The Alcatraz Files
The compilation of letters between the prisoner and the professor was one of the most heart-warming articles that I have read in your magazine ("The Prisoner and the Professor," March/April). It was especially interesting to me because I was privileged to take an elementary mathematics course from Professor Harold Bacon as an undergraduate 60 years ago. I always admired and appreciated his efforts to make mathematics understandable to those of us who were less mathematically inclined.
George M. Taoka,'40, MA '42
Toledo, Ohio
Your article on how Professor Bacon took time from his busy schedule to give solace to an inmate at Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary substantiates what I discovered five decades ago. The math department was endowed with not only brilliance but also human affection. When I was a student of Professor Bacon's, I could feel his warmth and compassion as I sat in his classes. He is certainly entitled to wear the badge, "He loved his fellow man."
Philip Baumeister '50, Gr '51
Sebastopol, California
I was deeply touched by the article on math Professor Bacon's relationship with the convict, Rudolph Brandt. I fondly remember Bacon's pride in drawing a gigantic, freehand, near-perfect circle (his trick was to start at the bottom). His exams always separated the smart students from the creatively intelligent who extrapolated their learning to solve the one truly difficult problem on the test. Bacon's courtly manner and unfailing courtesy were appreciated by all. Now we know, as we always suspected, that his heart was even bigger than those circles he drew.
Raymond C. Oleson, '72
Nevada City, California
I was but one of many who took Professor Bacon's popular introductory calculus course. In 1967, while my father was dying of cancer, I told Professor Bacon I might have to miss class and perhaps a midterm to visit my father. I remember now his concern and reassurance. He was extremely flexible in making arrangements for me to complete his course. Bacon's teaching and mentoring of Rudolph Brandt is emotionally gripping, heart-wrenching and replete with great compassion.
James B. Kilgore, '70, MBA '73
Princeton, New Jersey
Today we live in a society that is concerned with "quality" and "Total Quality Management." Harold Bacon was years ahead of his time. As your article illustrates, he inspired people to do more than they felt they were capable of doing. He loved mathematics, he loved teaching, but most importantly he loved people. Bacon fostered "quality" in people and in their work. My first experience with the Stanford honor code was in Bacon's calculus class. He explained what was expected of a Stanford student. We were proud of his trust and confidence in us. We wouldn't think of cheating!
Edward L. Michelini, MA '75
Riverdale, New York
I'd like to cite an example of Professor Bacon's thoroughness and his careful attention to subject matter and to his students. I called on him at his office one time while he was engrossed at his blackboard with a very detailed and complicated problem. "Sit down, Larry, while I finish this. I'll be right with you." When he had completed his task and given his attention to me, I asked what he was doing. He said, "I'm just practicing getting this right so that I am sure it will all fit on the board when I give my lecture in projective geometry." Not many full professors were as careful and meticulous as my good friend Harold Bacon.
Lawrence D. Hawkinson, MA '50, EdD '67
Mountain View, California
Testing Einstein
"The Relative Proof," (Stanford Today, March/April) was a wonderful read, as were Nigel Holmes's descriptive drawings. The combination gave me the clearest insight yet into Einstein's General Theory of Relativity.
I was particularly glad the article illuminated the trials scientists have to endure in getting their experiments into orbit. My wife, Millie Hughes-Fulford, flew as a research scientist on the Shuttle Columbia in 1991 on the first Space Life Science mission. Since her eight-year tour with NASA, she has also had the good fortune to see two of her own experiments, on the effect of zero gravity on osteoblast cells, go up on shuttle flights. There is no denying it: Space research is glamorous and exciting, particularly during the countdown before the shuttle blasts off. That's when the whole research team holds its breath in unison and when, for a few spine-tingling moments, the staggering amount of work that led to that magic moment is forgotten. My heart goes out to principal investigator Francis Everitt and his team. They won't get rich doing it, but I'll bet they wouldn't change jobs with anyone else in the world.
George Fulford, '79
Mill Valley, California
Premature Publication
Jennifer Reese's article, "Reviving the Honor Code," (March/April) raises more questions than it answers. Foremost among these is why anyone thinks changing the Judicial Charter is the appropriate solution to problems with the honor code. Moreover, the timing of the article is most troublesome. The proposals from the Committee of 15 were not public when the article was published, so any attempt at detailed analysis or debate was premature. The C-15 had issued vague press releases as to its approach and likely proposals, but when these were criticized, the response was "wait for the final proposals." So why not wait for the public version and then cover the actual proposals and the arguments, both pro and con?
Yale M. Braunstein, MA '68, PhD, '75
Berkeley, California
Assisted Suicide
Lawyer Carla Kerr is splitting hairs if she believes that removing a patient from life support is just as "active" a medical intervention as prescribing medicine to hasten death ("A Matter of Life and Death," March/April). She is wrong! As an old Stanford nursing school graduate, I know the difference between lovingly supporting the dying patient and actively bringing on his death. We must get back to allowing human beings to die naturally, instead of forcing high-tech treatments upon them that just prolong and add to their suffering.
Jo Jean DeCristoforo, '45
Sacramento, California
Like Carla Kerr, I, too, can speak from experience; my father died at home when he was 98. He spoke of suicide and had bad periods lasting months at a time. But at other times, the desire to live was uppermost.
Those advocating assisted suicide always point to extreme cases, but most cases are not extreme. Many, like my father, experience a number of ups and downs before dying. How does one assess the depth and duration of an ill person's desire to die? A call for suicide can represent such a varying mélange of motives: pain, fear of future pain, a reluctance to burden a child with one's care and distress at the limitations imposed by one's illness.
Assisting in suicide is not a simple issue. Laws against bank robbery are feasible because we can see a "bright line" separating customers from robbers. But where do we draw a line between situations in which assisting suicide is truly appropriate and when it is not? The history of this century doesn't leave me willing to rely on human goodness and human judgment to keep "assisted" suicide a benign practice. If we do permit it, physicians and nurses should be barred from assisting. Their goal should be to cure or ameliorate, and nothing inconsistent with this goal should be allowed.
Barbara Broaddus, '55, Gr '57
Burlingame, California.
Hanna House
I was thrilled to read in "Doing the Wright Thing" (Stanford Today, March/April) that plans are afoot to open Frank Lloyd Wright's Hanna House to the public after earthquake restorations are completed. For a long time, I have been vexed that the house is closed to the public.
Why has Stanford been so stingy about sharing this 1937 masterpiece? Tight budgets are always with us, but this doesn't explain why Stanford decided to assign the house to the provost when the Hannas deeded it to the University in 1975. To complete the $2.2 million restoration, more money is needed. Why not use the promise of tours and programs as a fund-raising tool? The house, when it opens, will spark the interest of many diverse people, including those who make a point of touring the country visiting "Wright Sites."
Debra Aaronson Lawless, '81
Cranston, Rhode Island
Nike's Contributions
The view that Nike founder, Phil Knight, MBA '62, has "never done anything of value in the world" ("Letters," March/April) is ridiculous.
It will certainly surprise the many people around the world who purchase Nike products. Nike's $6.5 billion in annual sales represents a tangible measure of a very real and ongoing contribution to the day-to-day happiness of millions.
This view also ignores the contributions that companies like Nike regularly make to the arts and other civic and charitable projects, as well as the millions in taxes paid to national, state and local governments in support of community services. And there is the small matter of enabling thousands of people to earn a living and provide for their families.
Nor is such a contribution made without personal risk and uncertainty. Only from the perspective of hindsight (and an ivory tower) does creating a successful business look simple and inevitable.
Charles Schott, '74, MBA '83
New Canaan, Connecticut
Color Blind
One sentence in the article about Bosnia ("Out of the Ashes," March/April) states: "They look just like us. They also look just like one another. We can't tell a Serb from a Croat, or a Bosniac (Bosnian Muslim) from an American." I am an American, and no one has ever mistaken me for a Serb, Croat or Bosniac! This is just another example of European ethnocentrism I have repeatedly detected in your magazine. Is it too much to ask that Stanford recognize that yellow people can be American, too?
T.S.B. Yen, '73
San Francisco, California
Hooked on Ebonics
Ebonics is to reading what cutting and pasting is to brain surgery--not closely related ("Ebonics Insider," March/April). The entire ebonics furor should never have occurred. Sociolinguists recognized black English as a legitimate dialect nearly 30 years ago. And for decades teacher education programs have instructed teachers to respect each child, including the language each child brings to school.
As former director of reading education at Pepperdine University, I believe Mary Hoover, the Oakland school board consultant, misunderstands language comprehension, learning and reading. She confuses speech, an oral activity, with silent reading, a silent process. Worse, she confuses learning how to pronounce words with learning to decode meaning. Hoover believes that reading is the process of changing written words to speech instead of reconstruction meaning from print. Pronouncing words isn't the same as reading. And learning to use phonic rules to bark at print doesn't ensure or even facilitate comprehension. Fluent reading is fast reading. Slow, careful reading doesn't work because comprehension is impossible under these conditions. And more than anything else, phonics results in processing print too slowly to make sense of it.
Hugh W. Glenn
East Irvine, California
Beyond Outrage
Outrage is an emotion that clouds the mind. It appears to prevent David Harris from suggesting how we might avoid future tragedies like Vietnam ("I Am Outraged Still," March/April). Couldn't his accusations against America be turned into the following more useful questions: Would Ho Chi Minh have formed a free and democratic government if we had supported him in 1945/46? How would modern East Asia have developed without U.S. intervention? Everyone who lived through Vietnam should collaborate on the answers because we will undoubtedly face similar questions again. Screaming "America is evil" does not help.
John Norton, MBA '65
San Diego, California
Spin City
Your Odwalla piece ("In a Squeeze," March/ April) read like a press release and missed the real issue--food safety, not image marketing. No wonder public relations experts laud the response machine Odwalla has established. If Odwalla co-founder and chairman, Greg Steltenpohl, '76, and his team had been using "basic" chemistry rather than their "basic" values, this incident would not have happened. Unfortunately, as Steltenpohl himself hinted, even amid tragedy, Odwalla is worried about how its message will play. Odwalla's emphasis on image over substance (read: fact) extends to its claim regarding the "flash pasteurization" technique that was actually "pioneered" by Tropicana--in the 1950s.
"Leland's Journal" may be a place for upbeat bio stories and other such tidbits; however, an event in which one child died and dozens more were made ill, perhaps permanently, certainly deserves more insightful coverage--or none at all. Your attempt to put a "journalism-lite" spin on this incident was of questionable judgment. If you're going to publish corporate PR, why bother editing?
A.R. Dal Porto, '86
Petaluma, California
Turn Off, Tune In
It's unfortunate that Milton Chen ª("Taming the Tube," March/April) failed to mention the most sensible way to combat a child's attachment to television: Provide stimulating, diverting activities. Invite a child into the kitchen to cook, into the garden to plant vegetables or outside to play ball. Children glue themselves to the television because nothing is luring them away. Perhaps Chen's affiliation with public television blinded him to this possibility.
Janet Kessel Fletcher, '78
Oakland, California
Assertiveness Training
I appreciated reading the commentary by Aly Remtulla ("Here for the Taking," March/April) about the need for students to take advantage of the opportunities at Stanford. As an undergraduate, I shared his experience: I often heard students complain about the inaccessibility of professors, but personally was able to do research with a highly acclaimed biology professor and never had professors chase me out during office hours. I feel that assertiveness is part of the education one receives at Stanford. It is a skill you need when you leave.
Karen Holl, '89,
Santa Cruz, California
The Band Plays On
Perhaps Arthur Barnes can now find time in retirement to write a really good singable, and yeah, traditional, fight song that quickens alumni blood and even helps loosen purse strings ("The Greatest Hits of Arthur P. Barnes," March/April). Meredith Wilson (Music Man) wrote an excellent fight song for Iowa, his alma mater. Perhaps Barnes can do the same for us. Then, of course, the Band would have to be persuaded to play it. That may be the even larger, and perhaps insurmountable, final hurdle.
Dick Wharton, '53
Moline, Illinois
Lincoln Lineage
You present a Dr. Todd Lincoln together with Drs. Crockett and Davis to discuss the odds against such a meeting of the relatives of famous men ("Medical Miracle," January/February). It is most likely that no descendant of President Lincoln was present. I could make a plausible claim that I am eighth cousin four times removed to the 16th president. Probably your Dr. Lincoln could make a similar claim, but it seems there are no surviving direct descendants. In "Last of the Lincolns" by Michael R. Beschloss in The New Yorker, we read that descendant Robert Beckwith had a vasectomy and prostatectomy some six years before his wife gave birth to an implausible (may I say inconceivable?) descendant.
Peter C. Lincoln, '63
Honolulu, Hawaii
Equal Time
I protest the inherent inequality created by female journalists in male sports locker rooms ("Live from the Locker Room," March/April). They are allowed to interview "stark naked" male athletes, while male journalists are barred from doing the same in female sports locker rooms.
Ronald T. Baker, '69
Walnut Creek, California
Bicycle Safety
I read with considerable interest the article "Beijing by the Bay" (Stanford Today, January/February). Author David Jacobson eloquently describes the changes and challenges bicyclists face while pedaling on the grounds of Stanford University. The traffic congestion described in the story has many ramifications, not the least of which is personal safety. I understand that the Stanford police department is mounting a special bicycle patrol program this spring. Since sports-related falls are the No. 2 cause of brain and/or spinal cord injuries, this program could not be more timely.
Pat O'Hare
San Jose, California
Tiger's Predecessor
As a Stanford alum, I am all for Tiger Woods ("Tiger Beat," March/April). We're all sorry he didn't finish Stanford but we understand. I doubt if Tiger knows that Stanford once had another great golfer who also did not complete his college curriculum. He left for a different reason, and we lost him in the Pacific during World War II. His name was Bud Brownell; and on a cold February day in 1942, he shot the Stanford course record--a remarkable 63. On the last hole, he just rimmed the cup--or it would have been a 62.
Let's hope Tiger has time to come back to the Farm for a round or two. If he doesn't break Bud's record, that's OK with us--we old grads like remembering it.
Carl Livingston Jr., '43
Carmel, California
Foreign Students
Charles Eldon expresses concern about the large percentage of foreign students in Stanford's graduate departments ("Letters," November/December 1996). As an American and former graduate student at Stanford, I worked for many years in international development. I feel that the Stanford practice of bringing in highly talented foreign students has shown considerable foresight in preparing the University for an ever more interconnected world. This practice can only bring future benefits and advantages to Stanford. It will international stature of the University and provide it with an international network of graduates whose loyalties can only be beneficial. In many countries where I worked, this Stanford network has often brought me considerable personal benefit. The international network included not only foreign graduates, but a large number of American Stanford graduates working outside the United States. Surely the generous donations of the Packards and the Hewletts more than compensate for less giving by foreign graduates.
Philip A. S. Sedlak, PhD '75
Irian, Indonesia
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