Via E-mail
“Celebrating Sports” [Laird 100, winter] brought back fond memories of the Carleton men’s wrestling team, which was cut without fanfare from the roster of varsity sports some years ago. The discontinuation of wrestling was a regrettable end to a proud tradition that included the late Senator Paul Wellstone and a number of notable student-athletes like James Risser ’91, who coached the grapplers to a best-ever finish in the MIAC just a few years after concluding his own decorated career as a two-time Academic All-American. Every winter brings disappointment that current and future students will not have the option of learning life lessons about “perseverance in the face of adversity” by competing against perennial national championship contenders like Augsburg and St. Thomas.
—Matthew Solomon ’93
“The Media Circus” [winter] is one of the most satisfying features to appear in the Voice in recent memory. It addresses concerns that are sadly both timely and vigorously perennial.
As a child, I heard “No news is good news.” Later, in an extra-classroom moment at Carleton, I learned the more sardonic and disheartening “Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one.” Those epigrammatic warnings account, in part, for the fact that I abstained from owning a TV set long past my postgraduate years, and I further protected myself by reading mainly headlines and opening paragraphs of newspaper articles. My consumption of the media has increased over time, while my mistrust and skepticism toward them have become even more astringent as I nurse a wearying hope-filled vigil not only for truthful “news,” but for the evenhandedness of editors and publishers.
—Jack Aslanian ’67
I was heartened to read about the work being done by Christoph Ibele ’03 and the Hamilton Anderson architectural firm in Detroit [One-Day Apprentice, winter]. After graduating from Carleton in ’64 and from the University of Michigan in ’66 with a master’s degree in social work, I lived and worked in Detroit as a junior high school teacher and school social worker.
I was there in July 1967 when police raided an after-hours bar, resulting in thousands of people taking to the streets in a 150-block area. Forty-three people died and 1,189 were injured. And I was there the following year when Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. Drawing on their experience from the previous year, Detroit officials implemented a 24-hour curfew within minutes of the announcement of King’s shooting. That action helped keep the death toll to only one and greatly limited the damage to the city, which, given its causal event, had the potential of being even worse than the previous year. These two uprisings and their aftermaths signaled the beginning of Detroit’s decades-long economic and social decline.
The Voice article raised my hopes that Detroit residents may see some improvements in their city and in their lives. I’m pleased that Carleton is a part of this.
—Dave Langford ’64
Via Twitter
Coach Pat Lamb of @CarletonCollege always gave 100% of herself to everything she did. She was a pioneer and a gamechanger for women’s athletics, an exemplary coach, and a loyal friend. We will miss her. #womenwholead https://t.co/icU6rmf858
— Billie Jean King (@BillieJeanKing) January 31, 2018