Here is an interview with classmate Maris Chun. It is a little dated, but just came to my attention. I thought it interesting in light of the “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother” discussions taking place right now.
[In-depth interview] Helping others achieve America’s promise - INSIDE JoongAng Daily
Yale has opened a new Directed Studies program . . . for grown ups. A two week, intensive version of DS will be available this summer. Would you sign up if you had the time? Would love to hear what people think about this.
Tamar Birkhead is a classmate who is also a law professor. I found the attached op-ed from Tamar quite convincing. I thought I would pass it along as food for thought . . .
FayObserver.com - Op-ed: All teens deserve a chance to succeed
Classmate Tamar Gendler has been working to help Yale recruit new professors. Read more about it in the Yale Daily News by clicking on the link below.
Interesting . . . biblical commentary on current events. Not our normal fair, but thought provoking.
FoxNews.com - BRUCE FEILER: 6 Lessons from the Bible for Egypt Today
Abigail Pogrebin has been hosting talks at the Manhattan Jewish Community Center with prominent cultural figures. Her latest talk was with Nora Ephron. You can read more about her talk by clicking below. The next program in the JCC series of Pogrebin’s interviews with writers and artists is April 27, when she will talk to Alexandra Styron, daughter of author William Styron, about her new memoir, “Reading My Father.”
Bruce Feiler is not the only classmate who is having a book produced for non-readers . . . Jane Mendelsohn’s Innocence is now being turned into a film. For more, click below.
Abigail Breslin, Julianne Moore To Star In Vampire Thriller ‘Innocence’
Bruce Feiler has been busy. A new book, frequent NYT columns, and now a TV pilot. Bruce’s latest book, Council of Dads, is in development, with three stars joining the pilot’s cast. Click below to read more.
Television - News - Three stars join 'Council of Dads' pilot - Digital Spy
If you are in the film, theater or tv business, you should definitely check out Yale Hollywood and its very interesting “Summit” in New York. If you decide to attend, you will be able to attend a panel that includes our very own Ira Sachs. For those of you who don’t know what Ira has been up to, let me fill you in.
Ira and moved to New York after graduating from Yale with a BA in Literature and Film Theory. His films, including the features MARRIED LIFE (2007), THE DELTA (1997), and the Sundance Grand Jury Prize winning FORTY SHADES OF BLUE (2005), have been screened at the Berlin, Toronto, New York, Rotterdam, and London Film Festivals, as well as in most of the major gay and lesbian film festivals worldwide. A recipient of a Rockefeller Fellowship in 1999, Sachs has been an Adjunct Professor in the MFA Program at the Columbia University School of Film, a creative advisor at the Sundance Director’s Lab, and a fellow at both the MacDowell Colony and Yaddo. He is presently working on a new feature, THE GOODBYE PEOPLE, co-written with Oren Moverman, and adapted from the fiction of screenwriter and novelist Gavin Lambert. You can read more about Ira and his work at www.irasachs.com.
I used to enjoy a nice hoppy ale from time to time in College. (Later, I even became a home brewer.) Bob Dow was a much more serious student than I was, so it is great to see him weighing in a important beer-related issues now that he is a federal judge. Read more about one of Bob’s recent interesting cases by clicking on the link below. Some my find it more interesting than his recent carp-related case, although I still think the carp case is more important, despite my interest in a frothy craft brew.
Classmate Carl Zimmer publishes a great deal. After all, he is a writer . . . many think one of the best science writers around. I found his recent piece in Yale Environment 360 pretty interesting. Please click below to read it.
Alien Species Reconsidered: Finding a Value in Non-Natives by Carl Zimmer: Yale Environment 360
Come check out what our class is saying about the Obama' Administration’s recent decision not to defend the Defense of Marriage Act by clicking on the link below.
After Obama's Gay-Marriage Decision, 'A New World' | 89.3 KPCC
Yale Daily News link: http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2011/feb/04/jcc-goes-pre-professional/. Panels (and panelists) appear for 90 minutes, at 730pm, on campus. To volunteer as a panelist (and come to New Haven), please contact Steve Blum: sblum@bsibam.com.
OVERVIEW. The Junior Class is….hosting Career Panels comprised of Yale students and alums with similar career interests. Career Panels can make all undergraduates, not just those interested in finance and consulting, more confident about the job application process—and about their prospects for success in career paths not heavily advertised --and to provide undergraduates with a more clear idea of the process and outcomes. Career Panels provide students with an informative event in which students can talk to Yale alums with experience in their respective fields of interest. On every Career Panel of 5 or 6 people, the Junior Class seeks a mix of alums ensuring exposure to recent graduates and others with a longer career-path view, as well as Yale professors and non-alumni experts in their fields who can provide advice on:
• Entering the field;
• Initial job expectations; and
• General career information.
Younger alumni provide a more current description of the former two. Older, more experienced alumni better guide current undergraduates by providing a more complete picture of the job that only comes with experience. Although the Career Panels are targeted at juniors and seniors, freshmen, sophomores and grad students are welcome. Many if not most of the students in attendance will not yet be certain of what career they’d like to pursue. The career panels therefore help them along in making that decision.
Career Panels will cover the following areas: Music, Media, Law, Education, Medicine, Not-For-Profit, International, Public Service, Architecture, Science/Engineering.
Career Panels take place on Thursdays at 730pm (i.e., after most students have finished daily classes) in a residential college Common room or auditorium. Career panels are advertised through Yale Station, Yale’s virtual bulletin board, as well as through flyers posted in colleges, class buildings, etc. Each career panel is announced on a weekly Junior Class Council Newsletter sent to all 1,300 or so juniors.
Depending on the panel, attendance is 15 to 45 students. Panels begin with a short introduction by student moderators, which is followed by brief introductions from each of the panelists, and then a question and answer session with the students. Frequent questions include:
• Why did you decide to go into your field?
• What would you have wanted to know, as a Yale junior, that you know now?
• What should Yalies be doing now to ensure future success?
• How does one go about looking for a job as a college grad?
The Junior Class is committed to making the transition between college and the job world as smooth as it can be. Career Panels greatly help us meet this goal. With the help of Yale alums, the panels are becoming a big success!
I heard from Vince Jordan that he is about to start at USC’s Cosby Screenwriting Program. Not knowing what that was, I checked it out. The link is below. Looks very interesting. Best of luck, Vince!
Here is Bruce Feiler’s latest piece from the New York Times. Very appropriate for the week before the Super Bowl.
Classmate Chang-rae Lee will be giving a lecture in March at Boston College as part of the Lowell Humanities Series. If you live in the area, you might want to attend. Click on the link below for more information.
If you are looking for some music in NYC this February, you might want to check out this concert. Classmate Jon Spurney will be in the band.
Tony Nominee Amy Ryan and Todd Almond Unite for Wyoming and Parts of Kansas Concert - Playbill.com
Great news, Classmates! We are, according to scientists, on the road to greater happiness now that we are . . .er, um, how to say this? . . . middle-aged. There, I said it. It turns out that right about now, the average person on the planet is at their most stressed and least fulfilled point in life. And, at this point, things start to get a lot better. Is it that the kids are now getting older, so we don’t have to listen to Barney of Sponge Bob Squarepants any more? (That, for me, will be a source of much rejoicing.) Is it that we are more firmly established and comfortable in our careers? Or, is it that we now are at peace at the people we have become? I don’t know, but I thought that this article was interesting enough to share. Please let me know what you think.
