COA THE COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC MAGAZINE Volume 9 . Number 1 . Spring 2013 WAYS OF WELLNESS The College of the Atlantic Magazine Ways of Wellness Letter from the President 3 News from Campus 4 Food for Thought Surya Karki 16 7 Wellness 11 The Yin and Yang of Peter Wayne '83 12 Human Ecology on Steroids Three Alumni Doctors of Emergency Care 15 Bloodlines and Bodywork Carmen Bedard-Gautrais '07 18 An Integrative Life Christopher Todd Kitchens '06 21 The Art of Honnie Goode, MPhil 06 23 Re(de)fining Global Health Rachel Snow '81 26 My Brain Cancer Diary Bogart Salzberg '96 28 The Search for Balanced Imbalance Perspectives from Student Life 32 Research Successes Steven King 80 and Clifton E. McPherson '84 34 Aoife O Brien '05 Babycatcher 37 Discovering Cures 38 A Life of Kindness, A World of Hope Father James M. Gower 41 Alumni and Community Notes 44 To Err is Human Year After Year Donors 53 Japanese Beetles Poetry by Anneke Hart 16 56 John Anderson's History of Natural History 57 COA students Rachel Drattler 14 and Will Fuller '16 practice tai chi (see page 12). Photo by Becca Haydu 16. X K COA The College of the Atlantic Magazine Volume 9 Number 1 Spring 2013 There is little that has given me as much pleasure over the past nine years as talking to students about a project, a play, a future, or simply hearing their Editorial enthusiasm - their love - for this college. Editor Donna Gold Editorial Guidance John Anderson Sarah Baker But what does it mean to love COA? Yes, there are the moods of Frenchman Marni Berger '09 Rich Borden Bay, the shifts in the ocean's color; there are the friendships begun, and the Lynn Boulger insights gained. But I think loving COA is more even than that - more akin to Dru Colbert Ken Cline loving something sacred within ourselves - a love of learning, yes but also Michael Griffith '09 Sarah Haughn '08 a recognition that learning is about awareness, about attending to the world Helen Hess with our whole beings: mind, body, soul. It is working hard, and laughing hard Jennifer Hughes Katharine Macko - usually about ourselves; it is heading into Acadia National Park for a brisk Danielle Meier '08 Editorial Consultant Bill Carpenter bicycle ride and returning to work and think and talk and laugh some more. Alumni Consultants Jill Barlow-Kelley Dianne Clendaniel This fluid intensity shaped at COA is what ultimately forms the healthy Design balance of a human life. This may have been something I knew - but it Art Director Rebecca Hope Woods took a conversation with five wise students - resident advisors all to COA Administration articulate it. Actually, I believe it took the conversation "The Search for President Darron Collins '92 Balanced Imbalance" (see page 32), for all six of us to articulate it. This very Dean of Admission Sarah Baker Dean of Institutional Lynn Boulger possibly explains the essence of a COA education, and why we appreciate it so Advancement Associate Dean for Faculty Ken Cline much. None of us knows where learning will emerge: From books? Solitude? Administrative Dean Andrew Griffiths Classes? A moment on Dorr Mountain? A talk with friends? Some painful Academic Dean Kenneth Hill Dean of Student Life Sarah Luke hurt? A joyful recognition? At COA we recognize that the spark that generates Associate Dean Sean Todd for Advanced Studies comprehension most likely comes from some combination of all of the above. COA Board of Trustees Becky Ann Baker Sarah A. McDaniel '93 COA's idealism, the belief that lives can be creative, useful, productive, lovely Dylan Baker Linda McGillicuddy - and healthy - has had a powerful impact on many, including me! With this Ronald E. Beard Jay McNally '84 Leslie C. Brewer Stephen G. Milliken magazine, I am choosing a different form of balanced imbalance, leaving my Alyne Cistone Philip S.J. Moriarty Phyllis Anina Moriarty full-time position as COA's public relations director, retaining only my role as Nikhit D'Sa '06 William G. Foulke, Jr. Hamilton Robinson, Jr. editor of this magazine, on a very part-time basis. Thanks in part to the constant Amy Yeager Geier Walter Robinson George B.E. Hambleton Nadia Rosenthal reminders by students that life is about more than working, I am choosing time Elizabeth D. Hodder Marthann Lauver Samek Philip B. Kunhardt III '77 Henry L.P. Schmelzer to notice the ocean, take walks, read long novels, write, tend plants, and talk Anthony Mazlish William N. Thorndike, Jr. into the night with friends, as I so often did when I was a student like them. I Suzanne Folds McCullagh Cody van Heerden hope in this way, I can better shape and model my own imbalanced balance. Life Trustees Trustee Emeriti Samuel M. Hamill, Jr. David Hackett Fischer John N. Kelly Sherry F. Huber Susan Storey Lyman Daniel Pierce William V.P. Newlin Helen Porter John Reeves Cathy L. Ramsdell '78 Henry D. Sharpe, Jr. John Wilmerding Clyde E. Shorey, Jr. The faculty, students, trustees, staff, and alumni of College of the Atlantic envision a world where people value creativity, intellectual achievement, and diversity of Damn Gold Donna Gold, COA editor nature and human cultures. With respect and compassion, individuals construct meaningful lives for themselves, gain appreciation of the relationships among all forms of life, and safeguard the heritage of future generations. COA is published biannually for the College of the Atlantic community. Please send ideas, letters, and submissions (short stories, poetry, and revisits to human ecology essays) to: Front cover: Witch Hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) by Lilliana Demers '13, from her senior project "A Study of the Local Healing Plants: Form, Color, and Spirit" COA Magazine, College of the Atlantic 105 Eden St, Bar Harbor, ME 04609 The bark and leaves of witch hazel are used medicinally primarily for their astringent dgold@coa.edu and cooling properties. Witch hazel is a potent painkiller, has antioxidant properties, and is one of the best wound herbs, used to stop bleeding and soothe internal and WWW.COA.EDU external inflammations. It is particularly useful for intestinal bleeding, bruises, varicose veins, hemorrhoids, dermatitis, sunburn, diarrhea, and more. Difficult to prepare, it is best to buy. PRINTED WITH MIX CERTIFIED Paper from WIND responsible sources FSC POWER www.fsc.org FSC® C021556 From the President: Darron Collins '92, PhD On a recent trip to Australia, some about the subject. Everyone seems The articles that follow indicate that malicious virus found its way into wrapped up in issues of health and there are many avenues to medical my lungs and left me with one of the well-being: how to achieve it and how school and other medical fields worst coughs I've ever had. Weeks to hold onto it, how to improve it and beyond a formal pre-med major. Our passed but the cough didn't. I reached how to foster it among larger social students excel at graduate level work out to the COA community for help. groups. We experiment on ourselves, and within the profession because of we reach out to socially recognized human ecology, not in spite of it. They Within thirty minutes, I had fifty-eight experts, we anoint ourselves as bring the hands-on experience, the responses in my inbox: change your experts. interdisciplinary perspective, the self- sleeping position, brew this herbal designed curriculum, and the passion concoction, consume this quantity of More COA students are going into for making large-impact changes, just alcohol (and a bit of honey), pray, rub medical and health professions now as every human-ecologist-as-marine Vicks on your feet and in your nostrils, than when I was a student twenty- scientist, human-ecologist-as-graphic- go to the doctor and get a prescription plus years ago. But interest in the designer, and human-ecologist-as- for codeine and sleeping pills. relationship between human health, educator does. community health, and ecological The most important revelation health has been a cornerstone Enjoy the issue and feel free to from the experience was the sheer of our teaching and learning and send me your own remedies for a volume of interest in and (real or practice since our inception. This pernicious, enduring cough. imagined) expertise in health. The issue of COA demonstrates that democratization of information in our we've been applying human ecology new digital world clearly has spawned to human health and well-being for a democratization of information four decades. COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC MAGAZINE 3 NEWS FROM CAMPUS STUDENT "POP-UP" LINDSE NIELSEN '12 BLUM SHOW COMBINES DINNER RAISES $801 FOR DAN DENDANTO '91 TURNS WHALE SCIENCE AND ART SHAR THE HARVES BONES INTO ART IN PORTLAND NOVEMBER DECEMBER JANUARY The Chronicle of Higher Education COA's 12-member Earth In Brackets Alex Borowicz '13 heads to Mount Desert Rock features the title, "Tiny College Nurtures delegation apply their learning to launch a multi-year grey seal population Big Ideas." The subject, COA! and passion to organizing and survey, finding 550 seals in residence. He communicating at the United Nations also assists a sea-spray study by folks from A $146,032 grant from the Davis Framework Convention on Climate the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Educational Foundation enables science Change in Doha, Qatar. Laboratory and NorthWest Research faculty members John Anderson, Associates, with Chris Tremblay '03. Don Cass, Sarah Hall, and Nishanta Six students and alumni survey birds, Rajakaruna '94, along with Gordon mammals, and Great Duck Island itself COA teams up with the international social Longsworth '91, GIS lab director, during COA's first winter study on the media platform Project Noah to enhance to create interdisciplinary courses island. With high winds, huge snows, nature education and citizen science. featuring hands-on research on the freezing temperatures, and rafts of www.projectnoah.org entirety of the 25-mile watershed of purple sandpipers, the six name their Mount Desert Island's Northeast Creek. time "The Best Journey in the World." Dec, Feb, and April images by Sune Anderson '16. MEET AT THE WHALESKULL STUDENTS TRANSFORM GATES LAUNCH OF FOR A "REVERIE" MEETMEATTHEW ALESKULL.TU BLR.COM EARTH DAY 2013 FEBRUARY MARCH APRIL Calling COA a place where students are COA divests from all fossil fuel Louis Rabineau, COA's third president, is "focused on creating positive change," investments! remembered in a celebration and dedication Princeton Review includes COA in its The of The Lou Rabineau Educational Studies Erica Georgaklis '14, Will Batt '14, and Best Value Colleges: 2013 Edition. That's Center in The Turrets. lan Medeiros '16 receive Maine Space the third time in four years. Grant Consortium Research Fellowships New York Times education editor collaborates COA's solar electric car charging station for botanical research. Will and Erica with COA for a "pop quiz" in its Earth Day opens to the public with great fanfare - also receive Garden Club of America edition of Education Life. including a notice in the New York Times. scholarships. And Erica, fascinated On Earth Day weekend, Kyle Shank '14 COA now has a fossil fuel-emissions- by medicinal plants, joins nine other free route between our two farms and organizes a Conference on Cooperation, COA students to present to the Community, and Complexity: Imagining a New the college; we also offer free solar- Northeast Undergraduate Research and Economy for the 21st Century, in conjunction electric charges to anyone in need on Development Symposium at University with the New Economics Institute. campus and at at Beech Hill Farm. of New England. 4 CHECK OUT MORE STORIES AND PHOTOS AT NEWSWORTHY.COA.EDU CAMDEN CHALLENGE When time opened up at February's Throughout the conference, continues annual Camden Conference on world Gray, "the students asked lots of affairs, ten COA students were ready. thoughtful, penetrating questions Well-versed in the topic from taking that demonstrated that they could The Arab Awakening and Emerging push issues in respectful but Issues in the Middle East class with forceful ways." They even took the moderator, former ambassador political economics faculty member Next year's conference is "The Global and current Harvard professor Nick Politics of Food and Water," and COA is Gray Cox and political science lecturer Burns, to task with some challenging planning another social media session. Lucy Creevey, they proposed a two- questions regarding the human cost Stay tuned! hour session, "Alternative Middle of sanctions on civilians in Iran — Eastern Voices Heard through Social sanctions the ambassador helped COA participation at the Camden Conference: Media." The students presented video design. Instead of being irritated, he top, from left, Marissa Gilmour '16, Christina Tellez '16, Nada Zidan '15, Michael Santivasci clips, followed by an hour of open publicly praised the COA students '15, Brittany Cooper '15, Graham Hallett '16; discussion. The give-and-take was for their example of asking tough bottom: Kyle Shank '14, Jane Nurse '13, Rachel intense says Gray, "tears and all." questions that challenged authority. Wells '15, Taggart Wass '14, Gray Cox. COA'S TWO WATSON FELLOWS Come graduation, seniors Lisa Bjerke and Graham Reeder will be packing for a world journey, each equipped with $25,000 from the Thomas J. Watson Foundation and the title of "Watson Fellow," as they spend a Photo by Becca Haydu '16. year on a project of their dreams. Lisa will look at composting systems in Germany, China, Bangladesh, and Japan for the voyage she calls, "It is composting might become an integral UN negotiator or NGO worker started a Waste to Call it Waste: Exploring part of human culture so we can their day thinking of a time they the Culture of Compost." Graham continue to create this life-sustaining spent participating in a community will head to Malawi, Burkina Faso, resource." adaptation project I am convinced Bangladesh, Malaysia, and the that the decisions made in cities like Maldives for his project, "Preparing While Lisa has been a hands-in- New York and Geneva would move for a Changing Climate: Community- the-dirt activist, Graham's focus a lot faster and in a much healthier Based Adaptation Strategies." has been on diplomatic efforts to direction," he writes, explaining his reverse climate change. This year, longing for hands-on work. For her quest, Lisa asks, "What would however, he'll be hands-on, assisting happen if we adopted nature's model small, vulnerable communities The two are among this year's forty that nothing is ever wasted; therefore, in projects geared to addressing fellows chosen by the foundation from there is no such thing as food waste?" the rising sea levels, increased thirty-one colleges. Since 1984, COA She will be investigating traditional temperatures, decreased rain, has sent thirty-two Watson Fellows and modern municipal composting and overall unpredictable weather off on dream journeys - including systems "to understand how patterns of climate change. "If every President Darron Collins '92. CHECK OUT MORE STORIES AND PHOTOS AT NEWSWORTHY.COA.EDU 5 Energy Framework The word is out. COA is no longer so they can head out into the world as necessary changes on our main "carbon neutral." While the college energy-savvy proponents of change. campus, islands, and farms." It works hard to reduce and avoid continues, "These experiences carbon emissions, mostly we achieved "Our goal is to make COA a laboratory will prepare students to become neutrality through purchasing offsets. where students, faculty, and staff advocates for the ecological integrity Spurred by students, COA came to can explore the diverse prospects of the climate and the planet [helping] realize that as useful as offsets can of a more sustainable future," reads to shape a sustainable world for be, they were making us lazy - we the preamble to COA's new energy countless generations to come." weren't really working on getting our framework. "A central part of our campus up to snuff. We also realized energy plan will include classes First step? Installing 204 photovoltaic something else: COA's greatest and project-based learning where panels this summer on the Kathryn contribution to the environment is our students practice the interdisciplinary W. Davis Student Residence Village students. So our energy framework skills needed to promote responsible and at the Peggy Rockefeller focuses on eliminating the use of energy use. Students will be Farms to provide about 7 percent fossil fuels on campus while involving involved in the design, construction, of our annual electricity. students in each step of the process maintenance, and monitoring of all Healing Turrets COA's beloved icon, The Turrets, is ailing. The very turrets for which it is named are cracking; its slate roofing shingles are slipping off. And the energy efficiency, well, when Curry Caputo '95 of Sustainable Structures Inc. measured the building he discovered that it operates as if we had a 61" X 61" opening to the great outdoors. Repairs have begun. While staff and faculty continue inside their offices, granite chimneys are being chipped out, slate roof tiles pried off - and earplugs have become more prized even than a Morning Glory muffin. 30 percent, reconstruction of For more on the restoration, or to granite chimneys, and new exterior assist the project, call 207-801-5620, A $500,000 gift has spurred the woodwork. or go to coa.edu/saveturrets. college's fundraising drive to cover the necessary renovations. By publication, COA first restored and renovated The Naming opportunities, original roof more than one-third of the $2 million Turrets in the 1970s after years of slates, and Save Turrets bumper goal has been raised. The remainder disrepair. Originally, one hundred men stickers are available as a means of the project's $3.4 million cost will spent two years building this stone of supporting the project. be borrowed. treasure, quarrying the 42,500 cubic feet of granite from near Eagle Lake, Beyond the roof and turrets, ninety- using draft horses to drag the blocks nine new windows and a parcel of new over the five miles. It was built in 1893 SAVE TURRE doors will improve energy efficiency. as a wedding gift by candle and soap Additional work includes a new copper magnate John Josiah Emery for his drainage system and roof flashing, bride, the 18-year-old Lela Alexander. twelve-inch repointing of the granite Architect Bruce Price designed The over 40 percent of the exterior and Turrets while also creating the storied COLLEGE THE ATLANTIC HARBOR MAINE three-inch repointing over another Château Frontenac in Québec City. 6 COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC MAGAZINE Food for Thought Surya Karki '16 and the Maya Universe Academy in Nepal Surya Karki is on a mission. He Germany at Jacobs University, wants the people in his home as a finalist for a business plan country of Nepal to have the for yet another project. resources necessary for a full life. Food, yes. But also education. Surya attributes his vision and While still a teenager, Surya, now dedication to his mother, a single 21, co-founded the Maya Universe mom with no education who taught Academy, or MUA, with fellow Surya math by lying on a hillside countryman, and former COA counting the stars. She insisted student Manjil Rana ('12). MUA is her children dream big - up to the first free private elementary those stars. "She would say, 'If you school in Nepal recognized by don't aim, you are lost," says Surya the government - a country who was barefoot when he left where nearly 40 percent of his rural farmland for a boarding children still do not complete school in Kathmandu. There are primary school, in part because few roads in the Sankhuwasabha families cannot afford tuition. district south of Mt. Everest where he was born. "You walk up a hill, There are now Maya Academies then you walk straight along the in three towns. The hands-on, hills, then you come down the hill, community-centered approach and walk straight some more," inspired other COA students to get he says, describing his walk to involved. Urs Riggenbach '12 set up the road that would take him to an open-source solar- and steam- Kathmandu. He doesn't mention generated electricity system for the that the "hills" he is describing first campus. He now serves on the are the height of Mount Katahdin, Maya board with Joseph Leyden '11. the "walk" took seven hours, and that Surya was only eight. To support the schools and bring more sustenance to the villages, The bus Surya climbed onto that two of the schools have farms day was the first he had seen. attached. Parents are asked to Shortly thereafter, a bloody civil work two days a month on these war broke out in Nepal and it farms. Forty percent of the profit became unsafe for boys to travel; from food sales - whether it be it was nine years before he saw coffee, fruit, or cardamom - goes his mother again. Surya left soon to the community; 60 percent after for Venezuela to attend the to Maya Academy. This summer, former Simón Bolívar United World Surya returns to Nepal to create College of Agriculture, receiving an a sustainable farm at the most associate degree in agriculture - recent school. His expenses will while mobilizing fellow students be paid by a $10,000 Kathryn W. to expand the school's industrial Davis Projects for Peace award. agriculture curriculum to classes in sustainable agriculture. When Surya's not stopping there. not raising funds, writing grants, When he met Nobel Prize winner creating proposals, or engaging Muhammad Yunus at the Clinton youth at the United Nations, Surya Global Initiative University this is studying economics, calculus, spring, Yunos was so impressed and international policy at COA. with Surya's dreams that he signed on as an advisor and Surya Karki '16, in green, is surrounded by students at Maya Universe Academy. offered Surya an internship. A few Co-founder Manjil Rana ('12), in a hood, is weeks later, Surya was in Bremen, above him. Photo by Joseph Leyden '11. 7 NADIA ROSENTHAL Re-Imagining the Body and the Campus By Donna Gold For most of her life, COA trustee A starfish missing one of its rays can Passionate and practical, a mélange Nadia Rosenthal, PhD, has spent her regenerate it. But a human being of science and philosophy, Nadia summers on the shores of Sutton certainly cannot regrow a finger. recently told Australian journalist Island, watching the tides ebb and Like a true philosopher pushing the Michael Short, "My early and abiding flow, wandering moss-covered trails boundaries of the possible, for Nadia question has been, 'What is life? What through its woods, noticing the small the mystery isn't that starfish can do is the reason for having animation miracles of nature - among them so, but that humans can't. "Why did in the universe, as opposed to the regenerative powers of starfish. we drop that particular attribute?" merely inanimate matter such as she wonders. Why can't a human rocks or water? What was that initial Those summers nourished a powerful regenerate an arm - or even a heart? impetus that brought us to the point place within her. Now an esteemed where we are now, in which some international scientist, Nadia led Nadia has devoted much of her life chance collection of molecules the European Molecular Biology to investigating this question. Her found it more convenient, more Laboratory Outstation near Rome, work - as a biomedical researcher pleasurable, or had an appetite for Italy, for a dozen years, leaving it at Harvard Medical School (where getting together and forming a cell, only recently to launch an Australian she received her PhD), later in which is our basic building block?'" branch outside of Melbourne. She's Italy, and now also as founding a busy woman, her journey to the scientific director of the Australian Clearly, this is a woman who sees recent COA board meeting included Regenerative Medicine Institute at beyond what is, asking the creative stops in London, Beijing, Shanghai, Monash University - focuses on the questions that swiftly move from why Singapore, and Perth. But Nadia developmental genetics of heart and to why not as she works with other travels most joyfully to Maine because skeletal muscle, the molecular biology scientists to expand healthy lives far Mount Desert Island remains her of aging, and the role of growth beyond what we expect of ourselves touchstone. And those starfish that factors, stem cells, and the immune today. cling to the rocks surrounding the system in tissue regeneration. island? They are her inspiration. 8 COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC MAGAZINE What fascinates Nadia about COA are similar questions. Built into COA's genetic JOIN structure is the practice of going beyond the limitations of individual disciplines, combining the arts, humanities, and sciences to create a truly integrated THE BLACK FLY SOCIETY education for students and continual challenges for faculty. This resonates with Nadia, who is an artist as well as a world-class scientist. In Italy, she collaborated with a pottery studio, painting her interpretations FLY of the heart on ceramic plates. Now, as editor-in-chief of the scientific journal Differentiation, she illustrates the cover of each month's issue. BICK SOCIETY "I've spent my whole life trying to figure out how to merge these two somewhat competing interests," she says, bringing art even into her graduate classes. "A visual approach helps people grasp concepts." There's science behind that, she adds. "If you post an image with something that clearly has been drawn by hand, the eye responds to that differently than to a computerized version." The mark of the hand changes COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC the impact, makes it feel more real; and so it carries greater meaning. "My incentive to pull art and science together derives from an urge to give people a sense of science that feels real to them." As an educator, scientist, and writer, Nadia works to make components come together. Honoring COA's mascot, The Black Fly Society was Which brings us to the why not question Nadia asks about COA. She'd like COA to regenerate itself. "How can we export the COA model?" she asks, seeing established to make donating the possibility of even more students enjoying a vibrant, transdisicplinary to COA's annual fund easier education in more small, dynamic, hands-on, integrated COA-like campuses around the world. and greener. We hope you'll join this swarm of sustaining donors by setting up a monthly online gift! It's the paperless way to give to COA. Go to coa.edu/donatenow and under "gift frequency" select "monthly." If you want to give to the annual fund by mail: COA Annual Fund 105 Eden Street Bar Harbor, ME 04609 Please make your check payable to COA. COA trustee Nadia Rosenthal's inside view of Michelangelo's Adam appeared on the cover of the December 2012 journal Differentiation, published on behalf of the International Questions? Call 207-801-5622. Society of Differentiation. WELLNESS It is nearly peony season at COA, a time when the flowers' lush layers begin to open - slowly, petal after petal, one layer a day - until suddenly the gardens are gleaming with dozens of huge, radiant blooms. When I think of the creation of this magazine's current theme of wellness, it is the gradual unfolding of the thick peony petal that comes to mind. For those featured in this issue, each revelation seems to open into a new understanding, another path. Peonies, by the way, are an ancient herbal healer in the East and West, China and the Mediterranean, used to enhance mental function, ease nervous conditions, improve liver function, relieve muscle cramps, lower cholesterol, and much more. The unfolding of this issue began with wondering who our alumni MDs are, discovering that for a school without an official pre-med track, College of the Atlantic has educated quite a few medical doctors. Not surprisingly, many alumni combine the best elements of several areas, bridging practice and research in diverse traditions. Peter Wayne '83 begins as a botanical researcher, then finds himself at the cutting edge of medical science, analyzing the health values of tai chi. Steven King '80 stays the course in botanical research for twenty years, shepherding latex from the Amazon rainforest into the medicine chests of those living with HIV/AIDS. Public health efforts on HIV/AIDS in Africa lead Rachel Snow '81 to the streets of Detroit. Meanwhile, Carmen Bedard- Gautrais '07 and Todd Kitchens '06 are forging separate paths bringing integrative practices into institutional settings. From botany to cancer research, from painting to counseling, our students and alumni are continually exploring, questioning, probing - unfolding the petals of the peony to discover more petals, more ideas; sifting and learning and giving back to the world their magnificent presence. - Donna Gold COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC MAGAZINE 11 The Yin and Yang of Peter Wayne '83 Harvard Professor, Medical Researcher, Tai Chi Instructor By Michael Griffith '09 By day, Peter Wayne, PhD, is a to Tai Chi, the result of years-long from multiple perspectives, to see clinical researcher, assessing the research, rigorous clinical trials, and the parts as integral components effect of tai chi, acupuncture, and a human ecological vision that sees of a whole, and to see the whole other therapies on such problematic science and spirituality as not only as sometimes being more than the conditions as chronic heart failure, compatible, but complementary. sum of the parts. The philosophy chronic obstructive pulmonary of education at COA not only disease, balance instability, thinning Acrobatic human ecology impacted me as a plant ecologist; bones, lower back pain, depression, The child may be father to the man, the core ideas were transferable." aging, and more. Peter is the overall as William Wordsworth wrote, but research director of the Osher Center what about the young adult? His first They were also in tune with the for Integrative Medicine at Harvard year at COA, Peter fell in love with philosophy and practice of the Eastern Medical School and Boston's Brigham plants, thanks, he says, to "gurus and arts. Peter never stopped doing tai and Women's Hospital. This work mentors" Bill Drury and Craig Greene, chi, and began teaching it during his places him at the cutting edge of late faculty members in biology. final years at COA. When he moved to integrative medical science, combining During an independent study with Western and alternative practices. Bill spent identifying trees on Dorr Mountain, Peter managed to hike "I decided to make a But when the sun sets, Peter Acadia National Park every day of a transforms into a tai chi instructor winter term. It was a turning point. significant career shift, who doesn't always know - or care - how the Eastern art works: it "COA was such a great environment bringing my two worlds just does. for me," Peter says. "I grew up in Brooklyn, New York, which is as together and employing Peter has walked the S-shaped line far from Bar Harbor as you can between yin and yang since he was get, energetically and socially; as my research skills and fifteen. That's when he discovered a scientist studying nature, it was tai chi, which he calls "a mind-body an amazing place for me to be ecological framework exercise rooted in multiple Asian in closer proximity to what I was traditions that aims to strengthen, intuitively drawn to - both in terms to study the clinical and relax, and integrate the physical body of seeing my place in nature and and mind, enhance the natural flow having a fantastic laboratory." basic aspects of Chinese of bodily energy, or qi, and improve health, personal development, and Courses in ecology with Bill Drury medicine, including self-defense." and former President Steve Katona, and environmental philosophy with tai chi." An avid Frisbee player as a teenager, the late Dan Kane, founding faculty Peter turned to tai chi in search, he member in law, "shaped a very says, of "something that gave me a deep, implicit way of looking at the From Peter Wayne's The Harvard Medical School Guide to Tai Chi little bit more flow and grace," an world - a deep philosophy," which advantage on the field. But his new Peter carried through to a Watson practice gave him much more than fellowship (the first for a COA student) that. It spoke to his interest in nature in plant population biology, and then Boston in 1985, he founded a school (he was reading Thoreau) and sparked to Harvard, where he earned a PhD of tai chi. Since then, Peter's "personal a fascination with Eastern healing in evolutionary biology. "What I really balancing act" between science and arts that would shape the course of grew to appreciate at COA, and it tai chi, or "acrobatic human ecology," his life. This March, Peter published continues to grow on me," he says, as he calls it with a chuckle, has the Harvard Medical School Guide "is this idea of looking at problems only become more interesting - 12 COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC MAGAZINE and integrated. As he focused on researching climate change and forest biology, Peter's engagement with the Eastern healing arts only grew. Then in 2000, a trip to China for additional training in tai chi and qi gong threw the yin and yang into a new balance. Bridging cultures In his book, Peter writes that following the trip, "I decided to make a significant career shift, bringing my two worlds together and employing my research skills and ecological framework to study the clinical and basic aspects of Chinese medicine, including tai chi." The birch trees and ragweed of his formal education had given the man what he needed to incorporate the interests of the child - science and tai chi, yin and yang - moderated by a powerful vision of interconnectivity. Peter began a research program at the New England School of Acupuncture, established and led a formal collaboration with Harvard Medical School centered on Asian medicine, and in 2006 became a faculty member at Harvard Medical School. But it was at the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine that Peter found his dream job. "Both as a scientist and a tai chi thinker, I love looking for connections and building bridges," he says. And that is what he gets to do now, every single day. Not that it's always easy. By its very nature, Peter's work is about tensions - within the body, yes, but also between the healing traditions. "Medicine today is very bifurcated," he says. "It's very reductionist: divide and conquer. You go to your doctor with a foot problem but he or she COA students Will Fuller '16, Sasha Dunbar '13, and R Photo b COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC MAGAZINE won't be the same person you see of rituals for achieving that: the objectivity. "When I leave my office, for a back problem, and of course way you design your trial, the way I go home, have a short meal, and that isn't related to your jaw." Holistic you have checks and balances go teach for about two and a half elements have been implicit in the between your colleagues." hours; I change my clothes, and I history of conventional medicine, change my rules." He says there is according to Peter, but they've The emerging field of systems biology, a "dynamic balance" between his been overshadowed by modern familiar to Peter from his work on the daytime and evening "rules of order." approaches to defining health, environment, provides useful models They influence each other, and treating disease, and training doctors. for making tai chi's holistic approach both represent parts of the "larger to the body intelligible to scientific whole" of his persona, but just as "Reductionism in modern medicine methodology. "In systems biology Peter is not an advocate for tai chi has led to tremendous successes," we developed quantitative and in the lab, he is not an advocate for Peter writes in his book. But the conceptual tools for characterizing medical science at the tai chi center. habit of breaking up the body into the dynamics of ecosystems; when "smaller, simpler parts, or into more I came to study tai chi scientifically The human ecology of tai chi tractable units," has its disadvantages it was really obvious: 'Wow, here's Sometimes things that happen in - especially when one's aim is well- a typical class can't be explained being, not just the absence of disease. in a lab - at least not yet. "I may "What I really grew to go a little bit beyond the edges of "Eastern holistic and ecological views science - to things that we just of the body, mind, and health now are appreciate at COA - have no idea if they happen, or becoming increasingly appreciated and adopted within the Western and it continues to grow why they happen," says Peter. medical community," continues Peter, on me - is this idea of In his Guide to Tai Chi, Peter adapted a but it is still rare to find an MD who mandala-like diagram created by the can help you make well-informed looking at problems from late plant ecologist William Dwight decisions about alternative therapies. Billings to tai chi. Billings portrays "Part of why I think doing research is multiple perspectives, to a plant surrounded by "spokes" useful is because it's a bridge between of sunshine, water, wind, thermal different cultures," he adds. "The see the parts as integral energy, root bacteria, and fungi, medical culture, the policy culture components of a whole, enclosed by a circle representing - they want to see evidence from time. The "spokes" move in time, each sound, rigorous trials" that shows and to see the whole as influencing the other: wind speed whether alternative therapies work. affects temperature, temperature sometimes being more affects humidity, and so on. "It's a The sacredness of minimizing bias than the sum of the parts." beautiful picture: the survival, growth, So Peter walks the S-shaped line, physiology, and evolution of a plant seeking objective ways to describe the is due to this complex environment," center's findings, using randomized says Peter. Adapting Billings' diagram trials and objective physiological a really unique set of ecosystems in to tai chi, he continues, "is a literal measurements, "but still capturing this classroom, or this clinical trial, example of how my training in human this bigger picture, that we think that and we're approaching them with a ecology translates to many different there's some value added in mind- very complex intervention.' And areas as a conceptual framework." body types of interventions." Peter so I started designing conceptual In his approach, the "eight active stresses that he is not an "advocate frameworks on how to study tai ingredients" of tai chi - including researcher," looking for particular chi from a systems perspective, factors such as awareness, flexibility, outcomes. He is committed to looking at mechanistic processes breath, and community - directly "figuring out what's really happening" and physiological processes, and affect the practitioner, as well as within the framework of clinical that's the heart of my work now: contribute to a complex system in research. "Maybe there is no impact working within a systems framework, which everything is interdependent. in a particular population doing a doing very rigorous clinical trials particular type of tai chi," he says. here at the medical school." It's the human ecology of tai chi - and "That's OK. There's sacredness increasingly, thanks to researchers to minimizing bias, and to being At the end of the day, Peter rebalances like Peter, the human ecology of objective. Science has a whole set himself, shedding his scientific Western medicine. Michael Griffith '09 lives in London, where he is completing an MA in English at King's College. More of his writing can be found at theantefix.com. 14 COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC MAGAZINE ST- CARH SENSOR OFF PATIENT patient 17777 Check SIGNAL Human Ecology on Steroids Three Alumni Doctors of Emergency Care By Donna Gold The way Dr. Douglas Sward '96 describes it, being an emergency room physician is like human ecology on steroids. "You're in this interface between the hospital inpatient system and the rest of the community." Maybe there's a rash of synthetic marijuana use by teenagers, maybe there's been a multiple-car collision, a serious apartment fire. An emergency room doctor has to be able to communicate with everyone involved - parents, fire rescue, patients, families, law enforcement. "You're dynamically interacting with a broad spectrum of humanity, with totally different perspectives and needs, from the most affluent to the homeless - and they are right next to each other. You're dealing with older demented people who can't remember what happened to them, and young people who talk so much, you can't make anything of what they're saying, you're going from someone cursing at you because you're not giving them narcotics to doing CPR on a thirty-year-old - and having to tell his family that he has died. All of this is happening at once. It's human ecology in your face. And it's fascinating, difficult, frustrating - terrible." Nearly half the COA alumni who have become doctors of medicine have chosen to work in emergency care. Curious about whether this interest was an extension of the wilderness medicine training so many students receive, I contacted three alumni MDs to probe the connection. But though the outdoors plays a role in the choice, it's also about the schedule - an ER doctor is seldom on call, allowing the doctor time for family, for hikes, for maple sugaring - for life. But the common fascination for all three doctors actually lies elsewhere. It's the problem solving. Above, Dr. Matthew Daul '98 pauses for a moment at the end of a shift at St. Joseph Hospital in Bangor, Maine, where he serves on the staff of the emergency department. COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC MAGAZINE 15 BIOLOGY 101: WHAT IS A CELL? Matthew Daul '98, MD Dr. Matthew Daul emerges from the Emergency Department of St. Joseph Hospital in Bangor, Maine, 1 wearing navy scrubs, a serious expression, and a manner that is 2 just what you want from a doctor. 3 He's fully present, almost intense, and yet quite soft spoken. 4 7 Medicine, for Matt, is career number 5 three. The son of a carpenter, at COA 8 he interned as an apprentice to a 6 San Francisco furniture maker, and continued to focus on furniture and design for his senior project. After he graduated, he realized that being a self-employed craftsman was not the life he wanted. So he and his soon- to-be wife Kara Fanning '96 climbed 9 into his red Cabriolet convertible and headed to Brooklyn, New York. They 10 arrived in August; by September they both had teaching jobs. At the time, you didn't need a teaching certificate ANIMAL CELL to start teaching in a New York City public school, he says. 1. The cell membrane is a thin semi-permeable membrane that surrounds the cell fluid (cytoplasm), thus enclosing its contents. After a summer backpacking 2. The nucleus stores genetic material in the form of DNA (see page 39), through Italy, they discovered they and is surrounded by the nuclear membrane. Inside the nucleus is a had enough experience to get a nucleolus. Here ribosomes are made. job in an international school, so they remained in Europe, teaching 3. Ribosomes are responsible for assembling the proteins of the cell. They consist of RNA and proteins. in Milan for several years. The work returned Matt to his high 4. Mitochondria are the cell's power plants; they convert energy into school fascination with science forms that are usable by the cell. and math - and to a craving for 5. Lysosomes hold enzymes used to digest food or break down the cell a different challenge. That's when when it dies. medicine came up. With no savings, two children and one soon to 6. The centrosome is the production center for microtubules — fibrous, hollow rods that help to support and shape a cell, and are also involved come, they decided to risk it all. If in movement within a cell, especially during cell division. Matt could get into a good post- baccalaureate program for the Endoplasmic reticulum, or ER, is a series of interconnected membrane- necessary pre-med courses, they'd bounded sacs within the cell fluid. There are two kinds: move back to the States and take 7. Smooth endoplasmic reticulum (SER) contains enzymes important for the plunge of additional schooling synthesizing and metabolizing fats. and some debt-ridden years. 8. Rough endoplasmic reticulum (RER) is covered in ribosomes that synthesize proteins; the RER can transport these proteins throughout Matt first went to Bryn Mawr, then the body. the University of Rochester Medical School in upstate New York. With the 9. The Golgi apparatus is the shipping department for the cell's chemical products. It modifies proteins and lipids, or fats, that have been built in position at St. Joe's, they've come the ER and prepares them for export outside of the cell or for transport full circle, returning to live at what to other locations within the cell. has become a family compound on Mandala Farm in Gouldsboro, 10. Vacuoles are storage bubbles found in cells that might store food or any variety of nutrients a cell might need to survive. In addition, they store waste products so the rest of the cell is protected from contamination. Maine, along with Matt's father, The daughter and granddaughter Medicine in Bel Air, and the other half his stepbrother Genio Bertin '97, of doctors, Ann originally shunned as a clinical assistant professor in the and Genio's wife, Sara Faull '98. medicine, then became intrigued Department of Hyperbaric Medicine by international health. For her at the University of Maryland Medical For Matt, emergency medicine is internship, she served as a medical Center Shock's Trauma Center. about discovery, problem solving, assistant at Shirati Hospital in Shirati, decision making. "I get to be Johnny- Tanzania, basing her senior project on Having recently completed a on-the-Spot and that is satisfying. I the experience. But after receiving a fellowship in wilderness medicine, like making decisions when there's medical degree from Philadelphia's Doug is also medical advisor for a crisis. It's action-oriented." Each Jefferson Medical College, and Maryland Search and Rescue and day is new. Even though Matt did completing her residency in family faculty advisor for the University not seek out pre-med courses at medicine, "life happened," she says. of Maryland Wilderness Medicine COA, he finds human ecology to be With two daughters, urgent care Student Interest Group. His training, a fitting gateway to the hospital's allows her a stable schedule and the following his 2004 graduation from many personalities and complicated intellectual challenge she loves. As for the Medical College of Virginia, was structures - with the microcosm international medicine, that's for the a residency in emergency medicine of each individual human body at future, when her daughters are older. at the UM Medical Center. the center of the scene. "Having an education from COA, and coming at Shifts on Mt. Bachelor connect There's also an element of outdoor this from a career change, makes me Ann to wilderness care - and the experience in Doug's interest in better suited to empathize with some wilderness. She takes her Nordic hyperbaric medicine, as SCUBA of those who come in," he says. skis to work and heads into the divers experience this form of snow before donning scrubs to work pressure. But the specialty, which onsite with the ski patrol, swiftly handles what happens to gasses, Ann Clemens '96, MD triaging patients, airlifting those especially oxygen, under pressure, is "Every patient that comes in here with serious trauma by Life Flight most involved in carbon monoxide has a story and a background and for more intensive care. Though she poisonings - whether from faulty a connectedness that reaches far misses having relationships with her appliances, attempted suicides, or beyond the exam room," says Dr. patients, she says, "I really like the other issues. The flip side of the field Ann Clemens '96. "Their story plays medical part of what I do. We are the is that pressurizing gasses within the a key role in their health, their social first person that a lot of people will go body can be useful in complications situation, their ability to maintain to, so there is a good deal of problem from radiation and diabetes. And it health, follow our recommendations, solving. Urgent care work is a good can be a mechanism for handling the and their ability to get better - it's pace, and an intellectual challenge, rash of MRSA, or methicillin-resistant the human ecology of medicine; figuring out what the problem is." staphylococcus aureus infections, there's always a connectedness to that recently have invaded hospitals. consider in treating a patient." The kind of questioning encouraged at COA has helped Ann throughout Doug was the last of the three COA Ann is an urgent care physician her medical career, she says. Asking doctors I interviewed, allowing me working in a clinic in Bend, Oregon, questions "is a critical piece in the courage to ask one final question: and sometimes also on the ski medicine. The obvious could be just Can you just leave everything at the slopes of nearby Mt. Bachelor. Her the obvious, but frequently it's more hospital, or do you worry? In other clinic handles the less acute issues than that and we have to keep looking words, What's your drive home like? for which people often go to the for answers." emergency room - flus, rashes, Doug laughs, a bit ruefully. You can't broken limbs, even chest pains. just leave it all at work. "I worry There are no appointments; there's Douglas Sward '96, MD about what I did, or didn't do, what I no continuity of care. It's a model Training in wilderness medicine missed or did wrong. A lot of issues that many believe will expand as and work in Acadia National Park you can leave behind, but there's the new health care reform laws as a wilderness first responder usually one case each shift that encourage more medical visits convinced Dr. Doug Sward '96 to torments you on your drive home." because while more patients will pursue medicine. Now he spends half have insurance, there aren't enough his time as an attending physician primary care providers to handle at the Upper Chesapeake Medical them - at least not currently. Center Department of Emergency COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC MAGAZINE 17 Bloodlines and Bodywork Carmen Bedard-Gautrais '07, Traditional Chinese Medical Practitioner By Sarah Haughn '08 "She came to me for relief from sciatic medicine, was having a liter of blood her to relive the stress of her own pain," explains Carmen Bedard- removed every month. So Carmen loss - both blood and baby - Gautrais, practitioner of traditional began thinking inversely - of blood expressing itself in sciatic pain. Chinese medicine. The pain, which deficiency and how it manifested. worsened after menopause, was Carmen began treatment - helping now so severe the woman was Blood. What else in the woman's life the woman dig through the emotions struggling to walk properly, to sleep. was connected to blood, to traumas of her miscarriages as well as treating But Carmen - whose work relies of blood? Menopause, the point after her blood - balancing long-term profoundly on narratives of pain as which the woman's sciatic pain had healing with short-term relief. She well pain's physiological presentation manifested. Menses. Childbirth. The used methods such as acupuncture - wanted to dig deeper. From where woman had experienced multiple and cupping (a traditional therapy was the pain coming? Why? Exploring serious miscarriages during which she involving localized suction), and also the history of the woman's sciatic lost tremendous amounts of blood. administered internal formulas. pain, Carmen learned she had been Now her daughter was pregnant. As diagnosed with hemochromatosis her daughter's pregnancy progressed, According to Carmen, the woman's - an excess of iron in the blood - the woman's own pain worsened. spleen system was not nourishing and, per one of the last surviving Carmen wondered whether her her muscles, leading to stagnation. examples of bleeding in allopathic anxiety for her daughter caused In traditional Chinese medicine 18 COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC MAGAZINE the spleen system also includes the pancreas, with the capacity to digest, then transform the food into transportable nutrients which are delivered to organs and muscles. Imagine a river, she explains, with little water left in it: things don't move through it very well. But as they worked together to process her emotions and nourish her blood, the woman no longer had to have blood removed - her iron levels evened out. After several months she was able to mourn the loss of her miscarriages and celebrate her daughter's impending birth of a healthy baby. The neurologist she had been seeing for herniations in her lumbar spine was shocked to see that her condition had not degenerated as he had expected. "She was one of my first long-term patients," says Carmen, "Everything is theoretical until we see it in practice. It was a really big learning experience for me to see a very physical pain that we could describe in Western medicine as disc herniation and sciatic pain, where the nerve is being irritated and it's radiating down the leg and that's what it is, period; versus yes, that's presenting, but there are a huge amount of emotional factors under it: life experiences, nutrition experiences, many other factors triggering this pain to worsen at that particular time. You learn to see the body as a constant communicator. It's very exciting." Diagnosis via color, texture, sound, smell, feel Carmen came to TCM, or traditional Chinese medicine, circuitously and somewhat serendipitously. While at College of the Atlantic, she worked with Gray Cox, faculty member in political economics, to compare various approaches to healing. Her senior project was based on work she had done on traditions of healing in Kenya. After COA, Carmen intended to study naturopathic medicine, but upon matriculating Above from top: Ju hua, a flower used as an eye bath, or as a decoction for cold/flu symptoms, into a program felt a disappointing hypertension, and eye pathologies such as conjunctivitis. Huang qin, a root used as a broad lack of connection. While struggling spectrum antibacterial anti-inflammatory herb, especially for upper respiratory tract infections. Shi chang pu, a root used as a sedative, also against seizures and epilepsy. Shan zha, a fruit, used to understand where she belonged as an antibacterial, antihyperlipidemic, cardiotonic, and immunostimulant, as well as in cooking. in the world of healing, she visited COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC MAGAZINE 19 Pacific Rim College in Victoria, then even in depression it's looking experienced a physical trauma. But Canada, where complementary at depression as a disease in and of with chronic pain you often see a and integrative medicine is taught, itself, so each aspect is very isolated. greater pattern connected to past and felt immediately at home. She events, emotional factors, nutritional committed to five years of rigorous Health as harmony factors, cultural factors, and activities study and travel to China to obtain "In traditional Chinese medicine the of daily living. Equally as important a doctorate in TCM, completing definition of health is broad; it comes as their internal environment is her degree in April, 2012. down to the purpose of life, almost. their external environment - is the You're looking at aspects of being in pain worse in a particular season, "We use many tools for diagnosis: harmony with your environment, your climate, or temperature? What subjective intake with a specific relationship not only with yourself we consider reaches far beyond series of sixteen classical questions but with those around you, and merely focusing on the presenting as well as observation - from color following the patterns. It's looking symptom. We appreciate the to texture to body position, similar interconnection of all aspects, similar to Western medicine," she explains. to a human ecology approach." Also "sound, smell, palpation; we look at the tongue. This in-depth intake You learn to see the During Carmen's doctoral training allows us to diagnose a pattern. at Pacific Rim College, she studied Headaches for one person can be at a teaching hospital in Shenyang, due to a very different physiological body as a constant Liaoning Province, China. "It was my pattern than someone else with a communicator. | think a version of Disneyland," she says, headache, and appropriately we describing a pharmacy so massive it would treat it quite differently. This occupies an entire floor of the building is where human ecology comes in. lifetime isn't enough to with drawers reaching the ceiling. We observe not only the patterns within the individual but also how master the subtleties. The seven-story hospital houses both outpatient and inpatient services, and this fits with the environment in blends traditional Chinese treatments which the individual lives, emotions, with approaches from Western lifestyle, seasons, life cycles, spiritual medicine - taking the best from both, state, diet, etc. Then our treatment depending on each patient's unique modalities can vary accordingly, at the patterns that exist in nature, history and symptoms. from nutrition to massage, from that exist within ourselves." Western acupuncture to complex herbal culture's individualistic focus, she Carmen is currently pursuing a remedies and formulas. It's lots of fun, continues, "pervades our definition master's degree in physical therapy very in-depth. I think a lifetime isn't and approach to health. However, as at the University of British Columbia enough to master the subtleties." we learn in human ecology, we are in Vancouver, where she lives with lan only a piece of a vast puzzle. Not only Illuminato '06. Inspired by her study What resonates with Carmen about are we individually affected by many in Shenyang, she hopes to carry her traditional Chinese medicine lies in aspects of our surroundings, we in TCM expertise into hospitals, working the foundational differences between turn influence our environment." within Canada's public health system. it and conventional Western medicine: And this intricate exchange is Her desire is to offer a form of healing how we define health. "When we're fundamental to TCM practice. informed as much by life stories as looking at the definition of health and by symptoms to those who otherwise well-being, often in Western medicine "So when we see disease we see couldn't access it. Ultimately, she it's an absence of disease, perhaps an a presentation of symptoms that seeks to redefine what health is and absence of symptoms at least - most are demonstrating a larger pattern how we speak about our bodies of those being physical. And if they at work. If someone comes in with even within the mainstream medical are emotional it gets tricky because pain, it may be that they have community. Sarah lives in and writes from Davis, California, where she is enjoying the arrival of baby Malcolm Afaayo Nambale. She looks forward to beginning a master's in creative writing (poetry) at UC Davis in September. 20 COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC MAGAZINE An Integrative Life: One Doctor's Journey Christopher Todd Kitchens '06, DO By Marni Berger '09 It is 2001 and Christopher Todd Kitchens is hiking the Beehive Mountain in Acadia National Park with friends when, with an odd specificity, one friend tells him he would make an excellent osteopath. Todd's professional career up until now has consisted of art and animation, and so the suggestion seems offhand, but he considers the new occupation for the first time along the steep trail. By the time the friends make it back down, the idea has solidified with uncanny speed into a decision. He will become a doctor. The dozen-year journey It is February 2013. Over the phone, Todd and I discuss this decision of twelve years ago. I have asked a slew using alternative methods, such as Taylor Still, MD, followed his impulse of questions that shed light on those yoga treatment. He also employs that there must be something more years, questions about osteopathy, therapeutic lifestyle interventions and to medicine when his three children about integrative medicine, about osteopathic manipulative medicine. died of meningitis. He dedicated being an artist, about his professional some thirty years of his life to better journey. (I do my best to avoid The credo behind osteopathy not understanding the human body. But soliciting free medical advice after only asserts that the structure despite his medical degree, he was a two-week bout with the flu.) and function of the body are met with dissent from the mainstream reciprocally intertwined, but also medical community that, with its In particular: What made you want to that the body is capable of self- strict sense of tradition, considered be a doctor? regulation, self-healing, and health his new perspective a threat. maintenance. Todd emphasizes Todd tells me about the mountain, the link between osteopathy and Todd points out that it is different about his friend's suggestion, and human ecology - both defined by today. Now osteopathic doctors adds, without hesitation, that after how humans connect to each other, undergo training identical to that of deciding to pursue his passion to themselves, and the environment. allopathic doctors with the exception help people by studying medicine, "I He says at College of the Atlantic he that osteopaths are required to have not for a second looked back." was able to customize a pre-med complete additional hours of track, making his undergraduate osteopathic manipulative training. Now an osteopath with three young studies something of a human daughters and a degree from the ecological approach to medicine. Although modern DOs often drop University of New England, Todd the hands-on approach pioneered is months away from finishing his Osteopathy by Dr. Still, Todd embraces it with his residency in family medicine at Osteopathy is a branch of medicine focus on integrative medicine, which Lewiston's Central Maine Medical once considered alternative. In the he describes as "a combination of Center. He focuses on primary care, late nineteenth century, Andrew the best evidenced-based medicine, COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC MAGAZINE 21 both complementary and alternative "I am probably the last person my on it. Todd began his work, as he to traditional Western medicine." family thought would do anything would on any patient. Three days like this become a doctor," he later, the woman returned, elated. Not Putting theory to practice, Todd admits. "I'm the first person to only was she not in pain, but she could advocates treating the individual graduate from college in my family." arch backwards. The pain that Todd and the body as a whole, rather than believed was acute turned out to have symptom by symptom. The idea is In reflecting on his path through an been chronic - the woman revealed to get to the root of the problem. He integrative lens, he understands that this was the first time she had says, "When somebody comes to see that all aspects of life and self not felt back pain in over a year. me and tells me, 'I have reflux and I are connected. have this back pain,' I don't separate "She seemed like a different person," the two. I ask myself: Are these Find it, fix it, leave it alone Todd says, "a happier person. It's in related? Is it mapping in the way I Todd recalls always wanting to those moments I know I'm doing the would expect it to map on their body?" help people. In 1998, three years right thing." before his hike up Beehive, he Everything is connected created an installation that involved As part of the pilot program at Todd's treatment process can be a pair of metal beds ten inches off Central Maine Medical Center offering likened to long- and short-term the floor and a projection screen integrative medicine, Todd works with conflict resolution. "I've had several lowered to wheelchair height for practitioners in the community. In patients who came to me with a an exhibition held at the Dalton Art regard to osteopathy and integrative visceral complaint - gall bladder Gallery of Georgia's Agnes Scott medicine in general, he says, "I pain or back pain," he says. "So of College. "People would approach personally feel it's where medicine course I rule out the big bad things: the screen," Todd says, "but the is headed." are they having a heart attack? Then space would force them to lie down we talk about their diet." For short- on these beds, and the projection Todd remains hopeful that integrative term needs, he is not afraid to use was from above. [On the screen] medicine - and by extension greater medication or other mainstream there was a swimmer swimming in access to customized healthcare - approaches; he emphasizes that by these rhythmic movements, with could become a focus in the United seeing every patient as an individual, music we had produced that was States medical system, rather than the he is modeling the expansion he'd very atmospheric." After the show, a current symptom-based care. like to see throughout health-care viewer who had lain on the bed for networks: that everyone would a half an hour approached Todd and "I feel," he says, "like I am in the have access to customized care, said, "I just want to let you know, perfect situation to assist in short-term as well as preventative. this is the most relaxed I've felt in that transition." years." It turned out she had lupus. "Everything is connected," Todd tells me. I wonder what he means, "I don't see what I am doing now specifically, and before I ask, he as that much different than what I After graduating from COA, Marni elaborates: "Medicine is really just an was doing then," says Todd. "In fact, Berger '09 received an MFA in writing extension of how I approach life." I see it more as a direct extension from Columbia University. Her essays, of what I was doing, even though short stories, and author interviews can Todd grew up in Florida and lived in medicine was the furthest thing be found online at The Millions, Fringe Atlanta for twelve years, where he from my mind at that point." Magazine, Litro, and The Days of Yore. Her met his wife, Honnie Goode - who short stories have been finalists in three earned her MPhil at COA in 2006 and Today, Todd finds himself emphasizing Glimmer Train fiction competitions, as is now finishing her second master's this popular adage of osteopathy: well as a New Millennium Writings short degree, in mental health counseling "Find it, fix it, leave it alone." Let story contest. Her poetry is forthcoming (see page 23). After a stint in New York, the body heal itself. "Finding health this year at Crescendo City. Currently, the two moved to Maine in 2001. Until should be the object of the doctor," Marni teaches writing at Manhattanville then, Todd's professional training he paraphrases the words of Dr. College and lives with her fiancé in New was primarily in multimedia design, Still. "Anyone can find disease." York City by Central Park; most days you web animation, music, and video. will see them in the park failing heavily at He played and produced electronica "I try to approach every treatment keeping their two adolescent dogs from sounds in the studio and for his with these concepts in mind," Todd swarms of self-assured squirrels. bands - most notably the band says. He describes an encounter with Fascia that he formed with Honnie a recent patient, a medical assistant in 1997 - while he and Honnie also who asked Todd to work on her upper created site-specific installation work. back. She said she had "slept wrong" 22 COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC MAGAZINE Kara, combined process on wood, 66" X 84", 2003. Photo by Mike Jensen. Honnie Goode, MPhil '06 A tactile, intuitive, spiraling, and yes, rational journey COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC MAGAZINE 23 Horizon, combined process on wood, 48" X 36", 2005. Photo by Mike Jensen. Life's journeys are often not linear, but circular, or even spiraling; we change and grow, acquiring new skills, but retaining our essential core. By the time this magazine is published, Honnie Goode, artist, COA MPhil, and mother of three young daughters, will be well on her way to becoming a licensed clinical professional counselor, or LCPC, another passage on a journey that remains integral to her creative center. "Creativity is the core of me; it informs everything else," says Honnie. She came to COA in 2004 as a graduate student, seeking to find deeper connections between the painting that had been her livelihood and the world around her. "COA helped me to learn to see the world in a bigger way," she says. Now, working with clients, she mingles a creative approach with an ecological perspective honed at COA. In therapy, she says, "I take a strength-based approach." Frequently, practitioners see the disease, not the person. This one's the cancer patient. That one is the bulimic. The relationship begins on a negative. Honnie looks for her clients' health, drawing upon environmental, feminist, creative, cultural theories. A woman comes in. She's not "a depressed homemaker," for instance, but a Catholic woman of sixty whose husband has just left her for a man. 24 COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC MAGAZINE Circles Series #9, combined process on wood, 40" X 30", 2009. Photo by Honnie Goode. When making art, Honnie focuses on the creative kernel. Her artist's statement offers this declaration: "By combining the emotional with the rational, I aspire to achieve a balance within myself." She begins by pouring paint onto wood, then embedding objects - glass beads, bits of metal, paper, fabric. Eventually she returns to the piece with oils and varnishes. "I rarely use brushes," she says. "I like to literally push paint." She'll pick up an electric sander, heated metal, even a blowtorch to make her marks, moving constantly. "I'm interested in representing layers: the body, the land, space, and time." Human ecology enters Honnie's thoughts frequently. "COA put words to the way I was thinking. It helped to shape my world view in such a way that I can be a really good problem solver. It primed my brain to think quickly in very different ways - you can't put a price on that." Ultimately, Honnie's journey will include collaborating with her husband, Todd Kitchens '06, DO (see page 21). And she'll continue her art-making, applying her intuition to the techniques she has acquired over the years. - Donna Gold COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC MAGAZINE 25 Re(de)fining Global Health Rachel Snow '81 on HIV/AIDS and the Ironies of Social Equity By Sarah Haughn '08 Among crises in public health, HIV/ says, "we are up against an absolute "Detroit. Uganda. South Africa. The AIDS is as serious as it is persistent. failure in preventing new infections, HIV risks are similar because they As such, it has garnered much despite public health interventions." reflect inequality, under-employment, attention and funding. But what if the and sex as currency. In poor cities solution to this crisis is not, in fact, "I believe in public health; it's my of America, the parallel economy public health? So suggests Rachel life's work," Rachel continues. "But of drugs and sexual commerce can Snow, PhD, associate professor in the reality is that what probably be devastating, and the human the Department of Health Behavior matters more are livelihoods vulnerability in neighborhoods of New and Health Education at the School and education. Healthcare is an York, DC, and Detroit are as bad as the of Public Health, and a research important third, the other two its barrios of Latin America, as bad as the associate at the Population Studies antecedents." Rachel sees the crucial worst slums in Africa. Center of the University of Michigan. need for a shift in the focus of public health - not only incorporating a "I wanted a degree in human ecology Following her doctorate in population more holistic understanding of the because it was a statement about studies from Harvard School of epidemic, but also addressing its values, and in the human and social Public Health, Rachel conducted third-world designation in academia. environment those values are social clinical trials of contraceptives with equity, fairness, and vulnerability," the World Health Organization. Then "Students tell me they want to do Rachel adds. She hopes COA students HIV/AIDS emerged and resources global health in Ethiopia. That's not and faculty take as much interest in immediately shifted. Rachel was called global health; that's Ethiopian health. the health of Maine communities as to Nepal, then South Africa. It was Global health should be something those in Africa and Latin America. there that she realized that public thematic, something that is a problem health was just a part of the crisis. in multiple places. Its study should "Maine is not untouched. Kids grow illuminate truths toward solutions up in these small, rural communities Three-quarters of those suffering that can be broadly applied." and get side-tracked into drugs and from HIV/AIDS live in Africa, where alcohol. They have ambition, but women remain among the most Rachel's current work brings her they're attending weak public schools. severely affected. In Uganda and knowledge of the epidemic in Africa A parent may be addicted to meth South Africa, where Rachel works, to bear on the HIV/AIDS crisis in or pills, and life's choices get awfully the greatest urgency has been to Detroit. Awarded funding from the narrow. Those with access to wealth provide life-saving therapy, and to Ford Foundation, Rachel and a team of and privilege can surely do more prevent mothers from transferring anthropologists, public health experts, to broaden opportunity," she says. the disease to their newborns. and community development workers "In these neighborhoods and towns have established Detroit Youth where there are problems with drugs But HIV/AIDS constitutes only part of Passages. This project researches and incarceration there's also all the crisis for infected women. They the impacts of deindustrialization, kinds of creative potential." It is this tend to be poorly educated, have addressing the HIV/AIDS epidemic richness, this potential that Rachel limited access to household wealth, among residentially unstable, ethnic wants to see the college community reside in female-headed households, minority youth involved in sexual recognize, embrace, and nurture. The have at least one HIV-infected infant, commerce - a population with whales, yes. The climate, certainly! and experience higher rates of one of the highest infection rates But the people, too - not only those divorce, separation, and widowhood. in Michigan. In Africa, Rachel works requiring a plane ticket and a visa to While pharmaceutical treatments are at the administrative level with visit, but also the communities nearby available, says Rachel, "we are left hospitals and clinics; in Detroit she whose struggles surround us daily. with what has been neglected - the also spends time on the streets. It problems of human behavior, poverty, is incredible, she notes, how similar To read about Rachel's work, visit and inequality: women and children to one another poor urban crises detroityouthpassages.org. still trading sex for food." And so, she look, regardless of the continent. 26 COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC MAGAZINE "DETROIT. UGANDA. SOUTH AFRICA." " The HIV risks are similar because they reflect inequality, under-employment, and sex as currency," Rachel Snow '81 said to COA writer Sarah Haughn '08. But what does that mean? What does Rachel find on the streets of Detroit? In reply, she sent some of her raw notes interviewing sex workers in Detroit. Here is the briefest of reports, one encounter out of many over several weeks of interviews. Monday, August 20, 2012 "We pull into a dark shaded area beside a park. AR, receiving anal sex three to four times a night, as he who is organizing the session, leans into my window needs the money. It's never planned, it's not a job, his and speaks softly. 'Just wait here, it's best that you stay time horizon is very short, it's about food and bills. He in your car.' Then he steps under the trees, and young describes stress levels through the roof, constant fear. men gather around him quickly. He brings a young man He's homeless, just staying with friends. He cries at one to me, letting him into the passenger side, introducing point, and rests for a while. When we finish the interview us. The man is cautious, shy, in his early twenties. I realize the men have started lining up under the trees, Desperately poor. The encounter is heartbreaking; as hoping for a chance to earn the $20 for an interview." he settles in and starts to feel safe, he tells me he's Above: Maternity ward, Mbarara National Referral Hospital, Uganda. Photo courtesy of Rachel Snow. May 6, 2011 IV in each wrist. My throat is sore from cells, sterilizing them. It will also A neurosurgeon is marking my skull intubation. I search myself desperately kill some normal brain cells. It could with a Sharpie to make a little window for a sign of enduring intelligence. It cause a genetic mutation and a new to my brain, to my brain tumor. My wife, seems a man in a nearby bed is having tumor. There's a 10 percent chance of Ava Moskin '95, sits beside me on my his bladder drained, because "urinary "cognitive impairment." And it's not bed at Maine Medical Center. Our son's retention" is the phrase I clutch like a expected to cure me, only to extend my at school. Just a couple of days ago we life preserver. I lose it. I find it again. life by some weeks or months; some appeared to be a normal family, but I fabulously expensive weeks or months. knew I was ill. My right foot was numb. I May 7, 2011 lost peripheral vision in my right eye; I I'm discharged, going home. But home June 17, 2011 walked into walls. My head was in a fog. is not the same. I strike my head on the "You are washed in healing light." I Then, early yesterday morning, I woke door frame as I climb out of the car, repeat this to myself, over and over to a surge of nausea and promptly threw then stagger up the walk. I want to go as the Varian Clinac iX 2100 linear up. My head was pounding. I dismissed to bed, but I can't find the stairs. They accelerator lights my brain with the it, but Ava, who is also a doctor, sent me were on my right, and I didn't see them. power of a thousand X-rays. The away in a taxi and stayed at home with I dream of a snake. But it is lifeless, technicians have fled and secured a our sleeping boy. charred black. The day is punctuated radiation-shielded door behind them. by pills: steroids, anti-seizure, stool I imagine myself in the shower, rinsing The ER didn't know what to do, softeners, sleep aids. my hair. Think positive, right? It is except dull the pain. Ava lobbied the uncertain how this will play out on a department chief, by phone, for a CT Ava tells me I'll need chemotherapy molecular level. The machine makes a scan. While I rested inside the machine and radiation treatments. I have a grade faint whirring noise. I feel nothing. I couldn't help thinking that I wanted IV malignant gliosarcoma. Am I not rid I come for radiation treatments five an answer to this mystery, that I wanted of this cancer yet? The surgeon said, of times a week, and take chemotherapy them to find something. And they did the tumor, that he removed "all of it," pills at home. I've escaped bad find something. And I was relieved. but some cancer cells would inevitably headaches and nausea, for now. And I hated myself for it. remain, would inevitably grow, would inevitably kill. It seemed my life The faucet-shaped photon blaster When the neurosurgeon saw the scans, expectancy was halved and doubled rotates over my head. I see its aperture he judged the tumor inoperable. A and halved again each day. "All of it." set in the shape of my tumor, and I see cheery social worker entered my room. Those words had been my prize but my reflection in the glass, turning as if An MRI produced a clearer and more they had not been earned. I'm on a skewer. fortunate picture. The surgeon changed his mind: he would operate. The social June 8, 2011 August 3, 2011 worker disappeared. Tomorrow I begin radiation therapy. Three months after brain surgery, and My head will be pinned to a padded two weeks after completing radiation table by a form-fitting plastic mask. treatments, I feel strong and capable. I'm alive. I'm in a noisy room, but the A fabulously expensive machine I'm visiting my old friends at the old curtains are drawn around my bed. I'm will focus an intense beam of energy lake house. They're taking a day off alive. But what's left of me? I've got an on my tumor cavity with the goal of to rest, grill some burgers, and drink arc of metal staples in my scalp and an shredding the DNA of remaining tumor some beer. But "a day off" means 28 COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC MAGAZINE My Brain Cancer Diary LIVING WITH GLIOSARCOMA By Bogart Salzberg '96 nothing to me. While I sit idly by, the adventure. I want hardship and of wonder: settling a tiny unnamed government deposits money into my perseverance and triumph. island; bright stars crowding the sky bank account. I could say I retired above a dying fire; the electric seams early, while I still have time to enjoy it. I so often see the span of Casco Bay of sunlight on the water. Technically I'm "disabled" and today from the hill where I live: a dozen miles I'm not enjoying it. I'm sitting in the of open water. That's the way I want to After four days of struggle, my body warm sun on a sandy beach, but I'm go: far, far away, over the horizon. It is broken. My skin is burned, grimy, restless. I yearn to be alone in silence. is with this in mind that I conceive my caked with salt. My fingertips are adventure: a journey, by water, from nearly worn through from gripping the I walk into the water and swim away. Portland to Bar Harbor. boom. I text Ava: "Meet me in South Miles away. I'm desperate to deplete Bristol." I've covered only a third of the myself. I wonder how far I can go I choose to sail, instead of kayak; it planned route. I crawl into bed around before I can't come back. I return sore seems wise to harness the wind. I midnight, delirious with fatigue, too and tired, cold and hungry; changed. choose to sail my sailboard because tired to regret my failure, knowing I'll I want only to be in or on the water. I it's the only sailboat I have. But it isn't try again. buy a wetsuit, fins, snorkel, and mask. even a boat, really. I make a paddle (my Then a kayak. Then a sailboard. I want engine), collect safety gear, and stock September 6, 2012 to wear myself out, to be dragged down up on sports drinks and protein bars. This time I opt for kayaking. I depart into sleep I've earned. from Pemaquid Harbor, mid-afternoon. Through the height of summer I Miles ahead, Pemaquid Point appears 2012 "train" for my trip. I have the Coast to spray gaily. But up close, six-foot Winter doesn't start well. An increased Guard looking for me a couple of swells break on the shoals with a dosage of chemotherapy cripples me times, am almost run over (twice), terrible power. I keep a wide margin, with nausea. It feels like someone has endure a thunderstorm, lose my sail then turn east to Port Clyde. pulled my stomach out through my (temporarily), and almost spend the mouth. I'm out of tune, hot and cold, night on an uninhabited island. Some September 7, 2012 dull and disinterested. I want to die. people are worried about me. What's The NOAA weather radio calls for I fantasize about drowning. I want to the worst that could happen? I'll die? winds and seas to build tomorrow and drown. But I won't do it. It would hurt worsen after that. I'm desperate to people I care about. August 12, 2012 reach Stonington. I'll paddle in the dark If I somehow deserve terminal if need be. But Penobscot Bay is fogged cancer, then this is what it bought me: in. Horns at Owl's Head and Rockland seven days of exploits I'll remember are blaring, and VHF channel 16 is Spring limps home. I ought to see in my hospice bed. I launch in the chattering non-stop. It's a nervous but summer, perhaps my last. My pouring rain. The wind is light, but uneventful two-hour crossing to the prognosis, a median life expectancy I'm optimistic and excited. I drift with Fox Islands Thorofare, navigating by for my disease, expires in August. the tide, behind schedule from the compass. By the time I emerge on the very start; I never catch up. There's eastern side, the sun's going down. But It may be my last chance to do not enough wind and I'm caught in the the end is dead ahead four miles, Mark something important. I should submit currents. There's too much wind and I Island light and the way to Stonington; to charitable deeds, but I want an can't sheet the sail. There are moments the rest of Deer Isle on the left; and the COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC MAGAZINE 29 profile of Isle au Haut off to the right, Jericho Bay is calm and I make good unpredictable heaps, welling to a peak ribbed with wild hills. I swallow a time to Casco Passage. I text my wife and collapsing just as fast. pain-killer: not ibuprofen but Vicodin. the good news and make plans to meet I still have a few pills left over from my in Bar Harbor later. She'll be there in For hours, I slap and knife the waves, time if she leaves soon from Portland. surgery. I could use some relief from watching the starboard. The light of We could meet at Indian Point instead, dusk drains so completely that I cannot the pain in my arms and upper back. she suggests. It's closer, more protected tell sky from land but for shades of I see myself paddling through the and technically within the municipality black. Dimly I see the waves. Suddenly night, stubbornly enduring, spurred of Bar Harbor. I see her point: declare I am lifted up from the port rear as I to beat the weather. And I can see the victory and go home. I'd rather stick finish a portside stroke. The kayak headline: "Drugged Kayaker Drowns with the plan. "It's personal," I reply. slides sideways down the face of a on Night Crossing." I know I'm setting wave. I'm going over, but I feel no a bad example, but I press on with my I ask myself, "Why is it personal?" I panic. I have to roll up, and I know I reckless shadow, into the gloom. don't answer. Do I wish to confront my can. fear of death? Or do I wish to die? Am As I paddle I notice a strange faint light I racing for the finish, or away from I am upside-down in the water, in total on the edge of my wake as it spreads my fate? Might I endure this disease, darkness. For a moment, I feel calm. from the bow. There is no moon, nor this day, by sheer force of will? Or I've practiced this Eskimo roll countless times. Now I need it to work. any light nearby. Then I see, in the shall I die choking, cursing, kicking, drowning on my own terms? wake of each paddle stroke, a swirling Everything's backward now, of course. orb of green light. Bioluminescence! The air is "beneath" the hull. I need to I take a Vicodin. Am I really very sore? Never before had I witnessed the glow Will I be any faster or more successful swing the paddle out to one side, push of these tiny single-celled creatures. it "down" to the surface and pull it "up within an opiate cloud? Perhaps it and over" my head. I always practiced silences my better judgment, naming it September 8, 2012 it this way, in steps, wearing a diving weakness and worry. High winds and seas today, worse mask so I could see what I was doing. But suddenly I'm blind. "Where is the tomorrow, says the weather radio, as it I reach Bass Harbor Head around four, a paddle?" It must be right in front of me. did yesterday. I hear it but I'm not sure little slow in the rising wind and waves. "Push the paddle." Which side? I am I'm listening. My mind is made up. But the last significant crossing is stuck in neutral, suspended. complete, and with three hours of light I'm stationed on a run-down ramp to spare I feel relieved and optimistic. The pieces fall apart. My calmness on the far side of the Stonington I rest for a while in the calm, warm evaporates. I need air. Without even sunlight at Ship Harbor. I try an Eskimo waterfront, packing to go for my final trying to roll, I pull my spray skirt and roll to test my skill and confidence, day's journey. An old Blazer parks near push the kayak away with my feet. I bob though I've never capsized my kayak by a pile of wrecked bricks. A guy steps to the surface and take a breath. How is accident. out. He's about my age. We talk about it that I find the spray skirt release? Is it the power of instinct in desperation? the weather. "It's supposed to blow," I I pop another pill and sprint out of "Don't panic," I say to myself. "Think. say. "Be careful," he says. It might be a the cove, energized and eager for the Priorities." I find myself holding both seed of doubt, but for the way he says home stretch. But by the time I'm east the paddle and the cockpit coaming. it. His voice is measured and sincere, of Sutton Island, the scale of this last Instinct. coming from experience. "The sea has leg seems misunderstood. Have I not no conscience." His eyes are witnessing numbered these miles? It is not much consolation. The water is in memory the proof, won "foolishly," of over sixty degrees, relatively warm. this otherwise poetic assertion. The sun has thinned. The sea is a But it's not for swimming - not with my shadow. A dim haze of humidity thin wetsuit. "Get out of the water, or hangs low over Northeast Harbor, the He recalls urchin diving, years ago, you will die." I flip the kayak right- last refuge before the steep, rocky, side-up and secure the paddle under coming to the edge of what a man exposed, and utterly dark headlands an elastic deck cord. I throw a leg over can survive, and finding there no of Acadia National Park. I don't want to the stern, straddle it, and inch my way quarter for regret. He shakes his head, stop. The seas build. I can't stop. Waves forward toward the cockpit. struggling to bear the favor of fate, I lift me, drop me, turn me, and crash imagine. A barge arrives, lowers its over the deck. They are six feet tall, But the kayak is bobbing erratically; ramp, and he drives on. He's headed disordered, bouncing off the cliffs waves break over the side and flood east. I follow a few minutes later. and coming back. They meet in the cockpit. With many gallons of 30 COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC MAGAZINE water sloshing around inside, the hull with a pocket of water behind it leading walk an hour. Maybe two. I can't see is unstable. I lose my balance, roll off, up to a slope of rock. the shore; then I can. A side path goes and the kayak capsizes again. I flip it down to a beach. Sand Beach. Have I over, again, then fail, again. I finally I turn off the flashlight and hold it in gone in circles? drop into the cockpit when it is full my teeth as I paddle around the ledge. and low, and more stable. I'm half out Water floods the pocket and quickly The trail turns inland and I climb for of the water, sitting in a cool bath: an falls away. I will need to land on foot. a while. Then I see a faint paleness on improvement, not a solution. Only the I jump out of the kayak, grab the bow my right, easy to miss. Maybe I missed bulkheads and hatch covers keep the handle, and kick to shore. My feet touch it once already? It's an empty parking kayak from sinking. bottom. I lean into the rock and probe lot at the end of an empty road. I've lost for a hold. Its face is steep but rounds all traces of will. I am simply an object Breathing hard, I check my condition. over just beyond my reach. One hand in motion. After walking half a mile, I feel a desperate urgency, but I need and one step will do it, but it is slick and a small truck pulls up to a stop sign. I to question myself, to temper instinct smooth. enter the glare of the headlights and and favor reason. I pump furiously with wave my arms over my head. The truck my hand pump, but the waves pour in. The next receding wave yanks the edges into the intersection, turning I can seal my spray skirt and keep the kayak out of my hand. I struggle to stay to the right. The driver, a grey-haired waves out, but my "bathwater" will be upright. The closer I come to safety, the man, asks me if I am OK. sealed in. more desperately I want it. "I need air!" I still have the flashlight in my mouth. "Well, I was sort of shipwrecked." It I try paddling the swamped kayak. I take it out. My view is so narrow that sounds strange, like idle conversation. With exhausting effort, I turn it around it seems at first an impediment, then a My urgency seems self-evident, but the to face the shore. A flare of green mere ten-dollar loss. I toss it away. truck inches forward. sparks follows each churning stroke: bioluminescence, again. A sliver of I rest, leaning against the rock. I am out "So, you're OK then?" The truck my attention lauds its amazing beauty. of breath, approaching the limit of my continues to turn away. Another takes note of the details of this fitness. The pocket's softened waves singularly important moment. But the are still pushing me around. I feel a "Well, no," I say, with audible panic. I bulk of my attention rests on the choice surge of fear. Again, I think I might die try to explain how I crashed my kayak of what to do: paddle on, or land. A part here, how simple and easy it is. Then, and stumbled through the woods. I of me wishes to paddle on, however suddenly, my foot gains a hold on a can see myself standing there with slowly and inefficiently, in sheer little dimple. My hand finds another. a bizarre black garment hung over contempt of my failure. The choice is no I scramble out of the surf. Even then my head and chest, shins bloodied, less than life or death. I feel the water reaching. I stumble stiffly, frantically forward. barefoot, eyes vacant, casually "I must land," I think. "I want to live. I pondering my "shipwreck." want to see my wife and son again." I I sit with my legs pulled up to my feel it clearly: I've decided to live. heaving chest. I am alive, but I don't He seems aggrieved as he thinks of what to do. "You can ride in the back. know the meaning of it yet. I hear the The sea, of course, ignores my ocean seething. I am shivering slightly, We'll bring you back to town." change of heart. In the dark I can and very tired. I don't want to move, barely discern a fleeting paleness of but I must. Taking stock, I find a pocket In town I find the house of Suzanne surging, smashing water along the rim unzipped. My phone's gone. I pull the Morse, who taught me biology my of a shallow cove. Then I am struck radio from the other pocket. It's no first semester at COA - half a life by the terrifying thought that I will use calling for help now. I don't know ago. She answers her door squinting, die. I understand it now, how a good where I am. But with the glow of the incredulous. I blurt out my story and swimmer is worn down, beaten, rolled radio's backlight I can see the ground in surprise myself by concluding, with over, and choked. And drowned. front of me. My feet sting sharply from some emotion, "I almost died." barnacle cuts. I've lost my shoes. I step I breathe hard and deep. I hear the air out of my spray skirt and drape it over The next day I recover the deeply rushing through clenched teeth, feel my shoulders. scratched kayak and bring it home. it fill my lungs; it calms me. I scan the That I bring myself home too is a bonus. shore slowly from left to right. About I hobble over broken rocks to the black I know now that I hold my life in my own fifty yards ahead, I find a void. I paddle woods. Above the bank, the ground is hands, with no more regret for living it. closer and pull a small flashlight from flat and empty. A trail! I head east. Or is my PFD. Through the glaring mist I see it north? I find a trail marker, pointing For more on Bogart's journey, visit what appears to be a ledge near shore back the way I came, to Great Head. I mybraincancerdiary.com COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC MAGAZINE 31 THE SEARCH FOR BALANCED IMBALANCE Perspectives from Student Life Within COA, wellness goes far beyond the physical and even the emotional. When Dean of Student Life Sarah Luke, or Sluke as she is known to students, thinks of wellness, she thinks about five interlocking circles that include physical, mental, spiritual, recreational, and aesthetic wellness. On Week 9 of winter term, five current resident advisors, or RAs, took time out from their studies to talk about campus wellness. Our conversation began with a discussion of how they operate as RAs, but soon delved into how they seek to encourage self-understanding for their housemates and for themselves. Donna Gold: So, what would you experience that students go through. way. Through the Student Life team say most focuses your time and And yeah, it's kind of this balancing we're watching everyone. We have attention as student leaders? game of encouraging students to multiple people, because different push their boundaries, but also personalities attract different needs. Anjali Appadurai '13: I think wellness helping them in those times. When something is amiss we know. is about balance, but my personal take has always been that it's not Janoah Bailin '14: Maybe total balance Donna: This is not typical of other about total balance all the time, and actually means being imbalanced colleges, is it? there's no authority involved because sometimes. What I really like about everyone has their own equilibrium. this school is that we recognize that all Brittany Cullen '14: It's really unique It's not about, "you shouldn't be these areas of wellness play into each to COA. I have way more responsibility stressed," because stress happens, other and affect how we work so than friends in my role at other and it's OK, but rather encouraging it's a very roundabout way to get out colleges. At other schools, the RA people to be aware of themselves, the thing we want to get out - your might be a resource for referring to know when they are getting to goal or area of focus - but it's a students to study skills, but at COA we an unhealthy point - and after that recognition that all these areas will know our residents, we know when finding space and opportunity for help to get at a more effective person. they're doing well, and we know when finding resources for health It's they're struggling; and even after you more of an organic approach. Amber Igasia '15: I see our refer them to help, you have to be role as being resources for the there with them as they go through it. Joe Perullo '14: How I interpret community; we confer with wellness in relation to COA's message Sarah Luke when someone's Amber: Because we're such a small is that I think it really is important to struggling. We are the points in a school, and we have a ratio of about have this balance between allowing web that pull things together. one RA to eight students, we have the students to go into uncomfortable ability to build that relationship. It's spaces, and figuring out how to Janoah: Right. And the safety net almost preemptive, because when you deal with that without letting them lies in the dispersal of those points, have a good relationship with your go off the deep end - and being if you have a wide enough net and residents, you are able to see when very conscious of the subjective connect all the points in the right someone is struggling. We have that 32 COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC MAGAZINE ability to almost be individualized, to to a wall in your academics, like you're and not creating set images, or goals cater our responses to each individual. studying, studying, studying, and you for people to get to - but giving need to use these extracurriculars as tools and processes that people Joe: I think one of the interesting things to get away from the pressure. might work with and towards. qualities of how we approach What I hope we might do is to bring wellness at COA is that it has a really an awareness in prior to that wall, Donna: Is there a concern that we do reflexive element to it. We have to and have a whole network of wellness too much? usually teach people about how pushing you to tackle that wall in wellness at COA works - which is the first place, instead of it being Anjali: It comes down to what the aim intentionally organic and ambiguous. something that you feel guilty about is for an adult who is exiting college Sarah Luke isn't telling us, "This is or ashamed of. and moving into the working world what you do as an RA." We have or wherever they are going. Is the to adapt. For a lot of people that's Donna: Can you talk about what aim just to produce a piece of paper a very confusing system. It's not you have learned as RAs? that is a degree? In that case we're like, "Here are the laws of COA." way overdoing it. But the reason Brittany: I've learned more about my COA exists is for a whole other level Janoah: It gets into how we think boundaries. Being an RA can take so of engagement with society, with about wellness in general - and how much emotional energy. I've learned the world around us, and we aim to we think about human ecology. I came what I need to do to restore myself in be global citizens - well-rounded, in thinking that all the other stuff is order to be there for my residents. I engaged, thinking, feeling, responsible extracurricular. As the Student Life think that the way we can improve as people who are - and I would use team, we're trying to demonstrate a community in promoting wellness the word intention or consciousness that it's not extracurricular, it plays an is to reflect that in ourselves because here, because that is the difference. integral aspect in our lives. We need to often we don't lead by example. We're Going into the world consciously or teach that, because it's fairly unique. overworked, or don't demonstrate intentionally to do things with that good self-care, and I think that's intent - that comes when you've Joe: Right. A lot of people are crucial to what our residents pick been taken care of, when you know coming from systems in which the up on and how they learn to take what it feels like to be part of a things you mentally need to do to care of themselves. I think we can community. You know what it feels like cope with academics - like sports, do better to recognize when we to have interpersonal relationships or whatever - were treated as are stressed out or when we're not and to have power dynamics separate from academics, whereas taking care of ourselves, how it that are healthy and mutually I think here we recognize it as ends up impacting our residents. responsive, mutually beneficial, an entire process of learning. and that's what you're going to Janoah: And being honest about go out and foster in the world. Janoah: Often those activities were that with our residents, and showing things that you ran to when you came them how we struggle with that too, Research Successes Two Alumni Receive FDA Approval for Innovative Pharmaceuticals By Marni Berger '09 Blood-red latex exuding from Croton lechleri. The Significance of Dragon's Blood: Steven King '80 Between 1978 and 1979, Steven King, that can halt the fluid loss caused by medication - and only the second PhD, spent nine months living with the diarrhea. botanical prescription drug - Angotere Secoya indigenous people approved by the FDA. Because it is in the Peruvian Amazon. A Peruvian It took two dozen years of careful hardly absorbed into the bloodstream, non-governmental organization had research and experimentation by there are little-to-no side effects, and contracted him to study the diet and Steven, senior vice president of so it can be taken, if needed, on a medicinal plants of the group for his sustainable supply, ethnobotanical regular basis. College of the Atlantic internship. research, and intellectual property at Napo Pharmaceuticals, but the drug That's only part of the story. In December of 2012, thirty-four years - known as crofelemer and sold as Crofelemer, unlike most FDA-approved after Steven's first visit to the region, Fulyzaq - now offers relief to those drugs, cannot be manufactured the healing properties of a purified living with HIV/AIDS, many of whom by chemical synthesis. It must be drug extracted from latex so viscous also have to live with severe diarrhea extracted and purified from the latex and red that it is known as sangre from multiple causes. of the Croton lechleri tree growing de drago, or dragon's blood, have in the western Amazon basin. Its been approved by the US Food and It is also the first botanical, orally success requires careful attention to Drug Administration as a medication administered, anti-diarrhea the environment. The extraction is 34 COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC MAGAZINE done sustainably, by local community members. For years, Steven has assisted these communities on reforestation projects. So the FDA's stamp of approval has provided another long-term sustainable source of income from the rainforest to local communities. Steven was the first graduate student at the Institute of Economic Botany of the New York Botanical Garden, earning his PhD in biology from the City University of New York. He learned of the tree's special properties from healers. He speaks of having had "the great privilege to work with, learn from, and conduct research with healers and experts in ethnomedicine in Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Tanzania, Papua New Guinea, and Nigeria; and to work with communities in Peru and scientists on the long-term sustainable harvest of Croton lechleri." He also has had more than sixty scientific articles published and has the countries where the team works who needlessly die of fluid loss from organized numerous workshops will receive a portion of profits from childhood diarrhea. and lectures around the globe. This crofelemer and any other drugs sold. Above left: Young Croton lechleri trees work showcases just how business, growing as a result of natural germination the environment, human health, and Steve and Napo are now focusing on in Chimbana, Peru. Top right: Cesar Lozano one's own passion can intersect. the use and approval of crofelemer and Steven King '80 hold a Croton tree at an agroforestry production site in the "The cultivation and sustainable to treat cholera-induced diarrhea, Huallaga River basin. Cesar, one of Napo's production of the Croton lechleri and are working with their partners Peruvian partners, develops and manages tree and its latex provides income to gain approval for a pediatric reforestation projects. Bottom right: Sunset on the Maranon River, returning to local communities," Steven says. form of crofelemer that can be used from an agroforestry production site. Culture groups and governments in around the world to treat children Photos courtesy of Steven King. Building a Better Flu Vaccine: Clifton E. McPherson '84 Clifton "Trey" McPherson, PhD, is To anyone who has ever received a Quite recently, research and theory responsible for helping to keep the flu shot that didn't "work," Flublok - years of work aimed at necessary wheels of a large machine oiled. At may be an alternative. The Flublok authorization - have hit a bulls-eye. Protein Sciences, where he is vice vaccine is not only more sustainably On January 16, 2013, the US FDA president of product development, manufactured than egg-based approved Flublok. Trey works with a dedicated team that vaccines, it can provide a much more has spent the past years developing precise match to the seasonal flu. Despite, or perhaps related to, his and producing the first fully egg- influence in the health industry, Trey free and recombinant flu vaccine, It is created using moth cells, which is has his feet on the ground. "Many of Flublok. Trey currently oversees the preferable in that it reduces potential the scientists I oversee," Trey says work of some fifteen specialized risks from the vaccine production, laughing, "are much more expert in scientists who are developing new since so few viruses affect both their fields than I am." vaccines and other products. insects and humans. COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC MAGAZINE 35 Trey recalls he did not find his PhD from Vanderbilt University, then Trey has since published nineteen professional place right away. While at receiving a postdoctorate fellowship more scientific articles. He COA, he slowly began to find his niche in molecular genetics from Brown continues to actively pursue his in the sciences. After graduation, University. There, Trey published calling, currently seeking FDA and a year's position mapping the approval on Panblok, a vaccine for genes of anemia and other blood a groundbreaking article in the pandemic flu made with the same disorders at The Jackson Laboratory, journal Cell on how DNA is packaged technology as Flublok. The significant Trey's interest in biology solidified. differently around genes that are difference between the two lies in He decided to continue, earning a actively expressed. Panblok's considerably wider reach. BIOLOGY 101: WHAT IS A CELL? PLANT CELL Items 1, 11, & 12 are unique to plant cells. 1 3 4 2 1. The cell wall is made from dense fibers and forms an 5 extra layer of protection which 6 maintains the cell's shape and prevents it from bursting 7 when it takes on more water. 2. The cell membrane is 8 a thin semi-permeable membrane that surrounds the cell fluid (cytoplasm), thus enclosing its contents. 9 3. The nucleus stores genetic material in the form of DNA (see page 39), and is surrounded by 10 the nuclear membrane. Inside the nucleus is a nucleolus. 11 Here ribosomes are made. 4. Ribosomes are responsible 12 for assembling the proteins of the cell. They consist of RNA and proteins. 5. Mitochondria are the cell's power 8. Rough endoplasmic reticulum 10. Peroxisomes contain more plants; they convert energy into (RER) is covered in ribosomes than fifty enzymes and play forms that are usable by the cell. that synthesize proteins; many important roles in 6. The centrosome is the production the RER can transport these cell metabolism, including center for microtubules — proteins throughout the plant. breakdown of fats and alcohol. fibrous, hollow rods that 9. The Golgi apparatus is the 11. The large vacuole stores sap and help to support and shape shipping department for the is especially important in osmosis a cell, and are also involved cell's chemical products. It since it stores water in the cell. in movement within a cell, modifies proteins and lipids, especially during cell division. 12. Chloroplasts, found in the or fats, that have been built cells of the green parts 7. Smooth endoplasmic reticulum in the ER and prepares them of the plant, are where (SER) contains enzymes for export outside of the photosynthesis takes place. important for synthesizing cell or for transport to other and metabolizing fats. locations within the cell. 36 COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC MAGAZINE Aoife O'Brien '05 Babycatcher By Marni Berger '09 Aoife O'Brien, CNM, sits with five babies she "caught" while working at the Midwife Center for Birth and Women's Health in Pittsburgh, PA. The babies are all under four months old. Aoife O'Brien will never forget her first to their bodies, and we guide their for a very long time, had passed out "catch" of a baby. "I was twenty-two efforts as needed." Using their medical twice, and was pouring sweat." When years old, living with fourteen Mayan training and expertise, they focus on the electricity went out, the woman's midwives at a clinic in Guatemala. reassuring the mother, facilitating family lit candles and "packed around They told me I was no longer going to position changes when helpful, and the edge of the bed, praying, as I tried watch. I was going to use my hands." managing labor only when necessary. to coax the baby out by candlelight." She describes the photograph taken "Decreasing fear greatly decreases Finally a senior midwife took over just after the catch: "My smile is so the experience of pain and suffering. and determined that the woman big, it looks like my face might split." Being present and reassuring is needed to be in a hospital. Eventually one of the most effective ways to she had a successful vaginal birth. The work in Guatemala was Aoife's make this possible," she says. senior project; midwifery, she knew, Not all births are this dramatic, of was her calling. In 2009, Aoife enrolled When needed, Aoife connects to course. But Aoife feels that this in Columbia University School of specialists. An open, respectful experience was the kind that tells Nursing, earning her bachelor collaboration with obstetricians, a person whether she is cut out for of science in nursing through an for example, "allows for the best the job, a make-you-or-break-you accelerated one-year program and possible care of mother and fetus." moment. Aoife found it inspiring. Her graduating with her master's of science It is imperative, Aoife stresses, that time in Guatemala, along with her in nurse-midwifery in 2011. For a women and families are aware of all internship with home birth midwives year she saw clients in a freestanding options of care and can make informed in Bar Harbor, became the foundation nonprofit birth center in Pittsburgh. choices about their practitioner and of her work; her memory of those She has since returned to Maine to environment. "If you don't know moments informs the choices she work at Blue Hill Memorial Hospital. your choices, you don't have any." makes as a professional midwife. Midwives, says Aoife, "strive for Aoife describes a more dramatic "In the end," Aoife says, "COA and my health maintenance first, followed by experience in Guatemala the same experience there formed a philosophy treatment of illness when necessary." year of her first catch. It took place that I believe affects everything I Midwifery assumes a holistic in an eight-foot square room, packed do: to be aware of how your actions approach, with midwives trained as with seven people speaking the Mayan influence others; to never stop asking experts in normal labor, birth, and language Mam, as well as Spanish, questions; to be self-sufficient and the postpartum period, as well as which Aoife spoke. "The bed was so creative about your endeavors in well-woman care across the lifespan. large," Aoife says, "there was little order to make them feasible. To room around it for people to stand or never give up, and to know that this "When the time comes to have a sit." The woman in labor was about outlook can be applied to everything baby," she continues, the midwifery nineteen years old, and it was her you do after you leave COA." team "encourages women to listen first baby. "She had been laboring COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC MAGAZINE 37 PJ Smith '11, right, shows a fifth grader how an Ussing chamber works. This machine is used to measure how much current is flowing from cells tested in the lab The amount of current emitted is relative to the success of the drug, with the output looking a bit like an EKG. DISCOVERING CURES After COA, while some alumni interested in health go on to work physically with human bodies, others take a microscopic view, searching genes for cures to some of our most pressing illnesses. Many begin serious scientific research as students, working up the road in The Jackson Laboratory. - DG Eduarta (Kapinova) Holl '05 Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, postdoctoral scholar: Cancer, inflammation and blood clotting Having completed her PhD in microbiology and immunology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Eda has been a postdoctoral scholar in the field of translational research, bringing drugs from a laboratory setting into the clinic. Her main focus is on drugs that might counteract inflammatory disorders. She also works on science and regulatory perspectives of clinical trial research at the Duke Cancer Center. Recently, she's been focused on a new class of drugs that might stop the formation of dangerous blood clots while still allowing normal blood clotting to occur. Seth Carbonneau '05 Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research, Boston, Massachusetts: Epigenetic causes of a variety of diseases One of the new frontiers of pharmaceuticals is epigenetics, understanding how the proteins that activate the chemical switches in our cells work so that what is innate in our bodies is expressed. This knowledge can impact many diseases - cancer for one - as well as the side effects of various treatments. Part of Seth's job is to use his holistic training from COA to figure out whether a variety of recent experiments can be replicated, and to make sure that the scientist didn't miss any essential angles. He's also responsible for performing experiments at molecular and genetic levels to determine which protein targets in pathways would be the best to inhibit so as to treat disease. Anne Czechanski '06 The Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, Maine: Alzheimer's, deafness, schizophrenia, glaucoma Anne has worked at JAX since she was a student at COA. Currently she creates the sources for further research - developing specific genetic components in laboratory mice so that scientists can pursue further genetic testing. Her current charge is to derive cell lines from mice for researchers to study affected neurons in the cerebral cortex - the area that plays a key role in memory, attention, thought, awareness, language, and consciousness. Aleksandra "Sasha" Aljakna '07 The Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, Maine: Cardiovascular disease Sasha works in a group that researches how HDL cholesterol, what we call "good" cholesterol, is regulated at the gene level. People with higher levels of HDL cholesterol seem to have fewer problems with cardiovascular disease, while those with low HDL cholesterol levels have increased rates for heart disease. Scientists are trying to use this information to prevent cardiovascular diseases by developing medicine that raises HDL. But to develop new medicine, scientists need to know how this cholesterol operates. Sasha's group is seeking to discover which genes regulate HDL cholesterol. 38 COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC MAGAZINE BIOLOGY 101: Edina Hot '08 WHAT IS A GENE? Max Planck Institute, Marburg, Germany, completing PhD in cellular and molecular microbiology: Cancer 1 Cell movement - or motility - is essential to many physiological processes. Think embryonic cell differentiation, the healing of wounds, immune responses - and also cancer metastasis. Edina studies one of the regulators of cell motility, small G proteins. For decades, scientists have known that mutations in small G proteins can lead to cancer. But they haven't known the details. Edina is looking at cell motility in very simple cells - specifically, how the small G proteins regulate what is known as gliding motility within bacteria. She has found that in order to glide, the small G protein must be linked to actin, another protein. Knowing this is crucial to understanding the role of small G proteins within cells. This is new - and exciting - because it wasn't previously known that bacteria even had small G or actin proteins. While Edina works in basic - not applied - research, understanding the pathways that these proteins follow in a much simpler system might ultimately make a difference for humans. Zinaida Dedeic Montenegrin '08 2 University of Oxford, England, completing PhD in experimental medicine: Cancer Since metastasis is responsible for most cancer-related deaths, Zinaida is looking for genes that might be involved in metastasis as a first step in restricting it. A recent discovery might be a breakthrough. Zinaida has been examining the genes that play a role in two physiological developments that share some similar processes 3 with metastasis. Embryonic eyelid development and wound healing both have similar cell migration, proliferation, and programmed cell death to metastasis. She 4 finds that the iASPP gene, which regulates the well-known cancer gene p53, also plays a role in eyelid development. She's also discovered a new link between iASPP and a second cancer pathway, known as EGF R. This is important because when the normal EGF R pathways are disrupted, patients tend to be resistant to cancer Human Gene therapies. Zinaida will continue to investigate this link, hoping to target iASPP gene 1. Genes are found on expression as a way of regulating the EGF R pathway in future cancer therapies. chromosomes within a cell's nucleus. Chromosomes Paul Thomas Smith '11 come in pairs, with one member of the pair Flatley Discovery Lab, Boston, Massachusetts: Cystic fibrosis inherited from each parent. Cystic fibrosis is a life-threatening genetic disease causing a wide range of troubles, 2. Chromosomes are made beginning in infancy or childhood: children don't grow or gain weight, mucus of deoxyribonucleic acid accumulates in their chests, and they have chronic lung infections. Paul, or PJ, is (DNA). Human cells have charged with using computational chemistry to identify and test unique molecules that about 21,000 genes on their might slip through traditional means of drug discovery. As he explains it, "molecules forty-six chromosomes. are more than just carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen - they're organic backbones carrying 3. There are four types important functions that behave like magnets." PJ builds models to find molecules with of bases in the DNA the same arrangement of magnet-like features on different backbones with the hope molecule, and they form that the subtle changes in the backbone might improve drug potency and effectiveness. complementary pairs: He says the lab is hoping to advance to clinical trials by the end of this year. Adenine with Thymine and Guanine with Cytosine. Aly Pierik '14 4. The DNA double helix has a sugar-phosphate backbone The Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, Maine: Immune function with pairs of bases arranged Using mice, Aly is looking into how the drug rapamycin acts on immune functions. up the middle. The order of the three billion base Rapamycin is currently used as an immunosuppressant for patients struggling pairs in every human cell with complications after receiving grafts. But when used in short-term treatment, carries genetic information. rapamycin can instead stimulate the immune system - causing the system in This information influences older mice to act as if it were in a younger mouse. Aly is involved with testing how a person develops different aspects of the immune response of mice that have been treated with and functions. rapamycin to understand how it impacts the immune system as a whole. Illustrations by Rebecca Hope Woods. Aly Pierik '14, Yuka Takemon '14, and Casey Acklin '15, 2013 winter interns at The Jackson Laboratory. Photo by Becca Haydu '16. Yuka Takemon '14 The Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, Maine: Albuminuria Albuminuria is often a marker for kidney dysfunction. A healthy kidney filters small ions such as sodium and potassium, but prevents blood or large molecules such as albumin from passing into our urine. When people have damaged kidneys, say from type 1 diabetes, the broken filter allows large molecules through. Working in the Paigen Lab with senior researcher and COA adjunct Ron Korstanje, Yuka's project is to identify the non-coding regulatory RNA associated with albuminuria. Until recently, DNA that does not code for specific proteins had been considered "junk" DNA; now it's believed that non-coding RNA transcribed from DNA regulates other genes. Yuka's work may lead to greater understanding of this condition, and could possibly reduce its impact on humans. Casey Acklin '15 The Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, Maine: Lifespan and diet restriction Recent reports have indicated that restrictive diets increase lifespan. Casey has been working with the principal researchers, Kevin Flurkey and David Harrison, to discover why this might be. There's a thought that the longevity in laboratory mice stems from decreases in visceral fat - the fat surrounding and contained within bodily organs. But maybe it's the fat stored under the skin that is reduced. If the mice are keeping their subcutaneous fat, but burning off all of the visceral fat, it could still mean that diet restriction is operating through the reduction of visceral fat. If, on the other hand, the animals are keeping their visceral fat, and yet still showing increases in lifespan, it means that there is another cause of the benefits of diet restriction. Casey is attempting to assess all the mice in this study to see just how much visceral fat they lose as a result of diet restriction to clarify this very hotly debated issue. 40 COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC MAGAZINE A Life of Kindness, A World of Hope Father James M. Gower (August 17, 1922-December 17, 2012) By Richard J. Borden, Rachel Carson Chair in Human Ecology Generosity and compassion are not accidental qualities. They are special gifts from those who believe this world can be a better place. Father James M. Gower was such a person. A spirit of love and benevolent service marked the path throughout his life. Born and raised on Mount Desert Island, Jim Gower graduated from Bar Harbor High School in 1940. As Les Brewer, his schoolmate, lifelong friend, and co-founder of COA recalls: "Jim was always friendly and helpful. He never cared about worldly possessions. He's never changed certain people are leaders from the beginning." Their high school yearbook, the Islander, affirms the claim: student council president, class president, president of Cercle Français, honors student, member of chorus, drama, and outdoor clubs, four years on the baseball team, and four on football, serving as the lead quarterback - with Les as his back-up. The Senior Statistics out bills, and would just as easily go law, but chose the higher cause of section of the yearbook lists "Jimmy" fishing or pick blackberries as finish the mysteries of faith and ministerial as "famous" for skiing, with outdoor the painting job or antique restoration leadership. He studied theology and life as a "favorite pastime," and an with which he was charged. As the divinity at St. Augustine's Seminary "ambition" to become a forester. He eldest son of five children, Jim began of Toronto and was ordained into the once described skiing as "the closest working in grade school, heading priesthood in 1953. "I saw the church to flying you could get without having downtown every night to deliver a as the peace movement," he once said. a plane." He also loved to dance stack of newspapers from the post - and never missed a high school office to the drugstore, earning 15 Father Jim returned to Maine, dance if he could help it. Jim was a cents a week - until another outfit beginning as a parish priest at young man of all-around talent. He offered 50 cents; he kept both jobs, St. Dominic's in Portland. Within was, in a word, interdisciplinary - bringing home 65 cents each week. two months he was transferred to before that term was common. Sacred Heart in Waterville, where At the University of Notre Dame, Jim he served for fifteen years. Then, This was during the Depression. Jim's majored in philosophy and received in 1968, twenty-eight years after home - presided over by a devout, his AB in 1944. Thereafter, as an leaving Mount Desert Island, he Irish immigrant mother and a talented, ensign in the United States Navy, Jim returned to serve at St. Ignatius in jack-of-all-trades father - was filled saw action in the Mediterranean, Northeast Harbor and St. Peter's in with humor, song, and prayer. But during the final stages of World War Southwest Harbor. Shortly after this his father often would forget to send II. Following the war he considered homecoming, Jim bumped into Les on COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC MAGAZINE 41 the street. "While I'm here," Jim said, educational focus of human ecology. then to St. Vincent's in Bucksport, "I'd like to do something other than my The time-honored attribution for he never lost his close connection church work, I'd like to do something establishing COA's interdisciplinary to COA. He participated at every for this island." "Some people philosophy is given to Jim. He was level, from teaching to offering the have been talking about starting familiar with the ecological ideas of commencement speech for the a college," Les offered; Jim replied: René Dubos and lan McHarg. But college's twenty-first anniversary "Let's tackle it!" And so they did. the addition of "human" to ecology in 1993. After retiring from the seemed an important rounding priesthood and becoming a COA life It would not be long before they out, an idea likewise endorsed trustee, Jim was a frequent visitor had an initial working group. Early by the Rev. Cushman McGiffert, to campus. He even participated in members included Jim's friend Robert another founding trustee. the Outdoor Orientation Program, Smith and two of Les's local business or OOPS, celebrating his seventy- partners, Richard Lewis of the Bar On January 1, 1970 Edward Kaelber, fifth birthday by climbing Mount Harbor Chamber of Commerce and COA's first president, arrived to Katahdin with incoming students. Sonny Cough, owner of the Atlantic begin plans for the new college. For Oakes Hotel. The group quickly his first six months on MDI, Ed lived I will always remember Jim's smiling expanded to form a nonprofit with Jim in the Northeast Harbor face at academic policy committee educational corporation that was rectory. Ed recalls that their daily and board meetings while I was granted approval in June 1969 by the routine typically concluded with a academic dean, and the notes of Maine State Board of Education. dinner of minute steaks, canned appreciation he penned afterwards. peas, and French fries. Their after- His support was a constant, whether Having witnessed Catholic Italians dinner conversations on life, religion in times of ordinary campus life and French killing each other in - and, of course, the college - went or moments of great need. On the World War II, and later, seeing both well into the night. Once things got afternoon of 9/11, when stunned by his nephew and his altar boy return under way, Ed remembers Jim often the events of the day, the college in body bags from the Vietnam apologizing for not being able to make community gathered on the North War, Jim's conception of the college income contributions. "But during Lawn, Father Jim stepped forward was as an institution for peace. those early financial discussions, Jim with gentle assurance. His words that always kept the focus on the mission. day gave voice to our apprehensions Though first named Acadia Peace He was the soul of the college." and comfort to our fears. College by Father Jim, the new institution took on what he saw as an Though Jim was later transferred The lives Father Jim touched were even more profound mission when it to the campus ministry at the many, and in some cases long before became College of the Atlantic, with its University of Maine Orono and the college began. One was John Kelly, who later became chair of COA's trustee board. John attended St. Edward's Catholic School in Bar Harbor. In 1953 he served as an altar boy at Holy Redeemer for Father Jim's first mass following his ordination. It was a great celebration, as John recalls, attended by worshipers and members of the priesthood from throughout the region. When John was later a student at Colby College, Father Jim was his parish priest in Waterville. Their close friendship continued throughout their lives. Marie Stivers, COA's academic and administrative services director, another St. Edward's student, learned to play the guitar in after-school lessons at the rectory with Father Jim. "We loved him everybody loved him," she recalls. Judith Cox, former director of In this photo that hung in Father Jim's room at Birch Bay Retirement Village in Bar Harbor COA's Educational Studies Program, during his final days, the young priest stands on the right. also attended St. Edward's. Her 42 COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC MAGAZINE memory is of "a true peacemaker; a funds for community development radical - in a wise way - who stayed and reforestation projects in the within, but pushed the edges." aftermath of the horrendous civil war in El Salvador. We also were Jim's first calling was always the making plans to build a new university church. The sweeping changes that to commemorate Oscar Romero, accompanied the Vatican Il encyclical archbishop of San Salvador, who was in the 1960s transformed the assassinated in 1980. The university Catholic liturgy. Jim welcomed the would be located in the most severely increased participation of the laity war-torn region of the country. and conversion of services from the Latin mass to vernacular language. These were heart-wrenching issues He believed it brought people closer for Father Jim, further amplified to the church and to each other. He by the murder of Jesuit priests at saw many other places the church Universidad Centroamericana, or UCA, and the countless thousands of other Salvadorans killed or "disappeared" Ed Kaelber said it best: during the 1980s and 1990s. On-the- ground leadership for the projects "I never knew anyone was in the hands of Francisco Acosta, a former UCA seminarian, and his who lived a more Christ- wife, alumna Barbara Dole Acosta. When the Romero University opened like existence. He was in the spring of 1997, Jim urged me to attend on behalf of COA. Plans were always asking 'how can | made and I was invited to deliver an inaugural convocation speech. It do more?" was a remarkable adventure. Equally important was the special bond of who, after the disaster of Hurricane sharing the pleasure, with Jim, of Katrina seemed to carry the hopes could lead - though it did not seeing the birth of another college. of the entire Gulf Coast on their always meet with his hopes. Some of shoulders. Jim, as I recall, cheered these challenges he took on himself, Jim's final months were marked for both sides. His face beamed after especially through participation by declining health and memory every touchdown and well-executed in Pax Christi, the international loss. Nonetheless, his grace and play. I am sure it was the same smile Catholic movement for peace. He steadfast cheerfulness remained he had on a cold fall day back in maintained an active role with a undiminished. I remember our last 1940 when his pass in the final Bar variety of projects to support the trip together, picking him up at Birch Harbor game sealed the victory over local poor, expand human rights, Bay Retirement Village and heading a highly favored rival team from and oppose violent conflict. After out over the Crooked Road and past Rockland. It was his winning smile the Vietnam War ended, he was the stone barn on a marvelously crisp - his gift - an emblem of his love especially concerned with injustices February afternoon. As we drove of people, of nature, and all of life. in Central America and did much to into the setting sun on our way to support peace and opportunities Ed Kaelber's house to watch Super How shall we remember such a man? there, including personally Bowl XLIV, he recounted memories of Ed Kaelber said it best: "I never knew accompanying the first Witness for old friends and the landscape of his anyone who lived a more Christ-like Peace excursion to Nicaragua. beloved island home. We were joined existence. He was always asking for dinner and the match between 'how can I do more?' He loved to It was through these activities that Indianapolis and New Orleans by give - but not in a holier-than-thou I came to know Jim much better. Mary Drury, wife of the late Bill Drury, way. He could never give enough. He For several years we drove together a venerated COA faculty member in never preached - he just did things. to monthly meetings of People biology, and architect Roc Caivano, If you could adopt your relatives, I for Educational Advancement and another venerated COA teacher would take him as my brother." Community Enhancement (PEACE - from the early years. We were all International) at Arthur and Marjorie enthusiastic fans that evening - Wouldn't we all. Dole's home in Trenton. The goal of whooping and cheering perhaps a the small nonprofit group was to raise bit more for the underdog Saints COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC MAGAZINE 43 ALUMNI NOTES 1977 daughter Leigh, 12, born into the to Philadelphia to sell alongside her Frances Pollitt recently began family in 2000, stayed home for own batiks: FromBalitoBala.com. volunteering at the Maine Historical work and school. Ruth writes, "It Society cataloging rare cartographic won't be our last trip to China, but 1985 materials. She also is assisting the it was our last adoption trip! I am Chris Hamilton recently left his job University of Southern Maine's Osher always happy to talk about all the fundraising for LifeFlight, Maine's Map Library staff with an online wonderful kids (yes, boys too!) waiting emergency medical helicopter service, exhibit of 18th and 19th century for families, and to help anyone and became associate director of the nautical charts. In May 2012, she interested in adopting from China." Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners presented a paper to the Rupert's Association (MOFGA). Daughter Becca Land Colloquium at the University 1982 Hamilton '13, one of COA's proud of Winnipeg about international "I'm working with a group of legacy students, graduates this June. boundary surveys between 1820 and colleagues to create a new elementary 1825. Fran is an active participant school program for children who 1987 in Baha'i activities, including struggle in the classroom," writes Tammis Coffin is now education junior youth programs, devotional Stu Dickey Summer. "Called EARTH: coordinator at the recently renamed gatherings, and study circles. Education and Renewal Through Museum of American Bird Art at Mass the Hand, it is a farm- and craft- Audubon. While combining art and 1979 based addition to the lower school nature education, Tammis will help Frank Twohill, who received his program of Hawthorne Valley Waldorf the museum move into expanding JD from Vermont Law School, was School in Ghent, New York. It is our opportunities. She is also working certified by the National Association experience that many children who with The Fells Estate on Lake Sunapee of Counsel for Children as a child struggle cognitively, emotionally, or in New Hampshire to set up a new welfare law specialist. His solo general volitionally in the classroom thrive John Hay Ecology Center. While practice in Branford, Connecticut, and become leaders in our outdoor weaving poetic nature writing by the includes juvenile and probate cases. projects. I would be very interested late John Hay into the interpretation of to hear other's experiences in this the landscape, gardens, and historic 1980 work via stuart@taconic.net." house, she's enjoyed exploring the Ruth Hill and husband John Brooks educational and research potential of live in Brooklin, Maine, where they Liz Cunningham (right) and Laura this 1920s ecological time capsule. design, build, teach workshops, and Cohn '88 (left) finally met in Bali write about glued-lapstrake wooden after many 1988 boats: brooksboatsdesigns.com. Ruth conversations Now living in southwestern Montana, also writes natural history and coastal about Indonesia Kim Chater is a part-time worker at life articles for Maine Boats, Homes, this past year. Liz Headwaters Veterinary Hospital and and Harbors magazine. Pictured at was researching spending her remaining free time as Tengwang Pavilion in Nanchang, marine a felt maker and fiber artist. Her felts Jiangxi, China, is daughter Hangxiang, biodiversity in can be seen on the Facebook page, 10, who had West Papua, Sea Cliff Felts. She also is exploring been with and small-scale the art of clay at the Archie Bray Ruth for fisheries and Foundation of the Ceramic Arts. Kim three days the Bajao sea nomads in Sulawesi for writes that she is enjoying all the posts at that point, her upcoming book Ocean Country. and photos from her COA alum pals. and Jack, 8, A photo essay about mangroves, who joined "Mosaic of Life," excerpted from 1989 the family in the book, was recently published The summer show at COA's Blum November in the winter 2012-13 issue of Gallery will feature paintings by 2006. John, Times: timespub.tc. Laura makes an David Vickery and sculptural work son Tie, 11, annual trip to Bali to continue her by Blakeney Sanford '02. Their art adopted in connection to the community, and will be on display July 12 through 2008, and to select handcrafts to bring home August 23. 44 COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC MAGAZINE 1990 enjoying the Austin lifestyle. Emily Bracale moved to 91 Ledgelawn Great music, great people, lots of in Bar Harbor where she has a healing recreational opportunities, and I practice, teaches Reiki and small love the urban farms and the overall group art classes, and does academic local pride going on in this town!" tutoring for beginning through college level reading and writing. 1999 Emily enjoys playing clarinet with the In January, Heather Albert-Knopp, COA community orchestra and urges director of summer programs at COA, other local alums to consider joining, was elected president of the Maine especially if they are string players. Organic Farmers and Gardeners farm house in Clifton, Maine. Sara is Association board. She had been a 1991 also embarking on her new career board member for five years, and vice Rebekah Padgett has been living as a life coach and counselor. She's president for the past two years. She's in Seattle and working for the State looking forward to work that matches also chairing the search committee of Washington for the past twelve her passions and also allows for for MOFGA's next leader, following years, currently as a federal permit increased flexibility as the family the December death of longtime manager reviewing in-water and unschools and explores life together: executive director Russell Libby. wetland projects. She also has shared SaraY.AnythingsPossible@gmail.com. research on tidal energy at national Writes Beth Nixon, "I am still conferences. In her spare time she Last fall, Derren Rosbach moved the human behind Ramshackle volunteers as a union steward in her to Worcester, Massachusetts, Enterprises (ramshackleenterprises. workplace, as a board member of with his wife Laura, and sons net) creating puppet shows, parades, The Coastal Society, and assisted the Cyrus, 6, and Rowen, 1.5. He piñatas, pageants, and spectacles American Red Cross in New Jersey joined the faculty at Worcester across the country in schools, camps, after Hurricane Sandy last fall. Polytechnic Institute and teaches addiction, recovery and mental in the Great Problems Seminars health programs, and community 1993 program. After completing his PhD centers. (If you need a galvanizing, Barbara Kent Lawrence has at Virginia Tech in 2010, Derren rousing, cardboard-based celebration, recently published her sixth book taught in Vermont's Environmental please be in touch!) My husband, and first novel, Islands of Time, an Policy and Planning program. musician Joshua Marcus, our daughter offshoot of her fieldwork on Mount Ida, 4, and I recently moved to Desert Island and her dissertation 1997 Providence, Rhode Island, where about the influence of culture on Former staff member George Dickson I have a fellowship at New Urban aspiration. Barbara attended COA as and Kelly Sheets Dickson, MPhil, Arts and am working on my own a visiting student to test her ability are now British citizens, having series of suitcase theater shows." and commitment to pursuing a attended a swearing-in ceremony doctorate. "COA offered a haven for on March 27. Kelly is working for an 2000 stretching and exploring, and allowed organization that helps students Jaime (Duval) me to show myself that I was ready." with academic promise from Beranek and After receiving her EdD from Boston disadvantaged backgrounds gain husband Rob moved University, she taught at Northeastern places at leading universities. to the Cleveland, and Lesley universities, conducted Ohio, area in the education research, and wrote about Rebecca Hancock was elected fall, settling in small schools: barbaralawrence.com. the first female Grand Lodge the quaint, New president of the International England-like town Heather Martin has been named Shipmasters Association. of Chagrin Falls. executive director of the Maine She writes, "We love it down here. We Wabanaki State Child Welfare Truth 1998 are on an acre and a half, so the dogs and Reconciliation Commission. Working as an environmental love it, too. We are in the 'country' planner for Jacobs Engineering in but close to everything. Lots of great 1995 Austin, Texas, Jennifer Zankowski shopping, restaurants, and the Rock Sara Yasner, husband John Mahoney, is responsible for research and and Roll Hall of Fame! There is also and their two boys, Seamus and technical writing of environmental a thriving local food scene." Jaime Emmett, welcomed their newest impact statements and environmental is now a registered yoga teacher at family member, Pamela Sage, on assessments for transit and the 200-hour level and has created September 17, 2012. They are blissed transportation projects throughout Breakwater Yoga to converse about out and enjoying life in their old the US. She writes, "I am really the practice and teachings of yoga and COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC MAGAZINE 45 the deeper connection it encourages the area and food security issues they issues surrounding landlords and to the earth and to ourselves. Jaime are researching, they participated students. This winter she ran into invites all to connect or reconnect in the Food Stamp Challenge, living fellow COA alumna Suzanne von with her at breakwateryoga.com. on a food budget of $37.25 for a Leuschner ('77) of Chicago, who was week, the average weekly allotment in Carbondale for the Illinois State After living in DC for 10 years, Ann for a client enrolled in CalFresh, Green Party meeting. Small world! Helfrich moved to Portland, Maine, California's food stamp program. Bradshaw4council.yolasite.com and opened her Five Element Acupuncture practice. She loves 2003 Doug Lerch married Francesca the frequent opportunities to meet Preston in fall 2012 at her family's and befriend COA alumni in the city, biodynamic farm and vineyard in where she lives with her partner Healdsburg, California. They live in and their pets. Contact Ann at 207- Petaluma, California, with Cyrus, 619-2312 or ann@ahamaine.com. 10, eight miles from Cyrus's mom, Sara Ridgway. After receiving a Chelsea master's degree in psychology from (Mooser) California Institute of Integral Studies, Confalone and Doug founded SEEDS, a non-profit her husband providing social and emotional Nick welcomed Alana Beard and Josh Hurst were learning programs to local schools. He their first baby, married by former president and also runs Fiddleheads Nature Based Leo, into the founding faculty member Steve Social Skills Group, an innovative world this Katona on September 22, 2012, the therapy group for children based November on fall equinox, in Northeast Harbor. "It in local parks: douglaslerch.com. the auspicious was a calm, misty day and we were night of Obama's re-election. They also joined by friends and family (with a 2004 gave birth to a children's book called strong COA contingent!) for a simple Now working for the University of Ocean Monsters to be released by ceremony by the water, and fun-filled Toliara in southwestern Madagascar, Penguin Young Readers Group this fall. evening reception on Somes Sound. Dustin Eirdosh is piloting an Following the wedding we enjoyed interdisciplinary course merging a couple of nights in Lubec, Maine, neuroscience, moral psychology, exploring the Cutler coast by bike, and youth development for the and at the end of March we headed to national teacher training program. Banff, Alberta, for our honeymoon." University of Toliara is the first They expect to start construction African nation member of the EvoS on their home and Josh's woodshop Consortium, the leading international this fall in Bar Harbor. Alana is the higher education network for daughter of Judy Allen, registrar and transdisciplinary science education. longtime Allied Whale humpback Chase and Sarah (Heifetz) Morrill '01 whale catalog director, and trustee Julia Morgenstern love sharing COA with their kids. On and visiting faculty member Ron Hefner writes, a recent visit they took this photo of Beard. Pictured are Sam Hallowell "On November 23, their four children and (in pink jacket) '10, Jericho Bicknell, Jenn Atkinson, 2012, we welcomed the daughter of Rahvi Barnum '09 Alana, Emily Clark-Usinowicz, Jacob Zoe Ruth Hefner to and Kati Freedman '05. Usinowicz, Sara Levine '05, Kathryn our family! Wyatt, Hunninen, and Rye and Diane Lokocz. 5, is a very proud 2002 big brother!" Anselm Bradford was selected as Jessica Bradshaw, one of twelve a 2013 Code for America fellow, candidates for three seats, was Tony Naples is providing his Vermont codeforamerica.org/2013-fellows, elected to the Carbondale, Illinois, community with a direct connection and is currently living in the San City Council. Since running two to wild Alaska salmon via Starbird Francisco Bay Area where he is on years ago, she's become even more Fish, which distributes some of the a three-fellow team partnered with involved in community groups. Last catch from his summer work as a the Human Services Agency of San October the mayor appointed her commercial fisherman in Alaska to Mateo County. They are exploring chair of the city's Human Relations Vermont CSAs and markets. "People ways of increasing access to food Commission, geared toward improving like to be able to meet the person benefits and services within the relations between African-Americans who's growing their vegetables, or county. In order to fully understand and the police, and dealing with catching their fish," he writes. 46 COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC MAGAZINE Maine game wardens Troy Maine's master's in social work Theology working toward an ordained Thibodeau and Sargent Tim Spahr program; she will start this fall. Unitarian Universalist ministry. '86 are featured on Animal Planet's North Woods Law, a Maine-based Elona Rika is completing a doctorate reality TV show, for which Heeth in international economics and Grantham '94 is a field producer. finance at Brandeis University. She was granted a research fellowship Lora Winslow is living in Portland, for the advancement of women in Maine, and attending Vermont economics at the Federal Reserve Law School through its distance Bank of Boston where she conducted learning program. She'll receive independent research analyzing FORWARD her master's in environmental law international capital markets via and policy by summer's end. international portfolio holdings Lauren Nutter, Nat Keller '04, and and country allocation strategies. Ivy Huo '05 (left to right) connected 2005 She and Jake Jolly were married with a contingent of COA students Jenny Jones received her MS in in Napa Valley, California, on at the Forward on Climate Rally in natural resource science management December 27, 2012, celebrating Washington, DC, in February. with a focus on early childhood environmental education and a 2011 minor in program evaluation from Elizabeth-Anne (Cobb) Ronk married the University of Minnesota in July, Zac Ronk on New Year's Eve in 2012. She is living in Philadelphia Birmingham, Alabama. She writes, and working as the program "We had a big ol' party and were director for the Philadelphia joined by friends and family from Children Access Nature program around the world. Maggie Mansfield run by Riverbend Environmental was a bridesmaid and left a trail Education Center, and is the proud of broken hearts, Sam Perkins '12 aunt of her sweet nephew James. with Napa wines, Albanian dance wrangled our dog Atticus, and Brooke music, family, and friends, including Welty, Andy Curtis, Lily Allgood, 2006 Eduarta (Kapinova) Holl '05 (left) and Phil Walter obtained copious While rafting down the Colorado River and Nickilynn Estologa '07 (right). amounts of confetti cannons and through Grand Canyon National Park this past summer, alumni (left to right) Kathleen Tompkins married Tobias Nicole McKenney, Jamien St. Pierre, McNulty on New Year's Day at a small Paige Rutherford, Zack Steele '05, ceremony in a converted cotton mill and Rachael Gilmartin made sure to in Saxapahaw, North Carolina. Kate is busy finishing her second year of medical school at the University of North Carolina and raising six chickens in their Chapel Hill backyard. 2009 glitter bombs. We were joined by Julie Tess Faller is the new farm manager Olbrantz '12 and Patrick Davis '13 at COA's Beech Hill Farm. Tess has and everyone danced into the New pile onto a duckie (inflatable kayak) for studied and worked on organic Year. Will Alabama ever be the same? an alumni photo op. farms in Ireland, Latin America, I am slogging my way through grad the Pacific Northwest, and New school in educational psychology. Henry Steinberg married "the England, including Beech Hill. She is We welcome all visitors - Alabama goddess of my dreams," Tania passionate about growing healthy is on the way to everywhere!" Maria Noguera, a native of Ecuador. and delicious food, employing After spending a few years in sustainable methods of farming, and Philip Kunhardt will be attending San Francisco, they intend to fostering education and community Yale School of Forestry and return to Latin America to work building through agriculture. Environmental Studies, studying in environmental conservation. with Dr. Mark Ashton, and working 2010 on a master's in forest science. 2008 Andrew Coate is in the first year Kate Hassett was accepted of a master's of divinity degree Hazel Stark was accepted to the into the University of Southern at Boston University School of Teton Science Schools' graduate COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC MAGAZINE 47 COMMUNITY Alumni Support Makes a Difference N o T E S When / think of our class since we arrived Molly Anderson, Partridge Chair in here at COA, / am so impressed and Food and Sustainable Agriculture proud of all that we have accomplished. / Systems, participated in a workshop hope these opportunities will be available on the Right to Food at Johns Hopkins to future students. As an alumna, it's University, hosted by Olivier de my role to say thank you. / believe in Schutter, United Nations Special this institution, / have pride in my class, Rapporteur on the Right to Food. and so / give back to the college. Her article in the Journal of Rural Studies, "Beyond food security to Alex Fouliard '13 realizing food rights in the US," was Senior Class Gift Committee Co-chair part of the background packet. Molly also participated in a "write-shop" The annual fund supports operating expenses, scholarship in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with funds, library resources, technology improvements, faculty seven others, developing a paper development, and facilities management. It is also seen by many on the science needed for achieving as a barometer of the state of the college: sustainability in food systems. Similarly, Molly participated in Many foundations and other grant-making organizations meetings of the Maine Food Strategy consider the percent of alumni participation as a means of Team of Food Solutions for New measuring a college's stature and stability. England to envision how the region College guidebooks and recruiting organizations see can grow 75 percent of its food by alumni support of the annual fund as an indicator of alumni 2060 - while eliminating hunger satisfaction. and food insecurity. Additionally, Molly presented on "Metrics and Alumni who support the annual fund (at any monetary level) Indicators of Food System Reform" help support the internal operations of COA and augment all and served on a visioning panel of its outreach activities. about food systems at the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Working Group's annual conference. Nancy Andrews, faculty member in program where she will focus on film and video, was featured on the place-based teaching, experiential BBC program Newsday, following education, and field ecology. a Johns Hopkins study finding that about one-third of those released Yiftusira Girma Wondimu has from intensive care units experience been accepted to Purdue University post-traumatic stress disorder. College of Pharmacy in West Nancy knows this all too well (see Lafayette, Indiana, pursuing a doctor the fall 2012 issue of COA). She will of pharmacy. She currently lives in shoot a feature-length film related Seattle, Washington while taking the the Journal of the Acoustical Society to the topic, The Strange Eyes of Dr. last few prerequisite courses needed of America: asadl.org. From January Myes, this summer, using animation, before attending Purdue in the fall. through May, she led acoustic surveys of Indo-Pacific humpback 2012 dolphins as a research assistant at In October, Michelle Klein gave the Hong Kong Dolphin Conservation her first lecture at a scientific Society for an environmental impact meeting, the 164th Meeting of the assessment of a major bridge and Acoustical Society of America. The tunnel construction project. Come fall, abstract to her talk, "Use of social she will continue to investigate the sounds by humpback whales in dolphins while pursuing a master's the western Antarctic Peninsula in environmental and life sciences at feeding grounds," was published in Trent University in Ontario, Canada. 48 COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC MAGAZINE drawing, and special effects. Says of Higher Education session on gravitas Andrews, "After a near-death "The Degree Qualifications Profile: of a New experience, Dr. Myes, researcher in Goals, Practices, Questions" at York City the science of perception, attempts the annual meeting of the New museum, to graft animal senses to the brain England Association of Schools thanks to in order to revolutionize human and Colleges (NEASC) in Boston. the exhibit, consciousness. She must face the "Collected consequences when she uses her own Ryan Bouldin, faculty member Prints: A body and mind as a research tool." in green chemistry and physics, Selection working with Nicholas Harris '13 of Works Additionally, Andrews presented and Matthew McElwee '13, received on Paper from the Collection of at Artists in Context's Connected a highly competitive Environmental Catherine Clinger," the Allan and Consequential conference Protection Agency P3 grant to Stone Chair in the Visual Arts. The at Massachusetts Institute of further develop the process of exhibit included work by sixteenth Technology, at the University of converting waste into sugars. century artists Jacques Callot and New England, and exhibited in the Hans Holbein, several hand-printed Biddeford, Maine, gallery Engine. She Lynn Boulger, former dean of books, contemporary work by Sue invites those who have experienced development, is now dean of Coe, Kiki Smith, and John Talleur, even ICU PTSD to post their stories on the institutional advancement. a woodcut by COA's Alice Anderson website Cowbird at cowbird.com/ '12. Among the highlights were five of project/you-are-not-alone/overview. Alumna Marni Berger '09 published Catherine's own etchings, including an interview with Bill Carpenter, "St. Francis Speaking with the Birds." At the XIX International Conference of faculty member in literature and the Society for Human Ecology, hosted writing, on the Days of Yore website, Darron Collins '92, COA president, by the Australian National University thedaysofyore.com/william-carpenter. gave the opening plenary at the in Canberra in February, Rich Borden, It begins, "When I was a little kid, I XIX International SHE Conference Rachel Carson Chair in Human totally lived for the present. I don't (see Rich Borden). Emphasizing the Ecology, organized the symposium remember ever having a desire. experimental at COA, he described Nature and Mind - Revisited, Although, as I grew older I began human ecology as "a perspective presented the paper "Ecology and to live in the future - which is like that cultivates self-direction, a Experience - Closing the Gap," the Fall of Man Bill also attended method of problem solving that and chaired the closing plenary a New England Association of emphasizes transdisciplinarity, session, Individual and Institutional Schools and Colleges conference a way of knowing that balances Responsibility for Change. The SHE on current NEASC standards and hands-on with minds-on learning, conference, "Decisions that Work: served on the accreditation team and an educational philosophy that Linking Sustainability, Environmental for Burlington College in Vermont. inspires purpose and values." Responsibility and Human Well- being," was held in partnership with To explore ways that COA can Anna Demeo, lecturer in physics the IV International Conference prepare students to work in parks and energy, published "A Human on Sustainability Science in Asia. and protected areas, Ken Cline, Ecological Approach to Energy Literacy In December, Rich was an invited associate dean for faculty and David through Hands-On Projects: An speaker at the Council on Institutes Rockefeller Family Chair in Ecosystem Essential Component of Effectively Management and Protection, Addressing Climate Change" in The Barbara J. Brewer attended the George Wright Society Journal of Sustainability Education, Conference on Parks, Protected September 12, 1922- drawing from classes she has December 14, 2012 Areas, and Cultural Sites in Denver, taught at COA. Co-authors are Dave Colorado. Come summer, the College Feldman, and Michael L. Peterson. Barbara and Les Brewer shared a of the Atlantic Guide to the Lakes & She writes, "A human ecological lifetime of love and commitment. Ponds of Mount Desert, based on COA approach to teaching energy literacy Barbara led a quiet, reflective life life trustee William V.P. Newlin's is essential to ensure responsible of mutual support with Les, our 1989 guide and updated by Ken, environmental stewardship in the longest-serving trustee. Our hearts Rachel Briggs '13, Addie Namnoum age of climate change. A powerful '15, and Brett Ciccotelli '09, will be go out to Les, who co-founded COA and effective way to address this with Father Jim Gower in 1968, published by College of the Atlantic is through project-based learning Press and North Atlantic Books. and in the space of three days lost that helps prepare students, across both his wife and longtime friend disciplines, by providing them with Father Jim. For two weeks in February, COA's the knowledge, skills, and habits Ethel H. Blum Gallery took on the of mind to be effective advocates COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC MAGAZINE 49 Kathryn W. Davis February 25, 1907-April 23, 2013 The entire COA community mourns the passing of Kathryn W. Davis, philanthropist, peace lover, and inspiration, active into her 106th year. Says William G. Foulke, Jr. former COA board chair and a personal friend, "Kathryn Davis was blessed with high intelligence, boundless energy, and a fortune which she put to the best uses she could devise in the service of world peace, education, and many other humanitarian causes. All of us whom she touched came away impressed with her enormous good will and farsightedness. She had the gift of humor and displayed her love of humankind to all who knew her. I will never forget her, and I'm sure that goes for all of the COA community." Kathryn Davis' belief in global education as an avenue toward peace can be seen at COA in the Kathryn W. Davis Residential Village, the Kathryn W. Davis Center for International & Regional Studies, the Kathryn W. Davis Global Engagement Fund Towards Peace, and the many students who have been able to launch projects around the world as grantees of her Projects for Peace (see page 7). "Kathryn Davis will forever be a cornerstone of COA," says President Darron Collins. "Her life in so many diverse ways is an inspiration for humanity; we will dearly miss her mind, her smile, and her sense of adventure." for energy choices that reduce session, which he also chaired, at the "What Do you Do environmental harm." It's available SHE Conference, and presented to with a Degree in online at tinyurl.com/awc9tm9. the AshokaU Changemaker Campus Human Ecology? conference in San Diego, California. As Forty years of Dave Feldman, faculty member part of his duties as a board member evidence" in the in physics and mathematics, gave of Maine Businesses for Sustainability, session Education a Mount Desert Island Biological Jay talked at the University of for Sustainability, Laboratory Science Cafe at McKay's Maine Orono on the trends leading chaired by Jay Public House, speaking on "Strange businesses toward sustainability. Friedlander. Attractors and the Butterfly Effect: In addition, as The Mathematics of Chaos," in Donna Gold, director of public executive director of the society, he February. He also was the plenary relations and editor of COA was also gave a brief closing plenary talk. speaker at the Smith Institute invited on the board of Harborside for Applied Research Invitational Shakespeare Company by its Since leaving COA, former president, Symposium held at Johnson C. founders, Daniel Mahler '10 and founding faculty member, and Allied Smith University in Charlotte, North Alicia Hynes '11. Serving with her is Whale founder Steven K. Katona has Carolina, in late October. Dave spoke David Hales, former COA president, taken his love of marine mammals on "Chaos and Complex Systems: and his wife, Barbara McLeod. and his zeal for conservation to the In the Classroom and Beyond." planetary level. Through Conservation Sarah Hall, faculty member in geology International he launched Ocean As part of his sabbatical, Jay and earth sciences, spent time Health Index, forming a network of Friedlander, the Sharpe-McNally Chair over winter break at the American scientists who together created a in Green and Socially Responsible Geophysical Union annual meeting world standard for gauging ocean Business, worked with World in San Francisco. She co-authored health. The index offers hard numbers Resources Institute in Washington, two presentations on Andean to show how close each country is to DC, researching and writing an mountain building and erosion, a balanced use of the sea. How are we article on stranded assets as a and participated in a workshop on doing? The planet is averaging 60 out potential impact of climate change teaching undergraduate geology. of 100, rather a failing grade, meaning on companies. In 2013 he gave the we're not maximizing the benefits presentation "Moving from theory to Ken Hill, academic dean, attended from the oceans and not accessing action: a model for higher education" the XIX International SHE Conference those benefits in a sustainable to the Education for Sustainability (see Rich Borden), and gave the talk way: oceanhealthindex.org. 50 COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC MAGAZINE Former sustainable business urged that a case study be written Collins, (pictured with her son administrator Kate Macko is now and published, as this is the kind Declan) has moved to the Boston executive assistant and advisor to of project RMI is hoping to foster. area to be closer to her family. Darron Collins, the job formerly held by Anna Murphy (see below). Suzanne Morse, Elizabeth Battles Chris Petersen, faculty member in Newlin Chair in Botany, spent the biology, was elected vice president of As part of her fall teaching agroecology at the the Frenchman Bay Partners. Chris sabbatical this winter, Life Sciences University in Aas, co-authored a paper presented at Isabel Mancinelli, Norway. While in Europe she ran the Society for Integrative Biology Charles Eliot Professor workshops on the role of visioning meeting in January with Brad Erisman of Ecological Planning, in transforming food systems at the and Phil Hastings from Scripps Policy and Design, Beyond Our Backyards conference Institute of Oceanography and traveled to Colorado in Cerbere, France, and participated Bob Warner from the University of to meet with architects in community meetings helping to California Santa Barbara. He also co- at the Rocky Mountain Institute, or shape a Sustainable Food initiative in authored a paper presented by Alex RMI about their research on green Oslo, Norway. Additionally, Suzanne Brett '11 at the Northeast ARC users building techniques and to tour Amory was awarded a northeast SARE grant, group: "The Frenchman Bay Atlas - a Lovins' net-zero energy house. While "Potential of coppiced alder as an on- Collaborative Mapping Project," and a there, she spoke to the University of farm source of fertility for vegetable poster on collaborative conservation Colorado class on affordable green production," to begin at COA's farms action planning in Frenchman Bay at housing taught by RMI's principal in April. Funding will go toward the Maine Water Conference in March. architect, James Scott Brew. Isabel research, providing a stipend to a Lead author was Bridie McGreavy spoke about the design process for student assistant and participating of the University of Maine Orono. COA's Davis Village and explained farmers, and to conducting analyses how the project intentionally fostered of soils and plant tissues. In The Plant Family Brassicaceae, development of local expertise in part of the series Contribution innovative green building techniques Anna Murphy, Towards Phytoremediation in that were adapted for local affordable former assistant Environmental Pollution, Vol. 21, green housing projects at Northeast to presidents published by Springer in 2012, Creek and Ripple Hill. She presented Steve Katona, Nishanta Rajakaruna '94, faculty again at RMI's Snowmass office. David Hales, member in botany, contributed "The architects were quite excited Andy Griffiths, "Roles of Rhizospheric Processes and impressed," says Isabel, and and Darron and Plant Physiology in Applied Bon Voyage Sarah Baker "But must important, she's really good and harness the strengths of her at creating an environment that makes staff; and the entire community will people feel comfortable, whether miss the insights and creativity she it's the most nervous fifteen-year- brought to the recruitment process. old, a cocky seventeen-year-old - or But we'll have her success to build on. that boy's grandparents. You leave Applications more than doubled since a conversation with Sarah feeling Sarah arrived at COA in 2000, with good about yourself — she's such a 2013 seeing the largest incoming class beautiful person." ever. Sarah is leaving at the end of June to "I think the best way to sum up Sarah" discover the next step on her personal muses Danielle Meier '09, assistant journey, and to spend some more director of admission for recruitment, "Sarah Baker is warm, and funny - so time with her young boys, Finn, 9, and design, and communication, "and this witty, I always feel as if I'm two beats Corin, 6, and managing the studio of is something that a lot of us who have behind her," says Sarah Gribbin '12, her husband, artist David Graeme worked in the admissions office over who has been working under Sarah, Baker. COA will miss her smile and the years find ourselves saying to each our Dean of Admission, for four years, wicked humor; the admission staff other, is, 'Don't you wish Sarah was the first three as her work-study job, will miss her warmth and inspiring your mom?'" and now as an admission counselor. leadership, her ability to understand COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC MAGAZINE 51 Phytoremediation of Contaminated Winter Ecology students. Photo, first served as a professional guide. Soils Using Brassica Oilseeds" with row, left to right: Kate Shlepr '13, In March, Sean visited Prescott Sarah Neilson '09. In The Journal Anna Stunkel '13, Chris Phillips College's Kino Marine Field Station of the Torrey Botanical Society, '15, Randy Miles '14, Bethany on the east coast of the Sea of published in 2012, Nishi wrote Anderson '13, Abbe Urban '14, Steve. Cortez in Mexico as a new member "Stressors and threats to the flora Second row: Sarah Duff '14, Carly of its board of scientific advisors. of Acadia National Park, Maine: Segal '13, Tallulah Orcel '15, Chloe Current knowledge, information Dodge '15, Tari Pisano '14, Anne Karen Waldron, Lisa Stewart Chair gaps, and future directions," along Hurley '15, Emily Zine '15, Laurie in Literature and Women's Studies, with first author Tanner Harris '06, Costa '13, Erica Georgaklis '14. chaired the panel on Constructions Sarah Nelson, and Peter Vaux. of Landscape in American Literature Alisha Strater, former manager Il at the annual Northeast Modern of Beech Hill Farm, has moved on Language Association Conference to other fields. Taking her place is in March, and delivered the paper Tess Faller '09 (see alumni notes). "Contemporary Humans and Nature: Barry Lopez' Winter Count This winter Sean Todd, Steven K. and Remembering Places through Katona Chair in Marine Sciences, Cognitive Dissonance" to the panel again conducted research cruises to Constructions of Landscape in the Southern Ocean and Antarctic American Literature I. Karen also spoke Peninsula aboard two ecotourism about the early Quaker proto-feminist Biology Faculty member Steve Ressel vessels, photo-documenting Sarah Grimké, offering the paper, "The visited alumni Garrett Conover '78 humpback and killer whales. The Limits of Biblical Self-Authorization" (front center) at his North Woods second journey was on a vessel to the roundtable session: Her Word Ways in Willimantic, and also Hannah chartered by the Hotchkiss School as Witness: 19th Century Narratives Plekon '12 in Greenville with his in Connecticut, for which Sean of Self-Preservation and Identity. Why I am a Northern Lights Society Member Elena Tuhy-Walters '90 I have not revised my last will and testament since before my daughter Evelyn was born three years ago, and I know I need bring it up to date. As it is currently written, College of the Atlantic gets all of my children's books and a small monetary bequest. When | update my will, the books will obviously go to Evelyn, but I will still give money to COA. I give to the college every year, but the idea of having a legacy gift is really important to me because it lets me give back one last time to the magical place that helped shape me more than any other situation outside of my family. My gift will be a thank-you for the ideas | was exposed to: the mainstays, such as recycling and gestalt theory, and those that have only finally hit home, especially veganism, from the days when Take-A-Break did not serve animal meat. It will be a thank-you, for the friendships: Jason, Val, Missy, Photo by Carl L. Walters 11. Josie, Heather, and more. It will be a thank-you for helping me understand and love the law: constitutional theory with Don Meiklejohn, my internship with Michael Ross in his law office, and legal writing and legislative process with Ken Cline. I am so grateful for the tiny college on an island in Maine, and my executor will get to deliver my final thank-you. To learn more about how you too can become a Northern Lights Member, call 207-801-5625 or visit coa.edu/planned-giving. To Err is Human (but Embarrassing) Though we strive for perfection, we make mistakes sometimes. The 2012 COA Annual Report is missing a number of donor names. Here we are giving credit where credit is due! Thank you - and sorry! - to the following friends of COA who gave in the 2012 fiscal year (7/1/11-6/30/12), but were not recorded in the annual report booklet distributed in January. Champlain Society The following are names left off the Champlain Society list in the annual report. Created in 1988, the society recognizes those special friends who contribute $1,500 or more to COA's annual fund. Anonymous Mr. and Mrs. Paul J. Growald Mr. and Mrs. C. W. Eliot Paine Dr. and Mrs. John Buell Mr. and Mrs. Robert Hoguet Mr. and Mrs. Charles E. Pierce, Jr. The Combs Family Mr. Peter Hunt Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Pierce Dianna and Ben Emory Mr. and Mrs. Jan F. Karst Mr. and Mrs. Harold White III Mr. and Mrs. Nat Fenton Mr. and Mrs. Peter Loring Friends of COA The following are names left off the Friends of COA list in the annual report. Thank you to all our non-alumni friends who gave up to $1,499 to support COA's Annual Fund in FY12. Mr. and Mrs. Ordway P. Burden Mr. and Mrs. H. Lee Judd Mr. and Mrs. Owen W. Roberts Mr. and Mrs. Sean Cosgrove Mr. and Mrs. Robert A. Nathane, Jr. Dr. Richard G. Rockefeller Mrs. Gordon I. Erikson Ms. Sandra G. Nowicki Mr. and Mrs. Patrick R. Wilmerding Mr. and Mrs. David Fitz Dr. and Mrs. Richard N. Pierson Year After Year These names reflect longtime donors who have given consistently year after year for more than ten years. We are glad for the opportunity to include the full list of our constant donors. Over 25 Years Mrs. Diane Anderson Mrs. Gordon I. Erikson Catherine B. Johnson '74 Bar Harbor Bank & Trust The First Ann Sewall & Edward Kaelber The Estate of Edward McC. Blair Mrs. Ruth Fraley Laura & Michael Kaiser '85 Hon. & Mrs. Robert Blake Mr. & Mrs. W. West Frazier IV Mr. John M. Kauffmann Peter & Sofia Blanchard Dr. & Mrs. Donald Glotzer Mr. & Mrs. John N. Kelly Mr. Jerry Bley ('78) Mr. & Mrs. John M. Good Diana & Neil King Mr. Leslie C. Brewer Bruce Mazlish & Neva Goodwin Mr. & Mrs. Robert P. Kogod Charles & Barbara Burton II Nina '78 & Jonathan '78 Gormley Mr. & Mrs. S. Lee Kohrman Roc & Helen Caivano '80 Fr. James Gower Margaret & Philip Kunhardt III '77 Estate of Alida D. M. Camp Julie MacLeod Hayes '78 Mrs. Marcia MacKinnon Gerald & Suzanne Colson Ms. Katherine Hazard '76 Mrs. Louis Madeira Dick Atlee & Sarah Corson Kate & Eric Henry ('74) Mr. & Mrs. Gerrish Milliken Norah D. Davis Mr. & Mrs. Melville Hodder Mr. & Mrs. G. Marshall Moriarty Mrs. Charles Dickey, Jr. Kass Hogan '81 Mrs. Lorraine Morong Arthur Dole Ms. Betsey Holtzmann Mr. & Mrs. Benjamin Neilson Estate of Amos & Alice Eno Mrs. Michael Huber Mr. John H. Newhall Carol & Jackson Eno Charles & Louise Huntington Mr. & Mrs. William V.P. Newlin COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC MAGAZINE 53 Mrs. A. Corkran Nimick Dr. & Mrs. Ralph Longsworth Julie A. Erb '83 Ms. Sandra G. Nowicki Robert May, ND '81 Thos & Carroll Fernald Mrs. Elizabeth Higgins Null Mrs. Anne Mazlish Mr. & Mrs. William M.G. Fletcher Mr. & Mrs. C. W. Eliot Paine Mr. & Mrs. William McDowell '80 Mr. James Frick '78 Bruce Phillips '78 Mr. J.R. McGregor Gary & Glenon Friedmann '86 Nancy Gray Pyne Suzanne Durrell & lan Scott Mclsaac ('76) Galyn's Galley Ms. Cathy Ramsdell '78 Jennifer & Jay McNally '84 Ms. Laurie Geiger Mr. & Mrs. John P. Reeves Mr. Peter Moon '90 Stephen & Kathleen George Mr. David Rockefeller Janneke Seton Neilson June LaCombe ('75) & William Ginn '74 Peter H. & Lucy Bell N. Sellers Virginia Nyhart Ms. Megan Godfrey '77 Mr. & Mrs. Clyde E. Shorey, Jr. Jennifer Waldron & Benoni Outerbridge '84 Robert & Sonia Goodman Ms. Joan H. Swann Dr. & Mrs. Lewis Patrie Mr. Walter Goodnow Mr. John Thorndike Mr. & Mrs. Daniel Pierce John Allgood & Abigail Goodyear '81 Mr. John Viele ('81) Mr. & Mrs. George Putnam Mr. & Mrs. Michael Gumpert Stacy Hankin & Ben Walters '81 Mr. & Mrs. Owen Roberts Mr. Samuel Hamill, Jr. Alice & Bradford Wellman Mr. & Mrs. David Rockefeller, Jr. Mr. Matthew Hare '84 Mr. Douglas Williams Hilda K. & Thomas H. Roderick Barbara J. Hazard Sue Woehrlin '80 Mr. & Mrs. Ronald Rogers Mary J. Heffernon Jane S. Zirnkilton Mr. W. David Rosenmiller '84 Dr. Josephine Todrank Heth '76 Drs. Stephen & Pamela Ross Mr. & Mrs. Robert Hinckley Over 20 Years Mr. & Mrs. Max Rothal Carolyn & Dave Hollenbeck Anonymous (2) Mr. Daniel Sangeap '90 Bill & Cookie Horner Professor (Emeritus). J. K. Anderson Ms. Barbara Sassaman '78 Ms. Evelyn Mae Hurwich '80 Atwater Kent Foundation, Incorporated Ms. Margaret Scheid '85 Ms. Anna Hurwitz '84 Bar Harbor Savings & Loan Mr. Winthrop Short Mr. & Mrs. Orton P. Jackson, Jr. Mr. & Mrs. Robert M. Bass Ms. Dorie Stolley '88 Alison & Joplin James '84 Mr. John Biderman '77 Mrs. Allan Stone Jordan-Fernald Mr. Francis I. Blair Mrs. Kathryn Suminsby Esther Karkal '83 Ms. Edith Blomberg Elena Tuhy-Walters '90 & Carl Walters Dr. James Kellam '96 Dennis Bracale '88 & Hana Bracale Mr. John Van Dewater Steven King '80 Ms. Rebecca Buyers '81 Mrs. Jeptha Wade Aleda J. Koehn Bill Carpenter & Donna Gold Mr. John Wilmerding Roz Rolland & Scott Kraus '77 Mr. & Mrs. Elliot Cohen Janey Winchell '82 David Lebwohl MD Dr. Melville & Polly Cote Betsy Wisch '83 The Agnes M. Lindsay Trust Ms. Sally Crock Mr. & Mrs. William Wister, Jr. Peg Beaulac & Carl Little Mr. & Mrs. Roderick Cushman Mr. David Witham Mr. James MacLeod Ms. Lisa Damtoft '79 Meg & Miles Maiden '86 Over 15 Years Mary Drury Maine Coast Sea Vegetables Mrs. Bertha Erb Anonymous (3) Maine Community Foundation Ms. Cynthia Jordan Fisher '80 Dr. & Mrs. Raymond Alie Ms. Casey Mallinckrodt Mr. & Mrs. William G. Foulke, Jr. John & Karen Anderson Carol Manahan '77 Dr. & Mrs. Richard Fox Mr. Peter Anderson '81 Rob Marshall '87 Ms. Susan Freed '80 Mary Dohna '80 & Wells Bacon '80 Sarah A. McDaniel '93 Mr. Edwin Geissler ('76) Mr. Jeffrey Baker '77 Ms. Donna McFarland Jackson Gillman '78 Bar Harbor Lobster Bakes Mr. & Mrs. Clement McGillicuddy Mr. & Mrs. Paul Growald Mr. Bruce Becque '81 Clifton McPherson '84 Mr. & Mrs. George B. E. Hambleton Mr. Bruce Bender '76 Robert J. & Jane H. Meade Ms. Lois Hayes '79 Mr. & Mrs. Harold G. Brack Mr. Jeffrey Miller '92 Ms. Sherry Huber Suzanne Taylor & Don Cass Peter Milliken ('76) Susan B. Inches '79 Estate of Robert Cawley Mr. Frank Mocejunas Bob & Ellie Kates Ms. Tammis Coffin '87 Lois & John Moyer Susan Lerner & Steven Katona Ms. Diana Cohn '85 Mr. & Mrs. Olin Eugene Myers, Jr. ('80) Mr. & Mrs. James M. Kellogg Ruth M. & Tristram C. Colket Jr. National Park Tours & Transport, Inc. Craig Kesselheim '76 Mr. & Mrs. S. Whitney Dickey Ms. Hope Olmstead Carl & Lorraine Ketchum Mr. Lawrence Duffy Robert & Susan Pennington Ms. Anne Kozak Mrs. Marcia Dworak Ms. Judith Perkins Ms. Alice Leeds '76 Ms. Carol Emmons Dr. & Mrs. Richard Pierson Ms. Andrea Lepcio '79 Dianna & Ben Emory The Honorable Chellie Pingree '79 & 54 COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC MAGAZINE Donald Sussman Mr. & Mrs. Shelby M.C. Davis David Malakoff '86 & Amy Young Ms. Frances Pollitt '77 Steve '80 & Rose ('88) Demers Mr. & Mrs. Francis McAdoo Ms. Sydney Roberts Rockefeller Philip & Tina DeNormandie Ms. Leslie McConnell '81 Dr. Richard Rockefeller Holly Devaul '84 Mr. & Mrs. Grant G. McCullagh Dr. & Mrs. Dennis Shubert Janet Redfield & Scott Dickerson '95 Ms. Carol Mead '85 Wickham Skinner George & Kelly Dickson, MPhil '97 Laura Ellis & David Milliken Harriet Hailparn Soares Angela DiPerri '01 Rebecca & Steve Milliken Lynne & Mike Staggs '96 Mr. Millard Dority Mr. & Mrs. Sung Moon Carol & Sid Strickland Amb. & Mrs. William Eacho III Frank Moya MD Mr. & Mrs. Richard Sullivan Mr. & Mrs. Alden Eaton Mr. Stephen Mullane '81 Stuart Dickey Summer '82 Mr. Joseph Edes '83 Susan & Bob Nathane Dr. Davis Taylor Samuel & Elise Felton Carol '93 & Jacob '93 Null Ms. Katrin Hyman Tchana '83 David & Judith Fischer Willy Osborn Nick & Joan Thorndike Tom Fisher '77 Cara Guerrieri '83 & Francis Owen '83 Ms. Wendy Van Dyke ('80) Beth & Will Gardiner Jim & Suzanne Owen Richard Hilliard & Karen Waldron Mr. Matthew Gerald '83 Mr. & Mrs. Kenneth Paul Ms. Jean Weiss '81 Nadine Gerdts ('76) & Steve Lacker Mr. & Mrs. Malcolm Peabody Mr. & Mrs. Joseph Wishcamper Ms. Anne Giardina Ann & Arden Peach Tom & Loretta Witt Ms. Lauren Gilson '88 Ms. Margaret Pennock '84 Ms. Jingran Xiao ('89) John P. Gower Kim & Keating Pepper Mrs. Bo Greene Over 10 Years Mr. & Mrs. Ferguson E. Peters Ms. Linda Gregory '89 Helen Hess & Christopher Petersen Anonymous (2) Mary Nelson Griffin '97 Ms. Susan Priest Pierce '77 Acadia Senior College Chris Hamilton '85 Thomas & Patricia Pinkham Heather Albert-Knopp '99 & Erich Reed Atsuko Watabe '93 & Bruce Hazam '92 Ms. Carole Plenty Ms. M. Bernadette Alie '84 Katie Hester '98, ND, ARNP James Dyke & Helen Porter Ms. Judith Allen Dr. & Mrs. John Hoche Dr. Nishanta Rajakaruna '94 Ms. Evelyn Ashford ('83) Margaret Hoffman '97 Mr. & Mrs. John Rivers Estate of Brooke Russell Astor Homewood Benefits Mr. & Mrs. Hamilton Robinson, Jr. Dr. David Avery '84 Ms. Sarah F. Hudson Mr. & Mrs. John Robinson Lelania Prior Avila '92 & Family Ms. Jen Hughes Dr. Walter Robinson Elizabeth Rousek Ayers '95 Ms. Jane Hultberg Edith & William Rudolf Sarah & David Baker Mr. Peter Hunt Ms. CedarBough Saeji '93 Barbara Tennent & Steven Barkan Dania lams Charitable Remainder Trust Mr. Steve Savage '77 Sandi Read & Ron Beard John Jacob '81 David & Mary Savidge Paul '79 & Robin '80 Beltramini Ms. Jamien Jacobs '86 Cynthia Livingston & Henry L. P. Schmelzer Mr. Glen Berkowitz '82 Mr. William Janes Mr. Samuel Shaw Joan Stroud Blaine Margaret & Peter Jeffery '84 Sherman's Book & Stationery Store, Inc. Deirdre Swords & Michael Boland '94 Mr. & Mrs. Edward C. Johnson III Richard '88 & Lilea '90 Simis Rev. Paul Boothby '88 Ms. Laura Johnson Rich MacDonald & Natalie Springuel '91 Shan Burson '83 Ms. Leslie Jones '91 State Street Corporation Mr. Charles Butt Mr. & Mrs. H. Lee Judd Bruce & Susan Stedman Cadillac Mountain Sports Mr. Michael Kattner '95 Mr. John Steele Ms. Liza Carter ('76) Jill & Bobby Kelley William P. Stewart Michele & Agnese Cestone Foundation Kent-Lucas Foundation, Incorporated The Swan Agency - Insurance Erin Chalmers '00 Steven & Barbara Kiel Mr. Gilbert Sward Mrs. Sally Chetwynd '76 Bethany & Zack Klyver ('94) Dan Thomassen & Bonnie Tai Ms. Taj Chibnik '95 Dawn ('92) & Josh '91 Lamendola-Winer Mr. & Mrs. William Thorndike, Jr. Tim & Hannah Clark Burks B. Lapham Ellen Thurman Ms. Katherine Clark '91 Dr. & Mrs. Leung Lee Louise Tremblay '91 Mr. Kenneth Cline Ms. Rosalind Lewis Mr. Frank Twohill '79 Jan Coates Jessica Greenbaum '89 & University of Maine Sea Grant Program Pancho Cole '81 Philip Lichtenstein '92 US Department of Commerce Mr. & Mrs. Douglas Coleman Mr. & Mrs. Edward Lipkin Ms. Katrina Van Dusen Karen & Darron Collins '92 Gordon Longsworth '91 Cody & Christiaan van Heerden '09 Mr. Douglas Coots '83 Mr. & Mrs. Peter Loring Peter Wayne '83 Mrs. Bernard K. Cough Machias Savings Bank Mr. & Mrs. Harold White III Jennifer '93 & Kevin '93 Crandall Maine Space Grant Consortium Bryan Wyatt '80 COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC MAGAZINE 55 Japanese Beetles Anneke Hart '16 In an old peanut butter jar filled with water and hand soap, I must drown them in masses. My fascinated eyes squish to the glass watching them fall onto the foamy top layer temporarily calmed - their wings splayed out and frozen by the feeling of resting on air. Then, they sink below, their short legs struggle, beetles upon beetles pile on stilled bodies. They cluster together, crawl on top of each other, their last moments in panic. Then they go still, their lungs finally starved by the lavender perfume. Sometimes, as I grab each bug off hole-riddled bean leaves or pluck a mating pair from the paradise of my potato plants, I sing to them, usually folk songs in a soft voice full of vibrato. I think that beetles might like folk songs. Everything loves to be loved, doesn't it? 56 COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC MAGAZINE DARKNESS OF NATURAL HISTORY Deep Things out of Darkness: A History of Natural History By John G.T. Anderson, faculty member in biology University of California Press, 2013 Whenever we examine the natural world, who may feel a little shut out of the he rejects the notion that the plant we inevitably divide it into categories. We rise of increasingly theoretical and can be harvested only by attaching watch the blueberries and raspberries technologically driven brands of science. it to a dog, which will be killed by the for signs of ripeness in summer; but not mandrake's screams as the plant is juniper berries. And we have no fear of Chapter Five: "New Worlds" uprooted. He also rejects "many fables the squirrels - but should a coyote scurry Here John writes about one of the first of loving matters, too full of scurrility through our yard, we might lock up the popular herbals, created by "the Dutch to set forth in print, which I forbear cat. How do we know this? How do we botanist and physician Rembertus to speak of." The gossip in some of know that a juniper berry is quite different Dodoneaeus (1517-85), who served us might have enjoyed such "loving from a blueberry? The trial and error, as the court physician to the emperor matters," but "all which dreams and old the search and research, the recording of Austria," translated into English in wives' tales you shall from henceforth and telling of natural history has gone on 1597 by John Gerarde as The Herball cast out of your books and memory for eons. Many of these stories are lost or Generall Historie of Plantes. knowing this: that they are all and every to obscurity, but John Anderson's Deep part of them false and most untrue." Things out of Darkness recovers quite a The Herball is important in a number Gerard is also very firm that he has few enchanting ones. of ways. First, it was widely published, himself safely "digged up, planted, and edited, republished, excerpted from, replanted very many" mandrakes and To complete the wellness theme and used as a model. Second, it assures us that the plant does not look of this issue, we are excerpting a provides clear evidence of both the like a human. section from John's book about one decline of superstition and the rise of of Europe's first herbals. But first, a a truly global perspective in botany. Gerard's medical applications run the few lines from the introduction. - DG Examples of both abound throughout full gamut, from an enormous variety the book, which is organized so that of "purges" to the treatment of what Adam's Task, Job's Challenge each species gets a basic description we might now regard as psychological This book is neither by nor intended (illustrated in later editions), a rough ailments. He cautions that drinking a for a professional historian, I am range estimate, a synonymy, and its concoction of the "Prickly Indian Fig" advancing no overarching thesis about "Temperature and Vertues," which may result in red urine to the degree the development of science or culture. consist of possible medical applications that a patient may fear for his life, but Instead I aim to resurrect the people and preparations, often with reference he assures us that the color is simply and the stories that set the stage for to earlier authors. from the plant itself. Quite charmingly, modern ecological understanding. I he speaks of the seed of basil, which am writing [in part] for the serious Gerard includes the mandrake "cures the infirmities of the heart, takes amateur naturalist - the sort of person (Mandragora) in his catalogue, but he is away sorrowfulness that comes of who has played such an important part downright dismissive of what he refers melancholy, and makes a man merry in the development and recognition to as the "old wives' tales" surrounding and glad." Would that it were so. of natural history across time, and this plant. Contrary to earlier opinion, COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC MAGAZINE 57 COA NON-PROFIT U.S. POSTAGE PAID AUGUSTA, ME PERMIT NO. 121 The College of the Atlantic Magazine 105 Eden Street Bar Harbor, ME 04609 Wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens) by Lilliana Demers '13, from her senior project "A Study of the Local Healing Plants: Form, Color, and Spirit" Also known as teaberry, wintergreen is a small, creeping evergreen native to northern North America. The leaves and oil of wintergreen are used medicinally as a tonic, stimulant, astringent, and aromatic. It is anti-inflammatory and antiseptic, and is useful as a diuretic and to stimulate menstruation. External applications of the diluted oil from the leaves and twigs are used as a remedy for muscle pains and swollen joints. It's also used for headaches, as a digestive aid, and to eliminate flatulence.