Look what Germany has done to me! I cannot get enough sauerkraut. This seems like some ridiculous combination that would only make sense if you were pregnant (which I am definitely not), but it seems to make total sense in my current head space. It’s very simple:

- tofu wurst/sausage
- gnocchi, boiled and then fried in a pan with oil until browned
- mushrooms
- garlic
- sauerkraut thrown in at the end to warm

Someone Else’s Eye (by Elaine ’81)

Petco was my first love in San Diego. I still get emotional when I try to describe the way I felt on my first visit two years ago. Retired players’ numbers aren’t painted on the side walls, as they are at most ballparks. Here they’re three-dimensional objects – lit from within - and at night they glow amid the lights of the downtown skyscrapers so the city itself becomes part of the ballpark and the ballpark part of the city.

Verilliance (by Jennifer ’06 Ada)

Neil Patel posted today on the importance of dressing for success. This is one of those pieces of advice we hear, but maybe don’t follow. Maybe we don’t follow it because we’re rebellious. Maybe it’s because we operate from that particular morality that tells us it’s not the packaging, it’s what’s inside, dammit! Maybe our clothing budget is slim and we accept that we’ll just have to work harder to wow our audience with our intellect or wit or humor. Maybe we just prefer comfort over being “buttoned up”.

Paper Tigress (by Claire ’10)

I’ve had this blog for a year (and a few weeks) and when I first started writing I spent hours crafting each post. Was my grammar correct? Did I describe that comic to the best of my ability? I’ve always been a bit of a perfectionist and I brought that mania to my blog. As I began to feel more comfortable about my blogging abilities, I loosened up a little bit and stopped worrying. Writing in this blog is no problem.

A few weeks ago, a friend showed me an English language arts blog called Juanele and suggested I ask about blogging opportunities. I wrote the director an email, citing the need for more articles about comics, suggesting myself as a good candidate for the job. Surprisingly, he responded positively. The only problem? It took me a week to write the post. A week! And it’s a super normal post.

Other Than Life (by Elaine ’81)

It’s taken me long enough, I know, but I finally have my first video up on YouTube. It’s a performance of Tom Waits’ song “Jersey Girl’ that I did at The Salon this past Sunday, using the arrangement David Epstein put together for me several years ago.  The incomparable Mark Janas is at the piano.

As Anne describes it, the project was borne out of a time of frustration:

After graduation, I was working as a research assistant, where my job was to sit at the bottom of a coral reef in Belize and identify fish for a bio-erosion assessment. It was really fun and the sea life I encountered was so amazing that I just had to share it. So, as soon as I finished the research, I gave up my science career and trotted off to art school so I could learn how to paint. While there, I came across a fantastic news article about a whale that expressed gratitude after being released from a series of crab trap lines in California. I was so enthralled with the story that I used it as the basis for a picture book, “Graycie’s Catch.” But when the publishers wouldn’t buy it, and the book just sat on my desk, I started to get a little grumpy… actually, really grumpy. I felt aimless… directionless… and completely lost my gratitude.

But then I realized: Why wait?

This whole project was about gratitude, right? So, instead of focusing on getting the book published… why not just focus on being grateful? So, from that moment on, I began to play a game. Every time I got upset, every time I ran into a problem, I took the time to look for good. What was it—right now—that I could be grateful for? And even if I couldn’t see something right away, if I took the time to look… and really dig… there was always something good. That’s how my perspective began to shift.

It worked so well actually that I started to invite other people to do it too… even strangers. Because in this economy… with the political upheaval we’re having… and the way the physical/mental environment is degrading… gratitude is SO important. That’s what brings us together, breaks down barriers, opens us up to creative solutions, and (as evidenced from the rescue story I came across) even unites species.

That’s why I’m inviting people to take a moment to reflect on gratitude. It’s simple really. It only takes a moment. But little by little, as we look for the good, our perspectives softens… things start to shift… and the potential of the moment expands. So, even though I know how important it is to acknowledge the problems we’re having… and to experience our reactions when we have them… if we can each take the time to share a little glimmer of gladness, I think the world might be a happier, healthier place.

I agree! (And so do UC  Davis scientists!) Check out the submissions (and get instructions for submitting some gratitude of your own) at LookfortheGoodProject.org. If you feel moved to support the efforts to exhibit the work, check out the project’s Kickstarter page.

*I promise that this blog is not turning into one all about the class of 2005! These are just some interesting tidbits that have come to my attention recently. If you know some that should be here, send them to smithalumblogs@gmail.com.

So here are some traditional and non-traditional ways of connecting with your fellow alums (other than this blog, of course!) and my opinions on how best to use them:

Smith Regional Clubs

The tried-and-true way of connecting with Smithies in your area. From my own experience, sometimes the clubs can feel skewed towards the older-straight-white-married-female-with-solid-finances group, but not all of them are that way. Plus, many are forming sub-groups along interest and age lines. If you don’t feel like the group’s a good fit or not any fun—then step up and take charge! Most clubs are frequently looking for new board members, so jump in.

Alumnae Association of Smith College Directory

Need someone’s address? Not sure about a last name? This is the place to go. I love that you can filter by class and house. The only drawback is, the directory’s only as good as what people put in. If folks haven’t gone in and updated their information, all that’s in there is what was on their college application! So… if someone’s address is smithcollegewannabe1985@yahoo.com, then that might be a red flag. (In related news: Make sure your own info is current!)

Smith College LinkedIn Page (Smithie-run)

This is the place to connect professionally. It has over 4,600 members and is constantly growing. (Full disclosure, I run this page.) The best uses of the site are when folks ask for professional advice or start thought-provoking discussions. The most active discussions recently involve feeling lost after graduating, most difficult interview questions, and name changes.

Smith College Alumnae Facebook Page

Great place to get alumnae news, pictures, etc. It’s like a news feed about why Smith graduates are awesome.

Smith Alum Forums (Smithie-run)

If you went to Smith in the 90s and 00s, you likely remember the Jolt, a locally run forum for students and alums that could range from superficial (“Who’s the hottest professor?”) to ranting (“My roommate is SO OBNOXIOUS!”) to downright vitriolic and hurtful. After the Jolt re-configured the site (and started deleting posts they didn’t agree with), a bunch of alums took their online forum business elsewhere. This site is completely Smithie-run, and I’m happy to say that it’s a much more grown-up place. Recent popular discussions were about pressure to get engaged, what everyone’s reading, and things that piss you off. (You didn’t think Smithie ranting would really ever disappear, did you?

Smith College Twitter

Pictures, news, and retweets from campus. If you’re full of nostalgia for your college days, this is the one to follow.

What am I missing?

• HULK APPLAUD GIRL SCOUTS OF COLORADO FOR WELCOMING TRANSGENDER CHILDREN! THEY EARN A SMASH BADGE!
• HULK HAVE CONFLICTED RELATIONSHIP WITH FREUD. IMPORTANT, INFLUENTIAL, BUT SOMETIMES A CIGAR IS JUST A SEXIST CREEP.
• HULK APPROACH TO GENDER PERFORMANCE MUCH LIKE APPROACH TO FABRIC FOR DIY PURPLE SHORTS: FLEXIBILITY IS KEY.

Over the summer, the Ms. Blog did a couple of exclusive interviews with FEMINIST HULK and his “literary life-partner, J.” over the summer. Then, in August, it was revealed that the mysterious J, the persona and writer behind FEMINIST HULK was none other than Jessica Lawson ’05.

Here’s her answer about how she came to identify with feminism:

Wow, that’s a long story. The feminism I was introduced to in my childhood came relatively close to the stereotypes that keep so many people from identifying as feminist: It was an antagonistic battle between insultingly essentialist portraits of men and women. And, for a period of time, I identified with it, because I knew no other way to fight for social equity. But, by the time I reached college, I was feeling increasingly stifled, and found myself gravitating toward a masculinist approach to identity politics; I often disavowed my gender identity in a desire to be taken seriously. Obviously, that didn’t work either–it simply treated oppression as a system I could opt out of, which led to a lot of self-loathing. Fortunately, I went to Smith College, which is not only well-known for its feminist roots, but which had an incredibly warm queer community and—even more crucially—a vibrant infusion of transgender politics. Being presented with new ways of conceiving gender identity, in the middle of an environment in which my status as a queer woman didn’t marginalize me, gave me the freedom to reconcieve my own relationship to feminist politics. While the effects of this experience didn’t fully blossom in me until I reached graduate school, those years gave me a safe emotional laboratory to imagine a means of political engagement that fit me.

I love that this wonderful character turned out to be a Smithie!

All last week, students at Smith College were buzzing over a rumor that the school was going completely vegetarian and locavore. There were protests and counter-protests, with slogans chalked on walkways. There was a Twitter feed that caught the attention of VegNews, “America’s premier vegan lifestyle magazine.’’ At a student government meeting, the dining services manager came under attack: How did she expect students to pass their midterms without coffee?

“Telling kids what they should and shouldn’t eat is not really effective,” said Ms. Katz, who taught a class called Food for Thought at Essex Street Academy last spring. “Teenagers don’t do things because adults tell them to. They need to care and have enough information to make their own choices.”

I remember the all college meeting that afternoon, where John Connolly, the interim president who had been promised one quiet year, read an incredibly eloquent speech. Reflecting on the then-Smith President’s words after Pearl Harbor, he said:

In 1941, right after Pearl Harbor, Smith’s President Herbert Davis struck another and courageous note. At the height of the national war-frenzy he cautioned the community: “Do not beat the drums too loudly, to rouse all the old fierce primitive passions; do not let us go into [War], delighting in the gleam of the beast of prey in the eyes of the young men. Do not let us abandon all values, and lose ourselves in easy emotions of rage or hatred.”

How much more do those words apply to us right this minute, where we as yet have no definitive knowledge even of who the instigators of this morning’s heinous deeds were. And whatever nationality or race they turn out to have been, shame on us if we take that as license to condemn or hate an entire people or race. After all, did we condemn all Americans because of the actions of one Timothy McVeigh?

I remember being so proud to be a Smithie right then.

Ten years later, Professor Connolly has written some reflections about September 11th that I find thought provoking and very different from the mainstream media’s coverage.

In addition, a 2005 Smithie has used her memories about the anniversary as a way to discuss the often unheard moderate Muslim perspective:

Sunni Muslims (approximately 80% of the global Muslim population) choose their leadership at the local level and the person may or may not have chaplaincy training. Imam is simply the person leading prayers. Increasingly, and particularly in Western Muslim communities, this position is becoming a more organized position involving ministry similar to other faith counterparts and congregational community leadership, but not always. Take this into consideration when you hear about “an imam” saying something in the news. This local leadership without a hierarchy is also why it can be difficult to hear the “moderate Muslim voice” that many non-Muslim are looking for – we don’t have a Pope or other hierarchy that speak for the followers.

Here’s to Smithies keeping the conversation going.

Other Smithie 9/11 Posts:

• Mary ’82: In Memoriam
• Harriet ’89: Memorial & 10
• Poppet ’92: Zen Soccer Mom
• Ernessa ’99: Remembering 9/11
• Alison ’01: Remember
• Emma ’03: A Passionate Partnership
• Nichole ’04: Lingering Questions
• Noelle ’05: September 11, 2011
• Bilinguish ’07: Recordando el 11 de septiembre

This video captures the spirit pretty well:

What are your memories or thoughts of convocation?