Class Note 1989
Issue
November-December 2020
Jeanne Shea has published an edited volume, Beyond Filial Piety: Rethinking Aging and Caregiving in Contemporary East Asian Societies, focusing on aging and caregiving in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Japan, and Korea; it examines emerging cultural meanings and social responses to population aging. Hardcover and e-book editions are available at www.berghahnbooks.com/title/SheaBeyond.
Many ’89s who started knitting at or before Dartmouth are finding it’s still relaxing. Linda Salzhauer Swenberg taught herself back in Hanover from an encyclopedia. “I started with a bang (three sweaters) but now I’m knitting something completely mindless.” Bridget Hust knit a sweater for Dave Baldinger in exchange for a pair of skis; she feels Dave got the better deal! Anne Boardman Pohnert: “I tried to learn to knit a scarf for my dad once. It ended up as a cape for my Barbie doll.” Kris Pol-Williams: “I might have knit a bit on a random cotton thing [during lockdown]. I sell American brands of yarn here in the Netherlands via a small webshop, www.Woolly.nl, strangely named, as most of the yarn I sell is an acrylic or cotton blend.” Taraneh Azar: “I learned how to knit at age 5 from my paternal grandmother. During my language study abroad term in Germany, I knitted six sweaters. I remember Marie Polakowski Stimers learning how to knit that term. During the pandemic I dug out some old yarn and started a ‘patchwork’ sweater. I find knitting therapeutic. It relaxes me. Knitting has taught me patience and persistence. I also think knitting has improved my dexterity and creative abilities and has made me a better surgeon than I would have been otherwise.” Robin Byrd Winters told me, “Taraneh Azar taught me how to knit freshman year in New Hamp. I’ve made many sweaters since then. I’m inspired now to pick the needles back up. My daughter just learned to crochet this summer. Perhaps I’ll teach her to knit.” Tracy Coleman: “My grandmother taught me the basic stitches when I was young and I churned out a healthy supply of teddy bear scarves and Barbie doll blankets during my childhood. My freshman year undergraduate advisor, Molly Holt ’88, taught me how to read knitting patterns and I’ve been at it ever since. Siobhan Wescott and I knit coordinating Icelandic sweaters for Katharine Gagne and Geof Hobday as part of a wedding present! I have found knitting to be a great way to relax. I have definitely been knitting more during the last six months with the extra time at home.” Harmeet Dhillon: “I learned to crochet from my grandmother. When I came to Dartmouth I needed something to occupy myself on the long nights and weekends. I taught myself how to knit using a book. My college projects were mainly very nice scarves. I only began knitting for myself when I knit my husband, Sarv, two sweaters before we were married. In 2012, because Sarv really wanted a sweater made from local Sonoma County [California] sheep, I embarked on a multiyear project that involved negotiating with the shepherd to buy the year’s shearing, then getting it made into yarn in a local mill, some of it blended with softer California alpaca in different natural colors. I have a very stressful and all-consuming job as a trial lawyer and head of a firm. I’m also very actively involved in politics and run a civil rights nonprofit that I founded in 2019. I try to knit a little every day for sanity and to satisfy my creative urge.”
What are you doing to relax, besides reading our Class Notes? Drop me a line to let me know.
—Ned Ward, 2104 Graham Ave., #B, Redondo Beach, CA 90278; ned@nedorama.com
Many ’89s who started knitting at or before Dartmouth are finding it’s still relaxing. Linda Salzhauer Swenberg taught herself back in Hanover from an encyclopedia. “I started with a bang (three sweaters) but now I’m knitting something completely mindless.” Bridget Hust knit a sweater for Dave Baldinger in exchange for a pair of skis; she feels Dave got the better deal! Anne Boardman Pohnert: “I tried to learn to knit a scarf for my dad once. It ended up as a cape for my Barbie doll.” Kris Pol-Williams: “I might have knit a bit on a random cotton thing [during lockdown]. I sell American brands of yarn here in the Netherlands via a small webshop, www.Woolly.nl, strangely named, as most of the yarn I sell is an acrylic or cotton blend.” Taraneh Azar: “I learned how to knit at age 5 from my paternal grandmother. During my language study abroad term in Germany, I knitted six sweaters. I remember Marie Polakowski Stimers learning how to knit that term. During the pandemic I dug out some old yarn and started a ‘patchwork’ sweater. I find knitting therapeutic. It relaxes me. Knitting has taught me patience and persistence. I also think knitting has improved my dexterity and creative abilities and has made me a better surgeon than I would have been otherwise.” Robin Byrd Winters told me, “Taraneh Azar taught me how to knit freshman year in New Hamp. I’ve made many sweaters since then. I’m inspired now to pick the needles back up. My daughter just learned to crochet this summer. Perhaps I’ll teach her to knit.” Tracy Coleman: “My grandmother taught me the basic stitches when I was young and I churned out a healthy supply of teddy bear scarves and Barbie doll blankets during my childhood. My freshman year undergraduate advisor, Molly Holt ’88, taught me how to read knitting patterns and I’ve been at it ever since. Siobhan Wescott and I knit coordinating Icelandic sweaters for Katharine Gagne and Geof Hobday as part of a wedding present! I have found knitting to be a great way to relax. I have definitely been knitting more during the last six months with the extra time at home.” Harmeet Dhillon: “I learned to crochet from my grandmother. When I came to Dartmouth I needed something to occupy myself on the long nights and weekends. I taught myself how to knit using a book. My college projects were mainly very nice scarves. I only began knitting for myself when I knit my husband, Sarv, two sweaters before we were married. In 2012, because Sarv really wanted a sweater made from local Sonoma County [California] sheep, I embarked on a multiyear project that involved negotiating with the shepherd to buy the year’s shearing, then getting it made into yarn in a local mill, some of it blended with softer California alpaca in different natural colors. I have a very stressful and all-consuming job as a trial lawyer and head of a firm. I’m also very actively involved in politics and run a civil rights nonprofit that I founded in 2019. I try to knit a little every day for sanity and to satisfy my creative urge.”
What are you doing to relax, besides reading our Class Notes? Drop me a line to let me know.
—Ned Ward, 2104 Graham Ave., #B, Redondo Beach, CA 90278; ned@nedorama.com