LETTERS

Redesigned Magazine The makeover is a bonanza, and the notion of offering four magazines in one is inspired. In our household, which receives seven alumni/ae magazines, Tufts Magazine has always been read cover to cover, more or less. Yes, some of the articles have been a bit wordy in the past. But not so now, and content has not been sacrificed. Other huge pluses are the jazzy new layout and high-quality photos.
KATHERINE HALL PAGE, G74
LINCOLN, MASSACHUSETTS

Congratulations on the redesigned Tufts Magazine. What an improvement! This issue afforded me hours of enjoyable and informative reading. It will be a challenge to maintain the same quality in future issues, but I’m sure you will do it.
IRVING NOVIC, A51
STUDIO CITY, CALIFORNIA

You’ve turned an outstanding magazine into an even better one. Write on! Photo shoot on!
TOD J. KAUFMAN, A75
CHARLESTON, WEST VIRGINIA

Teach for America Caveats Thank you for Kathy Hubbard’s article spotlighting Tufts grads who choose to teach (Fall 2014). But the title of that article—“Time Out to Teach”—is worrying and telling. I hope that these alums, unlike eighty percent of Teach for America members, find their teaching experiences enriching enough to keep them in the classroom beyond the two-year hitch. All of our children, especially those vulnerable students in low-income schools, deserve the most experienced and dedicated teachers—and the most stable and nurturing environments—we can provide.

It’s also worth noting that while Teach for America does place recruits in hard-to-staff districts, that’s not always the case. Districts with no teacher shortage are replacing experienced educators within expensive Teach for America personnel. Many charter schools in low-income neighborhoods are staffed primarily by such personnel.
MEG LUTHIN, A07
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON

AN ELEPHANT TO REMEMBER I read “Elephant of the Hour” (Fall 2014) with great interest, because during my four years at Tufts, I had the job of babysitting Jumbo at the Barnum Museum of Natural History (now Barnum Hall) on Saturday and Sunday afternoons—preventing local kids and others from trying to sit on his trunk, pull his tail, or otherwise mistreat him. My most memorable experience was the afternoon a very old, stooped-over lady came in. Tears were running profusely down her cheeks as she viewed Jumbo. She explained that she had been a trapeze artist and had ridden around on his back during circus shows.
VINCENT MAINIERO, A53
MILFORD, CONNECTICUT

CORRECTION (AND CONGRATULATIONS) Our notice about the new children’s book This Day in June, by Gayle E. Pitman, J94 (Mixed Media, Fall 2014), got the title wrong—we were a month off. Luckily, that didn’t prevent the American Library Association’s GLBT Round Table from honoring the work with a prestigious Stonewall Book Award. —Editor