Category: Washington, DC
Weighing in on Homework: Is the Load Too Heavy?
Homework
Norwalk Hour
Jamie Hammon
Boston University Washington News Service
11-7-06
WASHINGTON, Nov. 7–Fifteen questions for Algebra. Three chapters for English. A worksheet for French. Oh yeah, and a History test.
That list reads like a nightly homework load for a typical high school student. But is it too much?
That is the question that has recently been on the minds of researchers, authors, the media – and the Norwalk school district, which is evaluating its homework policy. In light of recent research that has shown much of homework to be ineffective in helping students learn, all are asking the same question: how should homework policies be changed?
Education experts like Ron Wolk, founding editor of “Education Week” and “Teacher Magazine,” and Jay Mathews, author and education reporter for The Washington Post, debated last week at The National Academies, a group of research and advisory organizations in Washington.
“Do I think homework is too onerous for most kids? For most kids, the answer is a very strong ‘yes,’” Wolk said. “If I were the Imperial Wizard, I’d be tempted to ban homework, but it doesn’t have to be this way. I might relent if I could be convinced the schools would be thoughtful about it.”
Dr. Salvatore Corda, superintendent of Norwalk public schools, said that the district is considering the issue and evaluating its current homework policy.
“We are looking into [questions like] what should homework look like? What should the length of homework be? What’s appropriate for elementary, middle, and high school children? If every high school teacher gives half an hour of homework, kids could have three hours of homework each night – is that reasonable?” Corda said.
Karen Lang, who is assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction for the Norwalk schools, chairs a committee looking at the district’s homework policy. Lang said she met with a group of administrators over the summer and they looked at school systems throughout the state. The committee’s preliminary recommendations are now in the hands of principals, who will review them with their faculties, but Lang said the process is quite long and controversial.
“We believe there is a place for homework, but there are very strong differences of opinion about what that should look like,” Lang said.
Mathews said last week that the notion that students are getting buried by homework is largely based on myth. Though there are regions – particularly those with very good high schools – where some students do four and five hours of homework each night, he said those heavy loads are the result of demands students place on themselves.
“Why do they have stressful lives?” Mathews asked. “Because they think stressful lives are fun! Many of [those students] are looking at parents who have stressful lives – overscheduled, doing everything at once – and they want the same kinds of life, so they sign up for five AP classes.”
According to the latest survey by the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan, the average 15- to 17-year-old spends about 50 minutes a day doing homework – not an oppressive amount of time when compared to the two and a half hours a day the group spent watching television and at the computer.
“There is always going to be a difference between the student who takes three or four honors classes and the one who isn’t taking a deeply enriched track,” said Lang. “That said, there should be some guidelines to how long each student should be spending.”
But Wolk said it is not the time spent doing homework that is the problem, but that the problem is the homework itself.
“What schools do in the six hours they have kids caged in classrooms, they don’t do very well for the majority of the kids,” said Wolk. “And it makes me wonder why we should be any more optimistic that what they do with the kids after school is going to make any more sense.”
Wolk said that kids get bored and frustrated with school because there is such a discrepancy between the school world and the real world, and all homework does is “extend the school world longer into the life of these kids when they really ought to be out in the real world.”
“I am of the opinion that homework needs to be a task that is given to students that challenges them more in terms of thinking about a problem and how one solves a problem, as opposed to, you know, go answer 15 questions as the end of the chapter,” Corda said.
He said that the Norwalk committee’s final policy recommendation will go to the school board and will guide the new way district schools assign homework.
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DAR Takes on Myths of Early America
- Photos by Jill Connor
MYTHS: In the Daughters of the American Revolution Museum in Washington D.C. down the street from the White House houses a number of artifacts from the Worcester area especially in the Massachusetts room shown here. In the corner stands a grandfather clock made in Oakham by William Crawford between 1790-1820. Patrick Sheary, is originally from Worcester but now lives in D.C. and works as the Curator of Furnishings for the DAR museum.
MYTHS
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
Katie Geyer
Boston University News Service
November 2, 2006
WASHINGTON, Nov. 2 -- The tall wooden timepiece built in Oakham, Mass., and now on display at the Daughters of the American Revolution Museum here can be called a tall clock or a case clock. But never call it a grandfather clock.
The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), with a mission of promoting historic education and preservation, is out to set the record straight. Tall clocks were not called grandfather clocks until the 1870s, when the song “My Grandfather’s Clock” became popular. So tall clocks like this one, made by William Crawford between 1790 and 1820, must not be labeled “grandfather.”
The clock myth is part of the DAR's exhibit, “Myth or Truth? Stories We've Heard about Early America,” which began on Oct. 6 and will run until next March 31 at the museum. The grandfather clock myth is one of many that the museum director, Diane Dunkley, says have been driving the DAR and other American history buffs crazy.
"They're the sorts of things that historians know but the general public doesn’t know," she said. "There’s a lot of discussion [at the DAR] all the time about ‘did you hear this one?’ ”
And so was born an exhibit that challenges silverware, flag makers, door hinges, Yankee Doodle and the number 13.
Ms. Dunkley said the myths come in several different forms.
"There are myths that start out with a kernel of truth and then just sort of get embellished for whatever reason," she said. "It's like playing a game of whispers."
"And then there are things that people just make up to explain things," Ms. Dunkley said.
Patrick Sheary, the DAR Museum’s curator of furnishings, is a native of Worcester and regularly maintains furniture in the museum’s various state rooms, including the Massachusetts room. The room is a replica of the front parlor of the Hancock-Clarke House in Lexington, Mass., where John Hancock and Samuel Adams were said to have been when they heard Paul Revere’s message in 1775 that the British were coming.
Mr. Sheary, who has worked there for 11 years, said that the most famous item in the room is a Chinese tea chest said to have been one of the two surviving tea chests thrown into Boston Harbor during the Boston Tea Party in 1773.
“It conjures up lots of debate,” Mr. Sheary said, because without the presence of water marks, he said, the DAR questions whether the box had any involvement with the Boston Tea Party.
One myth featured in the DAR’s exhibit is the common assumption that people were shorter, on average, during the revolutionary period, than they are today. The DAR says scholars have compared the average height of Revolutionary soldiers with the height of soldiers in the 20th century, and the difference is within fractions of an inch.
Similarly, at Old Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge, Mass., curator Tom Kelleher frequently explains to visitors that the village’s low-ceilinged revolutionary period houses are not necessarily evidence that people were shorter back then.
When people make assumptions about the low ceilings, he said, he asks them, “Well, are you hitting your head?” Although the ceilings seem low, “you don’t have to duck,” he said.
Mr. Kelleher said that Americans have come to expect a certain amount of space in a house and that high ceilings would have been seen as a waste of material and of heat back then.
The curator echoed the DAR’s warning about historical myths.
“Good stories stick in our minds,” he said. When people hear of evidence that Americans have changed, he said, they think it is very interesting. But as interesting as these stories sound, Mr. Kelleher said, it is best to have a healthy skepticism.
He said questioning history teaches critical thinking. “Not just about history, but about life in general,” he said.
But Kenneth J. Moynihan, a professor of history at Assumption College, said that myths about height and artifacts and the like may catch the public’s eye, but they are not the kind that really have power. “We have myths about everything,” he said. “Some of them are important and some of them are not.”
For example, he said, there is a powerful myth that surrounds the founding of our nation. “A major factor in our self identity is that either we bought the land fair and square or the Indians had it coming because they [attacked] the white people,” he said. “That’s the level of myth that really has power, not necessarily myths about how tall people were.”
The professor said he is working on a book about Worcester’s early history in which he plans to challenge some of the assumptions about the town’s past.
Ms. Dunkley of the DAR said the public as well as historians should always question the sources of their information.
"What we really want the public to do is say, 'OK, that’s an interesting story.' Then go see what they can find out."
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Before Election Day, Follow the Money
FEC-Norwalk
The Norwalk Hour
Jamie Hammon
Boston University Washington News Service
10-19-06
WASHINGTON, Oct. 19 —Most people are aware that behind every prominent politician is a well-endowed campaign coffer. But do they know exactly who has provided the money to the candidates they will be choosing among this Election Day?
Campaign finance records have been public record since the 1970s, but a pair of user-friendly Web sites has made that information accessible to anyone with an Internet connection.
Candidates have to report all contributions over $200 – everything from the personal check from the guy next door to the contribution from a major interest group – to the Federal Election Commission. And Web sites like those for the Center for Responsive Politics (www.opensecrets.org) and Political Money Line (www.politicalmoneyline.com) have organized and analyzed those numbers. That means one can monitor not just the money politicians are getting, but also the money one’s neighbors and friends are giving.
“It is very important for voters to know how politicians are funding their campaigns,” said Gary Rose, professor of government and politics at Sacred Heart University and an expert in Connecticut politics.
“It certainly gives a good idea as to what policies they will pursue in the future and what their ideological orientation is,” Rose said. “If you follow the money, so to speak, you can get an idea of where the candidates are coming from and what their agendas will be.”
Campaign financing numbers are especially important this year in Connecticut’s 4th District, where the rematch this year between Rep. Chris Shays (R) and Democratic challenger Diane Farrell is not only one of the closest House races in the country, but also the fifth most expensive: Shays raised $3,193,031, triple the average incumbent’s $1,083,054; Farrell raised $2,485,506, 11 times as much as the average challenger’s $223,787.
Add that more 4th District voters are registered as Independents than as Democrats or Republicans, and the amount of cash each candidate has on hand becomes crucial as Election Day draws near. According to the candidates' filings with the Federal Election Commission, Shays on Sept. 30, the end of the most recent reporting period, had about $1.6 million and Farrell about $812,000, and that money will probably go to the television advertising that “alters that large block of unaffiliated voters,” Rose said.
The Web sites that track campaign financing have increased the transparency of money in politics, which may have increased the legitimacy of political contributions, said Massie Ritsch, communications director for the Center for Responsive Politics.
“[Politicians] know that this information is publicly disclosed and that people can look at it, and so in certain situations they may think twice about taking someone’s money,” Ritsch said. “The check that they could collect is not worth the political headache that they might feel for taking a contribution like that.”
But if investigating a candidate’s financial integrity is not enough motivation to explore these sites, perhaps the ability to spy on one’s neighbors is. Users of opensecrets.org can find out what political campaigns their neighbors have contributed to, or find out what individual donors from their zip codes are making the largest contributions to each candidate. Click on the “who gives” tab, then “donor lookup,” then enter the state, the zip code and the election cycles.
“Everyone has a little bit of a voyeur in them, and they want to know whether the person next door to them shares their political affiliations,” Ritsch said. “Again, it’s only the bigger donors, those who give more than $200, but in most zip codes you are going to see somebody you know.”
Ritsch said that it’s hard to know exactly who is coming to the site, but he knows that it is also visited by the voting public. “We hear from reporters and activists, but the voters – we know they’re out there, they’re just more quiet than the others,” he said.
Rose said that if Connecticut’s voting public knew about the sites, they probably would use them as well.
“Nobody ever knows about this stuff,” he said. “You hear issues about [how much candidates have raised], but nobody really knows the genesis of it.”
“The people who vote, particularly in a congressional election, would be the type of people to want to know this type of information,” Rose said.
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Internet Facilitates a Deluge of Mail to Congress
MAIL
The Norwalk Hour
Jamie Hammon
Boston University Washington News Service
10-5-06
WASHINGTON, Oct. 5--By this time each election year, lawmakers have returned to their districts to engage in the face-to-face interaction with voters that is so crucial to their reelection campaigns.
But when congressmen are not around to shake hands and talk in person, many voters interact with their representatives via mail – through more than 200 million pieces of mail each year, in fact, according to a recent study conducted by the Congressional Management Foundation.
“People communicate by mail, email, or telephone calls and all their messages get recorded,” said Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn. “Sometimes the letters take us weeks, if not months, to respond to because they ask such difficult questions.”
Though most of those surveyed for the study said the convenience of electronic communication had enhanced the democratic process, the explosive growth of the Internet in recent years has presented members of Congress with a new dilemma: how to respond to it all.
Despite the explosion of electronic communications since the 1995 introduction of the Internet to Capitol Hill, the sizes of the staff who deal with the mail have not changed, said Kathy Goldschmidt, deputy director of the Congressional Management Foundation and the co-author of the study. The Congressional Management Foundation is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to promoting a more effective Congress.
“It varies day by day, but on average we receive 250 emails a day,” said Sarah Moore, Shays’ press secretary. “When we are in session, we may get more.”
Moore said Shays’ office has seven staffers who respond to mail, all of whom have additional responsibilities beyond correspondence (Senate offices, on the other hand have dedicated mail responders).
On top of all those emails, Shays’ office receives 40 to 50 phone calls per day, 50 to 70 faxes every day and 50 to 70 pieces of mail a day – a combined 700 communications every week, Moore said. All those contacts are then sorted and given to the appropriate legislative staffer who handles the issue.
“We encourage communications from all constituents, whether individually or through interest groups,” said Moore. She noted that Shays’ office does not block emails routed from lobbying groups’ Web sites, a practice of some other members’ office.
Norwalk resident Anita Schmidt, 64, said she has contacted Shays on multiple occasions during his seven terms, through both electronic and paper mail, and has received a timely response each time.
“I’ve sent letters in regard to things I was interested in – one was to not have any cut to higher education when they were doing the budget,” said Schmidt. She said a response came from Shays’ office within about a month, and that the response she received always made reference to the issue she wrote about.
“We appreciate people who contact us – and we do a lot of listening,” Shays said. “We do a lot of learning from our constituents.”
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Dodd Condemns Voter ID Bill
MINORITIES
The Norwalk Hour
Jamie Hammon
Boston University Washington News Service
9-27-06
WASHINGTON, Sept. 27 —Legislation that would require voters to present photo identification before casting a ballot is “flat out wrong,” Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) said Wednesday.
“It’s unacceptable, it’s un-American, it’s flat out wrong, and we are prepared to do anything necessary that would make sure this law does not pass in the U.S. Senate,” Dodd told reporters.
The Federal Election Integrity Act, which passed the House 228 to 196 last week and is now pending in the Senate, would require voters by 2010 to present a new form of government issued photo identification – called a “Real ID Card” – only obtained through proof of citizenship.
Sen. Hilary Clinton (D-N.Y.), who also appeared at the press conference, said it was a modern day poll tax in that the expected cost for the voter ID card could deter minorities, senior citizens, and disabled persons from voting.
“This is the right upon which all other rights depend,” Dodd said. “The right to vote and to have your vote counted.”
The cost has not yet been determined, and the bill’s proponents say that states could provide free voter IDs for low-income citizens.
Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.), who voted for passage of the bill in the House, said states like Connecticut already have many of these same requirements in place.
“The bottom line for me is our election law says you have to be a citizen to vote, and proving that you are a citizen seems like a reasonable safeguard to ensure the law is followed,” Shays said in an emailed response to a query.
Dodd said that that the law is already strong enough when it comes to issues of fraud and the penalties that are included, and that passage of the bill would only disenfranchise minorities, low income, and elderly voters.
“This is a solution in search of a problem,” said Dodd. “There is not a single study anywhere that would indicate that people are showing up in person to vote with false identification.”
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Connecticut Cancer Activists Ascend Capitol Hill
ADVOCATES
Norwalk Hour
Jamie Hammon
Boston University Washington News Service
9-20-06
WASHINGTON, Sept. 20 – It was a sea of purple t-shirts on Washington’s National Mall and in the halls of Congress Wednesday as Connecticut cancer-survivors and volunteers joined nearly 4,000 from across the nation for the American Cancer Society’s annual lobbying push.
“We’re spending the day celebrating life,” Joe Barbetta of Norwalk said. “We have a number of survivors and a lot of care-givers of people who are fighting the disease in one way or another, and we’re all uniting here, spending the day on Capitol Hill, and taking our message to our leaders.”
Their message was three-fold. First, they asked Congress to expand the funding for breast and cervical cancer screening programs. “We need to make sure it’s getting to the people it needs to get to,” said Barbetta. “Right now it’s only getting to about one in five, and that’s not enough.”
Secondly, they asked Congress for an annual increase of $5 billion for the National Institutes of Health, which includes the National Cancer Institute. “We’re asking for that [increase] on a year to year basis, because just to keep doing what they’re doing year after year doesn’t keep up with inflation,” said Barbetta. “We need to make sure they’re increasing it by five percent every year.”
The final request was that they sign, or reaffirm their commitment to, the society’s “Congressional Cancer Promise,” a vow to push specific pieces legislation aimed at ending suffering and death from cancer by the year 2015.
“It was a very moving meeting,” Sen. Joe Lieberman, who signed the pledge, said of his meeting with Connecticut volunteers. “We’ve all been touched by cancer. I lost my father to colorectal cancer,” he said. “Forty-three percent of us will have some kind of serious cancer in our lifetimes.”
As Barbetta and others from Connecticut met with state representatives, other participants continued their celebration outside on the mall. Each state had its own tent, as well as its own trading cards displaying cancer statistics.
“Everyone’s going around collecting cards from each state, and getting to talk to and see people from other places,” explained Alice Leonard, from Torrington.
American Cancer Society statistics for Connecticut were displayed on the walls of the state’s tent: 4,878 registered cancer-survivors, 32,660 participants, 45 events, and 981 volunteers.
“The reason we collect the data is so we can reach back out to survivors,” said Shannon Stahecki, community executive development officer for Franklin.
“One of our 2015 goals is to raise the quality of life for survivors, and we can only do that by letting them be aware of programs and services that we’re doing, like survivor seminars, look-good-feel-better programs, and pain management initiatives,” Stahecki said. “We want to be able to inform them of all those things in case they want to participate. This is how we can raise their quality of life.”
At dusk, thousands of paper lanterns were lit around the reflecting pool at the Capitol to honor those who triumphed over cancer, and remember those lost.
But the prevailing message of the day was to look ahead rather than behind.
“It’s really about the experience I don’t want to have,” said Barbetta, who has lost both family and friends to cancer. “I am not the son, brother, uncle, or nephew of someone who died of cancer – I want to make sure that that good fortune stays. It’s more about pondering the past, but looking into the future.”
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Shays Defends Call for Timeline for Withdrawal of Troops
SPERLING
Norwalk Hour
Jamie Hammon
Boston University Washington News Service
9-14-06
WASHINGTON – Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) Thursday defended his recent call for a timeline to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq.
“I want my credibility back,” Shays, who recently returned from his 14th trip to Iraq, told reporters. “I do think that I know more about what’s going on in Iraq than any member of Congress – House or Senate.”
Shays’ support of the Iraq war has helped make him vulnerable in the upcoming mid-term election against Democrat Diane Farrell. Critics say this recent policy shift has a political, rather than a policy, motive.
“There’s a certain ironic twist that he should be doing this 50 days from Election Day,” said Farrell, who lost narrowly to Shays in 2004 running on an anti-war platform. “He should have been drilling into these serious issues the moment that Congress passed the war authorization.”
In response, Shays cited recommendations he made in July advising the administration that the United States would have no choice but to withdraw its troops and leave Iraq if the embattled country’s leadership did not step up. He noted that this recommendation was made before Sen. Joe Lieberman’s pro-Iraq war stance cost him the Connecticut Democratic primary.
The Iraq war is likely to play a key role in the mid-term elections, but it remains unclear whether frustrated voters will simply vote Republicans out of Congress or demand a clear exit strategy of their opponents. Shays remains a strong supporter of the war, calling it a noble cause, but now proposes a timeline. Farrell has been anti-war from day one. She has called for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s resignation and has demanded that any successor have an exit strategy.
Under Shays’ withdrawal plan, as Iraqi troops become more qualified, they should gradually replace American troops. In the short term, that could mean an increase in U.S. troops deployed there.
“There is a huge disconnect for me in the fact that we have 294,000 Iraqi security forces, and not one American has stepped down,” Shays said. “As the Iraqis step up, we [should] step down.”
He is calling for the administration to make public the number of Iraqi citizens in problem areas so the appropriate number of security forces required can be calculated.
Shays’ Government Reform Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats & International Relations is holding hearings on his plan this week.
“I believe that we have to make the Iraqis realize that we are not going to stay a day longer than we need to,” Shays said. “And we can predict it almost to the day. We know how long it takes to train an Iraqi soldier, and my view is that once they have their six months of training and once they have a year on the firing line, they are competent.”
Farrell disagreed.
“That is quite a remarkable statement, and one that I feel he isn’t qualified to make as a non-military expert,” she said. “And where he should be focusing his energies is in holding the generals and Mr. Rumsfeld accountable.”
Shays said the administration has made many mistakes with the war and that since January of this year, there has been no progress at all. Asked how he could continue to support the administration, Shays said, “Because the alternative is worse.
“I believe strongly in the war in Iraq. I believe strongly that it is a noble mission. I believe that the only way we are going to turn around this world is to help introduce democracy.”
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Lieberman Proposes Legislation to “Clean up Washington”
By Adam Kredo
WASHINGTON, Feb. 2 -Sen. Joe Lieberman is calling for "immediate action" on a Democratic-sponsored bill that would clean up what the party's Senate leader has termed "the Republican culture of corruption."
"We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reach agreement on a broad set of reforms that will reduce the cynicism with which many of the American people view their government," the Connecticut Democrat said in a Wednesday press release he issued along with Sens. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.).
The Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2006 would prohibit members from accepting transportation or lodging on trips sponsored by non-profit organizations with links to lobbyists.
The bill, introduced by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Jan. 20, would prevent members of Congress and congressional aides from accepting gifts from lobbyists.
Currently, contributions and gifts, such as prepaid travel and lodging, from lobbyists are not included in the Senate's "banned gifts" list.
"The status quo stinks and cries out to us to lead the way to clear the air," said Lieberman in his press release. "Mark my words: Congress will come together this year to reform our lobbying laws and remove the cloud of suspicion currently hanging over this institution."
Introduction of this legislation comes as Congress faces severe scrutiny for its dealings with lobbyists.
Speaking of the recently convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff, Lieberman said at a Jan. 25 Senate hearing on the bill, "The consequences of Abramoff's crimes are so antithetical to our way of governance and so embarrassing to Congress that Democrats and Republicans, House members and Senators, agree that Congress must act."
The hearing was before the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, on which Lieberman is the senior Democrat.
Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.), who recently proposed similar reform legislation in the House, said in a December press release that the Abramoff scandal raised the need for increased fiscal transparency.
"Sunshine tends to have a cleansing effect," Shays said.
Lieberman's bill would inject "sunshine" into the Senate by amending the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 - a law that requires lobbying firms to register their employees as lobbyists.
The proposed legislation would mandate quarterly instead of twice-yearly filings of lobbying disclosure reports and require senators to disclose all "paid efforts to stimulate grassroots lobbying."
It would call on Congress to install an online, electronic database to contain lobbying disclosure information. The public would be able to view the database over the Internet.
It also would double the time to two years that former government officials must wait before becoming lobbyists.
Chief Justice’s Wife Talks About Life Since Holy Cross
WASHINGTON, Dec. 15 - Jane Sullivan Roberts, wife of John Roberts who was confirmed as Chief Justice in September, received media attention during her husband's confirmation hearings because of her involvement with Feminists for Life, an anti-abortion feminist group.
Ms. Roberts, 50, is a partner at Washington's Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman law firm and the mother of two children, Josie, 5, and Jack, 4. She is an alumna of the College of the Holy Cross and serves on its alumni board. She recently was interviewed by Telegram and Gazette Washington correspondent Jean Chemnick.
Q: Tell me a little bit about growing up in the Bronx.
Jane Sullivan Roberts: Well, I had two sisters and a brother, and we grew up on the same block where my father grew up. He was born in the house next door. It was a neighborhood with many, many families with three generations of the same family living on the same block. Some families even had four generations.
It was very cohesive. It was almost exclusively Catholic, and life revolved around our church and our school.
All my grandparents were from Ireland, and my mother was from Ireland, and our neighborhood was Irish and Italian. We had many relations there, and people who knew each other from Ireland or got to know each other in this country. Irish and Italian got to know each other in this country. All the generations lived together.
Q: Why did you decide to go to Holy Cross? I know you were in the first class that included women. Did that seem kind of daunting?
A: [I was] hardly aware that it had been an all-male college. It had great academics. It was in New England, it had a strong sports intramural program. It was Catholic, and it seemed to be a caring place.
Q: Once you were there, was there any resentment from the guys that there were women around?
A: No I didn't feel it at all. I felt incredibly welcomed. As soon as we got there, we had a floor by floor meeting in the dorms, and the head [resident assistants] who had transferred to the school, were asking us at the behest of the administration "what can the college do to make you feel more comfortable?"
And it got down to details like different kinds of soap dishes in the bathrooms. In the library-the way the old library was set up-to get downstairs, to the stacks where you might get a very quiet desk, you had to walk down the main hall, the main reading room, and there were oak tables lined up. As a young woman as you walked down the aisle, heads turned and that was a little embarrassing. And we mentioned it. It wasn't a complaint, but we mentioned it, and a new staircase was opened up. It took some construction to do that.
They changed the food. They were used to feeding big men, and we all put on ten pounds the first semester and we went home and our mothers complained. They changed, and they offered skim milk, yogurt, salads. You felt that the college was really trying to accommodate us at different levels.
Q: You played intramural sports, didn't you?
A: I did crew, yes. Everything was new, and we got the cast off boy's [junior varsity] boat. We had to raise money for a boat, right? We didn't have a boat. We got the cast off, and we had a coach. And likewise, the women's basketball team was kind of scrambling for resources.
The college was figuring out how to accommodate all of us. They didn't have a master plan worked out before we got here, in these details, you know like sports. But you know, the country was figuring it out. Title IX came out, and the country, along with Holy Cross, was trying to figure out how to provide more facilities for women.
Q: What was the most fun you had in college?
A: Dancing. I love to dance. We went lots of places. The dorms had parties, and we could dance in the dorms. So that was regular weekend fare. I would go-generally late in the evening-and dance for a couple of hours. And then we had a few formal balls-about three or four each year-and we'd get dressed up, long dresses, and we danced. And we had the Boston Navy Band play big band music-it was just fabulous. Instead of just waiting . for some guy to ask us to the dance -- more importantly, a guy who couldn't dance -- what we did is, we invited the guys to the dance, and as a condition, we said that you have to practice for a week with us. So every night at 11 o'clock in our dorm we would hold a practice session. So by the time we got to the dance everybody was primed, and we just had a great time.
Q: Did you consider yourself a feminist back then?
A: Yes, I did. I certainly did. I believed in equal opportunities for women. And I think I lived it out. I would attend feminist meetings-we had a feminist group on campus. I wouldn't call myself a leader of that group, but I think I might have been considered a leader of women, if you get the distinction.
Q: You were a math major, but you studied education in Australia. Did you think you wanted to be a math teacher?
A: I wasn't quite sure, I was just good [at math] and liked it. I wasn't very career oriented in college. Most of my contemporaries were not very career oriented in those days, compared with today's students.
Q: When did you decide on your career?
A: My mother decided I needed to decide. I went [to Australia] for one year, and then I decided to stay for a second, I was having such a great time and I stayed a third, I was having such a great time. She wrote me a letter, "when are you coming home and getting on with your life?"
Q: What did you study in graduate school at Brown?
A: Applied mathematics.
Q: Did you know you wanted to go into technology law when you were at Georgetown law school.
A: Fast forward a little bit through law school. When I first came here [to Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman] I was assigned to litigation cases involved in the nuclear industry, because they thought "well math, you must know something about technology, science." Well of course I didn't, but I could learn. I guess what math taught you is that if you look at a text book at the beginning of the year you could hardly read it, at the end of the year you'd mastered it. Math taught you you could learn anything.
Q: So, my understanding of what Catholicism taught, at least traditionally, was that women should be a wife and a mother, and not necessarily have a career. That seems to conflict with feminism. Is there a conflict?
A: Going back to the early days of Christianity, women joined the church in droves because what it allowed them was an avenue, apart from marriage and children, to join a religious life, a respectable alternative to marriage and children. I'm not saying that's a good or a bad thing, it's really a calling-what your calling is in life. I think it's a misperception that the Catholic Church said a woman's only role is wife and mother.
And if you fast forward. to the beginning of the 20th century, where could a woman head a hospital, or a primary school or college, but in the religious? If you went to the secular, it was all headed by men. So the Catholic church for women provided one of the few-I don't want to say only, that's too strong-few avenues for the use of women's other talents.
There is a calling, a certain internal nature for women, our biology allows us to be wives and mothers. We don't have to choose to be a wife or mother, but its something we can do, and most women do in fact choose that.
Pope John Paul has written about this extensively, that women should be allowed to express their other talents, consistent with being wives and mothers. Women want to be wives and mothers, and also want to express other talents that are not necessarily called forth as a wife and a mother, and what Pope John Paul says is that we need a restructuring of our society to allow women to express those talents in ways consistent with being a wife and mother as well, for the full satisfaction of the woman.
And its very like what a number of feminists have said, as well, about I think the yearning of many women today who are in fulltime jobs and are feeling very, very pressed in their roles of wives and mothers. And [many] women who are home, [feel] that they don't have an outlet for their other talents. Women who are part-time seem to be able to strike a balance.
Q: But you're a partner. You must have worked full-time at some point.
A: I worked full-time until the children arrived in 2000. I worked very hard.
Q: Why did you decide to adopt?
A: We couldn't have children biologically. I had always wanted to adopt, anyway, but I had envisioned it as being part of maybe having eight children, and some would be adopted. I had read a book as a child called the family that nobody wanted where they adopted 30 or 60 children, I don't remember how many.and I thought, whatever family I had, we could always make room for another child.
Q: How did you and Justice Roberts meet?
A : In a beach house in Delaware. I love to swim, and I love the ocean. . [In 1986] I brought a number of friends from Shaw Pittman, and we joined a beach house that had been started by a friend over at Hogan and Hartson [the law firm for which John Roberts worked].
But he was not really quite the beach-goer that I was. He preferred to play golf, so we didn't meet until '91.
Q: When did you realize you were falling in love with him?
A: When I came back from Australia in '93 we met again. A friend was going into the Clinton administration, and we were having a dinner party to celebrate her-she was going to be deputy general counsel for [the Department of] Energy, which was a big deal-so the beach house group. had a dinner here to celebrate and that's when I met John again, and I liked him. And we started to date.
Q: Did you know ahead of time that your husband was being nominated to the Supreme Court?
A: He knew at 12:35 the day it was announced on TV. It was announced at 9 o'clock that night.
Q: What advice do you have for young women, who maybe are graduating from Holy Cross now?
A: Do what you like and what you love and you'll be best at that and happiest at that. There's no one right path. If the right man comes along right away, don't turn love down. Have your children. If the right man doesn't come along right away, prepare yourself for an otherwise productive life. You can't predict your path. But do what you love.
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Panda Cub’s Press Agent Says, “I Miss Keene”
WASHINGTON, Nov. 29 -Carolyn Martin can watch cheetah cubs play from her office window.
It's a perk that comes from her job as director of public affairs and communications at the Smithsonian's National Zoological Park. Before that, her position as the press secretary for science for the Smithsonian allowed her to work in the famous Smithsonian Castle facing the National Mall. But despite such unusual surroundings, Martin still misses the sense of community that came from working and living in downtown Keene.
"I feel very connected to the Smithsonian and very proud to be here, but in terms of the city, I miss Keene," said Martin, who studied at Antioch University and worked as a reporter for the Sentinel from 1996 to 2003. "It's a beautiful, progressive community and I really enjoyed living there very much."
Martin, who turned 50 in August, moved to Keene for graduate school in environmental studies at Antioch. Originally from Alabama, she had graduated from the University of Alabama and was a television news reporter in Mobile. While in Keene she met and married her husband, Robert Rand, who now works for the Washington Post Company in Washington, D.C. The two moved to Washington in June of 2003 when Martin was offered an opportunity she said she couldn't turn down.
"It's the Smithsonian!" said Martin. "My charge was to promote Smithsonian scientific research. It was a terrific opportunity to learn about all kinds of scientific research going on at the Smithsonian and then write about it and educate my former news colleagues about it."
However, shortly after she had begun her job as the press secretary for science she received a new job assignment: working for the National Zoo. She began working there in November of 2003 when it was under extreme press scrutiny and was even being examined by the National Academies of Sciences at the direction of Congress after a series of untimely animal deaths. Shortly after her arrival the then-current director of public affairs left and Martin was appointed to the position.
"It was quite a surprise and not what I expected when I left Keene," said Martin. "It's pretty cool. I hear all kinds of interesting things sitting here in my office with the windows open."
On July 9 Martin's job had a new twist added when Tai Shan, the zoo's famous giant panda cub, was born.
"Our panda cub is our really big star and he's just the cutest thing. I have seen him about three times now. He's not open to the public yet, but in my duties I have had to see him," jokes Martin. "It's been terrific!"
It was Martin's science and reporting background that drew her to the position with the Smithsonian and she has found the zoo very rewarding in that area.
"We have 2,400 animals here - 400 different species, and about a quarter of our animals here are endangered animals," said Martin. "We're only one of a few zoos in the country who have science departments. We have scientists on staff here who do a good bit of scientific research for conservation and reproductive science."
Her scientific knowledge has impressed those who work with her at the zoo. John Gibbons, who works in the public affairs department of the zoo, came to the Smithsonian institution after working with the Massachusetts Audubon Society, a conservation organization in Boston. After speaking with Martin he was pleased with her scientific knowledge and environmental interests.
"We shared a profound scientific and environmental conservatism background," said Gibbons. "It was wonderful for me to realize right off the bat that Carolyn was coming from a background steeped in science, research, and environmental conservation."
Martin and her husband still return to Keene to visit friends and family. And they miss events like the Pumpkin Festival. However while Martin does miss her friends and the "sense of connectedness and place" she felt in Keene, she enjoys her job at the zoo.
"It is just a great daily learning experience," said Martin. "I like a challenge and I'm certainly challenged here."
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