Shake, rattle, and Go

Congratulations on “Go: With the Flow” [January], a world-class article. The combination of photography, engaging text, fun sidebars, and instructions made for a story that has pulled me back several times for another read.

While working in Japan in 1980, one lunch hour I was watching two colleagues play Go when our eleven-story building started to tremble and sway in an earthquake. The players picked up the Go board and held it steady while the building rocked for a full two minutes. Then they put the board back down, took a bite of their lunches, and continued playing without once losing concentration.

I was incredulous. “Didn’t you feel that earthquake? Aren’t you scared?” I asked.

“Oh, yes, the earthquake,” they said. “Sorry. We forgot you are a foreigner. Now, look how this game is going. . . .”

William M. Hall, ME’71
Batavia, Illinois


Gathering much moss

Donald Cheney’s article “Gifts from the Seaweed” [From the Field, January] was not only informative, it refreshed memories of my boyhood days in Gloucester, Massachusetts.

In order to earn extra money, we used to collect Irish sea moss by hand—it took forever to accumulate 100 pounds—along Bass Rocks in East Gloucester.

We’d put the moss (which I recall came in two colors, white and brown) into burlap bags and haul it to our drying racks about a mile away. After the moss dried, we’d again tote it another three miles to a buyer for weighing. We got 1 cent a pound wet, 2 cents a pound dry. Often, we’d forgo the drying because of the weather or our impatience.

I hate to admit it, but our boyhood indiscretion occasionally led us to include a few rocks in the burlap bag to “round off” the weight. I guess we figured the return on our labors—the price of a movie was then about 50 cents—was justification enough.

William H. Greer, LA’52
Oneonta, New York


Becoming visible

Thanks for a great magazine for the college community and beyond. The stories, personal experiences, and information have a positive quality I’ve seen in few widely published magazines.

M. Shahid Alam’s thoughts about being a Pakistani living in the United States both before and after September 11 [First-Person, January] seem to call for a response. I found myself deeply disturbed by Professor Alam’s claim that he enjoys his “invisibility.”

I believe that, as Americans, we “brown folk” should be both visible and respected. We who are citizens, green-card holders, or F-1s may be an apolitical group as a whole, but we are hard-working people who fuel the American economy and deserve equal treatment.

There is no need for a word as ominous as “invisibility” to represent the lives of brown folk in America. Instead, I hope for confidence, respect, political awareness, and grassroots action for my community.

Rishi Arora, BA’01
Holbrook, New York


A simple condemnation?

Re M. Shahid Alam’s “First-Person” essay: Someday, maybe someday, we’ll hear from someone of Middle Eastern descent or from the Islamic faith who condemns the acts of September 11 without making a concurrent condemnation of the United States.

Gary C. Menin Sr., UC’99
Westborough, Massachusetts


Husky pride

Kudos on the January issue—especially the elegantly photographed and written article on the game Go and the wonderful short story by Peter Orner, though the entire issue was worth reading.

Makes me proud to be a Northeastern alumna.

Joanne Boulay Saltman, LA’66
Belchertown, Massachusetts


Watch your back, Brokaw

I thought Herb Hadad’s piece on his experience of the World Trade Center attacks [“September 11, 2001,” November 2001] was outstanding, the absolute best reporting I’ve seen on the subject.

The writing was direct and to the point. No attempt to sensationalize. Or even to generalize. He put me there. He walked me out. If Hadad wrote for the evening news, we’d be a much better country than we are.

Benjamin Cheever
Pleasantville, New York


The view from the left coast

A recent correspondent [Letters, January] applauded NU and the alumni magazine for keeping him in touch with the school and its thoughts on the world.

Since graduation, I’ve moved back to my hometown, far from my beloved campus. Yet, through the magazine, I’ve also enjoyed watching the university grow academically as well as architecturally.

The few times I’ve been back to visit, it seemed the whole campus was new. Still, I feel the familiarity of the place I called home for four years.

Thanks for keeping me up-to-date.

Greg Gordon, BPH’94
Eugene, Oregon


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