2010: Fall

FEATURES

	The Newest Alumnus President Marx will leave Amherst to head the New York Public Library. By Emily Gold Boutilier
	The Virtues and Divisiveness of the Virtual The text of this year’s Convocation address. By Anthony W. Marx
	The Gap Kids Growing numbers of students—including the seven photographed here—are taking a year off between high school and college.
	The Great Book Theft That Wasn’t The rise and endurance of the legend that accuses Amherst of bibliolarceny. By Dustin Griffin
	Inside the Ghost Hotel In a vacant Lord Jeffery Inn, remnants of the bustling place that it used to be: shoes on a dust-covered desk, a candy tin, a high chair. Photos by Samuel Masinter ’04
	Major (League) Overhaul Losers now for 18 consecutive seasons, the Pittsburgh Pirates show few signs of improvement. Can Neal Huntington ’91 turn that around? By Roger M. Williams ’56

departments

Letters
The mystery of the graffiti in the tower—Mozart, Puccini, Spratlan—Choosing home birth—And more

College Row
Carol Clark hunts for lost art—Three actors take baseball bats to 14 portrait heads of an emeritus professor—The best Amherst references on TV and film—And more

Visit
The Mead gets a makeover.

My Life
Lisa Raskin, the John William Ward Professor of Psychology and Neuro­science, on lab rats, semi-vegetarianism, psychotherapy and more

Sports
Winning has become as common for swimmer Kendra Stern ’11 as it was for Michael Phelps in the 2008 Olympics.

Amherst Creates
Theater: A teacher with an ailing mother and a linguist who can’t find the words to communicate—Books: Travels along six byways, a history of blackouts, Facebook’s effect—Textiles: Sonya Clark ’89 uses hair to communicate black history—And more

What They Are Watching
Amelie Hastie, associate professor of English and chair of the new film and media studies major

Back Cover

Called back
On top of a bureau in the college’s Emily Dickinson Museum is a copy of Called Back, a novel by Hugh Conway that held Dickinson’s attention in the final years of her life. The book’s title became the only text of what is thought to be her final letter, written a few days before her death. The letter reads, “Little Cousins, Called Back. Emily.”

Photo by Samuel Masinter '04. Also see a clickable 360-degree image of Emily Dickinson’s bedroom.