It’s June, and a brand-new group of Chicago graduates is jumping into the job market with ABs and résumés in hand. Career adviser Laurence Shatkin, AM’71, author of The 200 Best Jobs for College Graduates and Great Jobs in the President’s Stimulus Plan, discusses job prospects for the Class of 2009:

Before the financial crisis, what were the best jobs out there for new graduates? Have things changed?

Nursing is a very hot field—it was before the economic downturn and it still is now. A lot of high-tech jobs have been booming, and although they took a bit of a hit just like everything in the economy, they’re starting to come back. Systems analysts, computer-network and database managers—those high-tech jobs have been doing very well.

For a typical Chicago grad with a bachelor’s degree, what are some opportunities?

Social and community service managers—these are people who manage agencies that have a social mission. This might be something that someone with a humanities or social-science background might go into. Public relations specialists—people with a flair for writing would find this interesting and valuable. Substance-abuse and behavioral-disorder counselors is an interesting one—people who have empathy and are good at communicating with others. Actually, a lot of people go into this who have a past history of substance abuse, but I wouldn’t recommend that someone develop an addiction in order to prepare for it [laughs]. In business, jobs for accountants, auditors, and loan officers are expected to come back once the economy comes back.

What sources do you use to predict future job growth?

The best projections we’ve got in this country are from the U.S. Department of Labor. They have an Office of Employment Projections, and that’s what I rely on for these projections of job growth and job openings.

How will the recession force new graduates to adjust their expectations?

There are fewer openings, and so the competition is going to be greater. There’s even going to be some competition from people in their 60s who normally would be retiring now, whose 401(k)s have taken a real plunge and so they have to go on working longer. Roughly 50 percent of graduates got jobs in their field last year, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers. This year it was down to half of that, so it’s a big difference.

Will salaries be lower?

I don’t think salaries will be dramatically lower, but they may be a little bit lower because employers have their pick of candidates. The main problem is going to be finding a job, and a lot of people are going to have to compromise and take something outside of their field. Some may start up a new business—throughout American history, this has been one of the ways innovation happens. Some people will go to graduate school and build up skills and stay out of the job market for awhile. Yet another thing is to go into some service opportunity such as the Peace Corps, Teach for America, or AmeriCorps, which have expanded quite a bit. I can’t overemphasize how valuable those are for building experience that employers are going to value.

You have a BA, MA, and PhD in English. Do you have any special advice for English majors?

I would say keep your options open. Don’t think that you have to do what you see your professors doing out there. Realize that your skills can be applied in a number of different occupations or pursuits. And it also helps to have a broad range of interests. Know something about technology, for example. Know something about economics and the way the world works and not just literature and the humanities.

Should everyone’s back-up plan be to move in with Mom and Dad?

That can be a back-up plan, but sometimes it doesn’t work out very well. Sometimes there are conflicts. Sometimes Mom and Dad are down on their luck too, and it isn’t feasible. I’ve heard of moms and dads who are moving in with their kids.

I would say in general about careers, it helps to have a back-up plan. While you’re still in school, you should have a Plan B in mind. When you applied to a college, you probably had a safety school that you applied to, and you might also have a safety career in mind, and take a few courses so you’ll be ready for that one as well.

Elizabeth Station

RECOMMENDED LINKS

• Video: "Grads Turn to Uncle Sam" (CBS Evening News with Katie Couric, CBS News, May 2009)


• Audio: "Stimulus Jobs: Where They Are, How To Find Them" (All Things Considered, National Public Radio, Feb. 15, 2009)

RELATED READING

• "Earn More in a Nontraditional Job" (Career Laboratory blog, Fast Company, May 28, 2009)


• "Talking Salary with Potential Employers" (Examiner, May 14, 2009)


• "Grad Job Outlook Grim" (Washington Times, Apr. 13, 2009)


• "Six Ways to Find a Stimulus Job" (Yahoo! Hot Jobs, Apr. 2009)

"The government wants to make sure that the key digital infrastructure is secure," says Law School professor Randy Picker, JD'85. "To the extent that there are things that the federal government can do, Obama's making sure those steps are being taken." (Interview: Real Audio format, 15 minutes)

SCHOOL TURNAROUNDS
“U.S. Effort to Reshape Schools Faces Challenges” (New York Times, Jun. 1, 2009)
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, U-High’82, says his education initiative seeks to correct a troubling legacy of the No Child Left Behind law.

LEAVING ‘CUBICLE ALLEY’
“Save Our Souls” (American Spectator, May 27, 2009)
“Nothing against motorcycle mechanics, but most simply don’t have the language and knowledge base to compare a leaky oil cylinder on a 1983 Honda Magna V45 with Heidegger’s question of being,” writes critic Christopher Orlet in his review of Shop Class as Soulcraft by Matthew Crawford, AM’92, PhD’00.

FILM FAVORITE
“Classic Movie of the Week, by Request: The Graduate” (Examiner, May 31, 2009)
The Graduate—the second film by director Mike Nichols, X’53—earns another accolade from the reviewers at the Examiner. They ignore their usual review labels “See It” and “Skip It.” Instead, the movie merits a custom label: “You Should Have Seen It Already.”

KLINGON, JABBERWOCKY, ESPERANTO…OH MY!
“Trying to Dismantle Our Tower of Babble” (Boston Globe, May 31, 2009)
Linguistics expert Arika Okrent, PhD’04, investigates the world of artificial languages.

MEANT-TO-BE POETRY
“Interview: Shaindel Beers” (Being and Writing blog, Jun. 3, 2009)
“Some people fall into alcohol, some people fall into drugs; I fell into poetry,” says Shaindel Beers, AM’00, on the final stop of her virtual book tour.

MILESTONES

• “Sewanee School of Theology Announces New Faculty Appointments” (Episcopal Life, Jun. 1, 2009)
  Paul Holloway, PhD’98, is now associate professor of New Testament at Sewanee’s school of theology.


• “WiMAX Forum Adds Cisco to Board of Directors” (OSS News Review, Jun. 1, 2009)
  Sai Subramanian, MBA’00, joined the board of directors of WiMAX Forum, an industry-led, nonprofit organization focused on standardizing broadband wireless technologies, as a representative of Cisco.

Ever wonder why flashback, a staple of so many novels and short stories, can seem so artificial in movies? The action stops as the camera zooms in or the screen goes wobbly, and suddenly we reawaken in the distant past. “Flashback is one of the great gifts of fiction,” said poet and short-story writer Stuart Dybek, a device that allows writers to begin a story as close to the end as possible, “a fulcrum to escape the tyranny of cause and effect.” But “it’s the F-word in film.” The reason, Dybek said, has everything to do with “temporal mode”: fiction belongs to the narrative mode; film is captive to the dramatic.

In a talk last Wednesday in Classics 110, Dybek, the 2009 Kestnbaum writer-in-residence, explained to an audience of faculty and students that film and theater, however illusory, mimic the experience of real time in a way that fiction never does. To break that spell and travel back in time against the forward momentum of the action on screen or on stage takes a director as masterful as Federico Fellini or a playwright like Arthur Miller.

Meanwhile, “there is no real time in fiction,” Dybek said. “It’s impossible.” Even reading a story aloud does not create a sense of time passing. Nor does dialogue—though it comes closer. “In fact, what the hell time is in fiction is absolutely mysterious.”

And what about poetry? Some critics say Dybek’s own fiction often sounds more like verse than prose, and he told last week’s listeners that in the “lyrical mode”—where poetry operates—time may not exist at all. “You can fly, you can travel as you do in dreams,” he said. “In poetry we don’t follow the clock.”

Lydialyle Gibson

EDUCATION FIRST
“More College Grads Join Teach for America” (Education Week, May 28, 2009)
Teach for America is the No. 1 employer of the College’s graduating fourth-year students, including one of the Magazine’s interns—good luck, Rose!

TOO CLOSE TO JUDGE
“Alito and Sotomayor Have Striking Similarities” (Newsday.com, May 28, 2009)
Current Supreme Court justices have a lot in common, says Law School professor Eric Posner: “If you take the broader perspective, basically everybody on the court has the same résumé.”

MAN’S BEST FRIEND’S FEELINGS
“In That Tucked Tail, Real Pangs of Regret?” (New York Times, Jun. 1, 2009)
Do dogs feel sorry when they pee on the rug? University of Chicago Press author Marc Bekoff thinks so: “Regret is essential, especially in the wild.”

FALL PORK OUT
“Baconfest Date and Venue Announced” (Food Chain blog, Chicago Reader, Jun. 3, 2009)
Chicagoans Andre Pluess, AB’96, Seth Zurer, AB’99, and friend Michael Griggs set the date for their first citywide celebration of all things bacon: October 25. “Every time I have a conversation with someone about Baconfest they come up with something that ought to be a part of it," says Zurer. “And I say yes to everything.”

DELIVERY BOYS
“Present at the Creation” (Wall Street Journal, Jun. 4, 2009)
Judith Walzer Leavitt, MAT’65, AM’66, PhD’75, describes the evolution of a father’s role in the birth process in Make Room for Daddy.

VETERAN VETERINARY VOICE
“Laboratory Animal Advocate Still a Force 72 Years After Graduation” (JAVMA News, Jun. 15, 2009)
Nathan Brewer, PhD’36, promotes humane care for animals used in biomedical research.

ELDER SPOKESMAN
“Asner Bears Banner for Seniors in Up” (Providence Journal, Jun. 3, 2009)
“I love carrying the banner for the old folks,” says Ed Asner, X’48. “Thank God I’m here, and I can lift it.”

MILESTONES

• “Banc of America Securities-Merrill Lynch Research Adds Strategists” (International News, Jun. 2, 2009)
  Tanapoom Damraks, AM’06, is the new commodities strategist for Banc of America Securities-Merrill Lynch Research.


• “Warne Tapped as New O’Charley’s CEO” (Nashville Business Journal, Jun. 4, 2009)
  Jeffrey Warne, MBA’94, is the new president and CEO of O’Charley’s restaurant division.


• “U46 Names Chief of Student Services” (Courier News, Jun. 4, 2009)
  Jim O’Connor, SM’00, is the new executive director of student services for School District U46 in Chicago.

The tent has gone up on the lawn of the Alumni House, and the events of Alumni Weekend 2009 are officially underway. Here's a selection of photos from day one. See you on campus!

Photos by Dan Dry.

Submit your best University of Chicago-themed photos to Phoenix Pix.

TRANSFORMATIVE THINKING
“Innovation in an Age of Change” (Minnesota Public Radio, Jun. 3, 2009)
The Age of the Unthinkable author Joshua Cooper Ramo, AB’92, argues that in during this unparalleled change, those who don’t transform their thinking will be left behind.

CULTURE CRITIC
“In Conversation: Eleanor Heartney with Phong Bui” (Brooklyn Rail, June 2009)
Eleanor Heartney, AB’76, AM’80, talks about living in Hyde Park for eight years, her perpetual fascination with Catholicism, and covering the Magiciens de la Terre—the first global art fair, held in 1989.

HYDE PARK DRAMA
“World Premiere of Dr. Banner’s Garden” (South Coast Today, May 28, 2009)
The world premiere of Dr. Banner’s Garden—a play written by Hugh Aaron, AB’51, that takes place at the University of Chicago in 1947—opens June 17 at Your Theatre in New Bedford, Massachusetts.

TEACH YOUR CHILDREN WELL
“U.S. Secretary of Education Likes Basketball and Schools” (Wenatchee World, Washington Post, Jun. 4, 2009)
“My job is to help make schools better and make sure that we have great teachers and principals in every school,” says Arne Duncan, U-High’82. “I am convinced children will do extraordinarily well if given the chance.”

MEDICINE MAN
“75 Years on Front Lines of Medicine” (Chicago Tribune, Jun. 5, 2009)
Almost 100 years old, Joseph B. Kirsner, PhD’42, is mentally sharp and on top of a medical specialty he helped shape over a 75-year career.

POTTY TRAINING
“Toilet Humor Set for Toyko Theater” (Japan Times, Jun. 5, 2009)
Japanese actors prepare to bring their interpretation of Tony award-winning musical Urinetown—written by Greg Kotis, AB’88, and Mark Hollmann, AB’85—to audiences in Tokyo.

MILESTONES

• “Teacher Wins Klingenstein Fellowship” (Laboratory Schools News, Spring 2009)
  Ruthie Hansen, AB’06, won a fully funded fellowship to the 2009 Summer Institute for Early Career Teachers, offered by Columbia University.


• “Meier Joins Wake Internal Medicine Consultants” (Daily Business News, Jun. 1, 2009)
  Pediatrician John J. Meier, MBA’91, MD’04, joined the practice of Wake Internal Medicine Consultants, Inc. in North Raleigh, North Carolina.

NUCLEAR NATIONS
“Are We at War With North Korea?” (Slate, May 26, 2009)
Professor Bruce Cumings helps Slate assistant editor Juliet Lapidos assess the situation between North Korea and the United States.

LEAN TIMES, FAT BEHINDS
“Is the Recession Making Americans Fatter?” (Newsweek, Jun. 1, 2009)
“Both in terms of people’s individual lifestyles and in terms of our public response, recession does give us an opportunity,” says SSA assistant professor Harold Pollack. “This is a good time to examine the ways we look at public health and say, how are we doing that, and can we do that better?”

RELATIVITY REVOLUTION
“Books to Read Now” (Seed, June 2009)
Seed editors list University of Chicago Press author Richard Stanley’s Einstein’s Generation: The Origins of the Relativity Revolution as a must-read.

Alumni Weekend is off to a good start. The sidewalks are full of smiling alumni toting bags with schedules and goodies and students finishing up their finals. Here's a selection of photos from day two. We hope to see you on campus!

Photos by Dan Dry.

Submit your best University of Chicago-themed photos to Phoenix Pix.

From the Alumni Procession through campus and celebration of achievement in Rockefeller to the picnic and party in Ratner, campus was hopping Saturday. Here's a selection of photos from day three of Alumni Weekend.

Photos by Dan Dry.

Submit your best University of Chicago-themed photos to Phoenix Pix.

CORE BELIEFS
"The Chicago View" (New York Times, Jun. 5, 2009)
David Brooks, AB'83, looked at the question "How U of C is Barack Obama?" at his lecture during Alumni Weekend 2008. One year later via his column at the New York Times, Brooks revisits the new president's City of Chicago roots.

RED PLANET PIX
“Phonecams Could Boost Hunt for Mars Life” (New Scientist, Jun. 2, 2009)
Patrick McGuire, AB'89, and his team of researchers perfect the art of using cellphone cameras to look for life on Mars.

EVERYBODY'S CRAZY 'BOUT A SHARP DRESSED MAN
"Meet the Semifinalists" (Esquire, Jun. 2009)
We're fans of Matthew Fan, JD'08—a semifinalist in Esquire's "Best Dressed Real Man" contest.

POETIC ASIDES
"Interview with Poet Shaindel Beers" (Writer's Digest, Jun. 08, 2009)
"I really like sestinas," says Shaindel Beers, AM'00. "There's something comforting and scary at the same time about setting up a Word document or a page in a notebook with those six end words all down the page."

MATHEMATICS AND PHYSICAL REALITY
"The Magical Marriage of Math and Science" (News & Observer, Jun. 7, 2009)
Science writer Martin Gardner, AB'36, believes mathematics would exist even if humans did not: "If two dinosaurs joined two other dinosaurs in a clearing, there would be four there, even though no humans were around to observe it, and the beasts were too stupid to know it."

GEEKED OUT
"Nerdiness Is in the Eye of the Beyholder" (Washington Post, Jun. 7, 2009)
Anthony Harris, JD'79, finishes the sentence, "You know you're a nerd when..." in his essay for the Washington Post.

THE INDEPENDENT
"Chicago Inspector General David Hoffman Is Not Afraid to Bite Mayoral Hand that Feeds Him" (Chicago Tribune, Jun. 7, 2009)
"People need to believe that you're independent of every other part of city government. Especially the mayor," says City of Chicago Inspector General David Hoffman, JD'95.

GREED IS BAD
"Wall Street Bonuses Bred 'Ungrateful Schmucks'" (Bloomberg, Jun. 5, 2009)
Peter G. Peterson, MBA'51, writes in his new book The Education of an American Dreamer, released yesterday, about his frustrations after he distributed bonuses to Lehman employees in 1974: "I was quietly furious. To myself I was thinking, ‘What a bunch of spoiled and ungrateful schmucks!’"

WHITE COLLAR BLUES
"Making Things Work" (New York Times, Jun. 5, 2009)
Johns Hopkins professor Francis Fukuyama reviews Shop Class as Soulcraft by Matthew Crawford, AM'92, PhD'00.

MILESTONES

• “PhRMA Honors Gardasil Researchers with Discoverers Award” (PhRMA News Office, Apr. 4, 2009)
  Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America awarded Eliav Barr (who completed his postdoctoral work in gene therapy at the University of Chicago and was on faculty from 1992 to 1995) with its 2009 Discoverers Award for his work in developing the breakthrough HPV vaccine, Gardasil.


• "Hollywood Icon Gives Graduation Speech at UCI" (Orange County Register, Jun. 5, 2009)
  Sherry Lansing, U-High'62, was the keynote speaker at the University of California, Irvine, graduate-level degrees ceremony.


• "Choate Graduates 229" (Record-Journal, Jun. 7, 2009)
  As commencement speaker at Choate Rosemary Hall's graduation ceremony, David Broder, AB'47, AM'51, gave the advice: "Much will depend on our ability to tap the energy and altruism of you and your generation. You and your contemporaries can sustain the hope of this nation; we need you to do it."


• "Hanne Maria Sonquist, 1931-2009" (Noozhawk, Jun. 6, 2009)
  Child educator Hanne Sonquist, AB'54, AB'59, died May 31, 2009. She is survived by her husband of 58 years, John Sonquist, AB'51, PhD'69.

BATTLE OF THE BREWS
“Starbucks Beats Peet’s?” (FiveThirtyEight, Jun. 9, 2009)
Nate Silver, AB’00, breaks down Zagat’s annual survey about the best coffee and concludes that it’s wrong about Starbucks earning the title: “What seems like a too-close-to-call verdict is actually a relatively clear one for Peet’s.”

PLAY BY PLAY
“An Interview with Vince Gennaro” (Hardball Times, Jun. 8, 2009)
Baseball analyst and MLB team consultant Vince Gennaro, MBA’77, answers questions about how the economic crisis influences free agent salaries, new stadium openings, and attendance.

MARX & MOTORCYCLES
“Make Yourself Useful” (The Tech, MIT News Office, Jun. 5, 2009)
Rosa Cao, AB’03, reviews Shop Class as Soulcraft by Matthew Crawford, AM’92, PhD’00.

MOUNTAIN MEDICINE
“The Story of Payson, Arizona: Payson Gets a Full-Time Doctor” (Payson Roundup, Jun. 9, 2009)
In 1917 Christian Risser, who graduated from the University of Chicago Medical School, was the first doctor to set up a local practice to treat patients—ailing from the flu, smallpox, scarlet fever—in the frontier town of Payson, Arizona.

ANGWIN’S ‘BARBARIANS’
“A ‘Place for Friends’ Brings Out the Enemies and Frenemies” (Huntington News, Jun. 8, 2009)
In his recommendation of Stealing MySpace by Julia Angwin, AB’92, book critic David M. Kinchen writes: “If you enjoyed Byran Burrough’s Barbarians at the Gate and Michael Lewis’s The New New Thing, [Angwin’s] Stealing MySpace is the book for you. Given the ongoing meltdown of the print news industry, it might be the book for all of us.”

MILESTONES

• “Wall Street Journal Deputy Managing Editor Hertzberg to Depart” (Editor & Publisher, Jun. 2, 2009)
  Daniel Hertzberg, AB’68, is leaving the staff of the Wall Street Journal after 32 years, during which he won the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for investigative journalism.


• “Behringer Harvard Appoints New Marketing Leader, Promotes Five Executives” (PR Newswire, Jun. 8, 2009)
  Andrew J. Bruce, MBA’02, was promoted to senior vice president of capital markets at Behringer Harvard.

ODDS FOR CHICAGO 2016
“The Olympics of Voting” (Forbes, Jun. 22, 2009)
University of Chicago professors Allan R. Sanderson and John Mark Hansen analyze the likelihood of Chicago winning the International Olympic Committee’s vote for the 2016 Games.

A HEAD FOR FINANCES
“Control Yourself” (Wall Street Journal, June 8, 2009)
“One could try to explain all the events of the last several months with models and ratios,” says Chicago Booth behavioral economist Richard Thaler. “But it’s become more and more difficult to do so.”

TOO CLOSE TO JUDGE
“Alito and Sotomayor Have Striking Similarities” (Newsday.com, May 28, 2009)
Current Supreme Court judges have a lot in common, says Law School professor Eric Posner: “If you take the broader perspective, basically everybody on the court has the same resume.”

ENGAGING ZEST
”’Exiled’ Jewish Cabaret Songs Find a Home on CD” (All About Jazz, Jun. 6, 2009)
The New Budapest Orpheum Society, an ensemble in residence at the University of Chicago, released a new CD including 25 songs of “love, lament, observational humor, and social satire” that address the concept of exile from “external and internal, physical and psychological” perspectives.

CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS...OVER-PROTECTED?
“Professor Argues ‘Less’ Is More in Consumer Protection Law” (Madison/St. Clair Record, Jun. 9, 2009)
“Unsophisticated consumers can find more relief in arbitration than in litigation,” says Law School professor Omri Ben-Shahar. “The courts tend to consider other types of behavior as quasi-fraudulent that aren’t.”

CONSERVATISM, TERRORISM, AND EMPATHY
“Seven Questions for Richard Posner” (Economist, Jun. 6, 2009)
In an interview with the Economist editors, Law School professor Richard Posner answers an array of hot-topic questions.

FEWER ZZZZZS = HYPERTENSION?
“Lack of Sleep Can Raise Blood Pressure Over Time” (U.S. News & World Report, Jun. 8, 2009)
University of Chicago researcher Kristen Knutson and colleagues find more health benefits of getting enough sleep: “Laboratory studies of short-term sleep deprivation have suggested potential mechanisms for a causal link between sleep loss and hypertension.”

CONSERVATIVE ADVICE
"The Six Top Republicans Obama Listens To" (Washington blog, Atlantic, Jun. 10, 2009)
Blogger Marc Ambinder identifies David Brooks, AB'83, as one of the six Republicans whose concerns and criticisms President Obama and his White House team heed because "Brooks's voice, even when not embraced by conservatives, influences how centrists and many intellectually honest liberal Democrats look at the world."

LANGUAGE ARTS
"Excuse Me, Do You Speak Klingon?" (Salon, Jun. 3, 2009)
The first sentence that author Arika Okrent, PhD'04, could understand in Klingon was "Ha'DIbaH vISopbe" ("I am a vegetarian.") Her new book In the Land of Invented Languages explores the history of Klingon—the second most popular invented language after Esperanto—and others.

SCIENCE CHICAGO'S UCHICAGOAN
"Driving Force Behind a Scientist’s Passion" (Medill Reports Chicago, Jun. 10. 2009)
Biochemist Rabiah Mayas, SM'02, PhD'07, puts her scientific background to good use as Science Chicago's director of outreach. “Rabiah reminds us every day how important science, math, engineering, and technology are to our lives,” says Cheryl Hughes, Science Chicago's executive director.

MONEY TALK FROM MICHIGAN
"Professor Emeritus Weighs in on the Economy" (Western Herald, Jun. 11, 2009)
"To improve the current economic situation, I do not believe that more government spending is the answer,” says Raymond Zelder, AM'51, PhD'55. “Policy makers should focus on reforms that remove impediments to work, saving, investment, and production.”

FRENCH-FRIED TEMPTATION
"Lead Us into Temptation" (Atlantic, Jun. 9, 2009)
Edward Tenner, AM'67, PhD'72, looks at the results of new research about healthy menu items at fast food restaurants that examines "if, in giving people a choice, these dishes really push diners toward the unhealthiest alternatives."

MILESTONES

• "Gleacher Partners Merges" (Chicago Tribune, Jun. 9, 2009)
  Eric Gleacher, MBA'67, "completed the sale of his namesake New York-based mergers and acquisition advisory business to publicly traded Broadpoint Securities Group."

FISCAL BIPARTISANSHIP
"What Does the President’s Party Affiliation Have to Do With the Economy?" (Freakonomics blog, New York Times, Jun. 9, 2009)
In a guest post to Professor Steven Levitt's Freakonomics blog, Dmitri Leybman, '09, writes about the "impact of politics on macroeconomic outcomes."

RECOVERING MEDICAL JUDGMENT
"Atul Gawande on Regaining Medical Judgment" (Science Life blog, Jun. 4, 2009)
Pritzker School of Medicine commencement speaker Atul Gawande proposes that medical communities "ensure patients get cheap but effective preventative care by rooting out unnecessary operations and perverse financial incentives."

ALL TOGETHER NOW
"Virtual 'Tipping Point' Leverages Group Deals" (Reuters, Jun. 10, 2009)
Former public-policy graduate student Andrew Mason organizes action around tipping points: "If you can give people a way to take action where they feel it's actually going to make a difference, they'll do it."

SINGAPORE STAYING POWER
"Western Universities' Asian Programs Endure" (Wall Street Journal, Jun. 12, 2009)
The Wall Street Journal profiles Chicago Booth's presence in Singapore.

SMOKE SCREEN
"Senate Passes FDA Tobacco Bill" (Wall Street Journal, Jun. 12, 2009)
The Senate passed legislation Thursday that brings the tobacco industry under FDA regulation: "With $600 [million] to $700 million from industry to support it, I think the administration can set it up," says former FDA commissioner David A. Kessler, JD'78, who led the original effort to treat nicotine as a drug.

CREATIVE FLUENCY
"Speaking Klingon" (Time, May 18, 2009)
In her book In the Land of Invented Languages, linguistics expert Arika Okrent, PhD'04, "chronicles the scientists, idealists and eccentrics who tried — and failed — to create the perfect parlance from scratch."

SUMMER READING LIST
"Best Beach Reads" (Examiner, Jun. 11, 2009)
I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell by Tucker Max, AB'98, made the Examiner's summer must-read list: "Max is like a male version of Chelsea Handler, only raunchier (if that is even possible) and a giant (but funny) a-hole."

MILESTONES

• "Taylor Capital Group Annual Meeting Elects Daniels to Board of Directors" (PR Newswire, Jun. 11, 2009)
  Prairie Captial's cofounder and principal C. Bryan Daniels, MBA'85, was elected to its board of directors.


• "Former Federal Judge to Chair Commission" (Daily Illini, Jun. 10, 2009)
  "People are very proud to live in this state, and anything that blemishes it is pretty dismaying," says Abner Mikva, AM'51, appointed chair of the committee investigating claims that the University of Illinois granted admittance to some applicants because of their political connections.


• "Bucyrus Elects New Director" (Business Journal, Jun. 12, 2009)
  Michelle Collins, U-High'78, has been elected to the board of directors of Bucyrus, a South Milwaukee-based mining-equipment manufacturer.


• The Future of Scholarly Publishing (Chronicle of Higher Education, Jun. 12, 2009)
  Lindsay Waters, AM'70, PhD'76, from Harvard University Press and Alan G. Thomas from the University of Chicago Press discusses changes in academic publishing.

STICKING POINT
"New 'Electronic Glue' Promises Less Expensive Semiconductors" (Freakonomics blog, Science Daily, Jun. 11, 2009)
Developed in assistant professor of chemistry Dmitri Talapin's laboratory at the University of Chicago, "electronic glue"—created from the coupling between nanocrystals in inorganic molecules—accelerates advances in semiconductor-based technologies.

NET WORTHLESS
"Americans' Wealth Drops $1.3 trillion" (CNN Money, CNN.com, Jun. 11, 2009)
Debt levels are unsustainable and have to come down to bring back financial health, says finance professor Amir Sufi: "Household deleveraging has to happen even though it's painful."

MILESTONE

• "A Franklin Celebration" (Duke Today, Jun. 11, 2009)
  Former President Bill Clinton led a celebratory ceremony at Duke University to remember professor emeritus of history John Hope Franklin.

Spring convocation, 2009

Photos by Dan Dry.

Submit your best University of Chicago-themed photos to Phoenix Pix.

Language lovers beware: Philadelphia-based author and linguistics expert Arika Okrent, PhD'04, is not your average polyglot. Forget pig latin. She knows Klingon.

Okrent traces the history of Klingon and 499 other dreamed-up languages in her book In the Land of Invented Languages that New York Times crossword editor Will Shortz describes as "a lively, informative, insightful examination of artificial languages—who invents them, why, and why most of them fail."

Due to the book's popularity among the Magazine's editors, we asked Okrent to pull together a list of some of her favorites. As they say in Esperanto, gxuu! (Enjoy!)

Ten interesting words from invented languages

p2846
INVENTED LANGUAGE: Cave Beck's Universal Character (1657)
"hired mourners at funerals" In 1657, this concept was apparently a subject of conversation important enough to be deemed worthy of a "universal" number word.

cepuhws
INVENTED LANGUAGE: John Wilkins's Philosophical Language (1668)
"shit" While this word could be translated by a common profanity in English, doing so would obscure the fact that each letter in the word refers to a conceptual category that helps lay out the "true" meaning of the word. Cepuhws is "a serous and watery purgative motion from the consistent and gross parts (from the guts downward)."

lxmsgevjltshevjlpshev
INVENTED LANGUAGE: James Ruggles's Universal Lanugage (1829)
"179 degrees 59 minutes and 59 seconds of west longitude within one second of reaching 180 degrees west" Now that's a word!

dosifasol
INVENTED LANGUAGE: Jean Sudre's Solresol (1866)
"coffee" Solresol was based on the seven notes of the musical scale: do re mi fa sol la si. Words that are similar in meaning start with the same notes. So if you want milk and sugar with your coffee, you must also ask for dosiredo and dosifasi.

pük
INVENTED LANGUAGE: Johann Schleyer's Volapük (1879)
In Volapük, pük means "language." It comes from the English word "speak" but it's hard to tell (vol, means "world", so Volapük is "word language.") Unfortunately, it looks a lot like a different English word. And even more unfortunately, it shows up in various other words related to the concept of language: püked – "sentence" and pükön – "to speak."

birdo
INVENTED LANGUAGE: Ludwig Zamenhof's Esperanto (1887)
"bird" Esperanto is a hybrid built from a mixture of roots from existing natural languages, but it's predominately based on Romance languages. So when you see one of the English-based words, it stops you in your tracks, like an old friend dressed up in a disorienting costume.

radíidin
INVENTED LANGUAGE: Suzette Haden Elgin's Láadan (1984)
Láadan was a language designed to capture the unique perspective of women. This word means "non-holiday, a time allegedly a holiday but actually so much a burden because of work and preparations that it is a dreaded occasion; especially when there are too many guests and none of them help." Tell it, Sister.

qIvon
INVENTED LANGUAGE: Marc Okrand's Klingon (1984)
A body part of some kind. Not further identified. All we know is that there is a left one.

slicka
INVENTED LANGUAGE: Logical Language Group's Lojban (1989)
"cradle" What it really means in this language of logic is "x is a cradle made of y, holding z, rocking at speed a through positions b."

pona
INVENTED LANGUAGE: Sonja Elen Kisa's Toki Pona (2001)
Toki pona is a "minimal language that focuses on the good things in life." It has only 118 words, so words are used in multiple ways. Pona can be a verb ("improve," "fix," "repair," "make good"), an adjective ("good," "simple," "positive," "nice," "correct," "right"), a noun ("goodness," "simplicity," "positivity"), or an interjection ("great!", "cool!" "yay!"). Pona!

Arika Okrent, PhD'04

RECOMMENDED LINKS

• Shop: Amazon.com (hardback book)


• Shop: Powells (hardback book)


• Shop: Random House (audio book)


• Website: In the Land of Invented Languages


• Website: Arika Okrent

IN MEMORIAM
"Newton Doctor Dies in Fall from Mountain" (Boston Globe, Jun. 13, 2009)
The two friends John Mislow, MD’04, PhD’02, and Andrew Swanson, MD’00, fell during a climb along Alaska’s Mount McKinley and died.

RELATED LINKS

• Web site: John Mislow Memorial


• Web site: Andrew Swanson Memorial


• Facebook: University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine Alumni group

“I believe calling someone an organizer is the most flattering thing you can say,” Heather Tobis Booth, AB'67, AM'70, told a group of 20 activist students last Friday while discussing her own “life in the movement” and offering tips for campus and community work. Booth has been an organizer for more than 40 years and while at the University was the founder of the women's collective JANE, a group that provided anonymous abortion services.

The first flyer Booth ever handed out, she said, was about ending the death penalty. She was 13 years old, in New York City, and terrified: “I was so nervous dropping flyers everywhere,” she said. “I learned how important it is to train people for that sort of thing.” By the time she reached the University of Chicago in the early '60s, Booth was prepared; within a week she staged a sit-in with fellow students to protest the city's school segregation. Then she helped organize Chicago’s Freedom Schools, free learning centers that taught empowerment and techniques for social change. As the head of Friends of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, she went to Mississippi to respond to the “sanctioned lynching” of three young African American men.

“Back on campus,” Booth said, an acquaintance was accidentally pregnant and suicidal. “I didn’t know it at the time,” she said, “but three people discussing abortion were considered conspiring to commit murder." Booth found a doctor who would perform an abortion. A month later, another woman contacted her about the doctor. And then again. The underground abortion service known as the JANE Collective was formed and ultimately served more than 11,000 women throughout Chicago. “I wasn’t even thinking about it as something political,” she said.

Women's issues hadn't been widely politicized; for instance, contraception was not considered a right at the time. Booth was once searched for contraceptives upon returning to the dorm after “parietal hours,” designated hours after which female students were required to be home. The dorm managers assumed she was engaged in "illicit" activity, when in fact she had been comforting a friend about a breakup. Booth was outraged, she said, not by the curfew or the fact that contraceptives were contraband, but at being suspected of having them. “That was a different time,” she said.

Booth encouraged the students to change the world through organizing. She cited three principles from the manual of the Midwest Academy, a "training institute for the progressive movement," which she founded: organize in a way that gives people a sense of their own power, fight for concrete changes, and work to change the relations and structure of power. Now organizing a national grassroots campaign to “regulate the financial industry,” Booth can’t foresee how successful her current project will be, but she believes the economic crisis may make the time right. “You can’t create a movement,” she said. “You can only seize what’s there.”

Shira Tevah, AB’09

At the Alumni Weekend convocation, the Rockefeller crowd cheers for the award winners.

Photo by Dan Dry.

Submit your best University of Chicago-themed photos to Phoenix Pix.

Austan Goolsbee reported for mockery on Monday’s Colbert Report, the first Obama administration official to submit to the faux-O’Reilly treatment. “I’ll ask him if his arm gets tired from throwing money at problems,” Colbert said. “I wonder if he came up with ‘tax’ or ‘spend.’”

After he listed Goolsbee’s titles—“one of the chief economists on the president’s economic-recovery advisory board and a member of the presidential task force on the auto industry”—Colbert had a more sympathetic question: “Who did you piss off to get those jobs?”

“You have no idea how close to true that is,” Goolsbee said.

A Chicago Booth professor on leave to work in Washington, Goolsbee wants “to bring a certain humor or style” to the stuffy field of economics. He wisely let Colbert handle the humor, but the aspiring “Muhammad Ali of economic advisers” came equipped with memorable analogies—a la Ali’s floating butterflies and stinging bees.

Responding to the host’s open-minded curiosity—“How will socialism solve things?”—Goolsbee compared the administration’s economic policies to rescuing a child from a burning house. As the heroes carry the kid to safety, “now is not the time to accuse them of kidnapping.”

Colbert granted him the rhetorical territory, then appealed to Goolsbee on an emotional level: “Which do you love more, taxing or spending?”

Jason Kelly

RECOMMENDED READING

• "Behind Every President…" (University of Chicago Magazine, Jan-Feb/09)


• "Goolsbee Looks to Infuse Economic Adviser's Job with Edgy Wit" (Chicago Tribune, Jun. 15, 2009)

FAITH EVOLVED
"Could a Fish Fossil Challenge Your Faith?" (USA Today, Jun. 12, 2009)
USA Today's Faith and Reason Book Club reviews organismal biology professor Neil Shubin's Your Inner Fish.

RENAME DOWN THE ROAD
"Should the New GM Start with a New Name?" (Associated Press, Jun. 12, 2009)
If GM rebrands during its attempt to come back, "they have little to lose," says Chicago Booth marketing professor Jean-Pierre Dube. "The brand isn't in good shape."

SPACE ROCK
"Meteorite Grains Divulge Earth's Cosmic Roots" (PhysOrg, Jun. 15, 2009)
Postdoc scientist Philipp Heck studies meteorite dust to improve understanding of interstellar processes: "The knowledge of this lifetime is essential to better contain the timing of formation processes of the solar system."

COLBERT CAMEO
"Austan Goolsbee Looks to Infuse Economic Adviser's Job with Edgy Wit" (Chicago Tribune, Jun. 15, 2009)
"Most folks don't read policy fact sheets," says Austan Goolsbee, a Chicago Booth professor on leave to serve on the White House Council of Economic Advisers. "If we want them to hear it, sometimes the only way is to explain it while being mocked by a comedian."

NOVEL UCHICAGOAN
"Meet the Milquetoasts" (New York Times, Jun. 12, 2009)
Fictional University of Chicago paleontologist Jonathan Casper is the protagonist in Joe Meno's book The Great Perhaps.

FALL QUARTER PREP WORK
"Top SHS Grad Diving into College Already" (State Journal-Register, Jun. 13, 2009)
Incoming first-year Carl Butt is getting a jump on his math course work over the summer before starting at the University of Chicago in September. An artificial-intelligence aficionado, Butt plans to study computer science and linguistics.

SCOTUS & THE KELO FACTOR
"Property Rights Likely to Arise in Sotomayor’s Confirmation Hearings" (New York Times, Jun. 14, 2009)
Law School professor Richard Epstein considers Sonia Sotomayer's ruling in Didden v. Village of Port Chester a rare misfire: “It’s a disappointment and it’s wrong and it’s ill thought out. But it’s not one of six. It’s one of two" poorly handled decisions (the other being Ricci v. DeStefano).

MILESTONES

• "A Franklin Celebration" (Duke Today, Jun. 11, 2009)
  Former President Bill Clinton led the celebratory remembrance of former Chicago historian John Hope Franklin at Duke University.

SOUL CRAFTSMEN
"Out of the Office" (New Yorker, Jun. 22, 2009)
Thirty-five years after the release of former University of Chicago grad student Robert Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Matthew Crawford, AM'92, PhD'00, spurs discussions about the value of work with the release of his book Shop Class as Soulcraft.

INVENTIVE WORDS
"Dreaming of a Perfect Language" (On Point with Tom Ashbrook, Boston Public Radio, Jun. 1, 2009)
Arika Okrent, PhD'04—author of In the Land of Invented Languages—talks about the history of artificial languages and why it never ends.

SMOKE BREAK
"Former FDA Chief on Tobacco Reform" (Evening News with Katie Couric, CBS News, Jun. 11, 2009)
Former head of the Food and Drug Administration David A. Kessler, JD'78, discusses the new anti-smoking bill: "For the first time, we have the opportunity to regulate this deadly, addictive product."

PRESIDENT'S PAL
"FOB (Friend of Barack)" (Columbus Dispatch, Jun. 12, 2009)
"Hoops came before the friendship," says Martin Nesbitt, MBA'89, about being a confidant of President Obama. "It's just like any other male-to-male relationship. Sometimes it's about my job, sometimes about his job. Families. Careers. All kinds of stuff."

TIRED OF ACTING HIS AGE
"Asner Is Tired of Stereotypes, Eager for Work" (Miami Herald, Jun. 15, 2009)
"I can do lovers," says Ed Asner, X'48, who does not receive the variety of opportunities he wants. "I can do Sir Galahad types. I'm not going to limit myself in voice-overs to irascible old men."

CHANGE BY DESIGN
"CeaseFire Campaign Against Violence" (Design Ignites Change, June 2009)
CeaseFire's Amanda Geppert, AB'95, and James D. Barton, AB'04, worked with a team at the IIT Institute of Design to change the thinking about the social norms and behaviors that perpetuate the transmission of violence at the individual and community level.

MILESTONES

• "Former Oriental Institute Director and Anthropology Professor Honored with Alumni Medal" (Chicago Chronicle, Jun. 11, 2009)
  The University of Chicago Alumni Association has bestowed its highest honor—the Alumni Medal—on Robert McCormick Adams, PhB'47, PhD'56, a former Chicago faculty member and administrator who is retired from the anthropology department of the University of California, San Diego.


• "Top Obama Aide Addresses Graduates in Chicago" (Chicago Sun-Times, Jun. 14, 2009)
  David Axelrod, AB'76, gave a commencement address to DePaul University graduates last weekend: "You are as noble and unfettered and as free as you will ever be to pursue your passions and chase your dreams.”


• "Write-On Writers of Coshocton" (Coshocton Tribune, Jun. 15, 2009)
  Doug Rutledge, AM'79, PhD'87, was chosen to be the featured poet at Ohio's Write-On Writers of Coshocton evening of poetry and music.


• "CED Announces Summit to Address Sustainability of America's Economic Policies" (PR Newswire, Jun. 12, 2009)
  Former U.S. Secretary of Commerce Peter G. Peterson, MBA'51, will deliver the welcoming address at the first Committee for Economic Development Summit.


• "Oldham Included in Directory Hosted by New York's Oldest Non-Profit Alternative Space for Emerging Artists" (White Columns, Curated Artist Registry, June 2009)
  Julia Oldham, MFA'05, was accepted into the White Columns Curated Artist Registry.

Last Friday two pairs of dancers took advantage of the nice weather and performed an improv tango in the Law School's reflecting pool.

THE REVOLUTION WILL BE... FAXED?
"Iran’s Internet Battle Hits New Heights" (MSNBC, Jun. 17, 2009)
UChicago activists set-up a fax-to-Web service (iranfax.org) in case Iran's online links to the outside world are cut off completely.

ADMISSIONS OF GUILT
"Three Yards and a Clout of Dust" (Chicago Tribune, Jun. 18, 2009)
"Do institutions' mission statements include the feeding and preparation of athletes for the National Football League or the National Basketball Association?" asks economics professor Allen R. Sanderson in his op-ed about university officials who bend admissions standards to accommodate athletes who might not otherwise be accepted as part to join the student body.

DINOSAUR DISCOVERY
"Dino Want a Cracker? Fossil Resembles Parrot" (MSNBC, Jun. 17, 2009)
Evidence shows that the parrot-beaked dinosaur—Psittacosaurus gobiensis—found in the Gobi Desert in 2001 by University of Chicago paleontologist Paul Sereno ate nuts and seeds.

University of Chicago student a cappella group Voices in Your Head performs Rihanna's song "Shut Up and Drive."

CONSTANT CRAVINGS
"Why We Can't Eat Just One" (Salon, Jun. 17, 2009)
"We make food into entertainment. We make it into a food carnival," says former FDA commissioner David A. Kessler, JD'78. "What do we end up with? Probably one of the great public health crises of our day."

FATHER'S DAY GIFT FIND
"What Gives?" (The Moment blog, New York Times, Jun. 17, 2009)
Memories of Myself—a book of essays and images by self-taught photographer Danny Lyon, AB'63—makes the New York Times' list of recommended gifts for dad.

MOTORHEAD
"A Philosopher Turned Motor-Bike Mender Meditates on the Rewards and Joys of Manual Labor" (Christian Science Monitor, Jun. 16, 2009)
Matthew Crawford, AM'92, PhD'00, examines for his (mostly) happy switch from philosopher and think tank director to self-employed motorbike mender.

TOP OF THE POPS
"Who's Your Daddy? Rating SciFi's Movie Fathers" (SciFi Scanner blog, AMC.com, Jun. 18, 2009)
What grade should Darth Vader earn for his fathering skills? He gets a solid "F" from novelist John Scalzi, AB'91, who rates the Sith lord and other science-fiction movie pops.

REAL CONNECTIONS
"How Are You? No, How Are You Really? (Wall Street Journal, Jun. 16, 2009)
"It's not that digital small talk is deceitful (although some probably is)," writes Julia Angwin, AB'92. "Rather, it creates a cocoon of information that may not paint a full picture of the truth."

GLASS ACT
"Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts Paints a Picture of the Master at Work" (Home Cinema Choice blog, Tech Radar, Jun. 13, 2009)
Scott Hicks's 2007 documentary about composer Philip Glass, AB'56, covers 18 months of his work, from writing his eighth symphony in his New York studio to attending the world premiere of his new opera in Germany.

SAY ANYTHING
"Interview with Arika Okrent" (Words about Created Words blog, Language Creation Society, May 28, 2009)
In the Land of Invented Languages by Arika Okrent, PhD'04, "is an enjoyable read, and both conlangers and nonlangers will find it fascinating."

BEING THE CHANGE
"Law Grad Rolls over Barriers at U. of C." (Chicago Sun-Times, Jun. 13, 2009)
Last Friday Katrina Gossett, JD'09, became the first wheelchair-using student to graduate from the Law School, receiving multiple honors: "The U. of C. is such an important school academically. It would be a shame if someone thought they couldn't come here because of accessibility."

WORKIN' FOR A LIVIN'
"Let’s Get Physical: What's So Great About Working in a Cubicle?" (AlterNet, Jun. 13, 2009)
"It's nice to have written something on a topic that people care about rather than some ancient Greek crap," says Matthew Crawford, AM'92, PhD'00.

MILESTONES

• "Gregory C. Stafford Appointed GM of the Hilton Inn at Penn" (Hotel Interactive, Jun. 16, 2009)
  Gregory C. Stafford, MBA'96, has been appointed general manager of the Hilton Inn at Penn in Philadelphia.


• "Top Shelf: Recommended Reading" (San Francisco Chronicle, Jun. 14, 2009)
  The Age of the Unthinkable by Joshua Cooper Ramo, AB'92, made the Chronicle's recommended reading list for "what could be a doomsday scenario into a future of endless possibility—if we're smart and flexible enough to see it."

Chicago-based forensic artist Josh Harker reconstructs the Oriental Institute mummy Meresamun's face using CT scan 3D imagery captured last fall at the Medical Center.

Is it just me, or does the Obama character in Spider-Man #583, “Spidey Meets the President!” look absolutely nothing like our commander in chief?

The Obama issue got a lot of attention when it came out last year, from the New York Times to the Colbert Report. (In the episode “Obama Spider-Man Comic Bribe,” Stephen Colbert left a signed copy on his bookshelf to try to entice Obama, an admitted Spider-Man collector, to appear on his show.) But no one pointed out what seemed to me the obvious. The Obama character in the comic—and there’s also an Obama imposter who is revealed as shape-shifting villain the Chameleon—looks like... well, I don’t even know. So I turned to Dan Raeburn to enlighten me.

Raeburn, a lecturer in creative writing at Chicago, is the author of Chris Ware (Yale University Press, 2004) and several other books of comics criticism. (Yes, there is such a thing as comics criticism.) In Raeburn’s professional opinion, “the cover is somewhat of a likeness. That’s Obama if he packed on a few pounds.” Cover artist Phil Jimenez, Raeburb says, “at least knows how to do a photo swipe”—a direct copy of an existing photograph. “But the interior art is by a guy named Todd Nauck, who can't draw at all.”

A crucial plot point is that no one can tell the two Obamas apart. That makes it hard to understand why both Obamas not only don’t look like Obama, but also “they don't even look like each other,” Raeburn says. “One looks like O. J. Simpson on steroids, while the other looks like Grace Jones in man-drag. From panel to panel, the same Obama doesn't even look consistent, i.e., like his own self. He looks different every time, depending on what angle he's drawn from. This is the telltale sign of total artistic incompetence.”

Perhaps James Nurss would have a kinder, gentler opinion. Nurss, the intrepid owner of Hyde Park’s only comic shop, First Aid Comics, says the Obama issue functioned as his own personal economic-stimulus package. It’s now in its fifth printing. Nurss figures he’s sold more than 1,000 copies out of his tiny, second-floor shop.

“You’d have to ask someone on the Marvel creative team, because they have the talent and ability to make him look exactly like Obama,” he says. “So this was obviously a choice. But Marvel continues to mystify me in their choices. I wish I could be more supportive of some of their decisions.”

Another odd decision was to tack the Obama story on as an afterthought to a regular Spider-Man issue. “It’s not even related to the main story,” says Nurss. “It’s a five-page, bonus backup feature.” As for the story itself, “I was disappointed. I mean, it’s cute. It reminds me of a classic ‘70s story—a really simple, dumb plot.”

For a final assessment, I decided to check in with Hamza Walker, AB'88, associate curator at the Renaissance Society on the fourth floor of Cobb Hall. Walker agreed that no one in the comic looked like Obama, “but I can’t blame that on the older epithet of all black people looking alike, because all of the white characters also look alike.”

Walker stares at the drawings. “Spider-Man’s musculature is so deformed,” he says. “It’s so hyper-stylized. I’m almost focused more on Spider-Man’s ridiculous, overwrought body than I am on Obama. And then the evil twin turns into a hairless albino called the Chameleon, this raceless entity.”

But is it degrading for the leader of the free world to appear in a comic book, fist-bumping Spider-Man? Is Obama somehow more subject to kitschification—the comic books, the dancing dolls, the Chia Pets—because he’s black? “These things aren’t being produced by a neoconservative group or as parodies,” Walker says. “They’re loving. He would be the first to laugh about the Barack industry. It just feels light-hearted, and we haven’t been light-hearted in eight years.

“With Obama being elected, there’s genuine restoration of anything being possible,” he says. “It’s so historically significant that he deserves to have a Chia Pet.”

Walker’s description of the Chameleon as a “raceless entity” stuck with me. So I call Nurss back with one last question. Why the Chameleon, when there are so many villains in the Spider-Man universe? Does he somehow mirror Obama’s own shape-shifting nature, his ability to appeal to all different kinds of voters?

“Hmm,” says Nurss. “I like that. It lends more credence to what Marvel did.” Nurss, like Obama, is a friendly, affable guy, and I could tell he didn’t want to say what he was thinking. So I ask him if I’m overreading. He laughs. “I suspect so.”

Carrie Golus, AB'91, AM'93

Areva Martin, AB'84, an attorney and the mother of an autistic son, cofounded the Special Needs Network to help needy families with developmentally disabled children. Since its launch three years ago, the Los Angeles-based nonprofit has helped provide resources and services to more than 15,000 families.

WORKING-CLASS GIRL
"Ventas Inc. CEO Debra Cafaro Credits Pittsburgh Roots, Sports for Her Strong Foundation" (Chicago Tribune, Jun. 22, 2009)
"Young women carry the weight of the world on their shoulders," says Debra Cafaro, JD'82. "Get rid of the guilt. You're not responsible for everything in the world."

LIVING IN A REVOLUTIONARY AGE
"Global Imperative (New York Times, Jun. 19, 2009)
The Age of the Unthinkable by Joshua Cooper Ramo, AB'92, "has one basic theme that is a little difficult for me, which is that my generation is sort of a bunch of dodos," says Henry Kissinger, in a critique of his protégé's book.

CORRUPTION BUSTER
"Chicago's City Hall Gets an Unlikely Conscience" (Telegraph Herald, Jun. 21, 2009)
From City Hall, David Hoffman, JD'95, works to mend Chicago's image, long tarnished by political scandals: "Whatever our history is, it doesn't mean we can't change."

SMOKE-FREE ZONE
"Talking Tobacco Companies into Regulation (Weekend Edition, NPR, Jun. 20, 2009)
David A. Kessler, JD'78, speaks with Steve Parrish, a former Altria executive, about FDA regulation of the tobacco industry during an interview with Weekend Edition host Alison Stewart.

PRESSURE POINT
"Acupuncturist Applies Needles—and Compassion (San Francisco Chronicle, Jun. 15, 2009)
Writer Edward Guthmann profiles acupuncturist, poet, and amateur boxer Halé Tokay, who attended the University of Chicago in the late '60s.

MILESTONES

• "Yang Selected for Fellowship" (Law School News Office, June 2009)
  Anabelle Yang, JD'09, has been selected for the Presidential Management Fellows Program, joining several other members of the Law School Class of 2009 who have received prestigious public service fellowships, including Kristin Greer Love (Skadden Fellow, Centro de los Derechos del Migrante); Dominique Nong (Southern Poverty Law Center fellowship); Kent Qian (Skadden Fellow, National Housing Law Project); and Grisel Ruiz (Sutro Fellowship, California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation).


• "NCC Professor, Leader Richard Eastman Dies" (Beacon News, Jun. 22, 2009)
  North Central College's Richard M. Eastman, AM'49, PhD'52, died at the age of 92.

In honor of what would have been her 100th birthday, listen to Katherine Dunham, PhB'36, describe the importance of Orisha Shango, "one of the strongest of the African gods."

LAB SCHOOL
"Peyer Brothers Have Science Lab, Will Travel" (South Bend Tribune, Jun. 17, 2009)
Brothers David and James Peyer, AB'09, teach 12- and 13-year-old students about DNA.

HOME ON LOAN
"Home Economics" (Atlantic, July-Aug 2009)
"Even in a depression, it seems, Americans won’t stop feathering their nests," writes Megan McArdle, MBA’01.

SO IT GOES
"Kurt Vonnegut, Good Kindle Books at a Glance #13" (BlogKindle, Jun. 13, 2009)
The editors at BlogKindle list the three books by Kurt Vonnegut, AM'71, that top their download list.

MANUAL LABORERS
"A Hands-On Philosopher Argues for a Fresh Vision of Manual Work" (New York Times, Jun. 20, 2009)
"The question of what a good job looks like—of what sort of work is both secure and worthy of being honored—is more open now than it has been for a long time," writes Matthew Crawford, AM’92, PhD’00, in his book Shop Class as Soulcraft.

FORTUNATE SON
"Go East, Young Man, and Make Your Fortune" (Chronicle Review, Chronicle of Higher Education, Jun. 15, 2009)
“My biggest challenge as a boy was trying to fit in,” says Peter G. Peterson, MBA'51. “All children struggle to escape their parents so they can define themselves, but mine had roots deep in another world.”

(TOO MUCH) FOOD FOR THOUGHT
"How the Food Makers Captured Our Brains" (New York Times, Jun. 22, 2009)
“Why does that chocolate chip cookie have such power over me?” asks David A. Kessler, JD'78. “Is it the cookie, the representation of the cookie in my brain? I spent seven years trying to figure out the answer.”

MILESTONES

• "Drimmer Named the New President of Western International University" (PR Web, Jun. 17, 2009)
  "I am extremely excited to be joining the staff and students at Western International University," says Alan Drimmer, AB'84, AM'86, PhD'91, who was recently named as the school's new president. "Our team is working to innovatively redefine the quality education experience expected by adult students, both domestically and internationally."


• "Historian Receives Lifetime Achievement Award" (PR NewsWire, Jun. 22, 2009)
  Gerhard L. Weinberg, AM'49, PhD'51, is the 2009 recipient of the Pritzker Military Library Literature Award for Lifetime Achievement in Military Writing. The $100,000 honorarium, citation, and medallion is sponsored by the Chicago-based Tawani Foundation.


• "Peter Homans, 1930-2009: University of Chicago Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Religious Studies" (Chicago Tribune, Jun. 17, 2009)
  Peter Homans, PhD'64, died May 30.

SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS
"From Friendship to Fascism in One Short Step" (Times (London), Jun. 21, 2009)
Like-minded people are the most dangerous company we can keep, because of the phenomenon of group polarization, says Law School professor Cass Sunstein.

EASY SCIENCE
"The Science of Talking so People Want to Listen" (Symmetry, Jun. 19, 2009)
When teaching science, astrophysicist Michael Turner keeps things simple and gets to the point: "We don't have to use jargon. We can leave some things out. Leave them wanting more."

MORE ALIKE THAN DIFFERENT
"Among Many Peoples, There's Little Genomic Variety" (Daily Herald (Everett, Washington), Jun. 22, 2009)
"Adaptations to the environment absolutely do occur," says graduate student Joseph Pickrell. "But they don't occur according to this simple model that we and others have been looking for."

FUNDING FIREWORKS
"Who Pays for Chicago's Fireworks?" (This Young Economist blog, Jun. 18, 2009)
Economics graduate student Tony Cookson looks into how Chicago funds its fireworks displays and examines how the shows are an example of a government solution to a public goods problem that works.

NUDGE TO STEP UP
"What Would It Take to Get You to Take the Stairs More? How About Music and a View?" (Nudge blog, Jun. 23, 2009)
Chicago Booth Richard Thaler suggests making stairs more centrally located, attractive, and easy-to-use to nudge more people to use elevators less.

ART OF WAR
"Doc Featuring Children’s Drawings from Darfur to Screen at Philly Independent Film Festival" (Philadelphia Independent Media Center, Jun. 16, 2009)
The documentary Crayons and Paper directed by Bruce David Janu as part of his Master's thesis, follows the work of Philadelphia-based pediatrician Jerry Ehrlich, who encourages children to draw the atrocities they endured in war-torn areas.

WINDY CITY PRESSES
"Can Chicago be a Hub for Independent Publishing?" (City Room, Chicago Public Radio, Jun. 19, 2009)
University of Chicago Press director Garrett Kiely talks about Chicago as a publishing city.

ECONOMIC INTERVIEW
"Kevin Murphy Interview" (Banking and Policy Issues, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, June 2009)
Chicago Booth professor Kevin Murphy discusses the causes of inequality, the value of medical research, and rational addition.

TROUBLE FOR TYPE 2 CHILDREN
"Experts: Most Type 2 Diabetes Can Be Stopped in Childhood" (USA Today, Jun. 21, 2009)
"It's really stunning how the percentages for type 2 diabetes are going up in younger and younger Americans," says Siri Atma Greeley, a pediatric endocrinologist at the Medical Center. "Clearly, diabetes is following obesity, and both have huge ramifications on long-term health."

Physics professors Heinrich Jaeger and Sidney Nagel demonstrate principles of physics with explosive results.

FRANK DISCUSSION
"Color Me Baffled! Frank's Magazine Lives Again" (New York Observer, Jun. 23, 2009)
Thomas Frank, AM'89, PhD'94, is reviving his cultural-political–criticism magazine.

MS. PRINT
"Hunting the Elusive First 'Ms.'" (Visual Thesaurus blog, Jun. 23, 2009)
Ben Zimmer, AM'98, describes how he found the first printed use of the word Ms. in the November 10, 1901, Springfield Sunday Republican.

MAKING A HOME IN TOLEDO
"96-Year-Old Symbolizes an Era of U.S. Migration" (Toledo Blade, Jun. 21, 2009)
Abdul Alkalimat, AM'66, PhD'74—a professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign—documents African American history in Northwest Ohio: "In 1936 only one [Toledo] firm employed more than 200 African-Americans."

RE-ENLISTERS' MORAL IMPERATIVE TO FIGHT
"Journey Back to the Civil War (The SUNY Press blog, Jun. 17, 2009)
Inspired by the service of his grandfather in the Civil War, D. Reid Ross, AM'51, tells the long-ignored stories of brave, dedicated soldiers in his book Lincoln's Veteran Volunteers Win the War.

HYPERPALATABLE
"Fat-Salt-Sugar Fix Impossible to Resist" (Washington Times, Jun. 10, 2009)
The food industry has successfully marketed—and created—highly addictive foods full of fat, salt, and sugar, says David A. Kessler, JD'78.

THE FRIEDMAN EFFECT
"Is Another Bear Market Around the Corner? (iStockAnalyst, Jun. 22, 2009)
Mark Skousen cites the "Friedman Effect"—named for Milton Friedman's (AM'33) 1961 paper “The Lag in Effect of Monetary Policy"—to give investment advice.

MILESTONES

• "Pollard Named President" (CUNY Newswire, Jun. 22, 2009)
  William L. Pollard, PhD'76, was appointed president of Medgar Evers College by the City University of New York's board of trustees.

Orit Bashkin’s grandparents came to Palestine from Europe in the ’20s and ’30s. They spoke Yiddish, but when they crossed over the border—where Yiddish was rejected as the “language of exile,” Bashkin said—they picked up Hebrew by necessity. Yiddish became "the language of letters and yellowish photos from family in Europe.” But in the 1980s, when her grandparents befriended a set of Russian Jews, they started to speak Yiddish more often. Her grandmother even began to attend Yiddish theater. They were loyal to the mission of Israel—to create a strong, unified Jewish homeland, even if that meant having only Hebrew books in the house—but “you can never erase a culture,” Bashkin said. “You can never erase a memory.”

Bashkin, assistant professor of modern Middle Eastern history at Chicago, appeared on a June 17 panel with assistant professor Na’ama Rokem as part of a program organized by Jan Lisa Huttner, AM’80, of the Chicago YIVO Society. Both Israel-educated Ashkenazi Jews—descendants from Europeans—the professors followed a screening of a 2005 documentary, Ha Ashkenazim, about the Ashkenazi identity movement in Israel, born of young, nostalgic Israelis who want to rediscover their roots.

According to some of the 20-somethings in the film, Israeli Ashkenazi Jews are thought of as nerdy and weak. Depression and sadness are ingrained in them, and Yiddish is nothing but an outdated language. But one woman, Tammy Ben-Tor (at left), sets Yiddish lyrics to electronica music to try to escape the gloomy language of ancestors who died in the Holocaust and capture the spirit of how they lived: “That’s what I’m interested in,” Ben-Tor says in the movie. “To get their lives back.”

The rich Ashkenazi identity, the part that is not depressing, said Bashkin, comes from this time before the Holocaust, the culture left behind in the shtetls. Still, she said, the film places too much emphasis on ethnic differences between Ashkenazim and Mizrahi (Arab Jews), who are described as warmer, more rebellious, happier. “In my opinion, ethnic identity is much less pronounced today,” she said. “People team together. You can have Hebrew and you can have other things”—Yiddish, for example—“and the state will not collapse.”

Ruth E. Kott, AM'07

John Callaway, founding director of the University of Chicago's William Benton Fellowship Program in Broadcast Journalism, died Tuesday. To honor his legacy, the Museum of Classic Chicago Television staff compiled this short collection of "outtakes and little pieces made just for fun."

U OF C, SEEN & NOTED
"Chicago, Where Fun Comes To Die" (The Book Bench blog, New Yorker, Jun. 25, 2009)
Andrea Walker, AM'99, AM'02, shares thoughts about UChicago tees, Baffler's comeback, and Twitterature.

OLD REGIME & NEW REGIME BRANDS
"Futurist and Culture Guru Grant McCracken: Optimistic on Effects of Recession?" (Thom H.C. Anderson blog, Jun. 24, 2009)
"There will always be a Martha. She speaks to and for a certain constituency," says anthropologist Grant McCracken, AM'76, PhD'81. "But I think her cultural trend and theme is being supplanted by the Rachael Rays of the world."

DISHONEST QUESTIONS
"Deception as a Way of Knowing: A Conversation with Anthony Grafton" (Cabinet magazine, Spring 2009)
"Montaigne and other anti-absolutist philosophers with the tools of ancient skepticism at their disposal found ways to resist the world-view of the witch-finder," says historian Anthony Grafton, AB'71, AM'72, PhD'75.

AT HOME IN THE CAPITAL
"The Chicago Way" (Congress Daily blog, National Journal, Jun. 22, 2009)
Rep. Mike Quigley, AM'85, leads his "rag tag team" from his Capitol Hill office where he also sleeps on an air mattress.

ECONOMIC RX
"Medical Analysis by Milton Friedman" (Forbes, Jun. 19, 2009)
After researching the health-care industry in 2001, Milton Friedman, AM'33, concluded the current U.S. health-care system creates increased medical spending and rampant dissatisfaction: "Third-party payment has required the bureaucratization of medical care," he wrote. "The interest of the patient is often in direct conflict with the interest of the caregiver's ultimate employer."

MILESTONES

• "ICFJ Set To Honor Hersh" (MediaBistro, Fishbowl NY blog, Jun. 24, 2009)
  Seymour Hersh, AB'58, will receive the Founders Award from the International Center for Journalists later this year.


• "30 Under 30" (Windy City Times, Jun. 24, 2009)
  Ryan Kaminski, AB'08, made the Windy City Times editors' list of "30 Under 30" movers and shakers in Chicago's LGBT community.


• "Another Chicagoan Joins the Obama Administration" (The Scoop from Washington blog, Chicago Sun-Times, Jun. 25, 2009)
  Bryan Samuels, AM'93, joins the Obama White House as the Commissioner of the Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Health and Human Services.

Among the throng of sun-soaked students and hyperactive kids, a content father patiently waited. With a small child in one arm and another by his side, he was firmly entrenched in the long lunch line that snaked around the eastern half of Bartlett quad. Free food, free entertainment for him and his family, and a beautiful early summer day—he looked happy.

Then the child holding his hand suddenly broke free and dashed off, answering the siren call of a nearby water slide. He took a step out of line to chase her, but then changed his mind, making a half-hearted cry for his wife and resuming his place in line. Free ribs can do that to you.

Indeed, hundreds were drawn to the Bartlett quad to kick off summer with the Office of the Reynolds Club & Student Activities (ORCSA). The Friday afternoon event was catered by the Hyde Park Barbecue and Bakery, formerly known as Orly’s, and two large water slides, which offered some complications for ORCSA volunteers.

“The very first girl on the very first run of the day sort of went down the slide wrong,” said David Muff, ’10, as he manned his post by the large, inflatable blue slide, corralling kids’ excitement just enough to get them to form a line. “And as she got to the bottom, all the water at the base sort of came spilling out, and the thing partially collapsed. So I had to refill it. Off to a good start.”

The event otherwise went off without a hitch, as attendees sought shade after finally obtaining their plates stacked high with barbecued ribs, chicken kabobs, salad, and dessert. The man behind the pig-out was David Shopiro, U-High’69, who has run Orly’s in Hyde Park for nearly 30 years and recently changed the place’s name, interior, and offerings. Judging by the lines, the barbecue and baked desserts were a hit—Shopiro brought enough to feed 400 people, but 90 minutes in there wasn’t a clean plate left, and he was nearly out of the more than 500 ribs he had prepared. People lined up with tiny dessert plates too small to fit the massive ribs they had their stomachs set on.

The event also featured Willy Chyr, AB’09, a balloon artist known for his installation in the Biological Sciences Learning Center and his sprawling, colorful dresses modeled at May's Festival of the Arts fashion show. Chyr sculpted elaborate balloon animals and bright headdresses for the faculty and staff's children who scampered about during the event, sculpting one balloon every two minutes for two hours straight.

With his two soaking children in tow, balloons in hand, the no-longer-hungry father started to walk off. He looked a little tired, like he had gotten too much sun. But at least he got his ribs.

Luke Fiedler, ’10

Years ago, so long I can’t remember exactly when, I watched a TV documentary about the London Underground's lost and found. Umbrellas in every size and color, of course: but there was also a surprising number of improbable objects, such as artificial limbs. How does one manage to leave one’s leg on the Tube?

At the University of Chicago, where everyone is too preoccupied with intellectual matters to remember their scarves, there are ten lost and founds. The registrar's office is the keeper of the “official” one, but each library and a few other buildings have their own. This past spring I explored the lost things in the Reynolds Club basement.

Scarves, jackets, a gym bag or two, and of course, books. Someone had left behind Volume 8, Nineteenth-Century Europe, from the Readings in Western Civilization series; someone else had abandoned Volume 9. There were textbooks on micro- and macroeconomics; something in Greek that might have been the Iliad; a training manual for animal lab technicians; a printout of an original two-act play, Heat Wave, “a work of fiction based on the very real events of the summer of 1995.” Less expected was a book adaptation of the inspirational Lee Ann Womack song “I Hope You Dance,” CD single included—a jettisoned birthday present, perhaps.

The largest-ever object in the collection, says fourth-year Kathryn Fallon, Student Activities Center manager, was a nine-foot-long oar abandoned for most of last summer. The crew team had forgotten it after a recruiting event and somehow never missed it: “We had to e-mail the crew team to let them know,” says Fallon.

And then there’s the tale of the glass eye, a story I had heard from Jennifer Kennedy, assistant director of the Student Activities Center. As the story goes, last winter somebody sent a letter claiming that during a Halloween concert at Mandel Hall, he had lost a glass eye down a heating grate. “There was discussion about whether or not this was a hoax, because it was just too weird,” says Fallon. “The letter was from France, and postmarked a month afterward, which kind of compounded the weird factor.”

But sure enough, Bob James, manager of Mandel Hall, found an eye in Mandel Hall—“not the whole eye, but the front to the eye,” says Fallon. Still suspicious, they searched the Internet and discovered “the guy had been apparently planting the eyes.”

“Someone was definitely here and dropped off the eye—we don’t know if it was him or an accomplice in Chicago,” Fallon says. “So we mailed him a letter that said, ‘We found your eye!’ but apparently we weren’t either awkward or snarky enough to get on his Web site.”

I tried to find this alleged fake-glass-eye Web site. Usually Google is more than adequate for such junk-culture searches, but I found nothing. Was I using the wrong search terms?

I e-mailed Kennedy, who wrote back with the advice that I ask James, “the man who knows the full story of the eye and is currently its caretaker.” So I e-mailed him a couple of times—no response. I phoned him a couple of times and left messages—no response. I even dropped by the Reynolds Club, but our schedules were off, and I never managed to catch him.

I forgot about it for weeks, then months. I put my notes somewhere. I put my recorder somewhere else. Eventually I had to tear both my desk and my apartment apart to find it all.

I still don’t know what happened with the glass eye. I guess at this point, I never will. “Very little of what comes in is claimed,” Fallon had told me about the lost and found. “And of the people who come back looking for stuff, very few find what they’re looking for.”

Carrie Golus, AB'91, AM'93