Passions and Projects Wellesley 1971

Several amazing women who shared our dorm popcorn and mid-term grubbiness were kind enough to take the time (and have the courage) to share their passions at reunion. We know from reading the record book that many other classmates have a project or a passion as well. Now more classmates are sending information,  If you would like to to appear on the website along with them, simply send some text, weblinks, and photos about your project or passion to our webmistress and she will post it here for you. We hope the list will continue to grow and grow.  Read on and be amazed.

1971 Passions and Projects

 

KATHLEEN FINK:

 

 Kathleen developed a "tea & dialogue" practice which combines the dignity, respect and tranquility of Japanese Tea Ceremony with the open sharing, deep listening and trust of Insight Dialogue. She presented it to the class on February 28, 2022. Her own backyard is styled as a tea garden (see photo to left).

FRANCES FOWLER SLADE: Pianist (see below). Fran celebrated her birthday with a recital for friends and classmates on January 1, 2022.

VICTORIA SHORR PERKINS:  Her latest novel, The Plum Trees, was listed as a New York Times Recommended Historical Fiction selection for 2021. She gave a reading to the class in April 2021. Find more at http://www.victoriashorr.com.

 

ANDREA LEVITT: Andrea Levitt ’71, the Margaret Clapp ’30

Distinguished Alumna Professor Emerita of French and Linguistics, created Samuel and Hilda Levitt Fellowships, named for her parents. Awards of $3,500 are given at the end of the junior year to support students as they work on their honors theses. The second nine recipients were named in 2019.

The fellowships, named for the Levitts by their daughter Andrea Levitt ’71, the Margaret Clapp ’30 Distinguished Alumna Professor Emerita of French and Linguistics, support nine honors students, three each in the humanities, the social sciences, and the sciences.  

ANDREA LEVITT:  Andrea Levitt ’71, the Margaret Clapp ’30 Distinguished Alumna Professor Emerita of French and Linguistics, created Samuel and Hilda Levitt Fellowships, named for her parents. Awards of $3,500 are given at the end of the junior year to support students as they work on their honors theses. The inaugural fellowhips went to nine Wellesley honors students in spring 2018.

During her 40-plus years as a faculty member, Levitt advised more than 70 students on independent studies and writing honor theses. She also served on the subcommittee that helped select the Schiff Fellows from senior applicants writing honors theses. Levitt said one of the transformative experiences of her undergraduate education at Wellesley was writing an honors thesis, on a French novelist and filmmaker. As a professor, she said, “I wanted to offer that experience to as many undergraduates as possible.”

“It was clear to all of us on the subcommittee that we didn’t have enough money to provide stipends for all of the deserving students writing theses,” said Levitt. “I decided to provide funds to the College at the time of my retirement so that additional students writing honors theses could be supported in their work.”

FRANCES FOWLER SLADE: Pianist. After a thirty-year hiatus, Fran is once again playing piano. "I began playing in public at local gatherings of musicians. One thing led to another, and I bought a new piano-a restored 1908 Steinway. A major commitment for an almost-70-year old!"

Dancer. After a distinguished career conducting choirs and early music ensemble Princeton Pro Musica, Fran has turned her musicality into a love of contra and country dancing.  She is also on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/frances.slade  For more on Frances, open this word doc.

 

KATH WELCH: "I took up motorcycle riding again in 2014 after a 40-year hiatus. Here's a picture of my sweet little Suzuki last summer on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia, packed up for our first overnight trip...

This year's two-wheel adventure will be a tandem bicycle trip with my younger son in Northern California." Update: And the tandem trip really did happen this past May! 215 miles in six days through the Napa Valley... A wonderful adventure—two flat tires, four broken spokes, but six unforgettable days with my son.
 

KIM HAMILTON GOTTSHALL: Kim Hamilton Gottshall ‘71 is a retired urban planner who has held volunteer positions in community organizations throughout the U.S. Currently, she serves as secretary of the board at the Old Baldy Foundation in Bald Head, N.C. featured in the Wellesley Campaign.

"For the past ten years I have been visiting the National Archives in Washington once or twice a year to research the history of Bald Head Island and its lighthouses and life saving stations.  A new history of the island has been much needed.  As part of the 200th birthday celebration for the Old Baldy Lighthouse the Old Baldy Foundation hired Kevin Duffus to write a new history.  I turned over all of my notes to him and he did much additional research.  The Story of Cape Fear and Bald Head Island published this year was the result.  Also as part of the year long 200th birthday celebration I very much wanted to honor the men (sorry, yes they were all men) who had worked for either the Lighthouse Establishment or the Life Saving Service on Bald Head Island and were buried on the mainland in the town of Southport. I located 15 such men and with the help of Southport historical folks who knew some of the families we were able to track down seven descendant families. On the Saturday of Columbus Day Weekend we had a ceremony to install markers on each grave.  The small brochure that we handed out at the ceremony contained bios of each man and, whenever possible, a photograph.  The research was mine but corresponding with the different families was a treat."

THE WELLESLEY EFFECT: the College’s stunning new production in support of the Capital Campaign. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiRzIlZUlmE&feature=youtu.be

BARBARA BANG LOUNSBURY:  Organic farmer  Riverrisefarm.com, Turner ME (near Auburn) Environmental Lawyer turned Soil Improver and  Vegetable Genius https://www.facebook.com/RiverRiseFarm  For more on Bonnie, open this word doc.

SHEILA TRICE BELL: Educational and business consultant for schools, non- profits and Government consultants, inspired to create a non-profit in Denver, now  replicated in the Washington DC  area ProjectSelf .org is a Science, Engineering Technology and Math program designed to Turn Good Students into Great, and their results show that  results can be achieved very quickly. The website is here http://ProjectFutr.org/SELFpilot.html. She’s in the video and her husband Howard is in the photos.  Sheila’s webpage  is http://www.bte-i.com/sheilatricebell.htm

ANNEY BONNEY: Visual artist who uses painting, film video and photography to bring the spoken work, the song of birds, the language of  poets, the music of a cello alive through the magic of her art. Anneybonney.com

CAROLINE BRUZELIUS: Professor of  Art, Art history and Visual Studies Duke University. Caroline has pioneered the use of digitized visualization technologies for art and architecture to bring alive the construction and evolution of medieval buildings and decorative paintings for her students, and through them a whole generation of students to come. See www.visualizingvenice.org a collaboration using the techniques she pioneered. Her TedX talk is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYjhueongzg.  For more on Caroline, open this word doc.

MARGARET REEVE

After 34 years in higher education, I decided to take an extended sabbatical. My main volunteer activity is with 826 LA, a nonprofit started by Dave Eggers ten years ago. It is focused on literacy, and I work with 1st-5th grade students who produce stories, poems, and memoirs. There are ten 826 centers in major American cities. I also serve on the board of LACE, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, an organization started by artists in 1978 that promotes exhibitions and performances focused on activism and social justice.
More is at margaretreeve.com

LYN TATUM CHRISTIANSEN: Textile artist, braider in the kumihimo tradition, mosaicist, & teacher of innovation. She uses a wide range of materials to make wall hangings, 3D compositions, and wearables.

She teaches workshops emphasizing creativity and finding your voice. Building 4  2d floor Waltham OpenMills . She has shown at Laselle College, and the Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton. Lynn is interviewed and shown doing her work here. For more about Lynn and her work, see her company site or her show site. She holds Open Studios the first weekend In November.

For photos of Lynn's fiber art you will soon be able to open a word doc here. Until this document becomes available, the picture here will whet your appetite.
 

Artist: Christiansen:
Veil of Tears
hand-dyed silk braiding, rope, & knotting; 2’x4’

CLASS OF  1971 INSIGNIA:     See the international collaborative process between a Welllesley artist, (our own Delna Dastur) young  ethical sustainable  fashion entrepreneurs   https://projectjust.com  and a worker-centric factory in Jaipur, India with a commitment to sustainability https://meherashaw.com . Read the article The Making of the Class of 1971 Scarf.

DELNA DASTUR:  Virginia artist and teacher, not only inspired the design for the Insignia, but  has  shared her own  art work  and teaching in a PowerPoint. Her art is displayed throughout the East Coast, and in Mumbai and New Delhi. Delna works in multiple media, never just  or a single technique paint, and moving from charcoal on paper to wood blocks on canvas to paint on wooden panels to canvas. http://Delnadastur.com  For more on Delna's art, open these word docs:  Delna Part I, Delna Part II

LOIS JULIBER: After breaking quite a few glass ceilings in the business world, in  2006, Lois agreed to serve as founding director and chair of the newly formed MasterCard Foundation. The programs assist people living in poverty by providing access to education, financial inclusion and skills training, with a particular focus on Sub-Saharan Africa. http://mastercardfoundation.org  To read more about Lois's project, open this word doc.

SUSAN McLUCAS: International Human Rights Activist working against female genital mutilation in Republic of Mali, West Africa with powerful results in a very difficult setting. http://stopexicision.net When she’s at home, she spreads the gospel about healthy sustainable bicycle transportation. https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/06/01/with-bike-lessons-for-kids-some-parents-outsource-yet-another-rite-childhood/FOliCEH8QRmXpI1LE1cbvM/story.html  For more on Susan, open this word doc.

VICTORIA SHORR PERKINS: Author and Girls’ Education Activist: Vicky received a Stevens Traveling Fellowship from Wellesley to research the indigenous culture of  the Sertão region of Northeast Brazil in the 80s. After 10 years, she returned to Los Angeles with her husband and children, and shocked anew by sexism at home, found kindred spirits to found the Archer School for Girls in 1995. It provides a creative and intellectual environment geared to girls’ unique ways of learning. http://Archer.org.  Vicky is now immersed in founding a girls’ school at the Pine  Ridge Reservation in  South Dakota. http://www.pineridgegirlsschool.com/.  Backlands,her novel about Maria Bonita the real woman who became a leader of the   banditos in the  Sertão in  1920s and 1930s has been published to critical acclaim by Norton Books. http://www.amazon.com/dp/0393246027/ref=nav_timeline_asin?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1   For more on Victoria, open this word doc.

PAM WESCOTT:  Patient Educator and Advocate; Foundation for Informed Medical Decision Making.  Pam was a Saturday AM panelist. See her video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cna__dMxcko  and get her decision making guide  http://www.informedmedicaldecisions.org/thoughtleadership/foundationblog/december-2012/i-wish-i-had-asked-that-a-new-worksheet-for-patie.aspx   Our website also has a comprehensive article about the Saturday Am panel, including Pam's notes for her remarks.