In the Media
PR Newser and PR Week noted that Carla De Landri ’78 (pictured), formerly senior broadcast producer for 20/20 on ABC News, has joined Goodman Media as senior counsel.
The Hechinger Report quoted Vassar president Catharine Hill in an article about student aid.
FlavorWire named Vassar’s Frederick Ferris Thompson Memorial Library one of the 25 Most Beautiful College Libraries in the World.
The Nation selected “Digging for Democracy,” by Zoe Carpenter ’11, as one of ten finalists in its sixth annual Student Writing Contest.
Wired named Volcanoclast, a blog by volcanologist Ian Saginor ’01, to its “What Rocks” feature, which highlights “the week’s best in the geoblogosphere.” Saginor’s blog post about how much geologists love their rock hammers caught Wired’s attention.
Your News Now (NY) talked with Will Lefferts ’13 and Laura Smith ’14, both members of the Vassar Greens, about an anti-fracking meeting held at Vassar.
The Washington Post reported that Meryl Streep ’71 was one of five Kennedy Center Honorees. Fellow recipients included singer Neil Diamond and cellist Yo-Yo Ma. In other Meryl news, she landed on the cover of Vogue Magazine, which profiled the esteemed actress. Also, the Litchfield County Times (CT) noted that Streep will be part of the fifth annual lecture series at the Kent Memorial Library.
The New York Times noted that Susan Henshaw Jones ’69 was named the new president of the South Street Seaport Museum in Manhattan.
The Poughkeepsie Journal gave three cheers to the 28th annual Eileen Hickey Thanksgiving Dinner at the Lunch Box, a division of Dutchess Outreach that provides hot meals to area residents in need. Vassar kitchen staff assisted in preparing some 30 turkeys and other food for the dinner. The Journal also ran a feature on the Vassar Haiti Project.
The Music section of the New York Times named The String Orchestra of Brooklyn's staging of "In the Penal Colony," a chamber opera, one of the "highlights of the year." Eli Spindel '06 (pictured) is the founder and conductor of The String Orchestra of Brooklyn (SOB), which includes musicians Mary Beth Alexander '09, Emily Bookwalter '10, and Sarah Goldfeather '10. Tenor soloist Jason Papowitz '94 was also part of the performance. In a review from October, the Times praised Papowitz's "committed interpretation" of the character The Visitor, and hailed Spindel and SOB for their "vivid intensity" and "sharply defined, urgent playing that illuminated every mood of this haunting score."
Slate quoted Patrick Martins ’94 in a story about the rising price of turkey and heritage breeds. The Huffington Post also mentioned Martins in a story about heritage turkeys. Meanwhile, Chefs for the Marcellus—a group of chefs, restaurateurs, and other food professionals dedicated “to protecting farms, food, and water from fracking”—called Martins “a farmer’s best friend.”
The New York Times wrote about Betsy Stratton Pratt ’50 and Vermont’s Mad River Glen ski area.
The Berkshire Eagle (MA) quoted Michael Mucciolo ’06 in a story about A Different Spin, a circus troupe he co-founded with other former members of Vassar’s Barefoot Monkeys.
The Los Angeles Times quoted Jesse Holcomb ’08 in a piece about the Museum of Contemporary Art’s annual gala. Holcomb was one of several dozen performers who worked with performance artist Marina Abramovic and Blondie's Debbie Harry to put on the talked-about event.
The Kansas City Star named The Best Years of Our Lives (BFI Film Classics), by film professor Sarah Kozloff, to its list of Top 100 Books of 2011.
The Times Literary Supplement (UK) named religion professor Marc Michael Epstein’s The Medieval Haggadah to its list of Books of the Year. (Article not available online.)
The music media continued to praise Chesapeake, the latest album from Rachel Yamagata ’96, with the Macon Telegraph (GA) declaring that “she takes her singing, as well as her songwriting, to a new level.” The Houston Press did a Q&A with Yamagata. The Dallas Observer ran a story about her crowd-funded independent music projects. And the Jersey Journal praised her “ability to relate to people—both lyrically and musically.”
The Boston Herald quoted Leonard Steinhorn ’77 in an article about U.S. Representative Barney Frank. Also, CBS News quoted Steinhorn about Newt Gingrich, while the Associated Press quoted him about the role of free media in the U.S. presidential race.
MarketWatch noted that Rick Lazio ’80 joined alliantgroup as a director.
Carla De Landri and Eli Spindel photos courtesy the subjects.
Compiled by Peter Bronski