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In the News

It’s when you start packing that you realize how many different modes of summer reading there are — all requiring different kinds of books,” muses Laurence Breiner, a CAS associate professor of English, in an essay in the June 16 Commonwealth. “Summer’s not just a day at the beach,” he continues. “There’s reading for the rainy days. There’s reading to accompany the morning’s first coffee, when the birds are up but the houseguests aren’t. There’s insomniac reading (when the houseguests are still up). Tradition strongly associates the lazy days of summer with wildly ambitious reading.”

“Van Gogh in a large part created the modern concept of what it means to be an artist,” says John Stomberg, director of the BU Art Gallery, in a June 23 Boston Herald story about the ongoing Van Gogh exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts. “He was willing to sacrifice everything for his art. Rather than painting pictures that he knew would sell or making art on commission, his art was deeply personal. This was authentic, pure art. Not art for a market.”

“This election reminds me of the elections in the late 19th century when nobody remembers who those candidates were and who those presidents were, when the parties looked more alike than they were different,” says Robert Dallek, a CAS professor of history, in the June 26 USA Today. Reflecting on the similarities between Al Gore and George W. Bush, Dallek adds, “Of course, it’s vastly different given the kind of global involvements the United States has and the enormous power of this country. But for all that, there are echoes of that time.”

“I did not ever become really successful,” says alumna Geena Davis (SFA’79, Hon.’99), of her experience as a Victoria’s Secret model shortly after graduating from SFA. Profiled in the June 25 Sunday London Times, she explains, “There were no jets to Jamaica, lines of cocaine, and fancy parties. I would pound the pavements, meet photographers, keep a record of their names, send them notes, turn up on time, and be prepared.” Despite her disclaimers, Davis’ lingerie modeling did in fact lead to her award-winning film career. Of Tootsie, her first major film role, Davis says, “My character, April, spent most of the time in her underwear. So the producer, Sydney Pollack, told the casting director that he should see some models and, at last, I had my chance.”

“We embrace waste,” says Joseph Boskin, a CAS professor of history, in a July 5 Boston Globe article discussing the possibility that new federal regulations may pull the plug on top-loading washing machines, favored traditionally by Americans, which are less energy-efficient than front-loading machines. “The North American continent has been a cornucopia for those who have settled here,” Boskin explains. “For example, there were so many lobsters here, they were used to fertilize the soil. We thought nothing of conservation.”

"In The News" is compiled by Alexander Crouch in the Office of Public Relations.

14 July 2000
Boston University
Office of University Relations