Volume 107, No. 6
Features
A Life Worth Living
Thanks to advanced technology and the family, friends, colleagues, and caretakers who make up his “crew,” Penn neuroscientist and alumnus Scott Mackler continues to function professionally and personally a decade after being diagnosed with the lethal neurodegenerative disease ALS. By Kathryn Levy Feldman
The Future of Our Past
Penn’s Architectural Conservation Laboratory takes a rigorous approach to historic preservation. By David Perrelli
Sunrise in Philadelphia
On a crisp September day, the delegates to the Constitutional Convention gathered to sign the document they’d hammered out over the long, hot summer of 1787, flaws and all. An excerpt from Plain, Honest Men by History Professor Richard Beeman. Plus: An interview with the author
Alumni Weekend 2009
Photo essay by Addison Geary
Crossing the Street
It’s just a short walk from Penn’s campus to the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center, but for the hundreds of medical students and residents who train there the experience can be transformative. By Randy Mintz-Presant
Departments
ESSAYS : First Person
Notes From the Undergrad Prize-winning poems
Alumni Voices “Do you hear it? I AM SIBELIUS!”
Elsewhere Post-Katrina New Orleans felt like home
Expert Opinion Turns out we never “just let the kids play”
GAZETTEER : News & Sports
Commencement: “THE BIG DAY IS HERE!”
Honorands
Vincent Price named provost
Admissions Dean Eric Furda C’87 on his freshman year
How books are different from the Web
Recent grads launch charity website Givology
New UCD Director Matthew Bergheiser WG’96
“Surprising disconnect” between pay and work quality
Examining “Jews, commerce, and culture”
VMD/PhD program turns 40
Century-old snail shells prompt new discovery
Penn Relays decathlon-winner Max Westman C’09
ALL THINGS ORNAMENTAL : The Arts
EXHIBITION Sun Ra at the ICA
POEM From Norman MacAfee C’65’s Selected Poems
EXCERPT Pull over. Harry Truman’s Excellent Adventure
IMAGE Elizabeth Osborne FA’59’s Woman with Red
BOOKS Inescapable truth. Memory Lessons
BRIEFLY NOTED
ARTS CALENDAR
ALUMNI : Profiles
CDC’s swine flu point-man Richard Besser M’86
Love, Mom email collection co-editor Doree Shafrir C’99 G’04
KenKen puzzle purveyors Suma CM C’96 WG’00, Jeremy Dubert C’03,
and Jake Yormak C’09
Slumdog Millionaire theme-song singer Amrita Sen W’92
Big-band leader and music director Elliot Lawrence C’44
ALUMNI : Events : Notes : Obituaries
