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Dear ,
Hope you all had a great Halloween! Come join us for some treats in the upcoming months now that the tricks are over!
Upcoming Club Events
Holiday Tea and Optional Cookie Exchange!
Please join us at our Twelfth Annual Holiday Tea and Optional Cookie Exchange on Sunday, December 8th, from 2-4 pm! Enjoy tea with friends, meet other Smithies, share recipes, and sample delicious homemade creations and confections. If you don't bake, don't worry; we'd love to have you join us anyway!
If the holidays inspire you to fire up the oven and mix a batch of your favorite holiday treats, please bring about 2-3 dozen cookies to share (some for tasting at the event and some for the exchange) and bring copies of the recipe for those who want to try it themselves. It is also a good idea to bring a container to transport your favorite cookies back home for sharing with your family and friends (... or keep hidden!).
We will gather at the home of
Jean Davidson '73
in Atherton. Club members already have received an Evite and should respond there; other alumnae may RSVP to the Club's email,
[email protected],
by Wednesday, December 4th. When we receive your RSVP, we will send you the street address for the event.
Hope to see many of you there!
Club News
College Fairs
Peninsula alumnae were busy in September and October representing Smith at high school college fairs in Cupertino, Palo Alto and - for the first time - Campbell/San Jose. Many thanks to Lori Kahn, Sidnie Davis, Adia Hoag, Mindy Chu, Melanie Herscher and Marylou Cronin. Their enthusiasm for Smith influenced quite a few young Bay Area women (and parents!) to consider applying to Smith.
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Mindy Chu on left, Adia Hoag on right at Cupertino College Fair
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Sidnie Davis on left, Lori Kahn on right at Campbell College Fair
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Join the Club Board!
In September, the book club discussed "The Sixth Extinction" by Elizabeth Kolbert. One of us adored it; another found it a hard slog. One thought there was a bit too much scientific detail; another thought the author admirably selected just the right amount of detail. Most of us found it a depressing prediction of a sadly impoverished future; one insisted that a different future isn't necessarily a bad one. So, a lively discussion.
We also briefly talked about "Fried Green Tomatoes," our Movie Night book, which we'd had very little time to discuss in August. We considered the differences between the book and the movie, but mainly reflected on the "feel-good" quality of both the book and the movie, which we felt depicted a too-happy South - an unlikely amity, respect and good will between the races during a time of segregation, the KKK and the Depression.
In October we had another lively discussion, this time of Richard Powers's novel "The Overstory." There were mixed reviews from the group. Some people gave an unqualified thumbs up. Others were more conditionally favorable. Varying responses included the following: Some characters seemed more central, while others seemed either puzzling (Neelay) or not well integrated (Ray and Dorothy). One reader found that the ending left her with a sense of despair. Another said that she had read 200 of the 500 pages and "that was enough." The one aspect of the book on which there was universal approval was Powers's poetic prose, which he used to describe trees and forests. And we agreed that his descriptions of the complex relationships in forests and his reverence for trees left us with a new appreciation for that world. This response was made stronger by talking about the work of Peter Wohlleben in "The Hidden Life of Trees." Knowing that Powers's representation of trees and forests was grounded in science made his message of respect more persuasive.
November 20: "The Only Woman in the Room" by Beate Sirota Gordon.
In 1946, at age twenty-two, she helped to draft the new postwar Japanese Constitution,
ensuring
that it would establish the rights of Japanese women.
No meeting in December.
If you're interested in joining the book club, please contact
Sally Smith '64
for more information.
Reading on Campus
The
first year reading assignment
is "How Culture Shapes the Climate Change Debate" by Andrew J. Hoffman. Climate change - one of the most complex and urgent problems of our time - is disproportionally harming and impacting women and people of color around the world. In the 2019-20 academic year, Smith embarks on a yearlong examination of climate change. Through integrative curricular and co-curricular channels, we will engage the campus on this complex topic from all of its angles, preparing us to understand better the challenges of climate change.
Stay tuned for more Smithie events and news next month. If anyone is interested in volunteering with the club, please feel free to reach out to
[email protected]!
Thanks!
Samantha Li '09
Newsletter Editor
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