Fanshen Cox DiGiovanni
Educator, actor and producer Fanshen Cox DiGiovanni performed her one-woman multimedia show, One Drop of Love, in which she explores her own racial identity in the context of her family history and American census methods. Ms. Cox DiGiovanni periodically scanned the faces of students as if she were collecting United States census data, using methods from the 1700s to the present day. Census methodology throughout history has grouped people into single, incomplete racial categories without considering the multiracial identities of many...
read moreSarah Colt ’88
Independent documentary filmmaker and alumna Sarah Colt ’88 spoke with students as this year’s Henry R. Heyburn ’39 Lecturer. Sarah shared her process of developing documentaries of historical subjects, specifically the work involved in creating her film Geronimo, one part of the PBS American Experience series on Native American history. Before starting her own company in 2008, Sarah produced the highly-acclaimed biography RFK and earned an Emmy Award for Outstanding Science, Nature, and Technology for co-producing The Secret Life of the...
read moreRod Skinner ’72
Rod Skinner, Milton Class of 1972 and director of college counseling, was the 2016 Veterans Day speaker. Rod told the story of his uncle and namesake, Sherrod E. Skinner Jr. ’47, a Medal of Honor recipient who served in the Marine Corps during the Korean War, where he gave his life for his country. Reading a citation from President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Rod said the Medal of Honor—the military’s highest award—recognized his uncle’s “indomitable fighting spirit, superb leadership and great personal valor in the face of tremendous...
read moreDr. Deepak Chopra and Dr. Rudy Tanzi
Sharing the “gift of self-awareness,” Dr. Deepak Chopra, a pioneer in meditation and alternative medicine, and Dr. Rudy Tanzi, a professor of neurology at Harvard, offered insights on happiness, fulfillment and good health that they have gathered from researching the human brain. In presentations to students, faculty and parents for the Lower, Middle and Upper schools, Dr. Chopra urged students to consider self-reflection and meditation important parts of their education and growth. After becoming disenchanted with the Western medicine he...
read moreJovonna Jones ’11, Osaremen Okolo ’13 and Kevin Collins ’10
You can find humanity and make social progress along any career or academic path, Milton alumna Jovonna Jones ’11 told students. “If justice and equity aren’t part of your life, you should examine that. That’s a problem.” Jovonna is a doctoral student in African and African American studies at Harvard, where she researches critical race theory, American art history, performance studies and cultural practice. She joined fellow alumni Osaremen Okolo ’13 and Kevin Collins ’10 in a discussion about race and service sponsored by the...
read moreJeannine Kayembe
Artist and executive director of Philadelphia Urban Creators, Jeannine Kayembe spoke with students this fall in a conversation hosted by the Office of Multiculturalism and Community Development. Ms. Kayembe was a teenager in 2010 when she and her friends started Urban Creators, an organization that helps transform neglected inner-city areas into safe and dynamic spaces. The group spent a year clearing a blighted, two-acre parcel in North Philadelphia of trash, pollutants and drug paraphernalia, and have since developed the land into a farm...
read moreJonathan Mooney
We should challenge the concept of “normal” and instead embrace the things that make us different, this year’s Talbot Speaker told students. Mr. Mooney, an author and lecturer who advocates for people with learning disabilities and attentional disorders, urged students to draw upon their unique skills and personalities to make their mark in the world. Mr. Mooney, a Brown University graduate who has dyslexia and attention deficit disorder (ADD), did not learn to read until he was 12, and today spells at a third-grade level. While at...
read moreUnsettling, in the Best Possible Way
Immersing myself in a new and uncomfortable situation often comes with some lofty goals. It also, almost always, comes with plenty of trepidation. After all, a “new place” might be geographically distant from anything I’ve known, linguistically mysterious, and just plain intimidating. I know that I perhaps have humbling errors in store and will likely fail often. Yet, somewhere in my head or heart, I know that confronting these challenges is exactly why I chose to put myself out there, and very quickly I start to feel like I’m learning...
read moreRemembering Lefty: Richard Thomas Marr, March 11, 1936–November 11, 2016
At age 21, with a fresh degree from Williams College, Dick “Lefty” Marr joined Milton’s faculty. Dick’s friend and colleague Chuck Duncan says that, in Dick, Headmaster Arthur Perry saw “the model of the New England schoolman, combining the qualities of intelligence and love for the adolescent with the willingness to become involved with all aspects of school life.” At Milton—in the classroom, in the dorm, on the baseball field and ice rink—Dick proved his skills and commitment time and again. For more than two decades, Lefty...
read moreVisiting Jordan With Students, Connecting, Not Just Observing
Master of the wry understatement, Joshua Emmott (history department) notes that trying to understand people and the way they live and think is a real advantage as you try to learn history. An inveterate traveler himself, Joshua has taken students to India over one March break in the past, and to Egypt during another. This year, Joshua, who teaches History of the Middle East and Globalization and Islam, among other courses, inaugurates a trip to Jordan. Eight students are joining him and will do far more than visit the sights. “If you...
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