
Volume 109, No. 2
Features
Bones Beneath the Tracks
In the summer of 1832, 57 Irish laborers died suddenly while building the first railroad in Pennsylvania. Alumnus Bill Watson and a host of other Penn people have been trying to find out what really happened. And they’re getting close. By Samuel Hughes
Spreading Hope and Music
Through music and a grassroots organization for girls,
ethnomusicology grad student Jennifer Kyker is making things happen in Zimbabwe. By Cai Emmons
On Hearths, Ancient and Modern
In which the author takes a break from the rigors of her own ethnographic research in France’s Dordogne region to visit with eminent Penn archaeologist Harold Dibble as he plumbs the mysteries of early human and Neandertal behavior—and plots his next gourmet meal.
By Beebe Bahrami
More Light
“I think that what is changing about my writing is my willingness to go darker so that I can come out with more light,” says memoirist and fiction writer Beth Kephart C’82. In her new novel, set in Philadelphia during the Centennial, a young woman contemplates suicide following the accidental death of her twin. By John Prendergast
Plus: An excerpt from Dangerous Neighbors.
Departments
First Person: Essays
Notes from the Undergrad A bio major’s breakout
Alumni Voices “I sell love”
Elsewhere One day in Paradise
Expert Opinion Playing catch-up on high-speed rail
Gazetteer: News & Sports
Making History campaign reaches $2.85 billion
Northwestern’s J. Larry Jameson named new medical dean and EVP
Thouron program marks 50 years
Synthetic life “not a novel thing” says Bioethics Commission witness
Convocation: Passion and purpose drew Penn to Class of 2014
Silicon Valley moves east for Supernova conference
Ei-ichi Negishi Gr’63 shares Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Screening for cancer with vinegar and a cellphone camera
Penn Guardian offers GPS location in emergencies
A grandson’s memories of Eisenhower in retirement
Wharton model for movies gives “formulaic” a whole new meaning
Football-induced brain injuries possibly linked to student’s suicide
Bagnoli becomes Penn’s winningest football coach
Scoreboard
Arts
DESIGN DesignPhiladelphia founder Hilary Jay C’83
BOOKS Latest online discussion groups from Kelly Writers House
ART A filling dessert from Martha Rich GFA’11
INTERVIEW Conn asks Conn, Do Museums Still Need Objects?
BOOKS Same Renko, new Russia. Three Stations
Alumni Profiles
Steve Kashkett C’82 is the US’s man in Tijuana
Heidi Stout V’91 flew into action to save birds after the BP oil spill
Randall Lane C’90 wrote the book on Wall Street insanity
Lee Ducat Ed’54 is on a mission to cure diabetes
Events
Notes
Obituaries