Jared Golden ’11 and Ben Cline ’94 actually have a lot in common. As undergraduates, both felt a bit different from their peers — Golden was older and a Marine veteran, while Cline was a conservative from the South.

Both majored in politics (Golden also majored in history), and both worked on Capitol Hill before being elected to the legislatures of their home states.

Now, they’re both first-term Congressmen from largely rural districts, Golden representing Maine’s sprawling 2nd District, the largest east of the Mississippi River, and Cline serving Virginia’s 6th District, in the northwest part of that state.

For all that’s similar about the pair, one key difference — Golden being a Democrat, and Cline a Republican — made their Reunion appearance in June a must-see.

+The nine �ֲ���ý alumni who've served in Congress

In a Pettengill Hall classroom packed with Reunion attendees, the pair covered a range of topics — at times sounding almost confessional in their frustration with the hyperpartisanship in Washington.

Interviewed by professors John Baughman (politics) and Stephanie Kelley-Romano (rhetoric, film, and screen studies), the two talked about their �ֲ���ý pasts, about what it was like arriving in Washington during a government shutdown, and how the alignment of powerful — and surprising — forces tends to stymie bipartisanship.

On their first days in Congress — during a government shutdown

When Golden and Cline were sworn in in early January, the federal government was in the middle of a five-week partial government shutdown. There was barely time to get acclimated to the offices and technology, Cline said. “We were voting on day one.”

At left and right, moderators Stephanie Kelley-Romano and John Baughman prepare for their discussion with newly elected Congressmen Ben Cline ’94 of Virginia and Jared Golden ’11 of Maine (second from left and right) on June 8 at Reunion. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

The 116th Congress includes a number of charismatic, media-savvy freshman members comfortable in the national spotlight, and both Golden and Cline frequently referenced Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., during their discussion, with Golden distancing himself from her style of legislating.

“There’s room in every caucus for all kinds, and you need a little bit of every type of leader,” he explained. “Mine is, I think, a more quiet, dogged focus on issues and work, and then getting to the district and traveling around and meeting people face-to-face and making sure they feel a strong connection to their representative.”

Golden and his staff decided, instead of jumping straight into high-profile issues, to hang back and wait for his committee assignments — but he hit a wrinkle there.

“I think I bring an enlisted perspective into that committee room.”

He had promised during his campaign that he would not vote for Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., as speaker of the House, saying Congress needed a new generation of leaders. He, along with 14 other members, followed through on their promises, but Pelosi was reelected speaker anyway.

“I’m not gonna lie,” Golden said. Voting against the speaker “doesn’t make it easy to get your top committee assignments.”

One of Golden’s two committee assignments is the Committee on Armed Services, whose 62 members include 20 military veterans. Twelve of those served combat tours, but only Golden served in the enlisted ranks.

“I think I bring an enlisted perspective into that committee room,” he said. “There’s a lot of officers sitting in that room. It’s a different, boots-on-the-ground perspective on Afghanistan and Iraq or other things.”

He’s also on the Committee on Small Business, chairing that committee’s contracting and infrastructure subcommittee.

“That committee’s been a real blessing,” he said. “It’s interesting, and in my experience, the one you might not enjoy as much turns out to be really deeply engaging.”

A lawyer, Cline landed among many other lawyers on the Judiciary Committee, an assignment he credits to the Congressman succeeded in Virginia’s 6th District, Bob Goodlatte ’74, who was the committee’s chair.

He also joined the Committee on Education and Labor where, as the representative of a district dotted with four-year colleges, he works on the higher education subcommittee.

On election night in Virginia, Ben Cline ’94 hugs Bob Goodlatte ’74 before giving his acceptance speech in Roanoke. (Heather Rousseau / copyright The Roanoke Times, reproduced by permission)

Soon after arriving in Washington, Cline drew media attention for a reason he didn’t expect. New members of Congress join a lottery to pick their offices, and Cline got first pick among the 80 new representatives — and was promptly inundated with calls from news outlets asking him about his new office. “Just to show you how the priorities of D.C. are messed up,” he lamented.

“CBS This Morning wanted to follow me around,” Cline said. “I said, ‘Can I go on CBS This Morning? Because I’d like to talk about my priorities for legislation.’ ‘No, we just want to follow you around and see what room you pick.’ That was my moment of fame.”

Cline didn’t go on This Morning, and he said the national media requests have largely subsided. “I’ve been on a very quiet committee assignment of Judiciary ever since,” he joked.

On listening to people

What most people don’t realize, Cline said, is how much of a House member’s attention and resources are devoted to issues back home in the district.

“They see us in Washington, but they don’t see that half of our budget is constituent services, running the offices. Half my staff is in the district helping folks who have problems with Social Security benefits or veterans benefits, solving problems with passports and things like that.”

Golden and Cline or their staffs spend three or four days out of most weeks in the district, hearing their constituents’ opinions.

“I have 19 counties and cities in my district, and so I’m trying to have a town hall in each one of them,” Cline said. “That’s where the rubber meets the road, when people can actually talk to their representative. You’re just being available. That’s what’s going to restore faith in the system.”

A squad leader in the Marines, Golden said that leading a Congressional staff was very different. “I hired good, smart people who challenge me and try and push back and make sure I’m making the right decisions and be thoughtful about it. That’s a learning experience for me, too.”

Jared Golden ’11 offers his Maine constituents multiple ways to give him feedback, including taking hikes with him. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Golden said he might hold a town hall now and again, but finds that the format favors loud and politically extreme views. (Maine’s two U.S. senators, independent Angus King and Republican Susan Collins, also tend to eschew the town hall format.)

Golden also has roundtables and coffee hours, appears at public events, and even tells his constituents to take a hike.

“We say, ‘Come meet us at the head of the trail, and walk through the woods with your Congressman for an hour.’ We’ll get three or four people; but maybe some people need it that low-key.”

On partisanship

Cline, a former member of the Republican-controlled Virginia House of Delegates, had to get used to being in the minority in “one of the most partisan environments imaginable,” he said — and during a shutdown, to boot. “We’re trying, but it’s like starting from 20 yards behind.”

In Virginia, Cline said, it was much easier to work across the aisle.

“In Richmond, all of us sit in the House together on the floor at the same time, and there’s one room in the back called the Members’ Lounge, and that’s where the food is. In line, it’s Democrat, Republican, Democrat, Republican. When we sit down, we’re all sitting together in the back sharing stories.”

On Capitol Hill, Cline has found that there’s a partisan slant to everything from orientation, which is largely separate for Republicans and Democrats, to doorways.

“The caucuses don’t even enter rooms through the same doors. The Republicans go through one door, the Democrats go in another door. Every committee has separate lounges, a lounge for Republicans and a lounge for Democrats.”

“We are starting from a place of stark division and for those of us who want to make changes, the institution’s very resistant to change,” Cline added. “We’ve got a lot of work to do to make it happen.”

Darnell Morrow ’14 (left) greets Ben Cline ’94 (right) prior to the Reunion discussion on June 8. Both graduates of Washington and Lee Law School, the pair had met once before, when on opposite sides of a legal case. (Jay Burns/�ֲ���ý College)

Cline said he sometimes plays “Democrat roulette,” saying hello to various Democratic members of Congress and seeing who is responsive and who is not. Golden joined the For Country Caucus, a group of military veterans from both parties who are committed to bipartisanship.

“It’s really a commitment to forge relationships and try and put yourself in the mindset of, what’s the best step for the collective country?” Golden said.

“Forget talking about Middle East peace. Here in our country, we’re in a lot of trouble.”

One audience member in the Keck Classroom called the separate doors “heartbreaking,” and asked the Congressmen if there was any hope for bipartisan cooperation. Neither were optimistic.

Golden recalled listening to a podcast featuring a marriage counselor who also worked on Middle East peace efforts. The counselor said that cooperation is very difficult if people don’t trust either the process of negotiation or negotiators themselves.

“I really thought about our politics these days,” Golden said. “Forget talking about Middle East peace. Here in our country, with our politics, both sides don’t trust one another. The general public doesn’t trust the process. We’re in a lot of trouble.”

Improving relations between the two major parties in Congress won’t be easy, say Jared Golden ’11 (left) and Ben Cline ’94. “Trying to get a seedling to sprout in that rubble is challenging,” said Cline. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Cline said the Judiciary Committee, which is conducting some of the highest-profile hearings on the Hill in connection with the Mueller Report, is a microcosm of the hyperpartisanship sweeping Congress. “We were talking past each other and making points and then going back to our offices,” he said.

He said he’s trying to get all the freshman members together for lunch once a week, but the work is frustrating.

“It’s building those relationships from the ground up,” he said. “Right now we just have dust. We just have rubble. Trying to get a seedling to sprout in that rubble is challenging.”

On their �ֲ���ý experiences

Cline grew up in Lexington, Va., the son of a Washington and Lee economics professor. He had the liberal arts ethos in mind when he arrived at �ֲ���ý, and he said he got what he wanted.

On a largely liberal campus, the more-conservative Cline was “confronted on day one,” he said. But he learned to debate his beliefs in Commons, where anything and everything was up for grabs.

“Everything was on the table,” he said. “If you had something to say, say it.”

In 1992, Cline’s mother sent him a newspaper clipping — Bob Goodlatte ’74 had won that year’s House seat in his home district. Two years later, Goodlatte returned to campus for his 20th Reunion, and Cline made a point of joining the student �ֲ���ýStar team for the Class of 1974.

“Everything was on the table” at �ֲ���ý, said Ben Cline ’94. “If you had something to say, say it.” (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

The �ֲ���ýStars were encouraged to write notes of introduction to the returning alumni. “Mine said, ‘I’m Ben Cline, I’m from Lexington, Virginia, I’m majoring in political science, and I really want to work on Capitol Hill.’”

And during the weekend, he got to meet the new Congressman and his wife, Maryellen Flaherty Goodlatte ’74.

“Sure enough, after he and Maryellen got back to Washington, there was a resume waiting for him. It was at that point that the very first staffer, an entry-level correspondent who wrote the mail, had decided to leave. I got called in for an interview.”

Cline worked for Goodlatte for eight years, becoming chief of staff. After his time in Goodlatte’s office, Cline earned a law degree and served eight terms in the Virginia House of Delegates. When Goodlatte decided to retire in 2018 after 26 years in Congress, Cline won his seat.

“My �ֲ���ý network was one guy,” Cline said, “but it was a very critical guy.”

In July 1999, Ben Cline ’94 (left) confers with Rep. Bob Goodlatte ’74 in Goodlatte’s office in the Rayburn House Office Building. Cline was Goodlatte’s legislative director at the time. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Born in Lewiston and raised in nearby Leeds, Golden served two combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan before returning to Maine. By the mid-2000s, he was working a few jobs to make ends meet, including one at George’s Pizza in Auburn, a favorite Friday night pizza takeout spot for Bill Hiss ’66, a longtime �ֲ���ý dean of admission.

The two met one night, and Hiss encouraged Golden, who had briefly attended the University of Maine at Farmington, to return to college, at �ֲ���ý.

“I’m like, ‘You’re out of your mind, buddy,’” Golden said in recalling Hiss’ suggestion, eliciting a big laugh from the Reunion audience. But, he said, “�ֲ���ý didn’t laugh.”

“It’s a real lesson that nothing is really impossible. If you want to try something and work hard enough for it, and people will give you a chance and opportunities, you grab onto it, and you can do it.”

As a parent takes a photo, Jared Golden ’11 poses with a Reunion-goer’s son following the discussion. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Golden ticked off the ways he was a non-traditional student: He was in his mid-20s and “could also qualify as a townie and the only veteran on campus — so being a little different and facing some resistance in the classroom, but also bringing some,” he said.

After graduation, Golden worked in Collins’ Senate office before returning to Maine in 2013. He served two terms in the Maine House of Representatives and was elected assistant majority leader in his second term. In 2015, he married Isobel Moiles ’11.

In terms of his political perspectives, the lessons he learned as a Marine and as a �ֲ���ý graduate sometimes intertwine. One result, he said, is being able to see different sides of an issue and a propensity to challenge conventional thinking.

On election night in November, Jared Golden ’11, joined by Isobel Moiles Golden ’11, greet supporters at the Gendron Franco Center in Lewiston. (Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal)

When a Reunion audience member asked whether the U.S. government should intervene in Venezuela, Golden pointed out that Congress didn’t have much power to initiate or stop armed conflict these days. Even so, his experience tended to prevent a yes-no answer.

“It gets real complex, real fast,” he said. “When I talk about my feelings on Afghanistan, I can go, ‘Geez, what are we doing over there? We’re not really helping. We’re wasting so many resources and blood and lives of both countries.’”

But then, “I go and talk to Mustafa.”

As a student, Golden became good friends with Mustafa Basij-Rasikh ’12, a student from Kabul, Afghanistan, who had received support to study in the U.S. from the Peter M. Goodrich Memorial Foundation, founded by Sally and Don Goodrich, whose son Peter ’89 died in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

For a 2010 �ֲ���ý Magazine story, Mustafa Basij-Rasikh ’12 and Jared Golden ’11 posed together in a Pettengill history classroom. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Golden and Basij-Rasikh both thought deeply about the state of education in Afghanistan, and Golden returned to teach there one summer.

So when Golden thinks about his friend from Kabul, “it gets real hard to say we should just walk away and not engage in that type of [military] activity. A lot of questions, and the answers, are tough to come up with.”

On Capitol Hill, “�ֲ���ý has put me into a mindset which is probably infuriating at times to some of my colleagues,” Golden told his fellow alumni at Reunion.

“I will challenge conventional thinking as much within my own party and caucus as I would across the aisle in challenging the Republicans.”

Jared Golden ’11, Ben Cline ’94, and Bob Goodlatte ’74

Two alumni take their seats in Congress, and a third retires

Three �ֲ���ý alumni — Bob Goodlatte ’74, Ben Cline ’94, and Jared Golden ’11 — were part of the comings and goings in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 3 as newly elected congressional representatives took their seats and others left office.

Amy Friedenberger of The Roanoke Times wrote a long profile of Goodlatte, a Republican who represented Virginia’s 6th Congressional District for 26 years before retiring this year.

In July 1999, Ben Cline ’94 (left) confers with Rep. Bob Goodlatte ’74, R-Va., in Goodlatte’s office in the Rayburn House Office Building. Goodlatte’s legislative director at the time, Cline now has succeeded Goodlatte as Virginia’s 6th District representative. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

“There’s plenty of good work that has been done, and I’ve been honored to be a part of it, and there’s plenty of good work that can still be done,” Goodlatte said as he prepared to leave his digs (with a view of the Capitol) in the Rayburn House Office Building.

Friedenberger also covered the swearing-in of Goodlatte’s successor, Republican Ben Cline ’94. Cline spoke of working with Democrats to reopen the government.

“I do believe we can chart a new course working together on issues where we have common ground,” he said.

Meanwhile, Steve Collins of the Lewiston Sun Journal covered Golden’s arrival at the U.S. capital, noting that the 2nd District Democrat’s first days on the job were marked by a vote for Speaker of the House (for Cheri Bustos, D-Illinois); “House”-warming gifts from two fellow Maine lawmakers, independent Sen. Angus King and Democratic Rep. Chellie Pingree; and a near-car crash on the way from the airport.

Jared Golden ’11 greets his supporters at the Gendron Franco Center in Lewiston on Nov. 6. On his right is his wife Isobel Golden ’11. (Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal)

“He said he’s going to play his part in a team effort to address issues ranging from health care to campaign finance reform,” Collins wrote.

• Read: “’,” The Roanoke Times, Dec. 22, 2019
• Read: “,” The Roanoke Times, Jan. 3, 2019
• Read:  “,” Sun Journal, Jan. 3, 2019

Lucy Brennan ’14

Town seeks to eliminate all greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 — York Weekly

The Bangor Daily News reported that the town of York, Maine, now knows it’s mostly on track to eliminate municipal greenhouse gas emissions, thanks to research conducted by AmeriCorps volunteer Lucy Brennan ’14.

Brennan, who is also the sustainability program coordinator for the city of South Portland, started out by organizing data from York’s municipal power bills. Overall, her research has shown that emissions from heating fuel, electricity, and streetlights have all gone down in recent years, but the town’s vehicle fleet remains a significant source of emissions.

The fire department has done a particularly good job — thanks in part to a solar array on its rooftop — with reducing emissions, Brennan told reporter Deborah McDermott. “There’s a really exciting story to tell here,” she said.

• Read the story: “,” York Weekly, Jan. 8, 2019

Richard A. Johnson ’78

Black Sox scandal: SF native Thom Ross paints fresh perspective of 1919 team — San Francisco Chronicle

For a review of a new art exhibit on the infamous “Black Sox” scandal of the 1919 World Series, San Francisco Chronicle reporter John Shea spoke with Richard Johnson ’78, curator of the Sports Museum in Boston and a friend of the artist, Thom Ross.

“He gets into a subject and researches it assiduously and has a real attraction to the quintessential American stories that almost morphed into fables,” Johnson told Shea. “The Black Sox seem to fit into that mold.”

• Read the story: “,” San Francisco Chronicle, Jan. 1, 2019

Chuck Radis ’75

Peaks Island doctor brings practice to pages in new book — The Forecaster

David Harry of The Forecaster talked to Chuck Radis ’75, an osteopath who practiced on the islands of Casco Bay for more than 30 years and has now written a book about his experiences.

Radis worked out of the Peaks Island Health Center, often reaching patients by police boat. He hopes the book will “provide historical background for some people who looked at the islands as upscale and homogeneous,” Radis told Harry.

Radis, who now practices rheumatology in Portland and has founded a nonprofit that works in a refugee camp in Uganda, still lives on Peaks Island.

• Read the story: “,” The Forecaster, Dec. 31, 2018

Tom Lopez ’69

After 41 seasons — and 303 wins — Tom Lopez retires as Lincoln-Sudbury football coach — The Boston Globe

After 40 years, 303 career wins, and three Massachusetts high school football Super Bowl titles, Tom Lopez ’69 is retiring as head football coach at Lincoln-Sudbury High School.

Showing that he still has football moves, head coach Tom Lopez ’69 dodges players trying to dump water on him after his 300th career victory on Oct. 19, 2018. (MetroWest Daily News and Wicked Local Staff Photo/John Walker]

Lopez started as an assistant coach at the school in 1971 and became head coach in 1978.

“I told the kids, to coach 48 years at one place, I’ve had the best job in America,” Lopez told Boston Globe reporter Brendan Hall. “I’m leaving with a lot of smiles on my face. It’s a great place to coach, a great school, great kids.”

Lopez, who won his 300th game last October, was an outstanding end for �ֲ���ý football as a student.

• Read the story: “,” The Boston Globe, Dec. 19, 2019
• Related: “,” The Milford Daily News, Dec. 30, 2019

Kelli Armstrong ’86

Salve Regina names Boston College administrator as next president — The Boston Globe

The Boston Globe and other media outlets reported that Kelli Armstrong ’86 will become president of Salve Regina University in 2019.

Armstrong, currently vice president for planning and assessment at Boston College, will be the first lay president of Salve Regina, which is affiliated with the Religious Sisters of Mercy.

The university has “created a wonderful educational environment that is unique in its preparation of students for lifelong learning with a moral compass,” Armstrong said in a statement. “Salve Regina has a bright, exciting future, and I look forward to working with the entire University community to advance its mission.”

• Read the story: “,” The Boston Globe, Dec. 14, 2018
• Related: “,” SALVEToday, Dec. 12, 2018

Brooks Quimby, Class of 1918, and Edmund Muskie ’36

How a �ֲ���ý professor forged Edmund Muskie’s career — Sun Journal

After a �ֲ���ý panel on the legacy of Edmund Muskie ’36, Steve Collins of the Lewiston Sun Journal dived into the college’s Edmund S. Muskie Archives to explore the relationship between the statesman and his �ֲ���ý mentor: legendary rhetoric and speech professor Brooks Quimby, Class of 1918.

Rhetoric and speech professor Brooks Quimby, Class of 1918, reads The �ֲ���ý Student in February 1955. (Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library)

Muskie said in a 1957 speech that Quimby, who debated at �ֲ���ý as a student and returned as a coach and professor for 40 years, helped him transform from a “shy boy” into a confident, articulate speaker able to take on the 20th century’s most pressing challenges.

“Above all, (Quimby) taught us to seek fulfillment for ourselves by developing our capacity to make a contribution to the world about us,” Muskie said. “He inspired us to do so, as he still does, by his own example.”

• Read the story: “,” Sun Journal, Jan. 12, 2019

�ֲ���ý College Museum of Art

Artists interpret human impact on the Earth at �ֲ���ý — Portland Press Herald

Arts reporter Bob Keyes covered the �ֲ���ý College Museum of Art exhibit Anthropocenic: Art About the Natural World in the Human Era.

“Watering Hole (Social Species in the Late Anthropocene),” a 2017 oil painting by Laurie Hogin, appears in the Museum of Art exhibition Anthropocenic.

“Some scientists believe we have moved past the Holocene epoch and into a new one known as the Anthropocene, an epoch defined by significant human impact on the Earth’s geology and ecosystems, including climate change,” Keyes wrote.

• Read the story: “,” MaineToday, Dec. 24, 2018

Elizabeth Rynecki ’91

A crusade to recover Jewish art lost during the Holocaust — Haaretz

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz interviewed Elizabeth Rynecki ’91 ahead of the premiere in Jerusalem of a documentary about Rynecki’s quest to track down the many lost paintings of her great-grandfather, a Polish artist who died in the Holocaust.

“My great-grandfather’s paintings were survivors…with no voice,” she said.

Moshe Rynecki, who lived in Warsaw, was able to hide some 800 of his paintings before the war. Though members of his family survived, including his wife, only a fraction of his paintings have been recovered.

Elizabeth Rynecki ’91 holds her great-grandfather’s self-portrait at the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw. (Photograph by Sławomir Grünberg)

Attracting widespread media attention, Elizabeth’s efforts to recover more of her great-grandfather’s paintings include a database of his works and the book Chasing Portraits: A Great-Granddaughter’s Quest for Her Lost Art Legacy.

The paintings “are a powerful reflection of life in Poland before the war that not many people are aware of,” she said. “I felt that I could rescue that legacy and share it with the world.”

• Read the story: “,”  Haaretz, Nov. 25, 2018
  
• Related: “,” New York Times, Aug. 18, 2016

Edmund Muskie ’36

Muskie’s 1968 vice presidential campaign recalled at �ֲ���ý College forum — Sun Journal

Steve Collins of the Lewiston Sun Journal covered a �ֲ���ý panel celebrating the 1968 vice presidential campaign of U.S. Sen. Edmund Muskie ’36, featuring experts and people who had worked with Muskie on the campaign trail.

Edmund Muskie ’36 and supporters at a 1968 campaign event. The location is perhaps New York City; third from left is perhaps Shirley Chisholm, then running for her first term as a Congresswoman. (Burton Burinsky / Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library)

The panelists described a politician who worked to bridge divides and calm clashes, “reaching out to both sides,” said Charles Micoleau, a campaign staffer and later Muskie’s chief of staff.

Hubert Humphrey and Muskie lost the ’68 race to Richard Nixon by less than 1 percent, and Muskie lost his own bid for the presidency in the 1972 Democratic primary. But his high profile and prestige was “a real driving force, a hammer pounding the Clean Air Act through the committee and the Senate” in 1970, said Eliot Cutler, who was Muskie’s assistant press secretary.

“We are the lucky ones who are still here,” Cutler said. Muskie’s role in the history of the 20th century “shaped all of us.”

• Read the story: “,” Lewiston Sun Journal, Nov. 29, 2018.
• Related: “8 reasons why Edmund Muskie ’36 was an amazing political candidate in 1968,” �ֲ���ý News, Dec. 5, 2018

Rebecca Herzig

To shave, or not to shave? How a new generation of women are embracing body hair — Vogue

Women are taking an increasingly laissez-faire approach to body hair, wrote Maya Singer of Vogue. For a historical perspective on women and shaving, she turned to Professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies Rebecca Herzig, author of Plucked: A History of Hair Removal.

Professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies Rebecca Herzig discusses a field project with a student in 2016. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Hairlessness didn’t become a beauty standard until after WWII, Herzig wrote in Plucked. Some second-wave feminists in the 1970s revolted against this standard by condemning shaving entirely, whereas the early 2000s were given to the “Brazilian wax tyranny,” Singer wrote.

Singer characterizes the present age as one of, “I’ll shave if I want to,” and razor companies are taking notice.

“One way to characterize what we’re seeing may be that women are now encouraged to ask—and increasingly expect—brands to fulfill their needs,” Herzig said.

• Read the story: “,” �մDz��ܱ�,��Dec. 10, 2018
• Related: “‘Plucked’: Race, gender, science, medicine converge in history of hair removal,” �ֲ���ý News, Feb. 4, 2015

Rebecca Fraser-Thill

Should you go back to work for your old company? — MarketWatch

For a list of factors to keep in mind if you’re thinking about returning to a previous workplace, MarketWatch writer Meera Jagannathan turned to Lecturer in Psychology Rebecca Fraser-Thill, a Pivot career coach.

Lecturer in Psychology Rebecca Fraser-Thill speaks about �ֲ���ý’ Purposeful Work initiative at the 2016 new student Orientation. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Fraser-Thill recommended asking friends and family what you were like at your old job, thinking about the relationship you had with your old boss, comparing your current workplace to your old workplace, and — if you decide to make the move back — framing the decision positively.

“You’ve taken a moment to really consider your path, and you are intentionally and actively choosing this former employer,” she told Jagannathan.

• Read the story: “” MarketWatch, Oct. 15, 2018

Nathan Tefft

‘It’s Just Math’ — Mainers recreate ranked-choice voting results to test the process — Maine Public

When some argued that Maine’s new ranked-choice voting process is an inaccessable “black box,” Associate Professor of Economics Nathan Tefft replicated the election results on his own and sent his calculations to Maine Public.

Associate Professor of Economics Nathan Tefft teaches a class in 2016. (Josh Kucken/�ֲ���ý College)

Using publicly available voting data and a common open-source programming language, Tefft exactly replicated the results of the election, which used the innovative ranked-choice format for the first time to proclaim Jared Golden ’11 the winner. (Another Mainer did the same using Microsoft Excel.)

“It’s an important idea for me to support trust and confidence in the vote counting process,” Tefft told reporter Steve Mistler. “So I certainly wanted it to be as transparent as possible.”

• Read the story: “” Maine Public, Dec. 2, 2018

Vicki Losick ’01

MDI researcher will use fruit flies to study macular degeneration — Bangor Daily News

The Bangor Daily News covered Vicki Losick ’01, a researcher at the MDI Biological Institute who received a $50,000 grant to use fruit flies to study age-related eye diseases.

Vicki Losick ’01

The grant, awarded by the William Procter Scientific Innovation Fund, will allow Losick to model the “cellular dysfunction” that occurs in age-related macular degeneration, among other causes of blindness. She’ll use fruit flies in her work, since macular degeneration takes hold more quickly due to the creatures’ shorter lifespans.

“With the aging of the population, age-related macular degeneration is increasingly being viewed as an impending epidemic,” Losick said in a press release. “I am deeply grateful to the Procter Fund for supporting research that could lead to the identification of the genetic and cellular causes underlying retinal dysfunction.”

• Read the story: “,” Bangor Daily News, Nov. 30, 2018

Lisa Utzschneider ’90

Lisa Utzschneider becomes CEO of ad-verification firm — Variety

�ֲ���ý alumna and trustee Lisa Utzschneider ’90 has been named CEO of Integral Ad Science, a company that measures the value of digital advertisements and helps prevent fraud, the entertainment trade magazine Variety reported.

Lisa Utzschneider ’90 speaks during a �ֲ���ý Boston Business Network panel on women in leadership in 2017. (Paige Brown ’96 for �ֲ���ý College)

Utzschneider was most recently chief revenue officer at Yahoo and has held executive roles at Microsoft and Amazon. Last year, she was on a �ֲ���ý panel about women and leadership.

“As CEO, Utzschneider will focus on expanding IAS into new global markets and pushing into new ad formats, including over-the-top video and audio,” according to Variety.

• Read the story: “,” �ղ�������ٲ�,��Dec. 12, 2018
• Related: “To be an effective leader, be prepared, speak up, and aim big, �ֲ���ý panelists say,” �ֲ���ý News, Oct. 5, 2017

Martin Benes ’07

Wednesday Workout: hitting the trails with U.S. Para-Nordic and Head Coach Martin Benes — FasterSkier

Writer Gabby Naranja reached out to Martin Benes ’07, who recently joined the coaching staff of U.S. Paralympics Nordic skiing. U.S. Paralympics is a division of the U.S. Olympic Committee

An assistant ski coach at �ֲ���ý from 2009 to 2011 and most recently the Nordic ski director at Sugar Bowl Academy, Benes told Naranja that the coaching philosophy for a para-athlete is the same as for a non-disabled athlete.

“The training principles don’t really change,” Benes said. “Yes, there are things to be aware of physiologically, but in terms of the core principles, it’s not that different.”

“With this level of athlete,” he added, “you’re helping guide them and giving them the framework to be successful and helping them be their own best coaches.”

• Read the story: “,” FasterSkier, Dec. 5, 2018

Larry DiGiammarino ’82

Catching up with…Larry DiGiammarino — The Boston Globe

The Globe’s Marvin Pave chatted with Larry DiGiammarino ’82, who holds or shares �ֲ���ý football records for career and single-game receptions, as well as career and single-game touchdown receptions. He was named a Kodak Little All-American, the ECAC and New England Football Writers Player of the Year, and a Scholar Athlete of the Year by the Maine Sports Hall of Fame.

Now, DiGiammarino is a real-estate attorney in Marblehead, Mass., where he’s on the school committee and the youth football and softball boards.

“I learned through sports to never give up and stay as positive as I can,’’ he told Pave. “If things don’t work out today, there’s always tomorrow.”

• Read the story: “,” The Boston Globe, Nov. 29, 2018

Kristy Andrews ’12

Young camp professionals: choosing careers in Maine, fulfilling commitments to kids — Bangor Daily News

In the Bangor Daily News blog Summer in Maine, Kristine Millard talked to Kristy Andrews ’12, assistant director of Camp Wawenock in Raymond, Maine.

Andrews spent her childhood summers at Camp Wawenock and later became a counselor, working there before and after a stint as an English teacher in Chile. Now, she’s one of a few year-round employees at the camp.

Andrews spoke to the community the camp offers girls, allowing them to “be their true selves.”

“There’s a whole group of people who love you and support you,” she said.

• Read the story: “,” Bangor Daily News, Nov. 13, 2018

Paul Erickson ’74

Don’t Mess With Me: The Strange Lives of Venomous Sea Creatures — Kirkus Reviews

Kirkus reviewed the latest book for middle grades by Paul Erickson ’74: Don’t Mess With Me, which catalogs 28 venomous sea creatures from the deadly blue-ringed octopus to sea jellies.

“He goes on, now following the phylum order, to introduce a variety of other sea creatures including bloodworms, the blind remipede (the first known venomous crustacean), the crown of thorns sea star, the bluespotted stingray, the reef stonefish, and the lionfish,” the review says.

“Though the text in this entry in an admirable series may be challenging for young readers, the subject has guaranteed kid appeal,” it added.

• Read the review: “,” Kirkus Reviews, Dec. 4, 2018

Jared Golden ’11 and Ben Cline ’94

After ranked-choice tabulation in Maine, a second �ֲ���ý alumnus heads to the 116th Congress — national media 

Jared Golden ’11 greets his supporters at the Franco Center in Lewiston late Tuesday night. On his right is his wife Isobel Golden ’11. (Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal)

reported Thursday’s breaking news that Jared Golden ’11, D-Maine, had won his razor-close election in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District in historic fashion.

He becomes the second alumnus to win a House seat in 2018, joining Republican Ben Cline ’94, elected last Tuesday to represent Virginia’s 6th Congressional District.

Golden’s election took more than a week to decide because neither he nor incumbent Bruce Poliquin got a majority, so the election was decided by Maine’s new ranked-choice voting format.

The , “made history by winning the nation’s first congressional election to use ranked-choice voting, enabling him to erase an initial deficit by securing the second- and third-choice votes of people who cast their ballots for two independents.”

Golden is the first candidate to unseat an incumbent in the 2nd Congressional District in over 100 years.

Golden, a native of nearby Leeds, served in the U.S. Marines in Iraq and Afghanistan prior to entering �ֲ���ý, where he majored in history and politics. Since 2014 he has served in the Maine House of Representatives, representing part of Lewiston.

The two Congressmen-elect become the eighth and ninth �ֲ���ý alumni to serve in the House since the college was founded in 1855, and the second time two �ֲ���ý alums have served in Congress together. The first was between 1933 and 1935, when Carroll Beedy and Donald Partridge, both Republicans, represented Maine’s 1st and 2nd districts, respectively.

Marshall Hatch Jr. ’10

Chicago reverend’s plan to build for the future — NBC Left Field

NBC News featured the Rev. Marshall Hatch Jr. ’10, a youth minister at New Mount Pilgrim Church in Chicago’s West Garfield Park neighborhood. Hatch founded the Maafa Redemption Project, a residential program for young African American men.

The story by NBC Left Field, the experimental video unit of NBC News, says that West Garfield Park has a far lower life expectancy, due to poverty and violence, than downtown Chicago.

“When you look at all the social determinants, it’s because it’s a food desert, it’s because it doesn’t have high- quality education, it’s ridden with gun violence and drug infestation,” says Hatch, who earned graduate degrees at the University of Chicago after majoring in politics at �ֲ���ý.

In response, Hatch created the Maafa Redemption Project (maafa is a Kiswahili word that means “great disaster” and refers to the transatlantic slave trade) to give young men stable housing, mentors, job training, and identity and purpose development, and, in turn, to strengthen their communities.

According to NBC, more than 90 percent of Maafa Fellows subsequently enroll in community college or work in construction.

“We wanted to see what impact we could have with the young men in our neighborhood if we created an oasis of opportunity.”

Ari Friedlaender ’96 and Doug Krause ’99

The Big Meltdown — National Geographic

In climate change has wreaked on the Antarctic Peninsula’s animal populations, National Geographic’s Craig Welch talked to Doug Krause ’99 and Ari Friedlaender ’96, experts on leopard seals and humpback whales, respectively.

Doug Krause ’99 operates a drone to track leopard seals off the Antarctic Peninsula. (Courtesy of Doug Krause)

As sea ice melts and leopard seals have fewer floes to rest on, they’ve moved closer and closer to land, where they attack and decimate fur seal populations, Krause said.

“What we’re seeing is extraordinary,” said Krause, a research scientist who has visited Antarctica 12 times since 2002. “No one saw this coming.”

Melting sea ice is actually better for humpback whales, said Friedlaender, who’s made dozens of trips to Antarctica since the late ’90s — they have more open ocean and more time in which to hunt for krill, fueling a population boom.

Christa Mulder ’88

‘World citizen’ winds up in Fairbanks — Daily News-Miner

David James of the Fairbanks, Alaska, Daily News-Miner as part of a series on immigrants in Alaska.  

Christa Mulder ’88 is a professor of plant ecology at the University of Alaska–Fairbanks. (Courstey of Christa Mulder)

A native of the Netherlands, Mulder grew up there and in Brazil and Colombia. She majored in biology at �ֲ���ý; earned a master’s in Ontario and a doctorate at the University of Alaska–Fairbanks, and has had academic jobs in Sweden, New Zealand, and, finally, back at the University of Alaska, where she’s a professor of plant ecology.

Mulder says her globetrotting has given her helpful life skills.

“I learned to make friends with people of all different ages, and I also became very flexible,” she told James.

“I don’t think you could have taken me at age 20 and plopped me down on Banks Island in the middle of nowhere with three other people after a several-hour [flight in a Twin Otter] if I hadn’t gone through the experience of being moved around and being plopped in a new place every so many years.”

Kate Gilmore ’97

New art exhibit features videos, interactive art — The Daily Evergreen

The Daily Evergreen, Washington State University’s student newspaper, , an art exhibition that shows women moving into labor-intensive, female-dominated spaces.

The exhibit, which was first shown at �ֲ���ý, consists of “nine videos that are performance-based and a new piece that welcomes the public to use a sledgehammer to make their mark on five steel fabricated cubes,” wrote reporter Madysen McLain.

“I want the audience to engage in the piece, physically and emo­tionally, and I want to remove myself from the work,” Gilmore told The Daily Evergreen.

Tom Lopez ’69

Coaches celebrate banner accomplishments — The Boston Globe

Newspapers throughout Massachusetts, including The Boston Globe and Boston Herald, reported a Tom Lopez ’69 milestone: On Oct. 19, as the longtime head football coach at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School.

Lopez is just the fifth high school football coach in Massachusetts to win 300 games, according to .

Showing that he still has football moves, head coach Tom Lopez ’69 dodges players trying to dump him with water after his 300th career victory on Oct. 19, 2018. (MetroWest Daily News and Wicked Local Staff Photo/John Walker)

Following the win against Wayland High School, more than 200 friends and well-wishers unfurled a banner and donned commemorative hats, Globe reporter Jake Caccavaro wrote.

An outstanding end at �ֲ���ý, Lopez won his first game as a head coach 40 years ago, on Oct. 14, 1978, in his first season as varsity coach.

Tom Lopez ’69 poses with his family after winning his 300th game as Lincoln-Sudbury High School head football coach. From left, son-in-law Jim Nibberich, son Mike ’04, daughter Beth Nibberich, wife Nancy, Tom (holding granddaughter Rosie, age 2). In front is granddaughter Lucy, age 5. (Courtesy of Tom Lopez)

He has since led the school to seven Massachusetts Super Bowl appearances and 18 Dual County League titles. Lopez deemed the celebration “very neat,” but told the Globe that his main takeaway from the victory was his team’s higher seed in the upcoming playoffs.

“You’re always looking forward,” he said. “As a coach, you’re always thinking about the next opponent.”

Lopez, who was following the victory, recalled being “very fortunate” to play under coaches like Bob Hatch, Bob Flynn, and Chick Leahey ‘52 at �ֲ���ý.

The Class of 1969, he said, had more than a dozen players on the football team, and “were extremely close-knit, and I’m still close with many of them, and see them on a regular basis.”

Mary Morton Cowan ’61

Q&A with Mary Morton Cowan — Book Q&As with Deborah Kalb

On her blog, author and editor Deborah Kalb about Cowan’s new children’s book, Cyrus Field’s Big Dream: The Daring Effort to Lay the First Transatlantic Telegraph Cable.

The book, written for middle-grade readers, tells the story of Field, who spearheaded the effort to lay a cable from Newfoundland to Ireland — only to see it break down just a few weeks after going live.

Cowan said she used a variety of research methods to learn about Field’s life, from web searches to keeping track of his travel dates on calendars to talking to Field’s relatives to spending “many hours at the �ֲ���ý College library, not far from my home.”

“I’d like young readers to get a glimpse of a persistent man, and to realize that they too can dream, can aspire to achieve lofty goals, and with perseverance, can achieve them,” Cowan told Kalb.  

Lucy Brennan ’14

VISTA worker tracking town’s energy use — Seacoastonline

Seacoastonline was hired as an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer to help the town of York, Maine, study energy data and develop clean-energy policies.

An environmental studies major at �ֲ���ý, Brennan will collect energy use data, create a model using that data, and recommend policies.

She is also the sustainability program coordinator for the city of South Portland, Maine (where she works with sustainability director Julie Rosenbach, who formerly did that job at �ֲ���ý).

Eric Chasalow ’77

The fungus on campus — BrandeisNOW

Eric Chasalow ’77, the Irving Fine Professor of Music at Brandeis University, took Brandeis’ media relations director Julie Jette and videographer Tarah Llewellyn on a tour of the school’s campus, with a particular eye on the abundance of mushrooms growing there.

A biology and music major at �ֲ���ý, Chasalow dedicated his professional life to the latter but has an abiding interest in mycology (the study of mushrooms) and foraging. 2018 was a bumper year for the fruit of the fungus; “Chasalow has seen varieties he never spotted before,” wrote Jette.

For Chasalow, “walking and seeking help him create a mental space that helps fuel the creativity needed to compose complex works of art,” Jette wrote.

“It’s finding a meditative space and clearing your head and just taking a walk,” he said. “So if you’re just taking a walk and you’re trying to be meditative, if you find things and it’s a treasure hunt, well, that’s a bonus.”

Evelynn Hammonds L.H.D ’11

National Academy of Medicine Elects 85 New Members — National Academy of Medicine

Evelynn Hammonds L.H.D. ’11, a Harvard professor and �ֲ���ý trustee, was elected , in which membership “recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding professional achievement and commitment to service.”

Hammonds was elected “for being one of the nation’s most influential historians investigating the relationship of race, science, and medicine, and [for] her work in clarifying the use of the concept of race as it relates to important health disparities.”

At Harvard, she is the Barbara Gutmann Rosenkrantz Professor of the History of Science, professor of African and African-American studies, and chair of the department of the history of science.

Hosted by the New World Coalition, a �ֲ���ý student organization that focuses on social justice and community activism, this event is free and open to the public. Following the panel, guests will have an opportunity to converse with the panelists and enjoy refreshments.The organizers see this panel as an effort to offer insights about the situation in Afghanistan. The panel will include three �ֲ���ý College students, each offering a unique perspective. Jared Golden, a junior from Leeds, is a Marine veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan before coming to �ֲ���ý. A history and politics major, he returned to Afghanistan last summer to teach school.

Mustafa Basij-Rasikh, a sophomore majoring in politics and economics, came to �ֲ���ý from Kabul, Afghanistan. He is one of several siblings studying in the U.S. who plan to return to Afghanistan to help restore their war-torn nation. Their supporters include Sally and Don Goodrich, whose son Peter, a member of the �ֲ���ý class of 1989, died in the Sept. 11 attacks.

The panel will also include �ֲ���ý College politics professor Eric Hooglund. Hooglund’s background includes 30 years of research, teaching and writing about the domestic politics and international relations of countries in the Middle East, particularly Iran, and of U.S. foreign policy toward the region.

Hooglund sees his classroom as a forum in which students can confront stereotypes of a region too often portrayed, especially in the media, as a potentially threatening monolith.

The fifth member of the panel is Mark Roman, who was a founding member of Waterville Area Bridges for Peace and Justice and is a member of CODEPINK Maine, the state branch of a national peace and social justice movement. Roman’s particular interest is the use of unmanned aerial vehicles in the conflict.