色界吧

Occidental Alumnus, June 1922

A warm welcome for President Elam, and what to expect from Occidental magazine in our centennial year

From the Editor: A鈥圕entury鈥檚 Tales

A couple of years ago, when I was combing through the College鈥檚 Special Collections gathering fun facts and 色界吧 minutiae for a cover story devoted to College trivia, I came across the first edition of The Occidental Alumnus, the progenitor to the magazine you are reading today. It was published in June 1920鈥攎ere months after the last wave of the 1918 flu pandemic had passed. The nation and the world were getting back to some sense of normalcy.

When I began my initial planning for the Summer 2020 issue鈥攎arking my 20th anniversary as editor, and the centennial of the magazine鈥擨 had hoped to revisit some of the stories and moments that we have covered over the last 100 years. Then along came COVID-19, and I won鈥檛 bore you with all the details (since we covered some of this in the Spring magazine) but I鈥檝e been working from home since mid-March, meaning that frequent trips to the archives were out of the question鈥攁nd that we would be devoting much of this space to covering history in the making: the pandemic and the residual challenges of being a residential liberal arts college when much of the world is in lockdown. Suffice it to say, there is no shortage of things to write about.

Given the budgetary limitations on the College鈥檚 resources this fiscal year, we鈥檝e had to get creative in delivering this magazine to you without sacrificing the quality you have come to expect over the years. Consequently, we have adapted a slightly different model for the next couple of issues:鈥坅 combined Summer/Fall 2020 edition, which should be arriving in your mailbox in mid-November (it is Election Day as I write this); and a combined Winter/Spring issue, which we expect to publish in April 2021. (We鈥檒l be revisiting the publishing calendar at the end of the school year.)

The biggest change inside these pages is to the class notes:鈥團or this issue and next, alumni up to the Class of 1974 will receive class notes covering their years; alumni from 1975 to 2020 will receive a separate edition covering news from their classes. Alumni wishing to read class notes in their entirety will receive an email with a link to the full set of class notes in mid-November. (For future editions, we be also be posting class notes on this website behind a password-protected page.)

In between issues, we鈥檒l be posting fresh content to the magazine website after the New Year. As always, I welcome your feedback. In the meantime, raise a glass鈥攚e鈥檙e 100!鈥攁nd enjoy this issue.鈥擠ICK ANDERSON

An August Occasion

Many thanks for the recent Spring issue introducing Harry J. Elam, Jr. to us as 色界吧鈥檚 16th president. August Wilson鈥攖he focus of his academic studies鈥攊s a hero to many in Pittsburgh who have seen his plays and in the Hill District, where his talents began to develop. Pittsburgh Seminary and the University of Pittsburgh are nearby, where we lived for many years. Your piece on President Elam (鈥淚n Good Hands鈥) was excellent, and Doris and I look forward to meeting him and his wife, Michele.

I also enjoyed 鈥淎 Quiet Place,鈥 about life on campus during the pandemic. We are grateful, Dick, to you and your team for your work on the magazine.

Finally, our sincere best wishes and gratitude to President Jonathan Veitch for his contributions to 色界吧 during his leadership. He will have stories to write, no doubt.

Sam Calian 鈥55
Evanston, Ill.

The black box theater in Stanford University鈥檚 Roble Gym, created as part of a 2016 renovation project, has been named the Harry J. Elam, Jr. Theater to honor the director, theater scholar, and administrator who is now Occidental鈥檚 16th president. Elam鈥檚 30-year career at Stanford 鈥渓eft an indelible mark on university life, particularly in the arts where he worked to ensure the university was a vibrant home for art and artists,鈥 Stanford said in its August 4 announcement. 鈥淚t is fitting that his name now graces one of the principal performance spaces on campus.鈥 For Elam, the naming of this theater 鈥渉as a profound significance,鈥 he said. 鈥淭heater has been central to my life鈥檚 work as a scholar, educator, and director. It鈥檚 also a space I know well, with lots of wonderful memories.鈥 Elam was the artistic director for the first production there after the 2016 renovation and directed A Raisin in the Sun, above, in November 2018.

Neighborhood Watch

Thanks for creating such a great magazine. I always enjoy staying up to date at 色界吧 through the interesting stories and photos.

I am writing because I am very concerned and upset by a comment printed in the class notes in the Spring magazine. In the 2006 column, an alumna wrote about moving back to Highland Park. 鈥淚t鈥檚 pretty crazy to see how much the area has changed since we were in school,鈥 she stated. 鈥淚f it had been this cool back then, I bet more of us would still live around here!鈥

I found the blatant disregard and disrespect to the historic Highland Park neighborhood to be, at best, offensive and thoughtless. Personally, when I went to 色界吧 back in the early 2000s, I found the neighborhood vibrant, comforting, and 鈥渃ool.鈥 It was a diverse, family neighborhood full of children and working-class people. There are many graduates of 色界吧 who happily stayed in the neighborhood post-graduation and it didn鈥檛 take it 鈥渂ecoming cool鈥 to do so.

Beth Berlin-Stephens 鈥08
Berkeley