Spring 2005 Issue

“Only Connect!”

The power of E.M. Forster’s exhortation sparks every part of our lives. As family, as social beings, as professionals—as persons—we need to follow these directions, given so succinctly in just four syllables and the imperative case.

But sometimes we can’t connect, and communication breaks down, and we need help to bring us back. This issue focuses on people who connect lives for a living, practicing the art of personal connection. They have the ability to reach across the void and create dialogue and community where it may be most needed: connecting individuals to each other, or unifying groups; bringing outsiders into the social fold, or finding a home for those who need one; doing it for good pay or bad, or giving themselves as volunteers; working and living in places where connection has yet to be made, or where it is about to be severed.

When we finished our compilation, we marveled at the variety of settings: a Japanese classroom, a Korean mission, a San Antonio suburb, an electrician’s van, a 12-step meeting, a genealogical chart, the homes of autistic children, a hospice where parents say a last goodbye, and many more—and these are but pieces of a much larger picture.

We then turned to Sarah Lawrence itself, and found alumnae/i who remain connected as volunteers, students who are building community on campus from the ground up, and faculty whose ability to connect through teaching is, for us all, the stuff of legend.

Features

• Only Connect—19 alumnae/i who have dedicated a part of themselves to completing some of life’s circuits.
• Autism—When connection is hard, perhaps impossible, families and professionals search for answers.
• Building Community—A grant-funded program puts community building into students’ hands.

Departments

• On My Mind—Commentary from President Myers
  
  • Campus conversations about drinking and substance abuse
• Inside Westlands Gate—A round-up of what’s new
  
  • Spelman’s Tatum pays a call
  • Science grants breed molecular biology research
  • It’s time to root, root, root for the home team
  • Berman, Desnoes, Means and Paulin
• Slice of Life—Featuring student voices
  
  • Reading Moby Dick
• Faculty Spotlight—What they’re up to
  
  • Frank Roosevelt tackles a textbook
  • Four teachers pull up a chair 
  • News of dozens of faculty
• Alumnae/i Profiles—Closer glimpses of:
  • Dorothy Millner ’67, MFA ’69
  • Craig Benedict ’76
  • Ivy Meeropol ’90
  • Matt Matros MFA '04
• Critical Writing—Must-read writing by SLC alumnae/i, faculty and students
  
  • The Open Door: Poetry faculty member Marie Howe finds a daughter—and a whole new family