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FALL 2018 VOL. 90 NO. 1 A HEAD FOR LETTUCE Trevor Kenkel ’18 is not your typical farmer.
Contents
FALL 2018 VOL. 90 NO. 1
Forward
“Context and culture make
life bearable and enable 2 The Lantern Is Lit: Campus celebrates the
opening of the Roux Center for the Environment.
those living on the fault lines
5 Good Influencers: A fundraiser set up by
to endure, and even triumph, Charlotte ’06 and Dave Willner ’06 goes viral.
in the midst of chaos.” 7 Dine: A warm autumn dish from cooking instructor
Chris Toy ’77.
—GARY ROBERTS ’68
20 When the Garden
Started 8 Ten Years Later: The McKeen Center for
Trevor Kenkel ’18 has founded the largest the Common Good is the campus hub for public
aquaponics farm in New England. engagement. Illustrated by Katy Dockrill.
18 Column: Anuoluwapo Asaolu ’19 met her literary
idol and found a new sense of home.
Connect
45 Emily Weinberger ’15 on mental health
and juvenile justice.
28 The Secret History
of Magnets 53 Zach Heiden ’95 directs legal services
Scientific, literary, and sexual magnetism for the ACLU of Maine.
share historic and inextricable links.
56 Krystal Barker Buissereth ’08 changes
who has access to Wall Street.
In Every Issue
4 Respond
42 Q&A: Alexandria 44 Whispering Pines
34 For Conscience and Country Marzano-Lesnevich
Journalist Nat Harrison ’68 and classmates reflect on the The author and professor talks about 64 Discuss
tumultuous world they faced at graduation fifty years ago. The Fact of a Body.
BOWDOIN MAGAZINE FALL 2018 | CLASSNEWS@BOWDOIN.EDU 1
On October 11, 2018, Bowdoin dedicated its greenest and most advanced academic building to date. The Roux Center for the Environment brings together faculty and students from across the curriculum to tackle a range of environmental issues. Leveraging a $10-million lead gift from David and Barbara Roux P’14, Bowdoin is setting a precedent with innovative architectural design and sophisticated, forward-thinking academic planning. For more, including a photo gallery, visit bowdoin.edu/magazine. 2 BOWDOIN MAGAZINE FALL 2018 | CLASSNEWS@BOWDOIN.EDU PHOTO: FRED FIELD
Respond
Forward
In June, Charlotte and Dave Willner, both ’06, started
Embracing an online fundraiser with a goal of $1,500 in an effort
to reunite one immigrant or refugee family separated by
FROM BOWDOIN AND BEYOND
Hope
the government. They reached that goal in twenty-two
minutes. Their cause turned into a nationwide phenomenon
that raised $20,773,431 from 536,000 donors, provided
invaluable resources to the nonprofit Refugee and
WHAT A DELIGHT TO SEE THE PROFILE OF PROFES- Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services
(RAICES), and landed the Willners on TIME magazine’s
SOR JOHN RENSENBRINK in the spring/summer list of the most influential people on the Internet.
issue. I was a student in the fall 1967 freshman
seminar on Africa he mentions—and it was an MAGAZINE STAFF GOOD INFLUENCERS
adventure. We were introduced to the enor-
mous changes taking place in post-Colonial, Editor We’d just returned home from our first big
sub-Saharan Africa and to magnetic leaders Matthew J. O’Donnell vacation without our two-and-a-half-year-old
Professor of such as Julius Nyerere. It was a moment of enor- Consulting Editor daughter. As we started to catch up on the news,
Government mous hope, and we embraced it. My class paper Scott C. Schaiberger ’95 we were struck by the contrast of being home
Emeritus John about “Great Zimbabwe” helped to open my Executive Editor safe with our own child while so many thousands
Rensenbrink,
photographed eyes and prepare me for my own adventure of Alison M. Bennie of parents were forcibly separated from theirs.
last May in teaching what are now no longer revolutionary Designer and Art Director We started the fundraiser just a few hours
the Cathance college seminars for freshmen. Melissa Wells after the government disclosed that more than
Nature Preserve
near his home. Design Consultant two thousand children had been separated from
Richard Saunders ’70 2COMMUNIQUÉ their parents. The American public was shocked
Contributors to learn that our own country had broken up
James Caton so many families. The fundraiser gave people
Douglas Cook something to focus on in that moment of crisis.
GOOD LOOKING 2018 College Newspa- Class Notes section. fellow alums and the John R. Cross ’76 It was a very public demonstration of the
My compliments on per of the Year. That It’s a shame to see it College, not about Leanne Dech scale of Americans’ outrage from across the
the cover-to-cover brief article features a now shrunken given hearing opinions or Rebecca Goldfine political spectrum. A fair portion of donations
design of Bowdoin clean, spacious layout, that it was the only trendy coverage that Scott W. Hood came from people who generally support
Magazine’s spring/ with a fine straightfor- way to keep up with we can read in any Janie Porche President Trump’s agenda, but who drew the
summer issue (Vol. 89, ward photo of the Ori- class members. The other magazine. Tom Porter line at the mistreatment of these children. That
No. 3). It’s arguably ent’s coeditors. For the other shift I’m not Jed Lyons ’74 Nicole Tjin A Djie ’21 was unexpected, and also gave us hope that,
the best-looking single record, I majored in keen on is an empha- in an era of seemingly endless division, we’d
copy of the alumni English and minored sis on stories that CORRECTIONS On the cover: Trevor Kenkel ’18. perhaps found the bottom.
magazine I’ve received in graphic arts at the have little to do with FROM SPRING/ Photographs by Heather Perry. RAICES has mostly used the funds from our
to date, of which College. Spent the alumni. Admittedly, SUMMER: fundraiser for bail bonds—they’ve paid out
there’ve been many, bulk of my profession- some are remotely Our apologies to BOWDOIN MAGAZINE (ISSN, 0895-2604) is over $2,000,000 in bonds just this year. Our
since I’m Old Guard at al career in print pub- connected to an alum, Mike Merenda ’98 for published three times a year by Bowdoin College, fundraiser spurred a lot of other people to raise
this point. Significant- lishing: newspapers, but they seem to me misspelling his name 4104 College Station, Brunswick, Maine, 04011. money for RAICES too, so they’ve been able to
ly, on page three of the books, magazines, in to be chosen for their in Class News. Printed by J.S. McCarthy, Augusta, Maine. Sent use the overall intake for all kinds of things, like
same issue, oppo- that order. trendiness rather than free of charge to all Bowdoin alumni, parents of hiring more attorneys and coordinators, taking
site the magazine’s Paul Lazarus ’65 because they tell an STAY IN TOUCH! current and recent undergraduates, members of cases they couldn’t afford to take before, food,
masthead, we learn interesting story about What have you been the senior class, faculty and staff, and members supplies, and medical care for newly released
that New England’s GENERAL INTEREST an alum’s or a pro- up to since gradu- of the Association of Bowdoin Friends. families.
premier press orga- A few years ago, there fessor’s work. To me, ation? Send us an
nizations named The were many more the alumni magazine email at classnews@ Opinions expressed in this magazine are those For a longer version of our interview with Charlotte and
Dave, visit bowdoin.edu/magazine.
Bowdoin Orient the entries under the is for keeping up with bowdoin.edu. of the authors.
Please send address changes, ideas, or letters
to the editor to the address above or by email to
bowdoineditor@bowdoin.edu. Send class news
facebook.com/bowdoin @BowdoinCollege @bowdoincollege to classnews@bowdoin.edu.
4 BOWDOIN MAGAZINE FALL 2018 | CLASSNEWS@BOWDOIN.EDU PHOTO: MICHELE STAPLETON PHOTO: BRIAN WEDGE ’97 BOWDOIN MAGAZINE FALL 2018 | CLASSNEWS@BOWDOIN.EDU 5
Forward
Academics
A NEW
CONCENTRATION
Bowdoin’s new academic concentration—
Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology Dine
(EEMB)— comes at a time when great numbers
of students are expressing interest in learning
about the natural world. Last year, students Wok-Baked
started The Bowdoin Naturalists, which Five-Spice Chicken
meets weekly to investigate everything from
The National Geographic library is full of polar mushrooms to butterflies. Another new series, Recipe by Chris Toy ’77
bears (Ursus maritimus), like this mother and cub
wandering across pack ice in the Canadian Arctic. Field Notes Friday, leads groups on expeditions
to explore local ecology. And student Serves four to six
membership has surged in the longstanding
Huntington Birding Club. 4 cloves fresh garlic, crushed or minced
Alumni Life While the EEMB’s curriculum is broad—
2 tablespoons fresh ginger, crushed or minced
classes cover molecular biology all the way up
(no need to peel)
Taking the Helm at to ecosystems—EEMB students can delve deeply
into the place where they are, pursuing courses DID YOU KNOW? 2 tablespoons Chinese five-spice powder
National Geographic and research inspired by the land, ocean,
forests, lakes, and rivers of Maine and beyond.
The concentration is buttressed by the broad
Classic five-spice powder
includes star anise, fennel
seed, cloves, cinnamon,
¼ cup honey
2 tablespoons soy sauce
and Sichuan peppercorn.
Tracy Wolstencroft ’80 is now piloting National expertise of Bowdoin’s biology professors; But some blends include
ginger or anise seeds or 1 six- to eight-pound roasting chicken
Geographic into a future where the nonprofit hopes twelve will be teaching classes and labs for
cardamom, and some
the new discipline. The EEMB concentration substitute white pepper Place your oven rack in its lowest position and
to contribute to a more sustainable planet. also reflects the College’s priority in offering for the Sichuan kind. preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Stir together the
an outstanding interdisciplinary education of crushed or minced garlic cloves, crushed or minced
IN OCTOBER, TRACY WOLSTENCROFT took species and ecosystems,” demanding more the environment, as reflected by the new Roux fresh ginger, five-spice powder, honey, and soy
over as president and CEO of the 130-year- resources than the world can provide. “To Center for the Environment and the expanding sauce in a nine- to fourteen-inch wok with heatproof
old National Geographic Society. “It’s a confront this reality, the society is com- Schiller Coastal Studies Center. or removable handles. Place the chicken in the wok
unique privilege,” he said, “to join this mitted to drawing on its legacy of—and Ecologist Patty Jones, who directs the and lightly rub the mixture over the entire chicken.
amazing community of explorers, scien- continued investments in—strong science, Bowdoin College Scientific Station on Kent Turn the chicken so that it is breast-side down
tists, photographers, educators, storytell- exploration, education, and storytelling.” Island (where students pursue ecological and place the wok in the oven (remove the handle
ers, and staff to help make measurable research each summer), notes that students or handles if they are not heatproof). Roast the
progress toward our ultimate vision: a Tracy Wolstencroft ’80 was CEO of seem to be drawn to the study of ecology, chicken for forty-five to sixty minutes, depending on
planet in balance.” National Geographic the international consultancy Heidrick & evolution, and marine biology because they the size of the chicken. Turn the chicken over so that
has an “unparalleled capacity to illumi- Struggles from 2014 to 2017. He spent twenty- want to understand how the world is changing it is breast-side up, and bake for another thirty to
nate and educate people about the won- five years at Goldman Sachs, leading an around them. “We are in a period of extreme forty-five minutes, until the meat is cooked through
ders of the world,” said Wolstencroft, “and array of investment banking businesses and environmental change,” she said. “The EEMB but still moist and the skin is dark and crispy.
to inspire action at scale to protect it.” advising corporate and government clients concentration offers students the opportunity
National Geographic points out that across the US, Asia, and Latin America. Since to focus on a cutting-edge and crucial area of Chris Toy ’77 is a retired teacher and principal
the planet’s 7.6 billion people are placing 2008, Wolstencroft has sat on the National science where they study the biology happening who has been teaching Asian cooking techniques in
“unprecedented stresses on the world’s Geographic Society’s board of trustees. right here.” southern and midcoast Maine for thirty years.
6 BOWDOIN MAGAZINE FALL 2018 | CLASSNEWS@BOWDOIN.EDU PHOTO: RALPH LEE HOPKINS/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC PHOTO: DENNIS GRIGGS BOWDOIN MAGAZINE FALL 2018 | CLASSNEWS@BOWDOIN.EDU 7
Service- and learning-
oriented winter and
Forward spring break trips
venture across the US Opportunities for
and around the globe. students to explore
government and
Thirty summer public service through
Alumni demonstrate fellowship students seminars, immersion
for students how they work across Maine trips, and funded
can dedicate their and the US—and internship experiences
careers and lives to with NGOs around in Washington, DC.
the common good. the world.
Did You Know?
Ten Years of
Fourteen Orientation
Trips immerse first-
year students in Twenty years young
the McKeen Dozens of groups communities across in 2018, this day
led and initiated by Maine. of service partners
students address a with fifty nonprofits
Center huge range of topics
locally.
annually, has included
to date over 8,000
participants and
25,000 service hours,
Students enact Bowdoin’s and has expanded
commitment to the common good. to include alumni
projects nationwide.
This new program
brings together local
Illustration by Katy Dockrill senior citizens who are
experiencing memory
AN EDUCATION FOR THE COMMON GOOD has been loss with students who
help them document Students have given
at the heart of Bowdoin’s identity since Joseph their lives. out $280K-plus to
McKeen declared in 1802 that “literary institu- more than eighty-five
organizations in 147
tions are founded and endowed for the common
grants to date.
good, and not for the private advantage of
those who resort to them for education.” The
McKeen Center enacts this creed every day by
fostering opportunities for students to explore
and apply their passions for the benefit of local
and global communities. The Bridge to Kids
With an emphasis on student leadership, mentoring program
reciprocal partnerships, and community- partners student
mentors with local
engaged learning, the McKeen Center is the children.
campus hub of public engagement. Our students McKeen Fellows,
make the common good a cornerstone of their the center’s student
Bowdoin education through direct volunteering, staff, provide
leadership for all
issue-based education, community immersion major programming.
trips, and summer fellowships. To connect the Town hall-style events
classroom and community, we support faculty foster understanding
of different
who create and teach community-engaged perspectives on
courses and help students design independent controversial issues.
studies and honors projects that partner with
local organizations. We strive to give Bowdoin
students the tools, knowledge, and experiences
necessary to be the problem-solvers that the
world needs today. Academic connections
are formed between
community-identified
Sarah Seames is director of the McKeen Center for needs and curricular
the Common Good. opportunities.
8 BOWDOIN MAGAZINE FALL 2018 | CLASSNEWS@BOWDOIN.EDU
Forward
Athletics Reflect
Charlie Butt coached men’s
soccer at Bowdoin for
Cordelia Stewart ’19 and Ashley Stambolis
twenty-three years, and
swimming for twenty-four. Remembering Charlie Butt
with community members in Honduras. (1925–2018)
Bowdoin Athletics and the greater Bowdoin community lost one
of its most remarkable and beloved members on September 14.
Charlie Butt joined the athletic staff at Bowdoin in 1961 as varsity
swimming and soccer coach, and while he amassed impressive
records, it was his spirit and humanity that endeared him to
generations of Polar Bears. Charlie was a presence at Bowdoin
for nearly sixty years, and the Bowdoin community will always be
reminded of his legacy: in the coach’s room named in his honor in
Campus Life
Greason Pool (a building he helped to design); in the Charles J.
Butt Scholarship Fund established upon his retirement in 2000;
in the Charles Butt Swimming Trophy, awarded to an outstanding
Big Sound swimmer in the senior class; in his Alumni Award for Faculty and
Staff (2000); and in his induction into the Bowdoin College
It’s another melodious year for the Bowdoin Orchestra, Athletic Hall of Honor (2003).
as more students than ever embrace music on campus. Read about Charlie’s incredible life and career at
athletics.bowdoin.edu.
“IT’S BEEN AMAZING WATCHING THE
FROM TITLE RUN ORCHESTRA GROW,” said director
and Beckwith Artist in Residence
TO RUNNING WATER George Lopez. “Six years ago,
Sound Bite
there were twenty-three members;
During the women’s basketball team’s long run to the national now we’re beyond seventy!”
championships last spring, center Cordelia Stewart ’19 had
ample time to chat with assistant athletic trainer Ashley
“I’ve been in an orchestra since
middle school,” says flute player
“It is only with a diversity of
Stambolis. “I see Ashley basically every day from November Nana Hayami ’22, “and I love voices and experiences and
until March,” said Stewart. One of the topics they talked creating music with other people.”
about was the volunteer work that Stewart and her family Fellow first-year Prithvi Gunturu opinion, with give and take,
are involved in to provide Hondurans with potable water. also enjoys the collaborative aspect
Stambolis expressed a desire to pitch in as well. “Ashely is of orchestra. “Every orchestra with an expansive view
the most talented and caring human being,” Stewart adds.
This past summer, the two traveled to Trojes, Honduras,
has a different character, and this
one is very lively and easygoing.”
of what the environment
to assist Water for ME, a small NGO based out of
Stewart’s hometown of Bangor, Maine, that also works
Senior Gideon Moore, who plays
the trombone, says it’s been excit-
is and what it means in
in Colombia and Haiti to improve local water systems.
They accompanied eight researchers and helped conduct
ing watching the orchestra grow
around him over the last three
chair Vineet Shende. “We’re at the
point where, between our classes,
different contexts, that we
studies on biosand filters and monitor progress on water years. “It’s really fantastic to see our lessons, and our ensembles, will begin to find a common
purification for storage buckets in schools. something I care about so much be a full third of the student body is
“Access to clean drinking water is vital in community so successful.” involved in music at Bowdoin.” And path forward.”
health, and I’ve become passionate about working toward The orchestra’s growth (they that, he says, is unprecedented.
solutions to water filtration,” said Stewart, who will be now count two harpists, which is —ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF GOVERNMENT LAURA HENRY
pursuing medical school after graduating. “Spreading almost unheard of) is mirrored by The Bowdoin orchestra holds its INTRODUCING THE SYMPOSIUM “UNDERSTANDING OUR
awareness about challenges facing underrepresented a similar crescendo in the number annual concert on December 6, ENVIRONMENTAL FUTURE: SCIENCE, POLICY, AND ART,” WHICH WAS
populations across the globe, particularly with regard to of students involved in music, one and it will be webcast live at PART OF A NUMBER OF EVENTS MARKING THE OFFICIAL OPENING
clean drinking water and health, is crucial.” way or another, says department bowdoin.edu/live. OF THE ROUX CENTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT IN OCTOBER.
10 BOWDOIN MAGAZINE FALL 2018 | CLASSNEWS@BOWDOIN.EDU ILLUSTRATION: MICHAEL MORGENSTERN BOWDOIN MAGAZINE FALL 2018 | CLASSNEWS@BOWDOIN.EDU 11
Forward
On the Lookout Terns are “miniature, On View On the Shelf
attenuated, and
shockingly elegant.”
Life List He observed the upland
sandpiper—a species
that breeds in open
The roseate is
“especially gorgeous”—
and among his
favorites.
The interactive art installations
Let’s Get Lost and Listening Glass.
Flowers for Lisa: A Delirium of
Photographic Invention
ABELARDO MORELL ’71, H’97
grassland—at the nearby
Observations of a self- former Brunswick Naval Bald eagles over (Harry N. Abrams, 2018)
described bird nerd Air Station. Depletion of campus—their
200: Number of open grassland across increasing numbers
species he has Acclaimed photographer
the country threatens can be attributed
BRENDAN MURTHA ’21, who began observed in Maine many species. to conservation Abelardo Morell turns his lens
“officially” birding at age nine, so far—mostly in efforts of the 1970s on one of the most familiar
Brunswick. and 1980s.
spent last summer conducting artistic subjects, the flower, and
research at the Bowdoin Scientific through a series of optical and
Station on Kent Island. Back on painterly interventions creates
campus, he’s been building up his images that are at once conventionally beautiful and subtly
Maine bird list on his own by bike, surreal. The impetus emerged when Morell gave his wife,
and as a member of Bowdoin’s Lisa McEleney ’77, a photograph of flowers on her birthday,
Huntington Bird Club. “This year, a gift far more lasting than the real thing.
with a car on campus,” he says,
“I’m really excited to see what
I can add—300 is the next big
milestone, and I won’t stop there.”
Murtha keeps a field notebook
with him “at all times,” in which
he catalogues sightings before
transferring the lists into eBird. Art Gallery Becomes
He keeps a written life list of all
the birds he’s seen, and keeps year
lists, state lists, even town lists.
Musical Instrument
“Everything gets logged some- Groundbreaking installation invites viewers to make Where Privacy Dies The Maze at Windermere
where,” he says. “I also make notes their own music PRISCILLA PATON ’74 GREGORY BLAKE
on numbers, any cool behavior I (Coffeetown Press, SMITH ’75
might observe, and anything else 2018) (Viking/Penguin,
I notice while in the field.” Murtha A VISITOR TO THE BOWDOIN COLLEGE and Michael Rosenfeld Artist in 2018)
also likes identifying mammals, MUSEUM OF ART’S WALKER GALLERY Residence at the College. The wall
herpetofauna, butterflies, dragon- this fall is greeted by unusual sights drawing, titled Let’s Get Lost, was
flies, and moths, and keeps lists of and sounds. In contravention of created alongside an interactive
those species, too. “It makes being usual gallery rules that require sound installation, Listening Glass—
outdoors a constant adventure.” patrons to keep at least twelve the product of a two-year collabo-
inches away from any artwork, vis- ration with interactive and audio
Longest wingspans eBird: A fantastic database itors hold their smartphones close artists Rebecca Bray, James Bigbee
observed: whooping for familiarizing yourself
with regional birds, keeping against a large-scale wall drawing Garver, and Josh Knowles.
cranes, golden eagles,
The monk track of sightings, and and a range of sounds emits from Thanks to a smartphone app
and gannets (off the
Maine coast). He’s parakeet builds accessing the Cornell Lab their devices as they glide across designed by Knowles, different
looking forward to huge communal of Ornithology’s collection
of bird photos, videos, the surface. sounds play as the devices are The Hell of War Comes
seeing an albatross. Many migratory nests—among the
largest Brendan and audio recordings from It’s all part of a collaborative passed over the drawing on the Home: Imaginative Texts Writers Under Surveil-
species he’s observed around the world.
in Maine have suffered has observed. multimedia art installation involv- walls—effectively transforming the from the Conflicts in lance: The FBI Files
declines. Among them, ing four artists. The striking visual entire gallery into an instrument. Afghanistan and Iraq JPAT BROWN ’08,
the piping plover component adorning all four walls OWEN W. GILMAN JR. ’69 coeditor
is one of the more
well-known of these of the gallery is by linn meyers, the Listening Glass and Let’s Get Lost run (University Press of (MIT Press, 2018)
imperiled species. 2018–2019 halley k harrisburg ’90 through September 29, 2019. Mississippi, 2018)
12 BOWDOIN MAGAZINE FALL 2018 | CLASSNEWS@BOWDOIN.EDU ILLUSTRATION: MAYUKO FUJINO PHOTO: DENNIS GRIGGS BOWDOIN MAGAZINE FALL 2018 | CLASSNEWS@BOWDOIN.EDU 13
Forward
Student Life
(P) CAPTION_AlignRight
Strength and
conditioning coach
Neil Willey motivates JACK FULLERTON ’19
Bowdoin athletes
with his own athletic
prowess and with Hometown: Rye, New York
new software tools. Major: economics/English
Fullerton received a funded internship to start a kelp farm at
the Schiller Coastal Studies Center. He anticipates the farm will
produce edible seaweed for sale and provide a way for students
Staff to study aquaculture and its potential impact on Maine’s fishing
communities.
Balanced
Approach Funded Internships
STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING COACH NEIL WILLEY
is a beast on a bicycle. Willey is a former national It’s not easy for college students to work without pay. Yet
champion in observed trials, a mountain bike internships, which are often unpaid, are increasingly seen
discipline in which riders compete in timed as necessary stepping-stones to a career. Last summer,
obstacle courses over which they must balance Bowdoin awarded a record seventy-eight grants to cover living
without touching the ground, often hopping
several feet into the air from a standstill. It’s an
expenses while students pursued unpaid opportunities.
extreme physical and mental test that combines
expert bicycle handling with the quick-burst
strength and balance of a gymnast. He picked GISELLE HERNANDEZ ’20
up the sport in middle school but took a break
to pursue track and field—he’s the Universi- Hometown: Ontario, Canada
ty of Maine record holder in the pentathlon Major: Hispanic studies (English minor)
and decathlon—returning to trials riding in
graduate school. He no longer competes, but Hernandez worked as a funded intern at New York City’s Bellevue
Willey rides his mountain bike several times a Hospital Center’s emergency room. She aspires to help women in
week and keeps his skills sharp. In 2013, after her community, perhaps as an obstetrician or gynecologist, and
nearly fifteen years at the University of Arizona, she is also interested in midwifery. The internship was valuable for
where he was the director of Olympic Sports her as she sorts out the role she wants to pursue in the world of
strength and conditioning, Willey returned public health.
to his home state to head the conditioning
program at Bowdoin. This past year, he’s imple-
mented a new software system to improve the CONNOR DOWNS ’20
training and testing of Bowdoin athletes. The
Bridge Athletic platform allows him to build Hometown: Foxborough, Massachusetts
and deliver conditioning programs to athletes Major: history/psychology
directly through an app, rather than manually
through spreadsheets. “It gives me more time Downs interned at the Massachusetts State Police homicide
on the floor to coach athletes and less time with investigations unit, which he says gave him many useful skills
the programming piece,” he says. “It simplifies and sharpened his analytical and observational abilities. The
everything for the athletes, too, so they have an internship also cemented his desire to pursue a career solving
easier time following the training and are more crimes, although he’s not sure yet if he wants to be a detective,
consistent with it.” a district attorney, or an FBI agent.
14 BOWDOIN MAGAZINE FALL 2018 | CLASSNEWS@BOWDOIN.EDU PHOTO: BRIAN WEDGE ’97 BOWDOIN MAGAZINE FALL 2018 | CLASSNEWS@BOWDOIN.EDU 15
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Faculty Archives
RESEARCH AROUND
THE WORLD
Shenila Khoja-Moolji
Assistant Professor of Gender, Sexuality,
and Women’s Studies
A new addition to the Bowdoin faculty, Khoja-
Moolji focuses her attention on the interplay of
gender, race, religion, and power in transnational
contexts, particularly in relation to Muslim popu-
lations. Her latest book, Forging the Ideal Educated
Girl: The Production of Desirable Subjects in Muslim
South Asia, was honored by the Islamic Humanities
project at Brown University. Combining historical
and cultural analyses with ethnographic work, the
book examines the figure of the “educated girl” in Dr. Richard Hornberger ’45 pictured
colonial India and postcolonial Pakistan. in front of the original “Swamp” at
the 8055th MASH unit in Korea.
Henry Laurence
Associate Professor of Government and Asian Studies
Can public broadcasters like NPR, Japan’s NHK, M*A*S*H at Fifty
and Britain’s BBC help save democracy? This is
one of the questions being asked by Laurence as OCTOBER MARKED THE GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY OF M*A*S*H:
he works on his next book project, which looks at A NOVEL ABOUT THREE ARMY DOCTORS written by Richard
the evolution of public broadcasting in those three Hornberger ’45 under the pseudonym Richard Hooker, and
countries. Among the threats to democracy today, inspired by Hornberger’s time as an Army surgeon during
says Laurence, is a crisis in journalism, brought the Korean War from 1950–1953. The book spawned an
about, in part, by the fact that there’s simply “too Oscar-winning movie and one of the most popular TV series
much information” out there—fueling an increasing of all time. Hornberger based Capt. Benjamin Franklin Campus Life
polarization in public opinion. (Hawkeye) Pierce on himself, and Hawkeye played football
at Androscoggin College, a school based on Bowdoin. Upon
Collin Roesler returning from Korea, Hornberger settled in Bremen, NEW OPPORTUNITY
Professor of Earth and Oceanographic Science Maine, and was in private practice as a thoracic surgeon in
In early August, Roesler sailed out of Seattle, Wash- Waterville. Hornberger never intended to write an antiwar A component of the new THRIVE initiative, the Geoffrey Canada Scholars program launched
ington, on a five-week research trip to a remote book but, published at the height of Vietnam, his portrayal over the summer with fifteen members of the Class of 2022, who arrived on campus six weeks
spot in the northeastern Pacific Ocean. She joined a was seen, and even marketed, that way. The movie’s popu- prior to the start of the semester to participate in a variety of intensive preparatory sessions.
Geoffrey Canada ’74,
team of more than one hundred scientists and crew larity in 1970 increased that view, which continued to grow THRIVE is designed to foster achievement, belonging, mentorship, and transition to college for H’07 (front, center) with
from nearly thirty research institutions, studying the with the TV series that ran from 1972–1983. Hornberger was students traditionally underrepresented on campuses. THRIVE’s advisory group visited campus his namesake scholars.
fate of carbon in the ocean. The expedition, funded a fan of the movie, but not of the show. Describing himself to hear about the students’ experiences as scholars so far, and Geoffrey Canada ’74, H’07 talked Also pictured are three
peer mentors and THRIVE
by NASA and the National Science Foundation, politically as “a little starboard of center,” he didn’t appre- about his time at Bowdoin and about starting the Harlem Children’s Zone. Learn more about advisory board members
aimed to shed more light on phytoplankton, partic- ciate the liberal leanings of Hawkeye as portrayed by actor THRIVE—including why Netflix cofounder and CEO Reed Hastings ’83 was inspired to provide Laura Perna, Ron Brady ’89,
ularly what happens to the carbon contained in the Alan Alda. Hornberger would go on to write two sequels, in for the development of the initiative—at bowdoin.edu/THRIVE. and Maggie O’Sullivan ’92.
microscopic organisms after they die. 1972 and 1977, while continuing to practice medicine in the
Waterville area. He died in 1997.
16 BOWDOIN MAGAZINE FALL 2018 | CLASSNEWS@BOWDOIN.EDU PHOTO: WIKIPEDIA PHOTO: JESSICA PEREZ, THRIVE DIRECTOR BOWDOIN MAGAZINE FALL 2018 | CLASSNEWS@BOWDOIN.EDU 17Column
Common Ground
In meeting her literary idol at
Commencement last spring, Anuoluwapo
Asaolu ’19 found a new sense of home.
THE FIRST TIME I READ CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE’S PURPLE
HIBISCUS, I remember feeling so frustrated at Kambili. I was
angered by her passiveness in the disturbed world around
her. I completed Purple Hibiscus faster than any other book I
had borrowed from my sister’s scanty bookshelf, which also
served as our family library. My sister and I would stay up late
discussing Kambili until the cool backyard breeze serenaded
us to sleep. I was so fond of Adichie as a young academic in her desire to write the type of stories that had been ignored
the Nigerian school system that I was inseparable from her in the literature she read during her years of scholarship.
books. I like to describe her as my Nigerian Jane Austen. Her books have shaped discourse about identity, immigra-
The familiarity of Adichie’s characters was a novel experi- tion, and culture.
ence in our time. Adichie wasn’t just writing fiction, she was Her work creates a common ground for all people by cre-
creating new imaginative worlds that mirrored my Nigerian ating characters that navigate gender roles and femininity in
upbringing. Years later, you can imagine my excitement a Nigerian context. Adichie is a notable feminist author, and
when the person who changed my perception of literature Bowdoin’s recognition suggests a consciousness fitting for
was invited to Bowdoin. future generations. Bowdoin’s origins as an all-male institu-
Adichie’s visit to Bowdoin to receive an honorary degree tion has made conversations about womanhood more salient
during Commencement felt as remarkable as her novels. on campus. Adichie’s novels, in my formative years, created
Months beforehand, the student body sparked with excite- a reference for educated African women previously absent in
ment when the communications department announced our the books we read. Equally, Adichie has shaped the cultural
three honorary degree recipients. From Snapchat chronicles and social understanding of feminism in African contexts and
to Orient coverage, the campus atmosphere remained giddy beyond. Her famous quote, “We teach girls to shrink them-
with anticipation. Adichie’s poise and elegance graced cam- selves, to make themselves smaller,” sparked a worldwide con-
pus on the eve of Commencement, hours before students, sciousness about how we raise children of different genders.
faculty members, and Maine residents filled Kanbar Audito- Adichie’s visit to Bowdoin was a dream come true, and
rium to learn from her conversation with professor Jennifer the opportunity to share a meal with her and other Nige-
Scanlon. She began by addressing the vivacious crowd of rian students made my experience even more memorable.
mostly black students, myself included, in the left corner of As I spoke to her, my childhood inspiration, I felt like I was
the auditorium, from where loud cheers echoed, as students home. She asked about my experiences at Bowdoin and
welcomed Adichie for her important representation of the showered me with advice and insight. Like every Nigerian
African diaspora. The College’s effort to recognize and aunty you will meet, she advised me to wear layers and stay
appreciate her work was significant for students like myself, warm in Maine. After I shamelessly asked for a selfie, we
and it made us feel truly included and valued at Bowdoin. laughed about how she’s mastered all her angles. Before
Adichie’s formative years were influenced by intellectual parting, she encouraged me to “make Bowdoin your home,
This page:
engagement in Nigerian university settings. Her conversa- and make us [Nigerians] proud.” For a moment, Brunswick Anu’s selfie with
tion touched on the insidiousness of colonial education, embraced chatters of Igbo vernacular that its walls may never Chimamanda Ngozi
which was similar to my experience attending private schools have heard. As I begin the last of four transformative years Adichie.
in Lagos. She described her early short stories about white here, I reflect on my journey at Bowdoin. The older students Opposite page:
children playing in snow, written that way because, she said, I met here have said their farewells, the mentors I walked Professor Hanetha
“I thought that books were things in which white people did behind have sprinted forward, my senior class is waiting Vete-Congolo
congratulates
things because the books that we read were white people patiently at the door, and the Bowdoin collective continues Adichie as she
doing things.” Adichie’s own childhood experiences fueled to grow and resonate globally. receives her degree.
18 BOWDOIN MAGAZINE FALL 2018 | CLASSNEWS@BOWDOIN.EDU PHOTO: TRISTAN SPINSKI BOWDOIN MAGAZINE FALL 2018 | CLASSNEWS@BOWDOIN.EDU 19BY TASHA GRAFF ’07 PHOTOGRAPHS BY HEATHER PERRY Trevor Kenkel ’18 grows lettuce. He’s been growing it since he was in middle school, and in a way unlike most lettuce is grown. Part scientist and entrepreneur, part environmentalist and farmer—and full-time Bowdoin student—Kenkel is now making waves in Maine agriculture. When the Garden Started
“Do unto those downstream
as you would have those
upstream do unto you.”
—WENDELL BERRY
IT’S EASY TO MISS THE SPRINGWORKS FARM STAND After knocking on several doors of the ram- from a young age, he would spend all the
IF YOU’RE NOT PAYING ATTENTION. Eleven miles bling white house and finding no one but an time he could outdoors, particularly in Haskill
northwest of Bowdoin’s campus on Route 196, affable dog, I make my way down to the heart of Creek, about a mile from his house.
you drift into the town of Lisbon against the Springworks Farm: a large structure that houses He credits his time at the creek as the catalyst
current of the Androscoggin River, passing blue tanks the size of small swimming pools for his interest in sustainable agriculture. “I
the high school, a supermarket, a gas station, filled with tilapia, all attached to a 6,000-square- used to bike over and tromp around, do a little
and, in the summer, two rival ice cream shops: foot greenhouse where lettuce heads grow on fishing, catch frogs, and all sorts of little kid
Smiley’s and Big Dipper. rafts above water made nutrient-rich by the fish. stuff with my buddies,” he says. “A couple years
I’m on my way to meet current Bowdoin stu- I find Kenkel behind the fish barrels, and he after I started going there, the fish went away,
dent Trevor Kenkel ’18, founder and president welcomes me with a warm Bowdoin hello. and the frog population dropped, and the
of Springworks Farm, the largest aquaponics Kenkel’s aquaponics operation uses 90 per- whole area lost biodiversity.” Kenkel wanted to
farm in New England and purveyor of organic cent less water than traditional farming to grow know what was happening and started doing
lettuce for more than 130 different accounts, lettuce, raising tilapia and cultivating plants in research to better understand his surround-
including Bowdoin, the University of Maine at a symbiotic relationship. “It’s an ecosystem, and ings—he was eleven.
Orono, Colby College, and thirty Hannaford we’re stewards of the water chemistry,” says Ken- By the time he was in sixth grade, he had read
supermarkets. This is no small feat for any kel, as he takes me on a tour, greeting employ- Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma and began
Maine farmer, let alone one concurrently pur- ees as we make our way around. “We spend a lot to understand the dangers of the widespread
suing his undergraduate degree in biology and of time to make sure all the conditions are right use of herbicides to Montana’s ecosystem—like
economics. for everything that’s living in the system, not just atrazine, which can be devastating to aquatic
I make a quick U-turn after the Springworks the lettuce and fish, but all of the small organ- organisms, including the fish and frogs he
logo flashes in my peripheral vision and pull isms that break things down and contribute to noticed disappearing from his beloved creek.
A Nile tilapia from Springworks Farm.
Tilapia are often used in aquaponics and into the dusty parking lot. The seasonal farm the diversity,” he says, putting on his sunglasses He wanted to figure out a way to grow food that
the fish themselves are eventually harvested stand is unassuming. The crates outside are as we enter the bright greenhouse. The back of didn’t harm the environment.
as part of the process. When the new filled with organic produce with handwritten his black Springworks T-shirt reads “Lettuce be Neither of his parents were gardeners, but
greenhouse comes online, Springworks will
produce twenty thousand pounds of fish a price tags, while inside a refrigerator brims your farmer” in blue script. they agreed to let him till and fence off a
year for the Boston and Portland markets. with officially labeled Springworks lettuce: red It takes forty days for Springworks to grow a fifteen-square-foot plot of land for his first gar-
romaine and bright green Bibb catch my eye. head of lettuce. The aquaponic system allows den. “My first lettuce crop was a total disaster,”
Opposite page:
Trevor Kenkel ’18 founded Springworks An older man nods to me as he walks out, Kenkel to farm year-round, despite Maine’s Kenkel says, laughing. “Did I water it? Not sure.
Farm his first year at Bowdoin and has lifting his bag to show off his purchases. “This long winter. He sells about 6,000 pounds of I know it got whacked by the sun.” But the
grown it into the largest aquaponics farm here’s the best lettuce I ever tasted,” he says, fish per year to local markets. “It’s a highly aspiring farmer did not lose enthusiasm. “My
in New England.
smiling as he heads to his car. I ask the woman sustainable model, and that’s what we aim for,” total harvest was two cucumbers that season. I
Opening spread: behind the counter how I might find her boss, he says. ate them whole, and I was so excited.”
Kenkel walks by the new 12,000-square- now that I’d met a walking advertisement. She A native of Whitefish, Montana, Kenkel grew Kenkel was eager to learn from his mistakes
foot greenhouse under construction at
Springworks. The expansion will more than laughs. “Trevor? Check the farmhouse, and if you up in what he describes as a “kid’s paradise.” and began to read more and more for the next
triple the farm’s capacity. can’t find him, walk down to the greenhouse.” His dad taught him to fly-fish for trout, and season. His family acquired chickens to eat
22 BOWDOIN MAGAZINE FALL 2018 | CLASSNEWS@BOWDOIN.EDU BOWDOIN MAGAZINE FALL 2018 | CLASSNEWS@BOWDOIN.EDU 23WHAT IS AQUAPONICS?
Kenkel inspects rafts of
lettuce in the greenhouse.
Springworks is able to grow
crops year-round, using
THE AQUAPONICS CYCLE 90 percent less water
Aquaponics is an organic farming method that combines (saving more than 2.2
million gallons of water
Microbes convert Lettuce cleans the theories behind hydroponics (growing of plants in water annually in just their original
six-thousand-square-
fish waste the water that without soil) and aquaculture (farm-raising of fish) in one foot system) compared
to fertilizer cycles back system, where fish waste fertilizes the plants and, in turn, to traditional agriculture
for the lettuce. to the fish. and is fifteen times more
plants purify the water for fish. Within Kenkel’s efficient productive per acre.
system at Springworks, fish consume organic food and Rafts of lettuce take in
nutrients from the water
produce organic waste. Beneficial bacteria in the system while cleaning it to be
pumped back to the
convert the fish waste into nutritious fertilizer for the lettuce. fish tanks.
In turn, the lettuce cleans the water that is then circulated
The lettuce roots hang
back into the fish tanks. underneath the floats.
his vegetable scraps and, while happy with the so terrible that I became a seasonal salad eater.” tem, still using the same goldfish, but this time
improvements, he still wondered about the He knew something better could be done. in a horse trough. He continued to refine the
efficiency and continued to conduct research Through various Google searches, the system over the next few years. “I’m very glad,
while pursuing other interests, including foot- seventh-grader discovered hydroponics, but growing up where I did, that Google existed. I
ball and skiing. found all the fertilizer sources to be inorganic, was always reading forums. A lot of it was Aus-
While Kenkel resists the label of entrepre- which brought him right back to the initial tralian, so I really learned the metric system.”
neur, he admits to starting several businesses as problem with the polluted creek. He contin- In high school, Kenkel moved the opera-
a child. “One of my more successful businesses ued his research, trying to find a way to make tion to an outdoor three hundred-square-foot
was heating different types of chocolate to dip an organic hydroponic system, and eventually greenhouse, where he was able to grow a variety
things in.” In middle school, he learned that the stumbled upon aquaponics. of vegetables to feed his family and sell to
black-footed ferret, a species native to neighbor- The summer before he began high school, neighbors and a few restaurants.
ing Wyoming, was going extinct. Capitalizing Kenkel worked for a fencing company and saved In the fall of his senior year of high school,
on a large family holiday party, Kenkel sold his up money to build his first aquaponics system, Bowdoin recruited Kenkel to play football. “I
chocolate-dipped fruit with a side of guilt to the which he made over a twenty-gallon fish tank visited Bowdoin and loved it and the surround-
hundred or so guests: “I told everyone, ‘We’ve with five goldfish. “There are still fish from the ing area,” he remembers of his first visit to New
got this local part of our ecosystem that’s about first system alive and kicking in Montana,” he England. “I could really picture myself there for
to be done,’” showing pictures of the tiny ferrets. says. “Goldfish are a lot smarter than people give the next four years.”
He remembers netting about $600; he donated them credit for. They recognized my face, as After deciding to attend Bowdoin, while still
all the proceeds to the World Wildlife Fund. opposed to other people. They’d come up to the in high school, Kenkel sustained a severe con-
Other business ventures included compost- surface to be fed when I walked into the room.” cussion that forced him to take off the second
ing for neighbors and selling vegetables. “What Kenkel was able to grow lettuce, but he half of his senior year and to take a gap year
frustrated me about my garden was that there wasn’t satisfied with the results. “It was stringy. before college to recover. Finding limited help
was such a small window of productivity,” he I grew it in a closet and I didn’t know yet that within Montana for the treatment of long-term
says. Much like Maine, Montana’s growing sea- lettuce needs turbulence [from wind or fans] to concussions, Kenkel participated in a study in
son is short and at the end of the distribution strengthen up the stems.” Texas, but still struggled. He and his family then
line for produce that travels thousands of miles His father cleared out some workshop space met with a neurologist at the Sports Concussion
before hitting store shelves. “Our greens were in the garage and let his son build a second sys- Clinic at the MassGeneral Hospital for Children,
24 BOWDOIN MAGAZINE FALL 2018 | CLASSNEWS@BOWDOIN.EDU ILLUSTRATION: LOUISA CANNELL ’13 BOWDOIN MAGAZINE FALL 2018 | CLASSNEWS@BOWDOIN.EDU 25which had more progressive methods. The After receiving financial backing from angel operation were growing a quarter of a million Kenkel’s obvious appreciation for his eats it at least twice a day with a light dressing of Kenkel feeds fish at the start of the
Kenkel family packed their bags, left Trevor’s investors, Kenkel purchased the old farm heads of lettuce a year.” teachers bespeaks his humble nature for all he balsamic vinegar and olive oil. “Our lettuce just aquaponics cycle.
greenhouse in the hands of their neighbor, and in Lisbon and started construction on the Logan and Kenkel have worked together manages to get done in a week. “Any semester has so much flavor to it and a lot of crunch.” Lettuce seedlings spend time under grow
relocated to Massachusetts so Trevor could seek greenhouse the summer before matriculating at inside and outside of class on independent that I get through with good grades, with the As I head out to purchase some lettuce for lights before they’re moved to rafts in the
daily medical care. His parents and younger Bowdoin. I ask him about the balance between research, combining Logan’s interests in commitments I have outside the College, makes myself, I run into Kenkel’s older sister, Sierra, greenhouse, where they float and grow in
the nutrient-rich water until harvest time.
sister still live there. the farm and college and Kenkel chuckles. “I natural populations and fundamental biology me proud,” he says. as she makes her way back to the office, where
He reflects on his time at MassGeneral with didn’t sleep much that first year,” he says. with Kenkel’s interests in sustainable, organic Springworks is currently constructing an she is the director of sales and marketing. She Springworks grows between seven and ten
gratitude. “Up until I got there, it was just While he tries to keep his college life and work production. “In the classroom, he’s a collabora- additional greenhouse that will more than tri- asks how the interview went. “It made me feel types of lettuce. Seed to farm stand for this
green-leaf variety takes about forty days.
a wait-and-see approach. Just rest. Don’t do life separate, Kenkel deeply values what he learns tor and works really hard to create an extraor- ple production and add more jobs to Kenkel’s like I was a bit of a slouch in college,” I say. She
anything. It was killer for me. I found the lack in both worlds. “My econ classes help to provide dinary balance between classes and Spring- twenty-two-person roster. “We’re really trying to flashes the easy smile I saw on her brother’s
of intellectual material to chew through really more statistical rigor and expand my worldview works,” said Logan, who has taken several of his take care of an ecosystem the way any organic face every time he talked about his love for the
tough, because you are going through days just in economics and modeling, and bio helps me classes to visit Springworks so Kenkel can show farmer would. Being able to provide good, farm, nods her head, and says, “Oh yeah, tell
not learning anything.” With eye exercises and uncover areas of the system that I didn’t know a students how the system functions. “They get a solid employment for people in a community is me about it.”
various other therapies, Kenkel worked himself lot about or hadn’t considered at all.” first-hand look at it,” says Logan, “and then we important as we continue to scale.”
up to reading fifteen minutes per day and, after Two of his favorite classes—Introduction to bring some of the produce back to my house Going into his final year at Bowdoin, Kenkel Tasha Graff ’07 is a poet and essayist and teaches
about a year, fully recovered. the Study of Religion and Plant Ecophysiolo- and cook a meal together.” uses routine to maintain productivity. He often English at South Portland High School in South Port-
It was during his healing that Kenkel gy—speak to Kenkel’s inherent love of learning Logan will continue to work with Kenkel has to be at the farm at five in the morning to land, Maine. Read more of her work at tashagraff.com.
thought up the idea for Springworks. With and appreciation of liberal arts. “It’s about the during his final academic year at Bowdoin and meet contractors, so he’s adjusted his bedtime
advice from various family members, Kenkel passion the professors bring to the work,” he anticipates their working relationship will contin- accordingly and turns off his light at 10:30 p.m. Heather Perry’s photos can be found in National
developed a business plan and started pitching says. Kenkel does research for Professor of Biol- ue well beyond graduation. “We have common after reading for an hour or so. He tries to Geographic, Smithsonian, The New York Times,
the idea to potential investors. “What always ogy Barry Logan, who has spent time working interests and I really enjoy working with him. schedule his labs at night. He eats the same and many other publications. She’s on Instagram at
interests me,” says Kenkel, “is the intersection with him at the farm. My expectation is that we’re really at the begin- breakfast every morning: five scrambled eggs @heathfish.
of science and research applied to business. It’s Professor Logan remembers Kenkel ning of something and will continue to explore and three slices of bacon. “It’s a holdover from
why I love studying econ, in addition to bio.” approaching him near the start of the semester ways of supporting each other,” says Logan. high school because we had eggs in abundance. The title of this story is from a poem by the late Russell
Kenkel’s vision in creating Springworks was to talk about his keen interest in plants: “It “I studied on my own, reading plant text- It keeps everything predictable,” he says. Libby ’78, longtime director of the Maine Organic
for a sustainable and economical solution to became clear Trevor was not a typical under- books, but learning more hard plant science As for other meals, Kenkel describes his per- Farmer’s and Gardener’s Association, and one of the
organic farming. graduate. At the time when we met, he and his with Barry is something I love,” Kenkel says. sonal lettuce consumption as “very high” and nation’s leading advocates for organic farming.
26 BOWDOIN MAGAZINE FALL 2018 | CLASSNEWS@BOWDOIN.EDU BOWDOIN MAGAZINE FALL 2018 | CLASSNEWS@BOWDOIN.EDU 27ILLUSTRATIONS BY GÉRARD DuBOIS
T H E S E C R E T H I S T O R Y O F
Finding the Human(ities)
in the History of Science
We all know that the force that attaches your
power cord to your computer and closes your bag
with that satisfying “click” is not the same force
that draws you to another human being, but those
notions of attraction were once one and the same.A
BY AARON KITCH
prevalent in today’s world—from stereo speak- lessly, is for him to turn off his magnetic “power.”
ers to refrigerators to electronic cigarettes—we The joke, of course, is that Demetrius can do
have lost some of this earlier amazement, even no such thing, any more than Helena can stop
though we may still wonder at the miracles of being attracted to him. What we might think of
MRI machines or levitating high-speed trains. as a fundamentally subjective emotion of love is
The very language of magnetism reveals a for Helena an external and impersonal force.
secret history that we ourselves often forget. For A similar dynamic informs the classical myth
example, the French word for magnet, aimant, of Cupid, who turns ordinary mortals into
invokes the word aimer, “to love.” In Sanskrit, possessive lovers using magical arrows shot at
chumbaka means “the kisser,” while in Chinese random or by divine instruction at unwitting
the word for magnet is t’su shi, which translates victims. The resulting erotic entanglements
as “the loving stone.” English speakers today often have disastrous consequences, as Ovid’s
may still describe the “magnetic attraction” that Metamorphoses reminds us. Like Cupid’s arrows,
draws a couple together, while popular fashion magnetism bridges the worlds of human activity
A 3000-LEVEL SEMINAR I HAVE HAD THE PLEASURE magazines call attention to the “magnetic and natural forces—of the human and the demonstrated the “universal soul” of God in a “vitalistic” universe pulsing with divinity. Pliny for example, suggested that the sun bred life out
OF TEACHING several times in the English seduction” of a celebrity model on their covers inhuman but, unlike Cupid, magnets are also a nature. About a century later, Plato refers to goes so far as to describe magnets as having of decaying matter based on their observation
department called The Arts of Science in the and offer beauty tips inside their pages that part of the natural world. The history of magne- poetic inspiration as a type of magnetic attrac- emotions and even hands to catch iron filings of maggots emerging spontaneously from the
English Renaissance explores a period in which promise to turn readers into sexual “magnets.” tism in this sense has much to tell us about the tion in his Ion dialogue. Around the same time, that “spring toward” it, catching them in tight corpses of cows and other putrefying animals.
the humanities and the sciences were inextri- It is entirely modern of us to find such attrac- history of humanity and its relation to nature, the Greek philosophy of atomism emerged, “embraces.” He also describes a “hæmatites” To call the desire of one human being for
cably linked. Appropriately enough, students tion both appealing and controllable. Earlier as well as about the history of the humanities in which was closer to what we would call “geol- magnet found in Ethiopia that produces blood- another “magnetic” was thus to acknowledge a
with backgrounds in literature and history cultures were much more skeptical. Consider relation to science. ogy” and approached magnetism as a natural red fluid when struck. A similar account is in basic truth about the cosmos and the relation
join math, physics, and biology majors around Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, where The hidden but powerful force that draws force operating without the intervention of the the Book of Secrets of Albertus Magnus, which between the human and the inhuman. But this
the table to discuss works of literature that are Helena risks both mind and body in her pursuit magnetized rocks toward one another or moves gods. The Greek atomist Democritus argued, describes magnets placed under pillows as a relation was itself subject to change over time.
about science, such as John Donne’s poems on of Demetrius through the forest outside of iron filings toward lodestones has attracted for instance, that magnets emit particles or test of fidelity, since such magnets purportedly The age of Shakespeare was also the age of the
astronomy and Francis Bacon’s utopian fiction Athens. As she explains when she finally catches attention from natural philosophers, religious “effluvia” that carve out a void or vacuum in caused faithful wives to embrace their husbands Scientific Revolution, marked by startling new
New Atlantis, while also reading works of Renais- up to him, his own “hard-hearted adamant” has worshippers, and everyday observers of nature space, causing other objects to rush in. Similar and push unchaste wives out of bed. discoveries in astronomy, anatomy, navigation,
sance science—including texts on astrology, drawn her toward him against her will. The only for centuries. The pre-Socratic philosopher accounts can be found in Aristotle and in the Magnets in this sense are not just analogies medicine, optics, and physics, among other
alchemy, and anatomy—that prefigured later way to stop the attraction, she observes breath- Thales, for instance, argued that magnets celebrated poem by Lucretius, “De rerum of human erotic life—they are also instances fields. One of England’s most important contri-
fields of study. One outcome of our course that natura” (“On the Nature of Things”), which was of what we now call sexuality. Many classical butions to these discoveries was made by the roy-
is especially important in the wake of current
concerns about the “death of the humanities” The Book of Secrets describes magnets rediscovered in 1417 by Poggio Bracciolini, as
explored by Stephen Greenblatt in his recent
and early modern philosophers who described
magnetic attraction understood it as a form of
al physician and student of navigation William
Gilbert, whose study of magnetism (De mag-
and the value of a liberal arts education is a new
understanding of the “human” in relation to
fields of knowledge we now call the “sciences.”
placed under pillows as a test of fidelity. book The Swerve.
Atomism was a dangerous philosophy in
Christian Europe not just because of its pagan
transhuman sexuality that defined the dispersed
and universal attraction connecting humans to
the world around them. Such a force was one of
nete) was published in 1600. Gilbert, who also
studied astronomy and mathematics, employed
experiments with magnets and drew on the
Take magnetism, for example. When we think roots, but also because it excluded a god of any many that shaped human identity, including the practical experience of English mariners. De
of magnetism today, we probably don’t think kind from its account of the creation of the stars and planets that astrologers and doctors magnete describes magnetism as a universal force
about literature or divinity, yet early modern universe. The whirling atoms of Lucretius are used to determine bodily health and to make var- of order and unity of the planet and indeed of
“natural philosophers” (whom we would now eternal but dead, material but invisible, even as ious predictions about the future. Even those like all celestial objects. According to Gilbert, this
call “scientists”) found in magnets (also called their chance combinations give rise to all forms Epicurus, Democritus, and other atomists who magnetic “coition” literally holds the planet
“adamants” and “lodestones”) evidence of of matter on earth. In a rebuttal to such godless denied divine agency in the creation of nature together and accounts for its ability to spin. In
divine creation and a force of attraction cours- materialism, the celebrated Roman natural phi- believed that such cosmological forces shaped order to demonstrate these properties of mag-
ing through nature. Because magnets are so losopher Pliny depicted magnets as evidence of everyday life on the planet. Some alchemists, nets, Gilbert constructed a “terrella,” or “little
30 BOWDOIN MAGAZINE FALL 2018 | CLASSNEWS@BOWDOIN.EDU BOWDOIN MAGAZINE FALL 2018 | CLASSNEWS@BOWDOIN.EDU 31You can also read
