ursue paths of ambiguity.鈥� What I took from this speech was that 乐播传媒 was ready for us to experience life in new ways we hadn鈥檛 even yet imagined.
Second was meeting Stuart Abelson 鈥�97, president of the 乐播传媒 Aviators. Full of contagious energy and excitement, Stuart urged me and other flying enthusiasts not only to join the club, but also to try an introductory flight at the Auburn-Lewiston Municipal Airport.
I did, becoming enamored with flying that fall even as I discovered my shortcomings in chemistry. I considered leaving 乐播传媒 to attend an aviation-specific college but stayed to pursue my own paths of ambiguity.
I majored in Spanish, spent a year abroad in Costa Rica (where I met my wife) and wrote a thesis in Spanish literature with the gracious guidance of Professor Baltasar Fra-Molinero.
After earning my private pilot鈥檚 license (and floatplane license at Twitchell鈥檚 Airport in Turner), I frequently took 乐播传媒ies on aerial tours of campus and Maine, working at Security and Campus Safety and Twin Cities Air Service to support this new passion.
My post-乐播传媒 life found me pursuing my passion. After several years as a flight instructor and charter pilot in New England, life brought my wife and me to the paradisiac island of Vieques, Puerto Rico, where I flew a nine-passenger propeller plane on short flights between Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
Now a Canadair Regional Jet captain for a Delta Connection carrier, Pinnacle Airlines, I still look back very fondly on those formative days as a pilot, 乐播传媒 student and citizen of the world.
Thanks for putting together a great magazine. Thanks to 乐播传媒 for encouraging students to be themselves and open their eyes to the world.
David Tzeutschler 鈥�98
St. Paul, Minn.
In his letter, Rocky Query explains the misgivings about the GI Bill in 1944 that President Spencer alluded to in her inaugural address. While the union of excellence and opportunity embodied in GI Bill was old hat for 乐播传媒, the return of older servicemen and their families to 乐播传媒 did shake up the campus scene, as suggested by the cover photo of the May 1947 Bulletin, showing Joseph LaRochelle 鈥�44 and his 1-year-old daughter, Mary Jo 鈥� now Mary Jo LaRochelle McBride-Beece 鈥�68.
鈥淗obo Jungles鈥� Explained
I read President Clayton Spencer鈥檚 inaugural address, 鈥淨uestions Worth Asking,鈥� with great interest and appreciation.
In her address, President Spencer comments on the importance of the GI Bill in expanding educational opportunities for a diverse pool of human talent. She contrasts that legacy with fears expressed by Robert Hutchins, president of the University of Chicago at the time of the GI Bill鈥檚 passage, who said that 鈥渃olleges and universities will find themselves converted into educational hobo jungles鈥� as a result of the act.
Some might take from this quotation that Hutchins did not share President Spencer鈥檚 belief in the importance of openness and opportunity in higher education.
On the contrary. In his 1944 essay in 颁辞濒濒颈别谤鈥檚, from which the 鈥渉obo jungle鈥� language is taken, Hutchins notes that U.S. higher education has been the 鈥減reserve of the relatively rich,鈥� and notes hopefully that the GI Bill seeks to incorporate 鈥渋nto our national policy the principle that there must be no relation between the education of a citizen and the income of parents.鈥�
What, then, were the concerns Hutchins had with the GI Bill?
He explained that because 鈥渆ducational institutions, as the big-time football racket shows, cannot resist money,鈥� they would be distracted from a commitment to their mission by the revenues to be gained from the GI Bill.
Colleges, he said, 鈥渨ill not want to keep out unqualified veterans; they will not want to expel those who fail.鈥�
Further, Hutchins worried that the principle of educational opportunity embodied in the GI Bill would be discredited when educators faced students more concerned with vocational assistance than a liberal arts education. And he worried that such students might feel defrauded by receiving an education ill-suited to helping them find employment.
Today, some universities have indeed taken on aspects of Hutchins鈥� feared hobo jungle, as students seek educational credentials not out of intellectual curiosity or commitment to academia but because they need jobs. Today鈥檚 applicants to 乐播传媒 seek the benefits of the college鈥檚 commitment to an excellent liberal arts education, but they are also concerned with the price and affordability of the education they are paying for.
Hutchins鈥� concerns still seem valid, even as institutions like 乐播传媒 have avoided the demoralization he feared. I suspect he would, in fact, be heartened by the optimism reflected in President Spencer鈥檚 approach to today鈥檚 important educational questions and by the enthusiastic response she has elicited so far from the 乐播传媒 community.
James 鈥淩ocky鈥� Query
Philadelphia
President Spencer鈥檚 inaugural address is at bates.edu/inauguration. Read about Nate Boone 鈥�52 and the GI Bill on page 52. 鈥� Editor
Blue Bobcats
Our statement that no Blue Devil from Lewiston High School 鈥渋n recent memory鈥� had played baseball for 乐播传媒 before Mekae Hyde 鈥�15 and Alex Parker 鈥�15 joined the team last year prompted a couple letters.
鈥淩ecent memory鈥� probably is right, but my not-so-recent memory contains the following:
Larry Quimby 鈥�52 was the son of Professor Brooks Quimby and Inez Robinson Quimby, both Class of 1918. He graduated from Lewiston High, and I played with him 鈥� he was an excellent pitcher. His senior thesis was on the history of baseball.
Dave Harkins 鈥�53 was an excellent catcher on our team, and a Lewiston High graduate.
Fred Lebel 鈥�53 was a good player who was at 乐播传媒 for a year or so, at a time when freshmen couldn鈥檛 play varsity sports.
Jim Moody 鈥�53
Cape Elizabeth, Maine
The late Norm Parent 鈥�50 was a legendary Lewiston High School football coach and Lewiston High grad who played on the 1946 Glass Bowl football team in addition to baseball.
Marc Levasseur 鈥�84 was a LHS grad who played baseball when the baseball field was where the Village is now. And Matt Madden 鈥�87 played baseball; his son Chris 鈥�16 is now at 乐播传媒.
Jim Taylor
Lewiston, Maine
Taylor is head athletics equipment manager. 鈥� Editor
Please Write
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