The Bridge to Parenthood
I was disturbed by Paulette Bates Alden's easy dismissal of adoption ("Crossing to Motherhood," May/June). For every affluent infertile couple, there are children somewhere in the world living in inadequate institutions or on the streets. Couples ready for parenthood should be ready to open their hearts and homes to children who have lost their original families. Education equips us to understand this; affluence gives us the means to address this; infertility confers a special calling to actually do this. After coming to terms with not being able to have children, there is still one more bridge to cross.
David Mason,'68
Culver City, California
The question, "Should I be a mother?" needs to be answered only by husband and wife--and before conceiving a child. Too often couples have children before they are financially ready to do so. The house isn't close to being paid for, and no money has been set aside for the child.
Having children does not make couples complete, whole, fulfilled and happy. They don't need to "have" children to express the qualities of motherhood and fatherhood. Why not give to the children in the community, foster or adopt children? The lives of children (and adults) would be blessed or maybe saved--and so would the world ecologically.
Jackie Leonard-Dimmick
Atherton, California
Splitting Atoms
We were truly dismayed to see our father, Robert Hofstadter, portrayed in your story ("The Making of Project M," May/June) as an egomaniacal, petulant person. ("Hofstadter was a brilliant physicist, but one who felt that the world owed him exclusive use of all the tools needed to do his work.") To the contrary, our father was a modest and unassuming man, totally unaffected by his Nobel Prize and other scientific honors. There were disagreements among Stanford physicists, including Hofstadter and Wolfgang Panofsky, in the original conception of how the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center should be used, but it is sad that an author who never knew our father personally should choose to dredge up those old frictions several decades later and distort our father's character in an inaccurate and most unflattering way.
Laura Hofstadter, '72
Menlo Park, California
Douglas Hofstadter, '65
Bloomington, Indiana
I should like to add a comment to Bernie Butcher's otherwise excellent article on Project M. The article refers to the disagreements between myself and the late Professor Hofstadter, Nobel laureate in physics, concerning the best way SLAC should be managed. Bob Hofstadter's opposition to running SLAC as a national facility was not based on his wish to have the machine reserved for his personal use. Rather, Hofstadter felt that SLAC, notwithstanding its enormous size and cost, should be run along the lines of other institutes and laboratories at Stanford. Generally, outside users can participate as guests of the Stanford faculty. Hofstadter believed that this traditional policy should prevail. In contrast, I concluded that support of SLAC would only be possible if all scientists worldwide could compete for its use on equal terms. While it is true that, in consequence of this disagreement, Bob Hofstadter withdrew from further planning for the new "national facility," he did later participate in its work. I consider Bob Hofstadter to be a truly great experimental physicist and I am indeed sorry that the recital of this episode has caused pain to his children.
Wolfgang K. H. Panofsky
Director Emeritus,
Stanford Linear Accelerator Center
Eastern Religions
As an addition to the required reading list mentioned in "Reshaping the Humanities"(Stanford Today, May/ June), I strongly recommend Readings from World Religions, compiled by Selwyn Gurney Champion and Dorothy Short. This book includes explanations of the beliefs and excerpts from major writings of Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism and Shintoism, and it also includes Hinduism, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Jainism and Sikhism. Because California is a Pacific Rim state, I think it's essential that we have some understanding of Eastern religions and how their adherents view the world.
Camille Holser, '62
Oakland, California
'Feminist Gibberish'
By heralding a "redefinition of the sexes" ("Woman," Stanford Today, May/June), Stanford has proudly revealed its feminist Trojan Horse, a tiresome, rather inept affair that has never impressed conscientious scholars. One "expert" (chair of Stanford's oxymoronic feminist studies department) promotes the rather Olympian idea that, as the author put it, "reproductive technology is helping to separate sexual expression from reproductive necessity." She claims that churches and community institutions are relinquishing their control over sexual activity and allowing people to develop their own sexuality. Eureka! In other words, let's shuck civilized norms and higher authority and leave people to create a brave new world in their own image. Such feminist gibberish is hardly an exemplary offering for eager young students who come to Stanford for a higher education.
W. Edward Chynoweth, '45, JD '63
Sanger, California
Kudos
Time and U.S. News & World Report both arrived the same day as Stanford. Sorry, they'll just have to wait until I finish the last article in yours. It's always a good magazine, but your May/June issue makes it a great one. The visuals are excellent, and the subject diversity and depth of discussion are very impressive.
Ralph J. Spiegl, '45, MD '48
Menlo Park, California
Darn you! It used to take me half an hour to breeze through Stanford, but last night, I sat down at 7 with your current issue, and when next I looked at the clock, it was 9:30. Congratulations on a brilliant new format!
Merla Zellerbach, '52
San Francisco, California
A Veteran's View
I agree with David Harris's view ("I Am Outraged Still," March/April) that all of America needs to accept responsibility for the Vietnam War. But are we really supposed to accept that being a student leader in 1965 equates with being a junior officer in the field in Vietnam? I hope not. While I hold in respect only those members of my generation who made a choice in those years--and going to jail certainly involved making a choice--I do not think what David Harris went through compares with what some people I know went through. And I am utterly flabbergasted by reviewer Pete McCloskey's comment: "The young men of his generation who did not serve in Vietnam may bear psychological scars almost as real as the scars of those who fought." I respect David Harris for what he did, but I do not see him as a role model for Vietnam Veterans.
I served in the Army for three interminable years and do not bear my scars terribly well. My anger at what was done to me by country, government, army and family has hardly abated. I come into contact almost daily with an incredible number of people who avoided any kind of commitment during those war years and show anything but respect for my own commitment. Please don't give them credit for bearing "scars almost as real as the scars of those who fought." There are too many of us who could use that credit.
Thomas F. Bayard, '66
Wilmington, Delaware
Feeding Bacon to Your Kids
Thank you for printing Charles Jellison's unusual story, "The Prisoner and the Professor," (March/April). In 1944, I arranged to be in Professor Bacon's classes because I'd heard what a fine teacher he was. Thirty-one years later, I received a distraught phone call from my daughter, who was studying engineering at UC-Davis, failing calculus. I suggested she bring her calculus text home. After examining it, I told Renee that it was poorly written and that she should read my old copy of Professor Bacon's text while doing her homework problems. Renee went on to graduate and work in chemical engineering. Not only did Professor Bacon's fine writing teach Renee calculus, it restored the confidence of a student who had graduated from high school with high honors.
Thomas F. Haran, '48
Santa Rosa, California
Locker Room Talk
Regarding my End Notes column in the March/April issue, I'm afraid that Ronald T. Baker misses the point of reporters going into locker rooms (Letters, May/ June). It's not to get a peek at a naked member of the opposite sex, but to gather quotes and information. Until recently, there has been so little interest in women's team sports from male reporters that the "inherent inequality" of men being barred from women's locker rooms simply didn't matter. This may change with the launch of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) this summer. Under WNBA policy, male and female reporters will be allowed into locker rooms for the first 20 minutes after a game, during which time the players will remain in uniform.
Daryn Kagan, '85
Atlanta, Georgia
Don't Blame the Students
Jennifer Reese ("Reviving the Honor Code," March/April) quotes a judicial consultant from the University of Maryland who was brought to Stanford last year to evaluate the Honor Code: "The students in the 1960s created a monster." There were certainly many monsters stalking the land in those days (war, racism, etc.). These, however, were opposed, not created, by students. Did Stanford actually pay this guy? Students need to take ownership of the Honor Code personally in their conduct and institutionally through a student-led judicial process. President Casper deserves congratulations for rethinking Honor Code enforcement and reforming the reforms.
Joel Kugelmass, '67
Mendocino, California
Under the Oak Tree
It was with great pleasure that I read "Thanks for the Ride" (Letters, March/ April). I was in business school in 1947 and lived in Stanford Village. If people were waiting under the oak tree for a ride to campus, I generally stopped. Kathryn Beck, who lived in the women's building at Stanford Village, saw me pick up two nuns and figured that not too much harm could come to her with such a load. She got in, and when I later helped her transport a small bookcase, we became friends. I courted her by taking her to Stone Cellar for beer, and she courted me by using her position in the cafeteria to give me double helpings of scrambled eggs. We have now been married 50 years and put three children through college. I don't remember the nuns, but I do remember Kathryn's green cable-knit sweater and her flaming red hair.
William G. Barieau, '39, MBA '47
Fresno, California
Unplug It
I read with great interest your article on kids and television, "Taming the Tube" (March/April). You gave 10 TV tips for parents, but left off the most obvious and the most effective of all: simply unplugging and removing the television from your home.
James C. Collins, '80, MBA '83
Boulder, Colorado
Beyond Appearances
I was saddened by the remarks about Billy Tipton's sexual identity in your May/June issue ("Billy Tipton: Self-Made Man," Stanford Today). I knew Mr. Tipton. He worked at a theatrical agency in Spokane and helped me book many fine musical groups to perform in the gay night club I owned. Billy was short, round, soft and heavy-chested. One could not help but notice his physical appearance. How Billy Tipton chose to live and how he chose to present himself to others was his business. It still is. We all shall take certain secrets to our graves.
Gilbert Keithly, '57
Spokane, Washington
Knight Vision
I wish to express a rebuttal to Regan Pritzker and Robert E. Holmes regarding their letters to the editor criticizing Phil Knight and Nike for unethical treatment of workers. Nike has created thousands of good jobs overseas and where wages fall below the minimum, it provides housing and meals for its workers.
If Pritzker and Holmes are typical of the mentality Stanford is graduating, the University is seriously failing to educate its students. Such uninformed bigotry is shocking.
Marjorie Smith Wood, '46
Fullerton, California
Surely one can disagree with certain business practices without asserting, as Robert Holmes did (Letters, March/April), that Phil Knight has "never done anything of value in the world." I do not know Knight, or anyone who works for Nike, but the effects of his personal generosity are inescapable in Oregon, where I live. Knight is a philanthropist of the highest order; his personal and corporate gifts have greatly benefited higher education and many other worthy causes.
John L. Barlow, JD '81
Corvallis, Oregon
The sight of Phil Knight following company tradition by receiving a swoosh tattoo on his ankle sent my thoughts to the Pakistani slave children who until recently, pieced together Nike soccer balls. According to press reports, Pakistani children from the ages of 5 to 12 are kidnapped or sold into bondage, then resold to factories for $180 to $200 apiece. Nike--and yes, Reebok and Adidas as well--paid the factories six cents an hour, the children received nothing. The working day lasts from 10 to 12 hours, six days a week. Knight and Nike did not sell these children dreams-- they stole dreams from them, along with their childhood, and no doubt, their lives. It is not surprising that Knight rationalizes his repugnant labor practices with the playground logic of "everyone else does it, too." But it is disheartening that Stanford University asks me to admire him.
Grif Fariello, '74
San Francisco, California
I enjoyed your article on Phil Knight and the creative ways in which he has steered his company to success. But I was quite appalled by the scathing remarks made by alumni in your last issue that went so far as to call the article a "sickening story." Those who criticize Knight, "the man responsible for Nike's unethical treatment of workers," should make their arguments with a little more substance.
As part of a required World Studies course at Jakarta International School, we visited the very factories in question in order to study modern industry. As one who has actually stepped foot in these factories and talked with workers, I disagree with the labels of "unsafe conditions and exploitative worker policies" that one alum suggested. I fear that this is yet another example of the excessive sensationalism rampant in the media today. It is, after all, not interesting journalism to mention that Nike factories in Indonesia have long waiting lists of potential employees or to put wages in perspective with respect to purchasing power parities rather than the misleading direct conversion to dollars.
Max Edleson, '01
Jakarta, Indonesia
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