
Sweet Victory
Lierman, a civil and disability rights attorney, was sworn in as Maryland’s chief tax collector on January 16. According to the Washington Post, she is the first woman independently elected to any state office in Maryland. The Post writes: “Lierman had promised voters she would advocate for equitable tax policies, including proactively reaching out to seniors or families who are not claiming tax credits for which they qualify.
Back on Court
Ng, a highly decorated NCAA athlete, left tennis behind for two years after graduation. In 2019, she decided to quit her job in investment banking and return to the sport as a pro.
Shelf Smarts
Reidy has been named the director of the Research Libraries at the New York Public Library, “putting the 40-year-old music historian at the helm of four vast public research centers whose holdings encompass 17th-century Shakespeare folios and sheet music belonging to Bob Dylan, Dizzy Gillespie and Mozart,” according to the New York Times. “The position gives him an outsized voice on the direction of national humanities research.”
The music major and amateur jazz pianist had been serving as interim director of the Research Libraries since April of 2022.
Reliable Narrator
Talty’s first book, Night of the Living Rez, includes a short story he wrote at Dartmouth in 2015. The book won the 2022 New England Book Award for Fiction, was named one of the 100 Notable Books of 2022 by the New York Times, and is now a finalist for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction. In a Q&A with Nicole Chung of The Atlantic, Talty talks about his writing process and what he is working on next.
Tribal Ties
In an opinion piece for CNN, Tompkins shares her incredibly personal perspective on the Indian Child Welfare Act as the Supreme Court considers a landmark case about the law: “As a Native person who was adopted into a White family before the implementation of ICWA... I can attest firsthand, as a citizen of both the United States and the Navajo Nation, that ICWA is not about race.”
Crown Affair
In an essay for the Los Angeles Times, Browne writes about how getting his hair cut affected his youth and identity: “So much of being young and Black for me was simply listening. Soaking up my surroundings. Studying all of the characters. Watching the way people dressed, absorbing the way people joked, got clowned, handled being the centerpiece of a roast... Traditionally, all of those things happened at the barbershop.”
The Professor
An MLB.com feature on the Chicago Cubs Scholars program, which offers team-sponsored college scholarships to city high school students, highlights Hendricks for his long-term support of the program. "Kyle has been part of that program for many years," said Jennifer Dedes Nowak, assistant director of community affairs and Cubs Charities. "He's been at a majority of the breakfasts, welcoming the students. He's always kind of been there at our events and greeting the kids at games."
Beach Reader
Garczynski has written an essay for the New Yorker about how Hurricane Sandy inspired him to research the history of the Rockaways—including the fate of Hog Island, which was wiped away by a hurricane in 1893 and replaced by a new spit of land that became Garcynzkski's hometown of Atlantic Beach.