Nov|Dec 2025
Vol. 124, No. 2
Challenging Terrain
From the Editor | Places to play, Alzheimer’s progress, a father’s secrets.
Tossing Out the Playbook
Weitzman School alumni and faculty are prominent in a movement to make US playgrounds more challenging, stimulating, educational—and fun!—for users of all ages.
A Daughter’s Reckoning
For most of her life, conservation journalist Artis Henderson C’02 W’02’s late father had been kept a dark secret. Then she went on an expedition to learn about his adventurous existence as a dad, husband, pilot, remote island owner, and international drug smuggler—as well as “the accident” 40 years ago that killed him (and nearly her).
Alzheimer’s Now
Well over a century since it was first identified and following decades of intensive research, Alzheimer’s disease continues to withhold its essential secrets and a cure remains elusive. But recent drug treatments, improvements in diagnostic techniques, and other developments constitute what one Penn Medicine leader calls the “dawn of a new era” in confronting its impacts on patients and caregivers.
Letters
Nov|Dec 2025: Hackney’s files and Fauré’s Requiem, mostly.
Where Rolling Hills Meet the Sky
“If I had any further questions, I could call 1-240-Natural.”
Family Lexicon
Language lessons.
Without a Trace
What was lost when Chinese Camp burned.
An Hour for the Constitution
“That’s the wonderful but really difficult part of freedom of speech.”
Pandemic Lessons
LDI panel looks for lessons from the pandemic.
Several New Gifts Announced
Support for Wharton, Jewish Studies, urban research, performing arts.
From All Angles
The Penn Museum is giving virtual visitors a closer view.
Collaboration and Community
“Collaboration … is our superpower.”
Passing of the Torch
Wrestling “torch” passing from Reina to Valenti.
The Fran McCaffery Era Begins
A new course for men's basketball.
Both Sides of the Gun
Photographs by Fernando Postigo CGS’71 at Arthur Ross Gallery.
Telling Stories
Ben Yagoda G’91 on his novel, Alias O. Henry.
Aristotle the Alchemist, Sexologist, Palm Reader, Papist, and Jew
Aristotle’s remarkable afterlives at Van Pelt Library’s Goldstein Gallery.
Philadelphia’s “Mayor of the Arts”
Penn Libraries and Annenberg celebrate Sam Maitin FA’51.
Briefly Noted
Nov|Dec 2025
Creativity and the Cosmos
Phil Korngut Gr’11 has helped launch NASA’s SPHEREx space telescope.
Bright Lights, Lab Nights
Susanna Jaramillo EAS’19 juggles full-time careers in science and theater.
Grand Ideas for Building Community
Anita Hossain Choudhry WG’15 is combating loneliness with The Grand.