Smith Quarterly

Smith Quarterly

Wild Life

Experts Cynthia Moss ’62 and Joyce Poole ’79 have changed how we see—and safeguard—elephants.

  • Smith Quarterly
  • January 24, 2025
Smith Quarterly

Every Stitch a Story

Garments from Smith’s collection of historical clothing give depth and dimension to women’s lives.

  • Smith Quarterly
  • February 10, 2025
“This isn't an exotic specimen. This is a story about human resilience, human suffering, violence, and peace. That story is what we're curating. And capturing the power of plants to tell that story is something we want to do as a botanic garden.”
John Berryhill, director of The Botanic Garden of Smith College; see “Seeds of Survival Take Root at Smith“ for the full story.
Smith Quarterly

The Worlds Within Black Art

Provost Daphne Lamothe explores Black creativity in her new book.

  • Smith Quarterly
  • February 17, 2025
“Elephants are the ultimate social networkers. They know everybody else. They can contact everybody else through low-frequency calls they make. It's like an elephant Facebook.”
Elephant expert Cynthia Moss ’62; see “Wild Life” for the full story.

Scene

Liberation in Motion

Joy spilled over into an impromptu dance circle following a hip-hop performance and workshop during Cromwell Day in November. Shawn Barnett ’25, center, takes a turn freestyling as fellow performers and workshop leader Shakia Barron, far right in track jacket, look on. The moment fit perfectly with the 2024 Cromwell Day theme of “Liberation in the Midst of Uncertainty.” Barron, an assistant professor of dance at Mount Holyoke College, led the hip-hop session—one of many Cromwell Day activities offering time and space for reflection about diversity, racism, and inclusion. A Smith tradition since 1989, Cromwell Day honors the legacy of Otelia Cromwell 1900, the college’s first African American graduate. —Barbara Solow

Photo by Jessica Scranton.

Attention to Detail

As part of an imaginative outdoor thought experiment, Sam Parmett ’28 closely observes a shelf mushroom growing on a tree at Smith’s MacLeish Field Station in Whately, Massachusetts. In the fall, Parmett took part in an Arts Afield session titled “Collaborating With Other Beings.” Led by artist Ash Eliza Williams, the session invited participants to choose a cloud, tree, plant, insect, rock, or other natural “being” they wanted to understand and connect with. Smith’s Center for the Environment, Ecological Design and Sustainability (CEEDS) created Arts Afield to encourage arts and humanities work at the field station. The program’s larger goals are to encourage “long- term ecological reflections” and deepen understanding of the links between ecological change and human behavior.—Barbara Solow

Photo by Jessica Scranton.

Float Night

Dressed as an ancient Greek Olympian, cross-country and track and field team member Jonna Rosenthal ’25 celebrates the team’s win of the Head of the Paradise canoe race during Float Night in September 2024. The event has been a Smith College Athletics tradition since 1952.

Photo by Jessica Scranton.

The Height of Transformation

The Department of Theatre’s production of Marie Antoinette took campus by storm with a sold-out four-night run in October in the Hallie Flanagan Studio Theatre. During tech rehearsals ahead of opening night, Mayte Sarmiento ’26, who portrayed the infamous queen onstage, took a moment to get into character as costume designer Rex Tans ’25 made some final adjustments. “[Marie Antoinette’s] arc in this show is remarkable, and there’s a lot of emotional, analytical, and physical work to do,” Sarmiento says. “One of the most valuable lessons I learned was how to truly ‘defend’ my character, approaching her story with an open mind and heart. There was no room for judgment— history has already taken care of that.” —Allison Racicot

Photo by Anna Siegel ’26.

Data Point

11

The number of academic concentrations currently offered at Smith in subjects ranging from archives and museums to collaborative innovation.

Favorites: Smithie Stuff We Love

For more Smithie stuff we love this fall, check out the full list. 

Have something you want to share with the masses? Submit your project!

Poetry

Winner of the 2024 Perugia Press Prize, Daughter of Three Gone Kingdoms by Joan Kwon Glass (Joan Prusky Glass ’98, M.A.T. ’99) uses such themes as disordered eating, family trauma, religion, and addiction to explore colonialism and postcolonialism. The poems reference historical events including the U.S. military presence in South Korea, while also drawing on the author’s upbringing and losses she’s experienced over the years, including the deaths of her sister and nephew. The Poetry Foundation calls Daughter of Three Gone Kingdoms “a striking collection where the mythical and the historical intersect with personal memories and day-to-day life.” By Megan Tkacy.

Read Daughter of Three Gone Kingdoms

Archetypes: Exploring Smith College Special Collections

1890s Hand-Decorated Fan, Ethel Fifield Brooks 1895

By Cheryl Dellecese

In the Victorian era, from 1837 to 1901, decorative fans were more than a way to cool off while enduring tight corsets and heavy dresses—they were must-have fashion accessories and subtle tools for courtship. This fan, belonging to Ethel Fifield Brooks 1895 (1873–1938), illustrates how young women personalized these popular items.

Photo by Jessica Scranton.

By the 1890s, photography was becoming more accessible, and Brooks embraced this new technology by adorning her wood-and- paper fan with cyanotype photos of friends, classmates, and Smith faculty on one side. The reverse featured stickers, stamps, and cutouts highlighting places meaningful to her, such as Smith’s Wallace House and the Princeton Inn.

Brooks’ creative flair extended beyond her student days. She earned a degree in architecture from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1900 and then lectured on home architecture at the Boston School of Housekeeping. A pioneer in her field, she was also active with the Home Economics Association of Yonkers, New York.

You Had To Be There

Traveling is a favorite pastime for Parsonsites, from left, Nkechi Nneji ’07, Loulou Momoh ’08, Evan Rahman ’08, Misozi Phiri ’06, and Maria Muraca ’08, who recently embarked on a South Asian adventure that included stops in Singapore and Malaysia. One highlight of the trip was exploring Malaysia’s famed Cameron Highlands region, known for its strawberries, cool climate, and tea fields. “As we all still love tea, we decided to visit the region to kick off our vacation. This photo was taken at the Boh Tea Plantation just before we had delicious tea and scones. Fun fact: There are cobras in the tea fields!” says Nkechi. Since graduating, Nkechi has taken trips to Thailand, Vietnam, Bangladesh, and Turkey with other Parsons House alums. “When we started our small Parsons WhatsApp group nearly 10 years ago, we could have never imagined that we would still talk every day and travel so much,” she adds. “Smith built our bonds of friendship, which remain very strong to this day!”

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Change in Obituary Policy

The Quarterly recently revised its obituary policy. Beginning with the Summer 2024 issue, the magazine will continue publishing a comprehensive “In Memoriam” listing of deceased alums but will no longer print 100-word obituaries. The reasons for this change are addressed here.

Q: Will the names of deceased alums still be listed in the magazine?
A: Yes. The “In Memoriam” listing of deceased alums and faculty members will continue to appear in each issue of the magazine. You can view a recent example of the list in the online version of the magazine. There is also a section of Legacy.com specifically dedicated to obituaries of deceased Smith alums and other members of the Smith community, populated with notices published by a host of major newspapers. 

Q: What’s the reasoning behind eliminating 100-word obituaries?
A: Over the years, many readers, including family members of deceased alums, have expressed concerns about the fairness of the magazine’s obituary policy. They wondered why some alums are memorialized with 100-word obituaries while others are not. Magazine staff did not write these obituaries but instead published submissions from family members and friends of deceased alums. Recent data shows that only 20% of deceased alums—one in five—received an obituary in the magazine. Moreover, individuals were often frustrated by the magazine’s 100-word limit as well as the often long delay in printing obituaries because of our quarterly production schedule. We believe that running the “In Memoriam” list is the most appropriate and equitable way to recognize our deceased alums.

Q: Why is the magazine changing this policy now?
A: With the Summer 2024 issue, the magazine will debut a top-to-bottom redesign. It represents the first time the magazine has been redesigned in decades. Ceasing the publication of 100-word obituaries has been a topic of discussion for some time, but the decision to do so in tandem with the magazine’s redesign felt most appropriate. Celebrating the lives and accomplishments of our alums will continue to be the heart of the magazine’s mission.

Q: Can I still report the death of an alum?
A: Yes. The Smith College Office of Alumnae Relations accepts and fact-checks death notices from family members and friends of deceased alums. To report a death, use our web form or email the records department directly at smithierecords@smith.edu. 

Q: How else can alums honor deceased classmates?
A: Alums are welcome to submit a class note with a short reflection or memory of a deceased classmate or family member for possible inclusion in the magazine. (Please note, full obituaries will not be published in the class notes section.) We encourage class officers to publish classmates’ obituaries on Smith-hosted websites. And alums can find Smithie obituaries on the Smith community page of Legacy.com. Please be assured that the decision to run only the “In Memoriam” listing in the magazine was made after much thoughtful reflection and in the best interest of our readers.