UMass Magazine Online

PRIOR – NOT JUST IMAGINING
SIMPSON – MESMERIZING

Artist-alumnus Scott Prior’s oil painting (Summer 2003) may contain a coincidence both he and UMass Magazine are unaware of! Prior noted that his picture of the UMass campus was “imaginary…there’s no such spot.” Yet, if the pictured glow is an Amherst sunset beyond the tall buildings, the location could well be Sunset Avenue.

The spot where the two cows gaze at the viewer could be the old Smith Farm (there before there was a Sunset Avenue), where author and historian Ray Stannard Baker built a house on 10 acres and created a small farm in 1910. Baker, who would later win a Pulitzer Prize for his biography of Woodrow Wilson, undoubtedly was first attracted to Amherst by his brother, Massachusetts Agricultural College President Hugh Potter Baker.

The coincidence is in artist Prior’s placing of a “blimp” airship in the sunset sky for reasons of humor. Yet Ray S. Baker, writing under his usual rural pen name of David Grayson, describes an “airship” flying on a November afternoon over Mt. Toby and Deerfield, southward over Mt. Warner and disappearing “a fading speck in the sky” over Mt. Tom and Springfield (“November” in The Countryman’s Year, Doubleday Doran & Co., Inc., 1936). While a “blimp” is not a zeppelin-type airship, it is close enough to show how accurate Prior’s perceptions are!

Thanks to Prior, and the Barletta Co., for commissioning his artwork. His painting reinforces my hope that UMass Amherst, no matter how many tall skyscrapers are built, will retain at least some of its rural roots in the most beautiful Connecticut River Valley.

Brendan Whittaker ’57
Guildhall, Vermont

Josh Simpson’s “Inhabited Planet” is mesmerizing. I have not yet finished reading the latest magazine, but I had to write. It is something in which I could lose myself. Also loved Scott Prior’s “Blimp, Buildings and Bovines,” so utterly (no pun intended) different, yet so UMass.

Barbara Peirce ’72
San Pedro, California

WAUGH ARTICLE BRINGS JOY
Your article on Frank Waugh (Winter 2003) was very well timed, as it was then that my husband, Everett Roberts ’39, was hospitalized before his death. When Ev was in college for his fifth year in order to attain his degree in landscape architecture, he benefited greatly from being in Professor Waugh’s classes.

The day I visited Ev in the hospital and read him your article about Professor Waugh and showed him the interesting photos, his spirits took a “high note,” which didn’t happen very often.

Sally Roberts ’37
Elkhart, Indiana

DEBORAH GOOD, A LIFE OF ACHIEVEMENT
I have just finished reading the story of the accomplishments of Deborah Good (Spring 2003). What a wonderful story about this young lady who achieved what she wanted from the time she was a child.

How well I remember, because I am her 91-year-old grandmother, and am so very proud of her and love her so much.

My best to Deborah in her continued field of research.

Alice M. Good
Melbourne, FL

RUBBERIZED ASPHALT – TOO HOT!
I am writing about the controversial rubberized asphalt repaving (“One Giant Molecule,” Winter 2003) of the freeways in the Phoenix area, which is ongoing, to reduce noise. The rubberized asphalt has a major negative result. It remains hotter at night than the concrete surface. July 2003 was the hottest month ever recorded in Phoenix. The intense urban “heat island” registered 10 nights in July a low temp of 90 degrees plus!

Andy Conway
Phoenix, Arizona

OOPS, OUR FACTOID
In the Books article (Summer 2003), Charles Creekmore refers to “some strange and wonderful factoids.” A factoid is “an invented fact believed to be true because of its appearance in print” (Webster’s), i.e., a lie. So, whom is Mr. Creekmore calling a liar – the children’s book author or the scientists who discovered the megamouth shark? In his freelance articles for the New York Times, did Mr. Creekmore ever misuse the term “factoids” for “facts” and was it passed over by the same editors who published Jayson Blair’s factoids as facts?

Priscilla Biondi ’59
Brighton

POSTCARD, LOGO WON'T DO
I commend you for the level of professionalism of UMass Magazine, but I found the cartoon for the “Express yourself” postcard (Spring 2003) offensive. It was taken from the picture on page 9, with a reference to sports, but to use it out of context, on a request for alumni to express themselves, imbues it with more meaning.

A Minuteman holding a club, standing on a dead wolf is a rather unattractive portrayal. Clubbing animals to death is funny? Standing on dead animals fulfills the ego? Minutemen are brutal?

It’s a small point in a violent world, but one hopes for more sensitivity in the educated.

Anne Ryleston ’88G
Ware

DWIGHT ALLEN A CATALYST
I just clicked on UMass Magazine online and discovered that a reunion was held honoring Dwight Allen. I was pleased to see some of my old classmates from the ’70s.

Dwight was indeed a unique individual who had a great impact on my life. He made it possible for me to go back to school and complete an Ed.D., allowing me to become what I call a “professional migrant,” i.e., hold a variety of positions in higher education. From a professor of education at SUNY Albany and NYU to eventually an administrator at Portland State, California State University San Bernardino, San Jose State and San Diego State Universities. I have just retired as a vice chancellor in a multi-campus community college district with a brief stop in Iowa.

Dwight made this happen by providing us with the opportunity. Additionally, he asked that I identify others like myself who could be change agents, and I did. They have gone on to become professors, innovators of social programs, and several are now deans of schools of education and other disciplines.

Dwight, thank you.

P.S. My daughter received her degree in engineering from UMass and my son did his lower division work at UMass and transferred to the University of Southern California from where he graduated and is now a COO for a firm in Beverly Hills managing the finances of some of entertainment’s biggest stars.

Gilbert Sanchez ’72
Ben Lomond, California

POLITELLA REMEMBERED FONDLY
I was deeply saddened by the death of Journalism Professor Dario Politella, reported in the Summer 2003 issue. Dario was a caring teacher, a mentor and a good friend who will be missed.

I met Dario in 1985, when I was a first-year student. That year, I decided to join the Index, the university’s yearbook. I was interested in journalism, but the Collegian seemed a bit too intimidating to my freshman self. The Index felt cozy and comfortable. The staff was small and the people were welcoming. I figured it would be a great way to do some writing and reporting and make some good friends. Dario had been advising the yearbook’s student staff for as long as anyone could remember. He, with his shock of white hair, dark-rimmed glasses and voluble manner, was gregarious and funny, and I immediately took to his slightly eccentric way of doing things.

I ended up staying with the yearbook for four years, eventually becoming editor in 1988. Through those years, Dario was always there, offering support and keeping us motivated. A PR man through and through, he could come up with a seemingly endless list of story ideas, fundraising strategies or marketing initiatives at the drop of a hat. His energy and commitment still inspire me.

Some of my fondest memories are of the times Dario and I spent chatting in his office in Bartlett Hall. If I were struggling with a paper, he’d guide me through it. If I needed a laugh, he’d tell a joke. During my senior year, when the pressure to find a job seemed almost unbearable, he made a habit of sending me copies of ads for reporting positions. He’d circle them in red ink and include a few encouraging words with each: “Go for it!” or “This one seems perfect for you.”

After graduation, we kept in touch for several years. He’d send short notes, typed up on an old typewriter; I’d call him every now and then to catch up. And at Christmas he’d send out a longer letter, updating everyone with news about his family, his painting and his charitable work. He’d close all of his letters with three simple words: “Keep the faith!” It was a hopeful mantra from a professor who inspired others to always do their best.

John MacMillan ’89
Florence

DONAHUE DESERVES AN ARTICLE
In the summer 2003 issue I read that Michael J. Donohue ’47 had died. I am surprised that there was not an article about him. Unless my memory has gone down the drain, I believe he was the person who convinced the legislature to change the name of Massachusetts State College to the University of Massachusetts.

Bill Lieberwirth ’50
South Dennis

Editor’s note: Bill Lieberwirth is quite right that Michael Donohue was one of the best lobbyists for the name change. Faye S. Wolfe wrote about him and several others from the class of ’47 who made it happen in her Spring ’97 article in this magazine (umassmag.com).

MORE ON SPORTS PROGRAM
I would like to make some points in response to Douglas Smith’s letter about the university sports program (Summer 2003).

First, his suggestion that we transfer to the Atlantic Coast Conference is now moot, since Miami and Virginia Tech have left the Big East Conference for the ACC. Besides, the ACC is made up primarily of institutions along the southeastern seaboard. So, from a geographical standpoint, it wouldn’t be practical for UMass to join the conference.

Second, UMass recruits nationally in football, whether they be transfers from other four-year institutions, junior college transfers or high school recruits.

Third, while the Atlantic Ten Conference is indeed spread out from New England to Virginia, it is arguably the most competitive conference in all of Division I-AA. The A-10 routinely has been sending three schools to the I-AA playoffs each year.

Last, the university is now taking a hard look at moving up to Division I-A. If that were to happen, the logical conference to join would be the Big East, certainly from a geographical standpoint. That theoretically would bring in bigger crowds and more money. As it is, the program has recently been playing one Division I-A school on the road each season which gives the players exposure to that type of competition and provides a bigger payday with the larger crowds at those venues.

On a different subject, I read with great interest Terry Allen’s story on Emily Dickinson and her apparent “love interest” in UMass founder William Smith Clark. I was especially interested in the portraits of Mr. Clark in the Class Notes section. Do you have a portrait of him in his Civil War uniform? If so, I would like to see it.

George Geer ’76
Derby, Connecticut

QUESTIONS CONCLUSIONS ABOUT EMILY DICKINSON'S SECRET LOVE
Ruth Owens Jones’ speculation about Emily Dickinson and William Clark (Summer 2003) raises some interesting questions. The fly in the ointment, for me, is that Jones ignores all the Dickinson letters that actually mention Clark! In her article in the Emily Dickinson Journal http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/emily_dickinson_journal/v011/11.2jones.html), Jones doesn’t mention a single letter in which Dickinson refers to Clark, nor does she mention the one letter (letter 145) from Dickinson in 1853 in which she says, “have written to Clark today.” We might speculate that this is William Clark, but it’s not completely clear. Jones does say:

“When Clark went off to war, Emily Dickinson tried to have Sam Bowles forward her letters (letter 256). She could not send them in her own handwriting from the small town post office as Postmaster Lucius Boltwood, her parents, and neighbors would then know to whom she was writing.”

This is very misleading because Jones seems to be suggesting that Dickinson wanted Bowles to forward letters to Clark. No such suggestion is made in the letter to Bowles nor to anyone else and the only mention of Clark that Dickinson makes during the war is in letter 255, when she tells her cousins about the death of family friend and son of the president of Amherst College, Frazar Stearns: “He fell by the side of Professor Clark, his superior officer. …They tell that Colonel Clark cried like a little child when he missed his pet, and could hardly resume his post.” This is also the last time Clark’s name appears in any of the Dickinson letters that are currently known to scholars. Jones claims that Dickinson refers to Frazar as Austin, but in letter 255, as it is printed in the current definitive text, this is not correct. She does mention Austin in this letter, saying “Austin is stunned completely,” which he would have been as a friend and contemporary of Stearns’ who did not go to the war.

Jones also says, “There is evidence that Dickinson was again writing to Clark when he went to Japan in 1876-1877,” but she doesn’t present it. One wonders what that evidence is, especially since a search of the excellent concordance to the letters edited by Cindy Mackenzie lists no mention of anyone named Clark after letter 255.

Dickinson scholarship is a tricky road to travel because so little hard evidence exists for so many aspects of the poet’s life. For this reason, it is essential that anyone writing about Emily Dickinson make it very clear that what she/he is saying is based on speculation. Whoever the Master may be, Dickinson’s letters do not support Jones’s claim that William Clark was anything more to the poet than a family friend. Does this mean he wasn’t her secret love? No, it doesn’t, but it does mean that much harder evidence is needed.

Marcy Tanter ’86, ’96G
Stephenville, Texas

Regarding my article, “Neighbor and Friend and Bridegroom: William Smith Clark as Emily Dickinson’s Master Figure” in the Emily Dickinson Journal:

I did write about one of the two of Dickinson’s letters (letter 158) in which Dickinson mentions William S. Clark (see footnote 3). The third letter Tanter worries about is irrelevant since it is about a man from Brookline whom her brother knew while at Harvard Law School (see W. Austin Dickinson’s correspondence at Harvard’s Houghton Library).

I did not mean to mislead readers with my point about Dickinson sending secret letters to be forwarded during this crisis time when she is known to have had a Master figure. My point was that if Dickinson was asking Sam Bowles to mail secret letters, the Master figure was certainly not Bowles. My theory is that it was Clark, who was away in the Civil War, and was writing to Bowles and for his Springfield Republican.

Richard Sewall, the premier Dickinson biographer, noted that Dickinson sometimes wrote about “Austin” when it could not possibly have been brother Austin. I did say why I think that it was really Clark who was the subject of the many letters – Clark, not Frazar (as Tanter misread it) who was code-named Austin (see my article, page 61).

I did give my reasons about Dickinson being in touch with Clark again after he was in Japan. She was again sending secret letters, there are ancient Japanese trees on her property, and she acquired a Japanese fan that she forwarded to Helen Hunt Jackson.

The name Clark does appear in Dickinson letters later. Cindy Mackenzie in her “excellent” concordance of Dickinson letters did not even include the names of recipients of the letters. Between 1883 (letter 776) and 1886 Dickinson wrote 21 letters to James and Charles Clark.

Tanter wrote her dissertation at UMass on Dickinson and the British writers Dickinson knew. I am more interested in the Master figure because I think who it was makes a huge difference in how we read Dickinson’s poems and letters. During the Master figure period she sometimes wrote 300-plus poems a year. They were her best work, her most passionate and happy poems, but also her most depressing, almost suicidal ones. That the Master could have been a botanist, a neighbor, a supporter of John Brown, a Civil War officer, not a minister, an editor, or a woman (lesbian love of her sister-in-law) is significant to me. I continue my research and plan to write more detail in a book.

From 1853 until 1870 Clark and his family lived two doors away from the Dickinsons. Recently I found that William Smith Clark was the first named pallbearer at Dickinson’s father’s funeral. This new information further demonstrates that Clark was in Dickinson’s life.

Isn’t there room for us all to pursue our own Dickinson studies? For any of the previous Master figures, all we have is pure speculation. My article presents new information about Dickinson and Clark and so much circumstantial evidence that I believe I show Clark is more likely than any of them to have been Dickinson’s muse and audience from 1857 until 1865.

Ruth Owen Jones, ’64, ’86G
Amherst, MA

...AND SOME CLARK DESCENDANTS
We are always glad to receive your magazine (our son Hans graduated from your university). It is an excellent publication, at least as good, if not better, than Harvard Magazine and Johns Hopkins Magazine, which we also receive regularly. In the last issue there was an article of special interest to my wife and our children, because it concerns William Smith Clark, a direct ancestor. We read it with great interest and find the theory of Ruth Owen Jones very convincing.

Do you think you could send us 12 extra copies? My wife’s grandmother was Eliza Clark Greenough, a daughter of WSC. Her husband, William Bates Greenough was a lawyer in Providence, and at one time attorney general of Rhode Island. There are many living descendants we know of. One of them is William B. Greenough, III, M.D., who lives near us. As a graduate of Amherst College he gave some of his archives to his alma mater. There may be some material of interest to Ms. Jones. Our niece, Dr. Eliza Richards, who teaches English literature at Boston University, is very interested in Emily Dickinson. All these people will be very grateful to you for having a copy.

Harriet and Georg Luck
Baltimore, Maryland

LOOKING FORWARD TO 50TH
A devoted group from the class of 1954 began working soon after our 45th reunion to make our 50th a wonderful Homecoming for as many class members as possible. There have been physical changes to the pastoral landscape we fondly remember; the central core to us is still the college pond and Old Chapel, handsomely restored by earlier class gift contributions. In addition to the natural beauty and good education, it is friendships shared there that we hope will bring our classmates back to Amherst again.

Chancellor Lombardi has been helpful in supporting our Class Gift Project, and looks forward to meeting and welcoming each of you next June. 1954 classmates, we hope you will make your plans now and we can count on you to join us June 4-6, 2004, for our 50th reunion celebration.

Ed and Franny (Jones) Craig ’54
Eastham

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ALL THE LETTERS ALL THE TIME

LETTERS IN PRINT, FALL 2003