Bamford School Volume 3 Issue 2 Spring 2009

÷e Blue Doors
The
NightingaleBamford School
Volume 3
Issue 2
Spring 2009
Contents
4
Building the Nightingale Community
6
12
On the Record
16
Home Improvement
18
12
Levitt-ation
20
The
A
Welcome
Nightingale
Change
Graduate of 2017
22
Hallways
33
Class Notes
40
Voices
Join us as we look behind the scenes at the Nightingale
admissions process.one of the world’s most famous peaks.
Nightingale’s music faculty discuss their recent recordings
and the early experiences that inspired them.
Janine Jordan ’51 has turned a talent for design
into a career improving people’s lives.
Liz Levitt Hirsch ‘69 is building up communities around the
country with a network of performing arts pavilions.
Nicole
The
Board
Kohn
of‘78
Trustees
has taken
approve
a roundabout
a vision statement
path to get
forwhere
the future
she
is today—and
of Nightingale.
she wouldn’t have it any other way.
Stories and photographs from around the schoolhouse
English faculty member Julie Whitaker shares some insight
on last fall’s attacks in Mumbai.
EDITORIAL NOTE:
In the fall 2008 issue of The Blue Doors, we published an article about Lizzie Gottlieb ’89 and her
brother, Nicky. While Laura Kirk ’94, the author of the article, beautifully captured their story and
treated them both with the utmost respect, a subtitle was attached during the editing process stating
that Nicky suffered from Asperger Syndrome. As Ms. Kirk wrote in a letter disputing this subtitle,
“To say a person suffers from Asperger Syndrome is to reduce a neurological reality that defines much
of a person’s identity to an illness that ought to be cured. This reductionist assumption is exactly the
type of notion that Nicky, Lizzie’s documentary on Nicky, and my article seek to dispel.”
Ms. Kirk is absolutely right that the subtitle is both misleading and offensive, and for that we sincerely
apologize. We generally work closely with authors on any edits we make and give them approval
of the final edits and layout. Because of shifts in our production schedule, Ms. Kirk was not able to
review a final version of the article and layout, so she did not know of the change and was unable to
correct it.
Foreword
“We understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never
been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted,
for those who prefer leisure over work or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame.
Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things… who have carried
us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.”
—President Barack Obama, Inaugural Address
What is the work that we do here at Nightingale? We can simply say: “developing the
minds and hearts of our students,” but there’s so much more to it. We shape leaders,
encourage independent study, put on musicals and medieval festivals. We sponsor
international trips for our students—even now we’re expanding this program as our
World Religions class travels to India this spring. Nightingale has been undergoing
a five-year review for the New York State Association of Independent Schools, and
the report we’ve submitted weighs in at 45 pages—and that’s just about what’s new!
It takes a lot to cover the bases of everything we do at Nightingale, and there are
plenty of intangibles that could never be described fully. But perhaps we can imagine
our handiwork as readying our students for the rugged path that our new president
described in his Inaugural address.
This issue features an article about the Nightingale-Bamford admissions process,
and I’m quoted in the article as saying there are 44 different kinds of Nightingale girl.
This is absolutely true, but if they have one thing in common, it is their potential
to work hard and enjoy working hard. We challenge our students to follow any road
that interests them, to tackle the big problems, to resist any temptation to give up.
As I watch the Class of 2009 readying itself for college later this year, I think I am
most proud of them for having learned these lessons, even as they’ve learned more
clearly academic ones as well. Our faculty and staff have trained them well.
Now America begins the hard work of rebuilding itself. I don’t doubt that many
Nightingale alumnae will be among the risk-takers, doers, and makers who will be
rolling up their sleeves to help shape the next part of American history.
Dorothy A. Hutcheson
Head of School
2 THE B L UE DOORS
Class I girls designed and made
these puppets as part of their
studio art class with Scott
Meikle. Using wood dowels,
air-dry clay, and old fabric and
beads from around the city,
the girls created their puppets
and then spent a class period
putting on plays in a special
puppet theater.
Building the
Nightingale
Community
Admissions has changed a lot over the years, and as more people
apply to independent schools like Nightingale, the process becomes
increasingly complex. We thought now would be an appropriate time
to pull back the curtain and see what goes on—and why—as we bring
together the next generation of Nightingale girls.
by Karyn L. Feiden
It is impossible to describe the typical Nightingale girl. She
could be shy or outgoing, literary or mathematical, mischievous
or mannerly, athletic or a bit clumsy. In fact, every class is
likely to include students with some combination of these
characteristics.
“I rebel against the idea that there is one kind of Nightingale
girl or one kind of Nightingale family, because that couldn’t
be further from the truth,” says Head of School Dorothy A.
Hutcheson. “I look at the next Kindergarten class and I think
there are 44 different ways to be a Nightingale girl.”
In deciding who will enter the blue doors next fall, the
school seeks students with a diverse set of talents, interests,
personalities, and backgrounds who will create a challenging,
vibrant community together. These girls’ interactions, along
with the faculty who guide them, lie at the heart of the
intellectual and emotional experience the school provides.
4 THE B L UE DOORS
Any good baker knows the principle: the quality of every
ingredient that gets folded into the mix has a bearing on the
finished product. But no recipe exists for a multi-dimensional
admissions process that is as much art as science. Open
houses, school fairs, tours, and other outreach efforts acquaint
interested parents with the school. Interviews, testing, on-site
observation, and pre-school visits help paint the fullest
possible portrait of applicants. And a six-person Admissions
Office, working in tandem with a separate committee of
faculty and administrators, gives Nightingale the utmost
confidence in its decisions.
With over 500 applicants for the 2009–2010 Kindergarten
class, the selection process is competitive and resourceintensive. But it is also transparent, carefully considered, and
regularly reassessed, with the ultimate goal of finding girls
who will thrive and grow in the Nightingale milieu. This is the
story of how that is done.
Diversity at Nightingale
Getting Acquainted:
The Tour and Interview
Most families apply for admission when their daughters are
ready to enter Kindergarten. Ninth grade is also a significant
entry point into Nightingale—typically, about one-third of that
class is new. Applications are accepted for all classes through
the tenth (and occasionally eleventh) grade, with a deadline of
December 15 for the next fall semester.
The Admissions
Office gains a richer
understanding of a child
when a family can see her
for who she is—most likely
clever and charming,
occasionally naughty but
more often nice, and
inevitably imperfect.
Once a family submits a completed application, a tour
is scheduled. Parent volunteers shepherd families applying
to Kindergarten, while students guide the older girls. Sonia
Batten, whose daughter is in Nightingale’s sixth grade, is one
of the tour guides. Ms. Batten offers parents both nuts-andbolts information and an insider’s perspective as they walk
through the schoolhouse. The sole agenda at this point is to
give parents a fuller sense of the place. “They want to hear,
parent to parent, what Nightingale is really about,” she says.
Generally, parents are interviewed for 30 to 45 minutes
right after the tour. Director of Admissions Margaret Metz
tries to set the tone for a relaxed meeting.
“My goal is to de-intensify the process. It is frenetic, it is
6 THE B L UE DOORS
overwhelming, and families usually come in here as nervous
as you can imagine. Our job is to warm up the family and
have a flowing conversation.”
As she does, she tries to get a sense of how involved a
parent is in their daughter’s daily life, how they spend time
together, and what a parent does to encourage the child’s
interests. “I like to hear them describe the child and see
whether they feel at ease talking about her,” says Ms. Metz.
“When you are spending a lot of time together, that usually
comes naturally.”
Questions about family routines and rituals, weekend
activities, and cultural pursuits help Nightingale determine
whether a structured approach to learning will be supported
in the home. There are no right answers—indeed, red flags go
up when parents seem too scripted, as if they have prepared
rote responses to questions they have been warned to expect.
“Families get so nervous; they feel they have to change who
they are and act in a way that pleases us,” senses Ms. Metz.
“We really try to encourage them to be themselves.”
Nightingale looks for clues that point to parents who are
thoughtful and involved, yet confident enough to trust the
school and stand back when their child struggles occasionally
to meet demands. They also want people comfortable with
a philosophy that honors cooperation and hard work. “If you
sense in the interview that parents want their child to be the
standout, to excel in everything, they may be disappointed
here,” says Ms. Hutcheson. “We are going to talk about the
standards of the group and how they treat one another as a
prime value.”
The Admissions Office gains a richer understanding of a
child when a family can see her for who she is—most likely
clever and charming, occasionally naughty but more often
nice, and inevitably imperfect. “We sometimes have parents
who think their child is flying to the moon tomorrow. They talk
about her in a way that isn’t real,” says Ms. Metz. When that
glassy-eyed assessment carries over into a conversation about
discipline—“we never have to discipline her”—it can become
a barrier to candor.
The overarching goal of the interview is to identify families
who support Nightingale’s commitment to developing the
whole child as the school shapes good citizens who respect
one another. “Our mission is very clear,” emphasizes Ms.
Hutcheson. “We are trying to think about the personal and
emotional development of a child at the same time we are
thinking about her academic and intellectual development.
That balance is alive and well here.”
by Karyn L. Feiden
A diverse student population is
not an amenity at Nightingale, but
rather the cement that is essential
to the school’s structural integrity.
“The number one goal of our
office is to enroll girls from all
walks of life,” declares Margaret
Metz, director of admissions. Only
by pulling in children of many
nationalities, creeds, and colors;
drawing together long-established
New York families and recent
immigrants; and blending the
wealthy and the working class, can
Nightingale truly reflect, and take
full advantage of, this extraordinary
hometown.
None of that is easy to do.
In the old days, diversity at
independent schools was promoted
as a form of beneficence bestowed
on the needy by the privileged. “I’m
old enough to remember when we
thought about diversity as helping
others, a form of noblesse oblige,”
admits Dorothy A. Hutcheson, head
of school. “Now we recognize that
you can’t be an excellent school
if you don’t have students from
diverse backgrounds. You want to
learn from people who are different
from you.”
Steve Klinsky, a Nightingale
trustee and parent, agrees and
emphasizes the joyful spirit of
a diverse environment. “I view
Nightingale’s focus on diversity
as a simple matter of fairness.
A good education is the best road
to a successful life, and it’s terrific
that Nightingale can assemble
highly qualified girls from all over
the city to pursue this opportunity
together.” Nightingale reaches
out in many directions to find
talent and potential, working
closely with specialty programs that
mentor children in underserved
communities and introduce them
to top-notch independent schools.
Prep for Prep on Manhattan’s
Upper West Side, for example,
enrolls 150 fifth-graders of color
every year in a rigorous 14-month
course that meets every Wednesday
afternoon and all day on Saturday
during the school year, and for two
intensive seven-week sessions in the
summer. Nightingale is committed
to admitting three Prep for Prep
graduates to the Middle School
every year.
You want to learn
from people
who are different
from you.
It has also carefully cultivated
relationships with Kipp Academy,
A Better Chance, De La Salle
Academy, Albert G. Oliver, Teak
Fellowship, and other programs with
a similar focus. Those connections
help Nightingale build a diverse
ninth-grade class, with girls of color
making up about half the 15 students
who entered in 2008.
Diversifying the Kindergarten
class has proven much more difficult.
“We have not really changed the dial
on this over a ten-year period of
significant recruiting in new markets
and new neighborhoods, even
though we have substantial financial
aid dollars we are willing to invest,”
admits Ms. Hutcheson with evident
regret. “That is a great heartache
for me.”
If the reasons were simple,
simple solutions could probably
be found, but a certain wariness
of other cultures seems to be
embedded deep within the human
psyche. Along with reservations that
may be rooted in subtle mistrust,
many families are unfamiliar with
independent schools; others face
economic pressures that narrow their
horizons. And, on the most practical
level, arranging transportation
for young children from distant
neighborhoods can be complex.
“No matter how nurturing and
open we see ourselves, we are still
a school in one of the wealthiest
neighborhoods in the world. We
are still a very, very foreign place for
many families,” says Ms. Hutcheson.
That reality feeds on itself, of
course. “Families of color are
very concerned about not being
trailblazers. They do not want to
be in an environment where their
children do not see others who
look like them,” says Wendy A.
Van Amson, a Nightingale trustee
and an African-American parent.
“The only way to fix that is to have
demonstrable, viable diversity at
school.”
Challenging one’s assumptions
can help, believes Jacqueline Pelzer,
who is executive director of Early
Steps. Ms. Hutcheson serves as
vice president of the Early Steps
board, and Nightingale is one of the
founding members of that program,
which guides families of color all
along the socioeconomic spectrum
into Kindergarten and first grade at
independent schools.
“Sometimes, the picture people
have in their minds about who
will be successful at a school isn’t
broad enough to allow for varying
life experiences and different family
structures, like families living in other
boroughs, grandparents raising
children, and mommy-mommy
families,” warns Pelzer. “Sometimes
educators need to ask themselves,
‘Is there another lens I can use to
see children who have a gleam in
their eyes?’ That’s what we look for
when we admit new students—but
we may need some innovative ways
to find it.”
T H E BL UE D OOR S 7
Observing the Children
To give every child the fairest possible shot at joining the
Kindergarten class, Nightingale brings each one into the
school and observes her in a small-group setting; the schedule
is planned carefully so that most children are able to visit
when they are approximately the same age.
At least three trained observers watch children participate
in tasks and games that offer insight into their cognitive,
verbal, number, and motor skills; their imagination; and their
capacity to pay attention and process information. There is
time for play, too, which reveals much about a child’s social
skills and her capacity to engage with others.
I look at the next
Kindergarten class and
I think there are 44
different ways to be a
Nightingale girl.
The screening process then moves to the home turf of
the pre-school, where the children should already be at ease.
Nightingale draws its Kindergarten class from a pool of
over 100 pre-schools in New York, although it is constantly
expanding its recruitment efforts to involve more schools
located in diverse neighborhoods. The visits add more texture
to the picture of a child’s gifts and personality.
“We get a sense of her pluck and drive,” says Ms. Metz.
“We see how she interacts with other students and with
teachers. We learn something about her energy level and
her ability to smile easily and make eye contact. All of these
things are critical to a child’s approach to learning.”
Ms. Metz and Blanche Mansfield, head of lower school,
have developed candid relationships with numerous early
childhood directors over time, and rely heavily on their input
at this stage of the assessment. (While there are no school
visits for older girls, Nightingale admissions staff often have
similar conversations with placement directors before a child
is admitted to the Middle or Upper School.) Ms. Metz says,
“Good communication with those who know the family and
the child best is critical for us. There needs to be a very open
and honest dialogue.”
8 TH E B L UE DO O RS
Lydia Spinelli, director of the Brick Church School, which is
just down the block on East 92nd Street and runs programs
for children ages three to five, understands that. Because
she is so familiar with the culture of Nightingale and many
other independent schools, Ms. Spinelli helps steer parents
to places she considers an appropriate fit. She can also act as
their advocate, especially if she feels strongly that Nightingale
is overlooking an appropriate candidate.
But her influence does not extend to decision-making. “It
is my job to help place my kids,” she says candidly. “I wouldn’t
recommend a child to Nightingale who wouldn’t do well there,
but I recommend more children than Nightingale can take.”
Is There a Back Door In?
New York being New York, there will always be parents
convinced they can pull the right strings to win the admissions
prize. With more families staying in the city, and a sense of
heightened competition in an increasingly global economy,
the search for a back door sometimes becomes feverish,
even foolish. A friend of a friend called Wendy Van Amson,
a trustee and Nightingale parent, to ask for a letter of
recommendation—never mind that Ms. Van Amson didn’t
know the child, who was just three at the time, or that her
parents had not yet even requested an application.
Dorothy Hutcheson also fields telephone calls regularly
from parents who are already part of the Nightingale
community and want to put in a good word for someone.
She doesn’t mind a bit. “I don’t have a hands-off policy.
Good grief, if anyone wants to tell me that this is a great
family we would love to have in the school, I am happy to
know that,” she says. “I pass it right on to the Admissions
Office and it becomes part of the folder. But it is in no way
or shape a deciding factor.”
No one is blind to the sensitivities that may be involved,
of course, and Ms. Hutcheson may get an advance alert to
the more delicate admissions decisions. But the bottom line
is that offers are ultimately made in the interests of bringing
together the right group of children, not an influential group
of parents.
Nightingale, unashamedly, does give families a leg up
if they are already part of the school community. Because
actively engaged families are so essential to the school’s
culture, the siblings of current and past students and the
children of alumnae are given admissions preference.
“We try to be as much a family school as we can, and these
families are already invested here. They know what we stand
for and they understand the values of the school,” explains
Ms. Hutcheson. “If it is possible, we would like to admit
siblings and legacies.”
Standardized Testing
by Richard Alwyn Fisher
Peel away a parent’s anxiety, the
inappropriate use of tutors to
prepare young children for a test,
and the undue weight some schools
give to a numerical score—and
standardized tests just might have
some value.
In an effort to bring coherence to
the application process, members of
the Independent School Admissions
Association of Greater New York
(ISAAGNY) have agreed to draw from
the same set of standardized tests.
Nightingale requires the following:
• The Wechsler Preschool
and Primary Scale of Intelligence
measures a child’s verbal and
performance capacities. Essentially
an IQ test, it is required of all
Kindergarten applicants.
• The Wechsler Intelligence
Scale for Children assesses verbal
comprehension, perceptual
reasoning, processing speed, and
working memory for Class II-IV
applicants.
• The Independent School
Entrance Exam measures both
capacity to learn and current skills in
the verbal and quantitative realms.
Girls applying to sixth through twelfth
grade take this test.
Test scores are an important part
of a student’s application file, but
they are rarely dominant or decisive
at Nightingale. “There is no doubt
that testing has been useful to us.
It tells you one part of the story,”
says Margaret Metz, director of
admissions. “But let’s not put too
much weight on these tools. We
have had many students who are
not good test-takers but have gone
on to do great things.”
The limit of the WPPSI, in
particular, has been the subject of
vigorous debate among ISAAGNY
members.
“Testing young children is a
tricky business. The results aren’t
all that reliable,” says Barbara
Novick, a child psychologist and
testing expert in private practice.
In a restless four-year-old, a test
taken today could readily yield very
different results than the same one
taken tomorrow. And the incredibly
rapid neurological development
that occurs among young children
makes it almost impossible to know
where they are on their growth
curves, limiting the test’s prognostic
value. That’s why Dr. Novick calls
the WPPSI “a snapshot, rather than
a map.”
Whatever its merits, just about
everyone involved with independent
schools agrees that the recent
trend towards coaching very
young children for the WPPSI is
troublesome. Coaching not only
skews test results, it may also steal
a child’s passion for learning.
With concerns mounting, the
independent schools in New York
have begun talking together about
assessment alternatives, including
the possibility of substituting school
readiness tests, which are designed
to measure skills and knowledge
rather than intelligence. Nightingale,
too, is taking stock of its approach.
Ms. Metz says, “We are constantly
evaluating how we evaluate students
and looking at the measures we use.”
Class IX Admissions
by Karyn L. Feiden
While the admissions process in
the Middle and Upper Schools
is not significantly different from
that in the Lower School, the
older girls themselves play a
much more central role. With an
academic track record, experiences
that demonstrate their drive and
motivation, and the ability to
articulate the challenges they have
faced, older girls can be evaluated
on actual accomplishments, rather
than readiness and potential.
A one-on-one interview is
conducted with these applicants
(a separate conversation takes place
with the parents). The interview
gives Nightingale a strong sense of
the girl’s interests and aspirations,
and lets her demonstrate how she
handles herself in a new situation.
The school looks for intellectual
curiosity, self-motivation, and a
history of challenges confronted
and overcome. The willingness
to take risks and make mistakes,
a stick-to-it spirit, and disciplined
study habits are also valued assets.
At the same time, a girl who
can balance the drive to excel
with the capacity to relax earns
respect at Nightingale. “When girls
are contending with social and
academic pressures, they also have
to be able to sit back and laugh
and have fun,” says Margaret Metz,
director of admissions. “And we
want to know how she keeps all
those balls in the air and still gets
to bed on time.”
An essay, which is part of the
required Independent School
Entrance Exam, gives added depth
to the application file, as do teacher
recommendations in math and
English; school transcripts; and the
ungraded, untimed placement work
girls are asked to do. Together,
they create a rich and nuanced
portrait that supports Nightingale’s
ability to make flexible admissions
decisions. “If a girl’s test scores are
high but her grades are low, that
tells me she might not be pushing
herself,” says Ms. Metz. “Some girls
may test only in the middle of the
road, but have great grades and
recommendations. That is the child
I will take a risk on.”
T H E BL UE D OOR S 9
Financial Aid
But a history with the school is not an admissions
guarantee. “At the end of the day, it comes down to the
right match for the child,” says Metz. And that’s what she
emphasizes during the admissions interview, urging all parents
to apply to more than one school, and telling them, “This is
about your child. What might be right for your older daughter
might not be right for your younger daughter. Please trust us
on this front and let us give you the best advice possible.”
Portrait of a Class
As the season for interviews and pre-school visits winds down
and each application file fills up, the strongest candidates for
admissions emerge. Students must have the right combination
of gifts to meet Nightingale’s challenges, but a dynamic class
must also reflect the New York mosaic.
“First and foremost, we strive to have as diverse a class as
possible. That is typically seen as an issue of color, but it is
also learning style, temperament, geographic origin, religion,
ethnicity, socioeconomic status, et cetera,” says Ms. Metz.
The class simply cannot include only white children, or wealthy
ones, nor only the bold and boisterous.
In late December, about six weeks before other families
receive word, Ms. Metz personally calls every sibling and
legacy family to tell them whether their children have been
10 THE B L UE DOORS
admitted. Some of the hardest parts of her job are the
conversations with those she will disappoint—but the wisdom
that guides the Admissions Office in its work must ultimately
rule the day.
The Kindergarten students who are accepted early form
a nucleus around which the rest of the class can be built,
allowing final admissions decisions to be made with balance
in mind. The dynamic is slightly different in the Middle
and Upper School, where no goal is set for the number of
admissions. There are typically 11 to 15 new ninth-graders,
but the final count is based solely on the strength of the
applicant pool.
After acceptances, wait-lists, and regrets are sent out on
February 15, it is Nightingale’s turn to spend two anxious
weeks waiting to learn who will sign on. A “revisit” day is
scheduled so that families can tour the school again, sit in
on classes, talk to teachers, and dig deeper before D-Day,
noon on February 25, when all contracts must be returned.
The class is fully booked by morning’s end.
And then, six intensive months after the admissions
applications were sent out to prospective Kindergarten
families, the work is done. Next year’s class is set. And when
the blue doors open next September, 44 new girls will be
poised to walk through them.
by Richard Alwyn Fisher
“Education is the place where we
can actually make a difference and
get over some of the inequities that
exist in our system,” says Dorothy A.
Hutcheson, head of school.
Nightingale has the resources
and commitment to make that
happen: last year, more than 100
students received a total of $2.4
million in financial aid, up from
$97,000 for 55 students three
decades ago. For 2009–2010, the
Board of Trustees has budgeted
$3.1 million in anticipation of
increased financial aid requests in
the economic downturn.
“We want to serve the families
that cannot afford an education for
their child at our price,” says Marina
Radovich, director of finance and a
30-year veteran at the school. “The
admissions process here is ‘need
blind.’ First, we accept students we
feel can do the work, and then we
make it possible for them to come.”
A generous endowment makes that
practical, the wisdom of a respectful
financial aid office keeps the
decision-making process fair, and a
standardized application ensures
that all families are judged on the
same financial criteria.
Financial aid decisions are made
at Nightingale, and most other
independent schools, with the help
of the Student Services for Financial
Aid (SSS), a program administered
by the National Association of
Independent Schools. Parents
complete a financial statement in
which they provide detailed
information about their income,
expenses, assets, and liabilities,
and SSS supplies a dollar amount
it thinks a family can afford to pay
towards tuition.
Education is the
place where we can
actually make a
difference and get
over some of the
inequities that exist
in our system.
The SSS figure makes no
adjustment for regional differences
in the cost of living, and Nightingale
usually asks a family to pay less than
what SSS has proposed, but often
more than what the family initially
thought it could. The school’s goal
is to avoid pinching family budgets
—especially as economic situations
have recently declined—while
encouraging an appropriate
investment in a child’s education.
“We can’t give 100% of need,
but we’re very close to it,” says
Ms. Radovich.
Nightingale is adamant that
financial aid not be used to “buy”
students. “Sometimes, another
school will give more aid to
entice a family to come,” laments
Margaret Metz, director of
admissions. “When that happens,
the integrity of the process is lost
and the family’s decision may not
be based on the best match for
the child.”
Offering inducements that go
beyond meeting financial needs
raises tricky ethical issues, even
when the earnest intention is to
build a more diverse student body.
Disclosure can help. “Schools
should be upfront about aid that
is not strictly based on need,”
says Mark Mitchell, a vice president
at the National Association of
Independent Schools. “A strategic,
comprehensive approach to
attracting and enrolling a class is
okay. Cutting special deals with
parents is not.”
At Nightingale, Ms. Radovich is
at the center, determined to make
equitable decisions through an
open process. While the school tries
to eliminate cost barriers, accepted
students are occasionally placed
on a waiting list for aid. That can
happen in a year in which a lot of
qualified students with financial
needs are accepted, or during an
economic downturn, when families
whose children are already enrolled
seek support for the first time.
All of that means financial aid
is much more than just a numbers
game; it becomes an essential tool
for building the right class.
T H E BL UE D OOR S 1 1
On the Record
For most of the music faculty at Nightingale, teaching is just one
facet of a successful and diverse musical career. Many perform as
soloists and in jazz combos and chamber ensembles, several compose
or arrange music, and some even find time to release albums.
Below, we highlight three of Nightingale’s newer faculty members
and their recent recordings.
Roosevelt André Credit, Deadra Hart, and Gregory Harrington stop for a photo
before the Middle and Upper School Winter Concert on December 16, 2008.
by Justin Warner
Gregory Harrington
(Violin, M S Or che stra , US String Ensem ble)
Gregory Harrington grew up in Dublin, Ireland, in a house full
of music: his father, mother, and brother all played piano. But
Harrington fell in love with his instrument of choice, the violin,
all on his own. “When I was four years old, I was at the horse
show in Dublin with Mom, and I heard a string quartet playing,
and I was very drawn to the sound of the instrument,” he
recalls. He turned to his mother, pointed to the violin, and
said “I want to play that.”
Young Harrington started lessons right away and never
looked back. As he got older, he became a fixture in festivals
and concert venues in and around Dublin, but his major
professional breakthrough came in 2000, with a performance
at London’s Royal Festival Hall. He sent press releases to
all the English papers, but not to the high-profile The Strad
magazine, which terrified him. As it turned out, none of the
newspapers showed up, but The Strad did—and gave him
a rave. “Harrington performed with aching tenderness, a
profound sense of melancholy touching every phrase,” said
the review, launching him on an international career that
has brought him to prestigious venues in the US, Canada,
Mexico, the UK, Portugal, Australia, and New Zealand,
among others.
Harrington’s debut CD, Reflections, recorded in 2005,
is a collection of songs that resonate with his musical and
personal history. He says the album’s opener, Vittorio Monti’s
12 THE B L UE DOORS
Making a record is like
taking a picture of yourself
at that moment.
stately “Czardas,” is “the first that my mother heard me
completely and utterly butcher.” On the other hand, the
instantly recognizable “Sabre Dance” from Khachaturian’s
ballet Gayanch represents a moment of inspiration; Harrington
remembers being floored by virtuoso Yehudi Menuhin’s
recording of the piece (a gift from Harrington’s father),
and becoming aware of the instrument’s great potential.
Harrington’s own “aching tenderness and profound
sense of melancholy” takes center stage in several plaintive
selections. Not coincidentally, many were songs that his
mother knew and loved, and they were chosen and recorded
after she passed away. “I couldn’t verbalize a lot of things,”
Harrington says, “and I just put everything [on the recording].”
Many tracks harken longingly to his Irish childhood, including
Phil Coulter’s elegiac Irish air “The Battle of Kinsale,” and an
arrangement of the enduring “Danny Boy.” Other reflective
moments include Fibich’s gentle “Poem” and the AfricanAmerican spiritual “Deep River,” about the yearning for a
promised land that’s just out of reach.
Several of the arrangements are by Harrington himself,
and he is pleased with the disc’s function as an artistic calling
card. However, Harrington is perhaps more proud of the disc’s
ability to attract listeners who aren’t classical music buffs.
That’s partly a result of the programming, which mixes familiar
tunes (“Danny Boy,” Gershwin’s “Summertime”) with ones
that you may not realize you know (“Sabre Dance,” “Poem”)
and songs that will be brand new to many listeners. He says
that no matter how particular a musician’s tastes, a judicious
sprinkling of familiar repertoire always helps bring in new
audiences. “They need to feel some sort of trust. Because
once you get them at a level of trust, they’re going to take
that extra step and lean forward and say, ‘Okay, what else
does he have to say?’” Listen to this touching valentine of a
record, and you’ll probably ask the same thing.
Gregory Harrington’s Reflections is available on iTunes, or on
CD through www.cdnow.com and www.gregoryharrington.com.
Roosevelt André Credit
(Gospel Girls)
That bass/baritone Roosevelt André Credit (known as
“Mr. Roo” to his students) would eventually record a CD
of spirituals may sound inevitable when you consider his
background. “We prayed most of the day,” he says, and he’s
not exaggerating: On Sundays, whether at his childhood
home in California or his grandparents’ place in Texas, his
whole extended family got up at 5:00 a.m. for a song-filled
prayer meeting. “After that, you showered, dressed, and
then you went to church,” says Credit. Later came traditional
Sunday dinner, a long, leisurely celebration frequently
punctuated by more prayer and even more song.
It was pretty hard to keep young Roo’s vocal talent a secret
in that environment, and he soon found himself being asked
to “sing something from the hymnal” wherever a hymnal
was available. Although Credit loved the songs, he found
that he could do only so much with them on his own. Hymnal
arrangements, he explains, are usually written for four choral
parts, and extracting just one part as a solo doesn’t necessarily
do them justice. As for published solo material, the pickings
were frustratingly slim. “There is almost no music written
for bass/baritone range,” he says, speaking not only of
spirituals, but of pop standards and show tunes, as well.”
‘The Impossible Dream,’ ‘Old Man River’... those are great
songs, but how many times can you sing those?”
The need to create his own repertoire led to his current
career as not only a performer (with a résumé that includes
Broadway, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and Switzerland’s
Verbier Music Festival), but also an arranger and publisher
(under the name Yaweno Publishing). His recordings showcase
his work in all three arenas. Following a debut CD of original
tunes, Letting Go, Credit went back to his roots with Ol’ Time
Religion, a new spin on the spirituals that anchored his musical
upbringing. Selections include the title track (done as a jazzinflected medley with “Nobody Knows De Trouble I Seen”
and “By and By”), the humble “Fix Me, Jesus,” which Credit
calls the “essence of how I feel,” and “Lucretia’s Prayer,” an
original song written from the point of view of Credit’s sister,
who ran a daycare center. The lyrics petition for grace and
T H E BL UE D OOR S 1 3
wisdom with Zen-like imagery: “Let the light you’ve given us
grow and teach the world/Breathe new life and move on.”
First-time listeners may be surprised by the disc’s
intimate sound: many tracks feature just Roo and pianist
Dr. Thomas Schmidt, with occasional support from vocalists
Ben Schumann, Peter Karl, and Sandra Billingslea. Billingslea
also plays violin on Credit’s arrangement of the Hebrew
prayer “Shalom Chaverim,” which was discovered online by
an Australian film team and licensed for their forthcoming
Holocaust documentary, Through Their Own Eyes.
Credit says the disc’s spare production faithfully re-creates
the experience of seeing him in concert, and also lays bare the
piano and vocal arrangements for those who might perform
them themselves. He delights in watching other singers take
on his arrangements and considers their enjoyment a crucial
test of his own success. “I want to see the singers smiling;
I want to see the piano player having fun with the rhythm,
really digging into those chords,” he says. He also hopes
Ol’ Time Religion will help keep spirituals alive and relevant
for young people, and remind them of the pleasures of
melodically driven popular music in today’s rhythm-dominated
climate. “This music is old,” he says, “but it’s old for a reason.
You take the old text and layer your own experience on top of
that.” Audiences from all walks of life will find their own truth
in Credit’s revitalized classics.
Roosevelt André Credit’s Ol’ Time Religion is available
on iTunes, or on CD through www.cdbaby.com and
www.rooseveltacredit.com. The sheet music is published
by Laurendale Associates and distributed by Emerson Music
(catalog #VS1020).
Deadra Hart
(General Music, Theory, Voice, Piano)
Jazz vocalist Deadra Hart can’t remember a time when she
wasn’t singing. Born in Germany to an American pianist and
a Dutch ballet teacher, Hart was tutored in classical piano by
her grandfather every summer in Holland. Her father, James,
the pianist, was in high demand in the Los Angeles film and
TV studio circuit because of his ability to jump effortlessly from
one musical style to another.
It was also her father who threw her head-first into jazz
at the age of 17, by audaciously booking them as a fatherdaughter jazz act in a new Cincinnati Italian restaurant. The
problem? “At the time I knew two jazz tunes,” Hart explains.
She and her father were having coffee at the restaurant and
James spontaneously floated the idea to the manager, much
to Deadra’s shock. Even more shockingly, the manager hired
them on the spot for a five-night tryout: four hours per night,
starting in exactly two weeks. Hart learned two tunes a day
for the next 14 days to build a 30-song repertoire, which, as
she tells it, was barely enough to fill the time.
But whatever she and her father did, it worked. On the
second tryout night, the restaurant booked them for the rest
of the year, kicking the high school senior into a relentless
schedule: She went to school, stayed for musical theater
rehearsals until 7:00 p.m., changed her clothes, then sang at
the restaurant from 8:00 p.m. til midnight—and then went
home and started her homework. But Hart had caught the
jazz bug, and she was incredibly happy.
14 THE B L UE DOORS
From then on, Hart was a jazz singer. She won a scholarship
to study jazz at the University of North Texas and started
performing in clubs, first in Dallas/Ft. Worth, then in Amsterdam
while on the faculty of the American School at the Hague, and
later New York City, with a parenthetical sojourn in Ecuador
teaching and singing in a Latin combo. She and her father
play clubs together to this day, often joined by her husband,
Fred Kennedy, on drums.
Hart recorded her debut CD, aptly titled Wherever I Go,
during her post-college years in Amsterdam. She wrote the
title track as a bittersweet long-distance love ballad for her
future husband, from whom she was separated by an ocean.
For the rest of the album, she arranged her favorite standards
to support her cool, honey-smooth delivery. Tracks include
“Whisper Not,” “Give Me the Simple Life,” and “If I Should
Lose You,” all recorded by one of Hart’s major influences,
Ella Fitzgerald.
I want to see the singers
smiling; I want to see the
piano player having fun
with the rhythm, really
digging into those chords.
In the years following Wherever I Go, Hart became a
devoted student of Fitzgerald’s signature scat improvisation,
which influenced her interest in using the human voice as an
ensemble instrument. Rather than simply sing scat syllables
on the melody line, Hart improvises freely on chords the way
Charlie Parker did on saxophone. The theoretical rules are
the same, Hart says, but because “singers don’t have buttons
to push down,” it can seem abstract and disorienting. With a
solid grounding in jazz theory and an attentive ear, however, a
singer learns to hear the same chords that a pianist can see on
the keyboard, and to play around within that framework.
Hart’s as-yet-untitled new CD, currently in production, takes
scat a step further: it consists entirely of songs featuring vocals
but no words, including both originals and scat versions of
popular standards. Hart’s aim is to use her voice as just one of
several lead instruments. “I’m hardly ever singing by myself,”
she says. The music will also be shaded by interlocking
rhythms and unusual time signatures that have spilled over
from her experiences singing Latin music in Ecuador.
Although the new CD will reflect her current interests, Hart
acknowledges that her career and the disc won’t be in sync for
long. “Making a record is like taking a picture of yourself at
that moment,” she says. “You let it go.” Audiences, however,
will want to keep these pictures of a unique, emerging artist
staking out her territory.
Deadra Hart’s Wherever I Go is available on CD at
www.cdbaby.com. For more information about her next CD,
visit www.deadrahart.com.
String teacher Gregory
Harrington joins the Upper
School Chorus, directed by
Courtney Birch, as they perform
“Ani Ma’amin,” a traditional
Jewish song, at the Middle and
Upper School Winter Concert
on December 16, 2008.
Home
Improvement
Janine Jordan ’51 has turned a talent for design
into a career improving people’s lives.
One of Ms. Jordan’s client homes before (top) and after (bottom). The aesthetic has certainly improved, but so has the accessibility.
by Karyn L. Feiden
An eye for beauty, a passion for design, and great interest in
the challenges of living with disability have helped to define
Janine Jordan’s career.
As a kitchen and bath designer, as well as an interior
designer, her goal is to create home environments that are
as lovely to look at as they are practical to live in. Janine is
especially fluent in the language of people with low vision
and mobility issues.
Form follows function in her world, but it is form with
panache. Painting stainless steel grab bars red adds cheer to
a bathroom—but their bright color also protects a man with
low vision as he steps out of a steamy shower. Widening
the aisles between the stove and a food prep island allows
a woman in a wheelchair to live more independently, while
creating a welcoming space where she can mingle with
able-bodied visitors.
Janine developed her aesthetic skills at the foot of a
master—her mother, the renowned magazine illustrator and
portrait artist Barbara Schwinn Jordan. As a teenager, Janine
accompanied her to the antique shops and fabric stores of
Manhattan, and soaked in her art lectures in the museums
of London and the chateaux of France. “My mother literally
trained my eye to see shapes, forms, and colors,” says Janine.
“She developed in me a very keen sense of my surroundings.”
After graduating from college, Janine began to mix an
entrepreneurial spirit with an artistic sensibility. For three
decades, she lived in Chappaqua, New York, where she
raised four children (who have given her five grandchildren),
16 TH E B L UE DOORS
and established a design career, working with architects,
builders, suppliers, and homeowners. In 1990, after a move to
North Carolina, she registered her business as JJ Interiors.
Perhaps it was serendipity, or perhaps a stronger spiritual
force was at play, as Janine suspects, but one rainy night in
Raleigh she heard a lecture by a man named Ron Mace. Mace,
a trained architect who was stricken with polio at the age of
nine, was founder of the Center for Universal Design, which
promotes the idea that the built environment should be as
accessible as possible to everyone, regardless of their physical
limitations.
Inspired by his insights, Janine began learning more about
design challenges like building a bathroom for someone who
needs a walker, or renovating a room so that a blind person
can easily navigate through it. Home design is always a
partnership between client and professional, but trust and
empathy are never more important than when the conversation
has to deal with hard questions like: Will your physical
limitations worsen? How bad will your vision become?
Janine begins her design process by asking clients to fill
out detailed questionnaires about their physical strength, grip,
reach, and balance. Where possible, she’ll also contact that
person’s physical therapist or doctor to collect information
about safety concerns, lighting issues, and similar topics.
Building on that knowledge, she might suggest lowering the
height of a cabinet, raising a toilet seat, installing non-slip
flooring, creating special storage for personal care items or
medical equipment, positioning faucets at a different angle,
or relocating appliance controls.
Always, her goal is to help her clients live as fully as
possible. “There is a kind of judgment people who are hale
and hearty may make about those who are not, that all they
need is something institutional-looking,” says Janine. She
thinks the truth is quite the contrary. “I feel that they should
have the most compelling and beautiful and warm place to
live, perhaps more so than others who are able to leave their
homes easily every day.”
To learn more about accessible design, there is no better
resource than the Center for Universal Design in Raleigh,
North Carolina. Its Web site—www.design.ncsu.edu/cud—
offers a wide range of resources, including publications,
model design plans, a description of its services, and links
to other organizations with expertise in the field.
T H E BL UE D OOR S 1 7
Levitt-ation
Liz Levitt Hirsch ’69 is building up
communities around the country with a network
of performing arts pavilions.
by Joanne Fowler P’20
As a boy growing up in a struggling immigrant family in Brooklyn
in the early 1900s, Mortimer Levitt never had spare money for
entertainment. One of the few thrills in his childhood was the
occasional trips to Coney Island’s Luna Park, where he’d stand
outside the gates and listen for free to pop music concerts. “It
meant a lot to my father,” recalls his daughter, Liz Levitt Hirsch
‘69. “Music was a source of joy in a bleak childhood.”
Mortimer Levitt never forgot those precious childhood
memories when he went on to build a fortune as founder of
Custom Shop Shirtmakers, a nationwide chain specializing in
made-to-measure shirts. Through a sizable contribution, Levitt
helped build a band shell in Westport, Connecticut, in 1973 so
residents would have a community stage and a place to gather.
After Levitt sold his business in 1997 at the age of 90, he
approached his daughter and asked for her help in realizing
his dream of building pavilions throughout the nation. “He
knew the project would be a natural fit for me,” she recalls.
In 2001, Levitt Hirsch began meeting with community and
political leaders to introduce the Levitt Pavilion program. The
Mortimer Levitt Foundation provides a million dollar matching
grant for capital improvements and programmatic support for
a new Levitt Pavilion.
To receive funding, communities are asked to follow three
fundamental parameters: Each city provides a parcel of
attractive land in a diverse downtown neighborhood, and
then must designate 50 nights of free performances each year.
Local community members form a non-profit organization, The
18 TH E B L UE DOORS
Friends, that raises the matching funds and takes responsibility
for programming the annual concerts. Under Levitt Hirsch’s
leadership, four more band shells have been built across the
country: one Pavilion each in the cities of Los Angeles and
Pasadena, California; Memphis, Tennessee; and Arlington, Texas.
Levitt Hirsch’s interest in the arts took root in childhood.
After graduating from Nightingale, she headed west to study
European history and music history at Scripps College in
Claremont, California, and never came back. “I fell in love
with the sunshine and the beach and the open roads,” says
Levitt Hirsch from her home in Beverly Hills. “I love it here.
Every January we have a few days in the 80s and 90s and
I am in heaven.” After graduation, she worked for various
record labels in artist relations. In the early 1980s she married
Howard Hirsch, a renowned hotel designer, and began her
career in charity and volunteer work, serving on numerous
non-profit boards and actively fund-raising for various Los
Angeles-based charities. She was well prepared, then, when
her father approached her with his plan.
Bill Bogaard, mayor of Pasadena, was immediately intrigued
when he first heard about the Levitt Pavilion proposal. “I saw
right away that this was worthwhile,” says Bogaard. “Liz has
been such an enthusiastic supporter of Pasadena and so
energetic in pursuing this.” After two years of negotiations,
the city launched its first season of free concerts in 2003 after
restoring a band shell that had fallen into great disrepair.
Now, in its sixth year as a Levitt Pavilion, the band shell is
home to 50 performances a year. Performances attract around
1,000 people each evening, often from the African-American,
Clockwise from top: Liz Levitt Hirsch ’69 and Levitt Shell Executive Director Anne Pitts in front
of the Levitt Shell in Memphis, Pasadena board member Nic Fetter and Ms. Levitt Hirsch in Pasadena,
and Ms. Levitt Hirsch with an award from the mayor at the MacArthur Park pavilion.
Hispanic, and Asian communities nearby. “There’s a similar
chemistry that happens at all the Levitt pavilions,” says Levitt
Hirsch. “Children run up to the stages, conga lines form,
people dance, and neighbors congregate.”
The Mortimer Levitt Foundation launched its most recent
pavilion, in Arlington, Texas, last fall. Located halfway
between Dallas and Fort Worth, the Pavilion hosted an array
of performances its first season, from rock ‘n roll bands to
Mexican singers to family-friendly groups. “The place was
absolutely jam-packed,” says Arlington mayor Robert Cluck.
“I have never had so many compliments—even from my mother.
The pavilion has done a phenomenal job for our downtown.
We have never had an effort like this.” Throughout the 18
months of negotiations with Arlington, Levitt Hirsch flew out
to Texas four times, keeping a close eye on developments.
“Liz is very focused,” says Mayor Cluck. “She is so focused on
the success of Levitt because it honors her family.”
When not on the road, Levitt Hirsch frequently gets together
with other Nightingale alumnae in Los Angeles, many of whom
are leaders in the community. “They are all remarkable women
and the ones I know are all making a difference,” says Levitt
Hirsch, who has fond memories of Nightingale and is serving
as the Class of 1969’s agent for their 40th reunion this year.
Realizing her father’s vision is a full-time job for Levitt Hirsch.
In addition to constant e-mails and phone calls regarding
existing Pavilions, she frequently flies around the country
meeting with community leaders of prospective cities interested
in creating a Levitt Pavilion in their community. She’s also
in the process of launching a new national non-profit called
Levitt Pavilions Free Music Across America, which will raise
funds and provide technical support for all the Pavilions
around the country. “This mission is always with me,” says
Hirsch. “It’s very gratifying because I believe we are making
the world a better place. I see how much happiness and joy
a Levitt Pavilion brings. It genuinely reflects who I am.”
To learn more about the Levitt Pavilions, please visit
www.levittpavilions.org.
T H E BL UE D OOR S 1 9
A Welcome
Change
Nicole Kohn ’78 has taken a roundabout path to get where
she is today—and she wouldn’t have it any other way.
by Jeff Shreve
Nicole Kohn embraces change. “I am not afraid to challenge
myself in new ways. I think the fact that I enjoy learning
new things and that I am open to radical change is a plus.
Many people tend to have extremely narrow vision, narrow
focus, and fixed ideas about what they are actually capable
of.” In the midst of a journey through several careers and a
handful of businesses, Ms. Kohn has held fast to that guiding
principle.
From Nightingale, Ms. Kohn traveled to California to
attend Scripps College. She progressed quickly at Scripps,
studying almost exclusively in the graduate department in
her final year, and gained her BFA in 1983. She became
aware of her growing affinity for design while at Scripps, and
followed that love to the University of Colorado, Denver, to
work toward her Master of Architecture. During her time there,
she was privileged enough to travel to London and work with
Pritzker Prize-winning architects Lord Richard Rogers and Zaha
Hadid. Ms. Kohn received her master’s degree in 1989 and
worked as an architect until 1992, when she made the first in
a series of decisions that would come to define her uniquely
ambitious path.
With fellow Nightingale alumna Cynthia Volk ’78, she
founded The Canterbury Group, a consulting firm. As students
at Nightingale, Nicole and Cynthia had served as president
and vice president of Canterbury House, and hoped the
reference to their fondly recollected school years would imbue
their venture with a bit of good fortune. “We had absolutely
20 TH E B L UE DOORS
no idea what we were doing, but we liked the idea of having
our own business, so we took the step anyway!” Nicole writes
with her characteristic forthrightness. “It was not about
success or failure—it was about being willing to experiment.”
You cannot be afraid of
failure, because everyone
fails at some point. Life is
a journey, an adventure,
and everything changes
constantly.
Following up on the lessons learned with The Canterbury
Group, Nicole decided to start up a solo venture, which she
dubbed NCK. With NCK, Nicole put her design skills back
to work, designing promotional items for Sony, Pepsi, and
FAO Schwarz, among others. She collaborated with a fellow
Nightingale alumna yet again, recruiting Julie Metz ’77 to
design NCK’s logo.
Nicole Kohn ’78 with Athena, her beloved Doberman and the inspiration for her most recent venture.
In the midst of this whirlwind of professional development,
Nicole (an avid dog lover) bought a beautiful Doberman
Pinscher, which she named Athena. Shortly after, while skiing
in Sun Valley, Idaho, Nicole met—and quickly fell for—Peter
Nyman, and the three of them eventually settled down in
Sun Valley. Nicole continued to work in a variety of positions,
gathering additional business experience, but in 2003,
combining her twin passions for design and dogs, Nicole
decided to start another business, this time with Peter as her
partner and Athena as her inspiration.
Nicole and Peter began designing luxury accessories
for dogs of all shapes and sizes under two deluxe brands:
Isabella Cane (www.isabellacane.com) and Sun Valley Dog
(www.sunvalleydog.com). With both wholesale and direct
online sale divisions, Nicole applied the lessons learned from
her corporate positions to create a global company from the
cozy confines of Sun Valley. Unfortunately, this success was
tempered by a heartbreaking loss—Athena passed away in
2005, one month before Hurricane Katrina.
Following the tragic events of Katrina, Nicole, through
her service on the board of the local animal shelter, became
aware of the plight of a number of orphaned dogs that had
been rescued and transported from the Gulf Coast to Sun
Valley. Nicole and Peter came to the rescue, adopting a black
Labrador mix named Creole, and they’ve been happily living
together ever since.
Today, Nicole and Peter share their home with Creole, Hoss
(a feisty Chihuahua), and Lily (a German short-haired pointer).
Nicole points out, “Technology enables [us] to live in a very
remote location yet have global reach for the company, to ski
every day all winter, while creating and growing a world-class
business.” With upcoming business trips planned to New York,
Paris, and Stockholm, Nicole’s already ascendant journey is
far from over, and her fearlessness is as strong as ever. “You
have to have the ability to know you might be wrong, and you
have to use that to find an even better answer. You cannot be
afraid of failure, because everyone fails at some point. Life is a
journey, an adventure, and everything changes constantly.”
T H E BL UE D OOR S 2 1
Hallways
new rooftop playground
In November, after many months of anticipation,
Lower School students were thrilled to try out their
brand-new rooftop playground, complete with grass
turf (seen above). Many thanks to the parents of the
Class of 2017 and the committed leadership donors
who made this play area possible! “The Lower
School children and faculty are thrilled with our
rooftop playground designed to build upper body
strength,” says Head of Lower School Blanche
Mansfield. “They have fun playing games, using
the equipment, and challenging themselves.” It is
wonderful to know that there is great outdoor space
on school property for our littlest Nighthawks to
enjoy some fresh air.
LEA D ER SHIP D ON OR S
Marcia and Gregory Abbott
Clarissa and Edgar Bronfman
Mary Beth and Stephen Daniel
Buttons and John Goodrich
Robert Jaffe
Cynthia and Dan Lufkin
Caroline and Jonathan Sack
Laura and Harry Slatkin
Nazanin and Roald Smeets
Eve Chilton Weinstein
Harvey Weinstein
c la ss o f 2 0 1 7 D ON OR S
Tizzy and Thurstan Bannister
Rafael Bejarano and Leslie Cecile Benning
Lap Wai Chan and Helen Song
Bettina Shapiro Cisneros ‘82 and William Cisneros
Cynthia Coudert and Brian E. Morris
Linda and Curtis Field
Michael G. Fisch and Laura Roberson Fisch
Michael D. Fricklas and Donna J. Astion
Jennifer and William Geddes
Karen and Said Haidar
John W. Heilshorn and Susan M. Wallace
Johanna and Andrew Herwitz
John P. Irwin and Harriet J. Whiting
Alison and Robert Leeds
Beaumont and Ben Lett
William D. McCombe and Antonia Paterno
Edward Meertins-George and Adele Grant
Caroline and Jeremiah Milbank
Ann-Marie and Blake Myers
Rosalind and Toby Myerson
William J. Neary and Mihoko Nagasu
Dina Schefler Nemeth ‘81 and Robert Nemeth
Rika Okamoto
Monique and Laurence Pettit
Elizabeth and Clifford Press
Paul F. Riska and Sloan Schickler
Victoria and H. Jonathan Rotenstreich
Ellen Lasch-Sadé and Alexander Sadé
Lynn and Kenneth Sellin
Catherine Baxter Sidamon-Eristoff ‘82 and Andrew Sidamon-Eristoff
Lawrence Spera and Mieko Willoughby
C. Erec Stebbins and F. Nina Papavasiliou
Jodi and Ross Sutherland
Caroline and B. Robert Williamson
Alison Griscom Wilson ‘84 and Henry Wilson
John K. Winkler and Laura Yerkovich
Glenn P. Wittpenn and Mary Anne Callahan
Lydia Jordan ’12 starred as
Anne in the fall drama production
of The Diary of Anne Frank.
Read more about Lydia on page 26.
T H E BL UE D OOR S 2 3
nightingale’s new citizens
The new citizens behind the
blue doors: Marina Reza ’09
(left) and Kornelia Luziac.
For Kornelia Luziac, it wasn’t an easy decision to
make; but after years of telling her husband that she
wasn’t ready, she finally realized that she wanted to
begin the process of applying for U.S. citizenship.
Marina Reza ‘09’s decision was somewhat easier since,
at seventeen years old, her parents had determined
that they wanted the entire family to become
citizens together. Both women, now united by the
common bond of citizenship, are also unified in their
appreciation for Nightingale, a place that helped
each feel New York had become home.
Everyone here is so
involved; it is such a
strong community.
Kornelia’s friend Violet is singing her virtues
to me when she learns that I am interviewing
Ms. Luziac in the Student Center for this article:
“She’s a wonderful young lady. She helps everyone.”
Ms. Luziac smiles modestly and pats her friend’s
hand. “She is my best friend here… She helped me
in the beginning a lot, especially to learn English.”
Ms. Luziac looks thoughtful when I ask her about her
journey from her home in Croatia to the United States,
and then here, to Nightingale. Marina Radovich,
director of finance, interviewed her for a job that
was supposed to last just the summer. By September,
she was offered a full-time job in the kitchen, and
after a couple of years, stepped into the role she
is now known for at Nightingale: a strong maternal
force behind the blue doors, ushering girls to class,
helping out around the building whenever she is
needed (which is often), smiling warmly to visitors
as they approach the front desk.
Ms. Luziac can now say that she is happy with
her American life—she loves the choices the United
24 TH E B L UE DO O RS
States offers, the variety of people, religions, and
opportunities. With her citizenship, she says, she
feels like she has taken “a step up in my life.” It
wasn’t an easy road. After leaving war-torn Croatia in
1992, Ms. Luziac moved with her family to Germany.
Seven years later, they made their way to New York,
where they lived for a time with Ms. Luziac’s uncle
and frequently saw her brother and a sister who had
come to the United States as teenagers. But Ms.
Luziac still felt a major pull back to Croatia and to her
friends and parents, who still live there. She and her
husband are determined to keep their Croatian ties
strong, and make a point of visiting every summer
and talking with her parents on the phone every
weekend. Besides, her father reminds her when she
starts to feel homesick, “All I need is eight hours. My
father tells me, ‘Eight hours and you are here.’ I have
to remember that.”
“Nightingale has been so good to me. I love to tell
this story,” Marina says with a smile as she launches
into the tale of her journey to citizenship and the halls
of Nightingale. She came to New York at 10 years old,
after she and her family had left their home in Dhaka,
Bangladesh and traveled extensively around Asia.
She enrolled in a public school in Queens and she,
her parents, and her sister moved in with relatives
already living there. Marina says her family was
motivated to come to the U.S. by the opportunity
for a better life and education. By fifth grade, Marina
was involved in the Prep For Prep program, which
provides guidance for public school students in
New York who hope to matriculate at the prestigious
college preparatory schools that dot both the city and
surrounding New England towns. When she visited
Nightingale, Marina knew this was the community she
had been seeking. She now credits the school with
easing her transition into American life.
Last year, Marina’s parents decided that they and
their daughters would apply for citizenship. Much
of their extended family had moved to the U.S. and
it was now home, though for Marina, she says she
is still most comfortable on a plane, hovering in the
space between her lives here and in Bangladesh.
When discussing her recent citizenship, the memory
that has made the deepest impression upon Marina
was sitting in a waiting room while her parents took
their citizenship tests (as she was under eighteen
years old, she wasn’t required to do so) and looking
around at the other waiting children. There was a boy
reading the Koran sitting next to another boy playing
his Gameboy. The paradox struck Marina, and she
excitedly began to take notes on the scene playing
out around her. Later, she turned these notes into
an essay that she submitted to a contest held by the
American Civil Liberties Union. Months later, while
she was abroad, her mother called to tell her that
she’d won.
When she tries to describe how becoming a
citizen feels, Marina has trouble verbalizing her
emotions. “It’s hard to really say…” she trails off.
But she is steadfast when it comes to expressing
her attachment to Nightingale: “Everyone here is so
involved; it is such a strong community. I’m excited
to go to college, but I’ll miss Nightingale; it’s hard
to believe it’s almost over.” Ms. Luziac echoes this
sentiment. “It’s such a nice community here; we all
celebrate holidays together, everyone has been so
kind.” She smiles. “I have two sons. These girls are
like my girls.”
—by Alissa Kinney
nyc marathon
The Luscinia Society
Planned giving is a terrific way to demonstrate
your commitment to women’s education and ensure
the long-term health of the Nightingale-Bamford
School. Planned gifts include bequests,
contributions to the pooled income fund, life
income trusts and arrangements, and other
deferred giving arrangements.
Every autumn, thousands descend on New York for
the annual marathon, watches set and laces tied.
Millions more watch from the sidelines, encouraging
their runners with homemade signs held proudly
overhead. This year, the race was held on Sunday,
November 2, 2008, and some of Nightingale’s own
were amongst the crowds, both to run and to cheer.
Head of School Dorothy Hutcheson, Director of
Institutional Advancement Sue Mathews, Academic
Technology Coordinator Erin Mumford, and Associate
Director of College Advising Damaris Wollenburg ‘97
braved the 26.2 mile-course, supported by various
friends from Nightingale; all finished the race and
made it to the schoolhouse the next day bright and
early. It was the first marathon for Ms. Hutcheson,
Ms. Mumford, and Ms. Wollenburg, while Ms. Mathews
completed her forty-first marathon! Ms. Wollenburg
had the additional privilege of running as a member of
the local elite women’s group and finished with a time
of three hours and 30 minutes! Congratulations to our
Nightingale runners, and many thanks to all those
who came out to support their efforts!
Lower School teachers
Rebekah Zuercher and
Claire Anderson ’95 (below)
cheered on our Nightingale
runners. Ms. Hutcheson
is pictured at the end of
the race.
In 1989, we founded the Luscinia Society to
recognize the generosity of alumnae, parents,
and friends who have established planned gifts
with Nightingale. A bequest of any size qualifies a
donor for membership in the Luscinia Society.
If you would like to arrange a planned gift with
Nightingale, please call Sue Mathews, director of
institutional advancement, at (212) 933-6505
or e-mail her at [email protected].
ms. hutcheson chosen for
nais board
Nightingale’s own Ms. Hutcheson, together with a
select group of heads of schools from across the
country, will serve on the National Association of
Independent Schools (NAIS) Board of Trustees. NAIS
is a representative organization for approximately
1,300 independent schools across the country,
promoting their interests; pursuit of providing an
innovative education to all children they serve; and
right to self-determination, free of governmental
control. As part of the board, Ms. Hutcheson will act
as a representative of NAIS and help to guide the
organization towards future initiatives and directions.
Ms. Hutcheson will be formally elected to the
board in February 2009 at the NAIS annual conference
in Chicago.
T H E BL UE D OOR S 2 5
dailycandy connection
c.a.f.e. hosts keith boykin
Kicking off the 2008–2009 school year, the students
and parents of C.A.F.E. hosted an evening lecture
and reception with noted author and commentator
Keith Boykin on September 17, 2008. After remarks
from C.A.F.E. co-chair Jennifer Rivera ’09 and former
C.A.F.E. head Sage Garner ’04, Mr. Boykin discussed
how race and gender played into the presidential
election. Text and video of these remarks can be
found by logging into the Nightingale Web site at
www.nightingale.org.
upper school welcomes
new head
Nightingale hosted a welcome reception for our new
head of Upper School, Paul Burke, on September 16,
2008. Mr. Burke is pictured below with his parents,
Ms. Hutcheson, and his wife, Christine. Mr. Burke
came to us most recently from Packer Collegiate
Institute in Brooklyn.
26 TH E B L UE DO O RS
DailyCandy is like the older sister you always wished
you’d had growing up: impeccably styled in that
not-trying-too-hard way; a ringleader who planned
legendary nights out with her friends; always in the
know about new music, new trends, new designers.
DailyCandy is similarly cool and effortless, but
better—instead of ignoring you like that imagined
older sister likely would’ve, it is always, unconditionally
there for you. Not surprisingly, two members of
DailyCandy’s masthead have ties to Nightingale:
Jane Hegleman ’98 is an account executive in
New York, while Christina Ohly Evans (mother of
Katherine ’21) heads up the newest branch of the
empire: DailyCandy Kids in New York.
Sign up for their services and you will receive an
e-mail each morning aimed at keeping you in the
loop about all things stylish. Flooding your inbox
will be suggestions and tips pertinent to wherever
you may live (special editions exist for nearly a
dozen major U.S. cities and London), in addition
to insider info regarding sales, coupons, and other
money-saving goodies. The digital Bible of fashionistas
everywhere, DailyCandy was called one of “the year’s
best fashion sites” upon its founding in 2000 by
The New York Times, recently made headlines after
being sold to Comcast for $125 million, and currently
boasts over 2.5 million subscribers.
“I love writing a weekly column where I get to
speak about some of the city’s best products and
local activities for kids… and I try to feature many
women/mom-owned businesses,” says Evans.
“My ‘job’ is extremely flexible—I work from home,
when I am not visiting stores or meeting with
publicists—and my kids enjoy being testers for all
kinds of cool things that stack up around my desk.”
feig lecture
On April 24, 2009, Nightingale will host its annual
Feig Lecture. This year’s speaker is Dr. Sol Messinger,
one of the passengers on the St. Louis, a liner that
left German shores in 1939 in an attempt to transport
its primarily Jewish passengers to the United States
or Cuba, away from the terror of Hitler’s Third Reich.
In an historically infamous act of indifference, both
countries turned the St. Louis away, and the ship
was forced to sail back to Europe. All members of
the Nightingale community are invited to join us on
April 24, when Dr. Messinger will share his story.
The Feig Lecture series, begun in 2000, is
dedicated to the memory of former Nightingale
teacher Werner Feig, who escaped Nazi Germany
as a child.
lydia jordan in doubt
Class IX’s Lydia Jordan plays the role of Alice in the
recently released Doubt, written and directed by
John Patrick Shanley, and based on his Pulitzer Prizewinning play of the same name. With Meryl Streep,
Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Amy Adams, the film
has received glowing reviews, been nominated in
major award categories for both Golden Globes and
Critic’s Choice Awards, and was the National Board of
Review winner for Best Ensemble and Breakthrough
Performance of An Actress by Viola Davis.
Jordan first broke into acting when she was asked
to appear on Disney’s Out of the Box, on which her
brother had a regular role. From that point on, she
was bitten by the acting bug, perhaps unsurprisingly,
as her parents are both former actors who met on
a film set. She soon signed with an agency and has
since appeared in feature films (Gods and Generals,
Into the Fire, Pistol Whipped) and television (Hope
and Faith, Monk, Law and Order: CI, Kidnapped,
and Gossip Girl). Jordan most recently starred (and
received much acclaim of her own) in Nightingale’s
production of The Diary of Anne Frank in the lead
role of Anne. Says Jordan, “I really love acting, and
I hope I can continue doing it for a long time.”
Authors’ Night
at the Nightingale-Bamford School Book Fair
April 27, 2009 at 6:00 p.m.
www.nightingale.org/events
T H E BL UE D OOR S 2 7
traci yokoyama:
taiko drummer
Nightingale math teacher Traci Yokoyama’s modesty
is matched only by her talent. Most of us behind the
blue doors did not realize she was a highly gifted
taiko drummer (and a member of the first taiko group
on the East Coast, located here in New York) until
one of her colleagues here spotted her on David
Letterman. Her group, Soh Daiko, just happened to
be backing up Grammy-award winner Kanye West as
he performed his single, “Love Lockdown.”
Taiko drumming, an ancient folk art originating in
Japan, involves intense choreography (which has led
to a foot injury that Yokoyama is currently nursing)
and other instruments, such as brass bells and
bamboo flutes. Soh Daiko is considered among the
best taiko ensembles in the United States, and has
been lauded by The New York Times and The San
Francisco Chronicle, among others.
Yokoyama says she had always been intrigued by
the drummers who played at the Buddhist temple
she attended while growing up in California. However,
she didn’t start drumming until she moved to New
York and looked up Soh Daiko. In order to join their
ranks, Yokoyama attended a workshop that measures
applicants’ potential and interest. After a three-month
probationary period, the group votes possible
members in unanimously—but the try-out isn’t over
yet. For another three months, Yokoyama and others
played with the group until a second unanimous vote,
which determines permanent membership.
Three years later, she is still drumming, and
happily so—“It is my life outside of school,” she says.
Friends and family know now that she is unavailable
on Thursday evenings (group practice), Saturdays
(group practice), and other various times due to
performances (the Late Show with David Letterman
show, public workshops held by the New York
Director of Community Life
and Diversity Appointed
Derrick Gay has been appointed Nightingale’s
first director of community life and diversity,
responsible for promoting and supporting an
inclusive school community. He will work closely
with the Trustee Community Life Task Force,
28 TH E B L UE DO O RS
Buddhist Church, and stints at the New York Botanical
Garden are examples) and the time she carves out
for her own, solo practices. This, she says, is crucial:
“We are expected to watch, learn, and practice at
home. A lot of groups have a teacher that leads
them, but that isn’t the case with [Soh Daiko], so
it’s important for us to practice on our own and be
prepared.” Though Yokoyama acknowledges the
limitations it places on her free time, she is quick
to point out that, for her, that isn’t a problem.
“It’s a great thing to have in my life.”
the Faculty/Staff Diversity Committee, Parents of
C.A.F.E., the C.A.F.E. student group, and the
Nightingale Alumnae Board.
Mr. Gay has taught Spanish at Nightingale for
several years and, in addition to his community life
responsibilities, will still teach one AP class and
one Middle School class. Outside of the classroom,
Mr. Gay has served as co-advisor to C.A.F.E.,
run the Gospel Choir, served as musical director
for the Upper School musical, and has spent
many hours representing Nightingale at national
conferences, recruiting fairs, and as a diversity
speaker at other schools.
“It seems only fitting that a school that
distinguishes itself from other educational
institutions because of its belief in educating
the heart and the mind would have a position
that ensures equity and social justice for all of
its members,” Mr. Gay said. “I am elated to have
more time to properly attend to the needs of
the many constituencies—students, parents, and
faculty—that comprise this unique community,
and to serve as a resource for all families.”
The JV and Varsity
Volleyball teams celebrate
JV’s win over Brearley at
the fall homecoming game.
Left: Cross country runner
Renee Ericson ’10.
fall sports wrap-up
From Jenny Smith, director of athletics:
5/6 Volleyball played beyond their years this season
as they overhand served and, on several occasions,
had two or more passes on their side of the net. What
a team 5/6 Soccer had this year! The team was not
only undefeated, they scored at least six goals in each
game—this will be a group of athletes to watch.
More than 30 students played on the 7/8 soccer
team this season, and demonstrated excellent
character—even when they were behind, they
directed their energies towards positive outcomes.
The Nighthawks played in—and WON—the first
annual Middle School Tournament.
At the start of the season, the Middle School B
Volleyball team played scared, but by their final game
and victory versus Brearley, they played their most
intense game of the season. Volleyball’s A Team
clearly developed a strong passion for the game
over the course of the season. In the post-season
tournament the Nighthawks came up short, but
Coach Mumford could not have been prouder.
JV Volleyball was the pride of the fall season, with
a 9–3 record. One of the season’s highlights for this
young team was the Homecoming victory versus
Brearley. Throughout the season, the team played
with superior confidence and excellent pass-set-spike
volleyball.
Though Varsity Cross Country was small in
numbers, they were big in heart, finishing ninth out of
20 schools at the New York State Independent School
Championship. Nightingale’s top runner, Stephanie
Spanfeller ’10, placed fifth out of 101 runners.
Varsity soccer was led by seniors Samantha Hall,
Emma Neisser, and Annabel Wick, and finished with
a 3–10–1 record. The Nighthawks went into the
AAIS Tournament seeded ninth and the came away
victorious with a score of 4–2 after a shootout; the
team has a lot to look forward to in the 2009 season.
Varsity Volleyball was led by captains Stephanie
Lachaud ’10 and Hillary Brown ’09 and had an
impressive non-league showing, enjoyed a 10–6
record, and reached the AAIS Tournament quarterfinals with a sixth-place finish. We look forward to
conquering the AAIS next season!
T H E BL UE D OOR S 2 9
ms. nagel goes to washington
Senior Hadley Nagel stands
with Chief Justice of the
United States Supreme Court
John Roberts on Constitution
Day in 2008.
30 TH E B L UE DO O RS
by Jessica Shambora
Ask a group of people to picture a lobbyist and
they likely envision a big Washington powerbroker,
maybe a bit older, with a fancy suit and a healthy
sense of self-importance. In short, the ultimate
“fat cat.” What they probably don’t picture is a
fresh-faced Nightingale senior named Hadley Nagel,
who never imagined herself as a lobbyist either until
she traveled to D.C. in 2007, seeking support for a
James Madison memorial.
Watching as lobbyists were ushered in and out
of lawmakers’ offices, Nagel saw more than a way
to advance her cause—she saw a reflection of her
own determination. “They had a sense of purpose
that seemed to say, ‘I’m here for this. This is what
I’m going to get done,’” observed Nagel. Soon after
her visit, she completed the paperwork making her
the youngest registered lobbyist on Capitol Hill at
17 years old.
Nagel’s love of history can be traced back to the
stories of the American Girl dolls of her childhood,
but her fascination with Madison began with a visit to
his Montpelier, Virginia, estate during its restoration.
She already knew about the Fourth President’s role
in creating the Constitution and Bill of Rights. But as
she learned in greater detail about his influence on
the format of American government, she marveled
that the home of such an historical figure was only
now being reinstated. She was even more troubled to
discover that there was no monument to Madison in
Washington.
“He wasn’t the tallest, most charismatic man in
the room,” Nagel says, explaining that Madison
stood just five and a half feet tall. “He was the quiet
intellectual coming up with big ideas in the corner
of the room.”
Concluding that he had been unfairly overlooked,
Nagel founded Americans for Madison, an organization
dedicated to celebrating his legacy and promoting
the bill at the heart of her lobbying efforts: H.R. 3640,
the James Madison Memorial Act of 2007, sponsored
by Congressman Baron Hill (D, IN-9th).
While the bill has been pending since it was
presented in September 2007 and referred to
the subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and
Public Lands, Nagel continues to lobby lawmakers
with calls and e-mails. And clicking a button on
americansformadison.org enables visitors to petition
Congress to support the bill.
Nagel has continued her campaign to raise
awareness of Madison on other fronts too. A calendar
on the Web site outlines annual historic dates and
events like the panel she convened this past October
at the New York Historical Society. The event featured
Joseph Ellis, a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, and
Sean Wilentz, general editor of the James Madison
Library at Princeton—both members of the Americans
for Madison advisory board. Ellis calls Nagel Madison’s
“best advocate since Dolley [Madison’s wife].”
Nagel has written op-ed pieces about the
Madison bill and is currently working on curriculum
for a federally mandated day of Constitution
education in schools. Last summer she interned at
the University of Virginia, helping to annotate the
letters of Dolley Madison. She is also the founder
of the history club at Nightingale.
Nagel’s U.S. history teacher, Diana Frangos,
has told her she could be running the world one
day. “I’ve never had a student who followed up
so persistently and successfully on her interests,”
said Frangos.
They had a sense of
purpose that seemed to
say, ‘I’m here for this.
This is what I’m going
to get done.’
As the bicentennial of Madison’s inauguration
approaches on March 4, 2009, Nagel hopes to help
Americans connect the freedom they enjoy today
with Madison’s efforts 200 years ago to establish the
Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the branches of
government that serve as our checks and balances.
“Everyone should know their rights and that they are
protected in large part thanks to Madison.”
nightingale parents
host benefits to support
scholarship fund
The Nightingale Parents Association and our huge
corps of parent volunteers put on two terrific benefits
last fall to raise money for the Scholarship Fund.
Thanks to the extreme generosity of our community
and the parent chairs of these events, we have already
raised almost $60,000 to help provide scholarships
for our girls.
M OV IE PR EM IER E B EN EF IT
Our biannual movie benefit took place on
November 4, 2008, when a packed audience
watched a premiere of Hurricane Season, the new
Forest Whitaker film slated for release in 2009.
Afterward, participants enjoyed a wonderful
meal at the University Club. Special thanks to the
Weinstein Company for donating the film and
to tri-chairs Wendy Cebula, Eve Weinstein, and
Caroline Williamson.
TH E GR EATES T SHOW ON EA RTH
This year, we feature two benefits under the
circus-themed umbrella of “The Greatest Show on
Earth.” The first annual Nightingale trunk show was
held on November 11, 2008, in the Student Center.
Twenty-six vendors, including several alumnae, set
out their wares to benefit the Scholarship Fund,
which received a portion of all sales. The one-day
event raised over $15,000—thank you to all who
came out to support!
The trunk show was just the beginning, though.
On March 5, 2009, we will transform the gymnasium
with a fun, community-oriented (and circus-themed!)
celebration. Parents, friends, alumnae, faculty, and
staff are all invited to this terrific event—you can find
more information below and at www.nightingale.org/
benefit. See you there!
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www.nightingale.org/benefit
T H E BL UE D OOR S 3 1
Voices
Here we feature an
essay by a member
of the Nightingale
community. If you
would like to
share some of
your thoughts or
experiences with
others in the
community, please
contact us at
bluedoors@
nightingale.org.
Julie Whitaker is a member of Nightingale’s
English faculty.
Last summer, after eighteen hours on the plane,
my husband and I arrived at the Mumbai airport,
where we began the first part of our two-month
stay in India. There was Mumbai, a city of brilliant
colors, intense sunlight, and constant movement,
a perfect complement to our feelings of disorientation and unreality.
We set out to explore the neighborhood
around our complex. The street crossing ours just
beyond our gateway looked, at first glance, like
a rubble-strewn alley. But as we walked along it,
we discovered that those closet-sized openings
were shops, shop after shop after shop. There
was literally everything one needed for life on
that street: steel fabricators, carpenters, poultry
shops with live chickens, a hairdresser for women,
a barber for men, a grain shop complete with
puffs of white flour and men whose beards
and hair had taken on the same color, fruit and
vegetable stands, a computer store, a tailor for
women’s clothes, a temple.
Central Mumbai welcomes her visitors with
a vision of magnificence. The Gateway to India,
a grand triumphal arch placed between the
shimmering of the port waters and the lively
confusion of the city streets, was built to honor
a visit from the royal family of England. Not
far from the arch, the domed structure of the
Taj Mahal Hotel dominates a plaza filled with
businessmen, families, vendors, and tourists. On
a narrow street winding away from the Taj is the
Cafe Leopold, established in 1871 and in active
use ever since. Here, on November 26, 2008,
a “Gang of Ten” chose to launch their attack on
Mumbai. At 9:40 p.m. the attackers strolled by
the cafe and casually began shooting into the
interior through the outside windows. Their
gunfire sprayed the dining room for a full minute
before they hurled a grenade and then moved
on to terrorize inhabitants of the Taj Hotel. Six
customers and two waiters, both of whom were
Muslim, were left dead at the Leopold. The 10
militants continued their attack in Mumbai for
two days, leaving death and destruction in their
wake. The assault was finely tuned to attract
international attention.
When our children came to visit, we had
wandered around that square, visited the Taj
and stopped for lunch at the Leopold Cafe. We
talked and laughed as we sat at a table covered
with red-and-white checkered tablecloths,
enjoying the casual atmosphere and the sense
of time that the Leopold exudes. On the walls
were posters from England and America and
the odd souvenir left over from the British Raj.
Now there are new souvenirs: the bullet holes
through the windows, pockmarks from shrapnel
on the walls, and a hole in the floor where the
grenade exploded. The owner of the Leopold
has decided to leave those marks as they are,
as a reminder and as a symbol of defiance.
Within 48 hours after the siege of the Taj
Mahal Hotel ended, the Leopold Cafe had been
cleaned up, blessed by a Zoroastrian priest, and
was serving dinner. That rapid recovery might be
a metaphor for the way the Indian people cope
with tragedy.
Terrorism is not new in India. In the past
ten years, there have been numerous terrorist
attacks: bombs in cars, trains derailed, suitcases
that explode, fundamentalist mobs that target
certain members of the population, then attack
them. While we were in Mumbai, the immigrants
from Northern India, particularly the cabdrivers,
had reason to fear for their lives. Raj Thackery,
a powerful and corrupt politician, roused local
resentment with his inflammatory speeches
decrying the invasion of their city by the
Northerners. He called on all the hatred and
prejudice he could muster and set his gangs of
thugs on the immigrants, the outsiders. Beatings,
burnings of homes, and deaths were headlines
in the Times of India. The November 26 attack in
Mumbai resulted in the deaths of 170 individuals,
a small number in contrast to the hundreds, all
tolled, who have died in previous attacks. The
direct manner of the attacks, gunmen who shot
their victim face-on, coupled with the location,
a glamorous tourist center where the rich and
famous hang out, made the Mumbai attack
especially dramatic and terrible in the eyes of
the world.
The Indians’ quick recovery is also dramatic,
but it is hopeful and encouraging. Mumbai,
with its vast population, has enviable energy.
The determination to take a central place in the
commercial world today is evident on every
street. In no time at all following the attacks,
stores and restaurants opened up, trains were
running, and people strolled the streets as if
nothing had happened. The ability to repair
the damage and go back to work is a profound
tribute to the courage and resiliency of the
people of Mumbai.
Kate Evans ’21 took a few
moments out of the annual
Homecoming pancake breakfast
on September 27, 2008, to color
a banner for the Varsity soccer
game. Go Nighthawks!
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