Letters

ELEVEN NATIONS “Up in Arms” (Fall 2013), by Colin Woodard, A91, was a more than worthwhile read. While Woodard’s analysis of the sociological and cultural roots of the different regions of our country may be a little simplistic, his theories go a long way toward explaining the ferocious ideological splits among the “nations” within our nation. Bravo to Tufts Magazine for publishing such a thought-provoking piece. Now I need to read Woodard’s book (American Nations).
GAIL E. ANDERSON, J68
IPSWICH, MASSACHUSETTS

Like many people after the Sandy Hook shootings in December 2012, I thought things would finally change vis-à-vis gun-control legislation in this country. The U.S. Senate’s April vote, mentioned by Woodard, showed me just how wrong I was. But there are a number of factors beyond the religious, political, and ethnographic makeup of the eleven “nations” at play that explain this outcome. Despite the fact that a majority of Americans supported criminal and mental health background checks, the legislation didn’t pass because, as noted by NPR’s S.V. Date, the Senate gives small or sparsely populated states the ability to stop the majority’s will: it’s not a democratic institution. As an example, the senators from Alaska, North Dakota, and Wyoming provided six “no” votes; total population for those states: 2,041,183. The senators from California, New York, and Illinois provided six “yes” votes; total population for those states: 70,865,783. And don’t even get me started on the money that the gun lobby funnels into Washington.
JEANNE D. BREEN, J83
OLD SAYBROOK, CONNECTICUT

Thank you for “Up in Arms.” I shared it with as many people as I could. I’m deeply saddened by our gun culture, and appreciate the work you’ve done to bring the information you did to the public.
LINDA TOMASSI
PORTLAND, OREGON

Several readers pointed out the error in the article’s assertion (since corrected online) that “none of the states controlled by Yankeedom or New Netherland retain the death penalty today.” New Hampshire does. Thanks to all who wrote. —Editor

NAVAL DIPLOMACY The new dean of the Fletcher School, retired Admiral James Stavridis, F83, F84, is just the type of senior military officer we need: one who manages diplomatic as well as military aspects of the United States presence around the globe (“The Power of Soft Power,” Fall 2013). Through my membership in the Advocates for Tufts ROTC, I have had the pleasure of meeting with active-duty officers of flag rank who attend Fletcher. The men and women in this forward-looking Defense Department program are trained to be the face of the United States around the world as they and their command are deployed. What better leader for Fletcher than a person who has led both in the military and in diplomacy? As a former NROTC scholarship recipient who served three years on the destroyer USS Bristol, I say, “Welcome aboard, Admiral!”
DAVID LINCOLN, A52
KITTERY, MAINE

Your hagiographical piece on Dean Stavridis pretends the U.S. military and intelligence community is interested in making the world a better place for all. Any soft power initiatives undertaken by the military are merely an adjunct to the very real and deadly power it projects onto the world’s people every day. To further cloud the narrative, the fact that Stavridis relates a story about Nicaragua ignores a very real fact: if the U.S. military and the CIA had left the popular 1980s Sandinista government alone instead of creating, arming, advising, and supporting a mercenary force that became known for its atrocities, the Nicaraguan government would have provided the young boy in the opening anecdote with his first glasses.
RON JACOBS
BURLINGTON, VERMONT

I just went to your website to share Colin Woodard’s “Up in Arms” on social media, but found no options for doing so. Of course, the old copy-and-paste still works, but given the ease of adding sharing options to a site, I found it surprising that Tufts Magazine didn’t offer them. I suggest you add buttons for sharing magazine pieces on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, etc.
MATT ISLES, A01
MEDFORD, MASSACHUSETTS

Share away! From now on, you’ll find share buttons for all articles on Tufts Magazine Online (go.tufts.edu/magazine). —Editor

INITIAL CONFUSION How ironic that Katie Peterson’s instructive essay “How to Write a Love Poem” (Fall 2013) concluded with an incomprehensible series of capital letters: YOLO. Is the magazine’s target only cyber-savvy alumni who YOLO (whatever that means)? By the way, neither my bride (of over fifty years), nor my son, nor my daughter, nor a friend had a clue as to what YOLO means.
HOWARD HUNTER
PROFESSOR OF RELIGION (RETIRED), TUFTS

FWIW, it means You Only Live Once.
—Editor

A CAPPELLA PRIDE Please note an important error in the timeline accompanying David Menconi’s article “Sing On” (Fall 2013), about the Beelzebubs a cappella group. The entry for June 1964 claims that the Bubs were the first collegiate a cappella group to perform with the Boston Pops. Sorry, Bubs, but the MIT Logarhythms, of which I have been a member since the 1960s, got there first, singing at the Boston Pops in 1959.
MICHAEL POTASH, G69
FRAMINGHAM, MASSACHUSETTS

Our Bubs timeline reflected another lapse in our collective memory as well. The a cappella championship the Bubs won at Carnegie Hall in 1993 took place in March of that year, not May. And the Bubs were actually co-winners, sharing the honors with Tufts’ female a cappella group, the Jackson Jills. Our thanks to Tina Surh, J93, a “proud Jumbo, Jills alum, and current trustee,” for setting us straight.
—Editor

MELIORISTS UNITE When I reached the point in your editorial “Beyond Optimism” (Fall 2013) where you define the word meliorist—“someone who believes the world can and should be better, and that people have the capacity to improve it”—I was instantaneously floored and liberated at the exact same time. I have spent my entire life knowing on the deepest possible level that the world and everything in it could be better, that all of the world’s problems could be solved with some degree of effort and determination. But I had been so frustrated by the world’s resistance to change that I had come to believe that my discontent was a flaw in character or temperament or perspective. You have, in one short sentence, completely validated my place in the world and my approach to life. Thank you! I will now embark on a renewed and reframed mission to improve the world—as a meliorist at large.
KENNETH H. LITTLE, G98
THORNTON, NH

You have successfully infused my vocabulary with a valuable new term. Add me to the group of meliorists, please, and thank you for filling my vocabulary glass with yet another useful word.
LYZA BAYARD
TUFTS DINING & BUSINESS SERVICES

Quiet Men It was thoughtful of Dick Arnold, G68, in his letter in the Fall 2013 issue, to add the name of my father, Professor Marston Balch, to the list of “Quiet Men” (Summer 2013)—Tufts faculty members who were World War II veterans. My father served in North Africa and France as chief of the French Press and Radio Analysis Section of the United States Information Service, and subsequently as chief of the Cultural Relations Section under the Department of State. Before departing for service, he persuaded Tufts to take up leadership in theater arts by establishing the first department of drama and speech in New England. He was chair of that department for twenty-six years, and was also professor of drama and Fletcher Professor of Oratory. He became one of the nation’s leading exponents of educational university theater.
GABRIELLE BALCH MAZZA, J50
LEXINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS

HAPPY MEALS It has been twenty years since I graduated, and I am writing to the magazine for the first time because you brought the most satisfying smile to my face with “Lil at the Till” (Fall 2013), which celebrated the beloved reign of Lil Cunningham at Carmichael Dining Hall. I can’t begin to tell you how delightful it was to hand over your card to Lil and start off your day with an enthusiastic, genuine, and personal greeting. It was like having a member of your own family wish you well before you headed out to class. I can still hear her say, on my way in, “Happy breakfast, baby Christopher!” and on my way out, “Have a beautiful day, Christopher!” Now when I think of Lil’s gracious spirit, her signature optimism and warmth (which is often), I realize how each day she generously brought to life Tufts’ motto: Peace and Light. What a lovely lady. Thank you for drawing attention to her joyous presence in the lives of thousands of Tufts students throughout the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s.
CHRISTOPHER BRISSON, A94, G94
LOS ANGELES

KUDOS The quality of the magazine is excellent and getting better with each issue. Keep up the good work, and thank you for the part you are playing in helping Tufts “punch above its weight.”
REID E. WHITLOCK, F78
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA