Blake Gilpin
This year’s Henry R. Heyburn ’39 Speaker in History, Professor Blake Gilpin, used his expertise on the 1850s abolitionist John Brown to illustrate how the narratives of history are created: by combining fact, perspective, and sometimes imagination. Dr. Gilpin, a professor of history at Tulane University, has spent a decade studying John Brown and the cultural phenomena surrounding the man and his legend. His book John Brown Still Lives!: America’s Long Reckoning with Violence, Equality, and Change was a finalist for Gilder Lehrman...
read moreAnand Giridharadas
Journalist Anand Giridharadas had an “almost American life” growing up. Born in Ohio, the son of Indian immigrants, he shared with students the story of what led him to live in India for six years. A New York Times columnist and the author of India Calling: An Intimate Portrait of a Nation’s Remaking, Mr. Giridharadas was this year’s Hong Kong Distinguished Lecturer. “The country I grew up with in my mind was giving way to a different India. It was a revolution from within . . . The changes had to do with people revolting against...
read moreDonald Johnson
Dr. Donald Johnson — English professor and poet in residence at East Tennessee State University — was last fall’s Bingham Visiting Reader. In honor of Veterans Day, Dr. Johnson began his reading with two poems about soldiers and war. The first, “The Sergeant,” was inspired by his father, a World War II veteran who later commanded a squad of the Honor Guard that traveled through West Virginia. The second poem he read, titled “Point Lookout, Maryland,” recalled the American Civil War. An avid sports fan and accomplished...
read moreDebby Irving
Activist and author Debby Irving talked with students about what she explained as an epidemic of “white silence.” Ms. Irving, this year’s Multiculturalism and Community Development Speaker, said that when it comes to racism in the United States, white people must be part of “cross-racial conversations” in order to make progress on racial divisions and injustices. A graduate of the Winsor School in Boston, Ms. Irving holds a bachelor’s degree from Kenyon College and an M.B.A. from Simmons College. She is the author of Waking Up...
read moreJennifer Finney Boylan
What does it mean to be transgender? What is gender identity? This year’s Talbot Speaker, Professor Jennifer Finney Boylan, answered these questions for students and faculty, with charm, personal anecdotes, and compassionate advice. Professor Boylan is the inaugural Anna Quindlen Writer-in-Residence at Barnard College and the author of She’s Not There: A Life in Two Genders. “The question is not how you go from being a man to a woman, or a woman to a man. The real question is: How do you live an authentic life? How do you be you, out in...
read moreComeback
by Jim Connolly, English faculty Jim Connolly of the English department, who has taught creative writing at Milton since 1983, has long been a poet and writer of fiction. The textbook devoted to teaching poetry that Jim developed is unique in including students’ writing and commentary. He has shared this text with many educators — individual practitioners eager to maximize their effectiveness in the discrete art of understanding teaching and teaching poetry. Jim’s poem, “Comeback,” is included in his recently published...
read more“Leave Room to Be Surprised”
by Todd B. Bland Every Wednesday morning, I look forward to sitting around the Harkness table with the 14 students in my section of Senior Transitions. This course is designed to help Class I students manage the complexities of senior year and the college admission process, and focus on how to make a smooth and healthy transition from high school to college. Senior Transitions is one of four courses in Milton’s Affective Education program that all students take over their Milton years. During this year, we focus explicitly on life questions:...
read moreThe Social Profit Handbook: The Essential Guide to Setting Goals, Assessing Outcomes, and Achieving Success for Mission-Driven Organizations by David Grant, former faculty
The Social Profit Handbook: The Essential Guide to Setting Goals, Assessing Outcomes, and Achieving Success for Mission-Driven Organizations by David Grant, former faculty Chelsea Green Publishing, Spring 2015 People working in non-profit organizations can and will lead us out of our world’s “mess,” David Grant believes, but to achieve that, they have to change the way they think about assessment — measuring their success. To begin with, David argues for a shift in vocabulary. We are familiar with organizations that create or...
read moreOut of Left Field by Liza Ketchum ’64
Out of Left Field by Liza Ketchum ’64 Untreed Reads, July 2014 The summer of 2004 is full of promise for Brandon McGinnis. He has a job, a spot on the varsity swim team, loving parents, and loyal friends. Brandon and his dad, ardent Red Sox fans, wonder: Could this be the year the Sox finally win the World Series? Then Brandon’s father dies suddenly. His will, signed just before his death, reveals a secret kept for 30 years. As shadows of the Vietnam War bleed into the escalating war in Iraq, Brandon sets out to solve the mystery his...
read moreThe Big Trip: A Family Gap Year by Martha McManamy ’75
The Big Trip: A Family Gap Year by Martha McManamy ’75 Lulu Publishing, July 2014 Taking a year off from the “rat race” is an idle dream for many, but the McManamy family — including their three teenagers — decided to make it happen. The Big Trip: A Family Gap Year tells how they put high school, college and work on hold while they learned Spanish in Spain and volunteered in Bolivia, Guatemala and Kenya. Choosing home stays and local transportation over hotels and rental cars, they undertook a deeply immersive journey...
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