The New Version of Old
by Andre Heard ’93, Associate Dean of Students I am striving to become a new version of adult. As I’ve witnessed four cycles of students arrive in Class IV and depart after Class I, I’ve learned that being young has changed, and so has being old. I watch in awe as the relationships between Class I and IV students evolve. Class IV students look up to their Class I counterparts, who seem to have found balance in their Milton lives. By senior year, they have figured out what is important to them (at least during this period of their...
read moreGoing on Project
Each May, Class I students begin the long-awaited “Senior Project.” A tradition since the 1960s, Senior Projects have evolved, and today seniors’ proposals qualify as: scholarly or academic; community service; internships; or the arts. The Class of 2016 chose broadly—from immigration to the environment, from stem cell research and business startups through working on presidential campaigns. Students painted, gardened, sewed, prepared concerts and recitals, shadowed doctors, wrote and directed plays, tried learning new instruments and...
read moreBook: Dancing With the Tiger, Lili Wright ’82
Dancing With the Tiger by Lili Wright ’82 Putnam Penguin, July 2016 Lili Wright ’82 published her first novel, Dancing With the Tiger, with Putnam Penguin this summer to much acclaim. The novel is a thriller set against Mexico’s epidemic of drug violence, and the global controversy over the repatriation of cultural artifacts. The tale begins when a drug-addicted grave robber unearths an artifact he’s certain is of immense historical and monetary value. His decisions lead to a violent struggle for possession, involving a vicious drug...
read moreDesign: LAMPO, Lindsay Richardson ’00
LAMPO The lamp that comes in a tube Inspired by the mechanics of threaded wooden toys and the infinite possibilities of origami, Lindsay Richardson ’00 and partners developed an ultra-modern lamp using materials they love. Influenced by designers like Noguchi and Nelson, they ensure every detail is both beautiful and functional. They set out to make LAMPO something they could afford for their own homes. LAMPO is the lamp that comes in a tube—it can go anywhere and light up any room. It’s made with quality materials and is easy to...
read moreFood: Mei Mei Boston, Irene Li ’08
Mei Mei Boston Inspired Chinese-American cuisine Irene Li ’08 launched her third and fourth Boston-based food businesses: Mei Mei by Design in the Seaport, a shipping container-turned-lunch counter, and Mei Mei Pantry, a line of Chinese-inspired sauces starring local ingredients. Both enterprises emerged from her and her siblings’ award-winning food truck, caterer, and restaurant, Mei Mei, near Kenmore Square, serving up creative Chinese-American cuisine made from locally-sourced and sustainable ingredients. The food truck opened in April...
read moreFilm: West of Her, Ethan Warren ’04
West of Her by Ethan Warren ’04 Corner Piece Productions, April 2016 West of Her, directed by Ethan Warren ’04, is a film about adventure, romance and a life of meaning. Alone and adrift, Dan joins a mysterious organization, agreeing to roam the country with a stranger named Jane, working by night, laying small linoleum tiles in the streets of towns across America, each bearing the same cryptic message. Dan feels that his mysterious employers—who communicate only through Jane—know vital secrets. As the pair travels together, their...
read moreBook: The Accidental Agent, Andrew Rosenheim ’72
The Accidental Agent by Andrew Rosenheim ’72 The Overlook Press, July 2016 The conclusion to the Jimmy Nessheim trilogy, by Andrew Rosenheim ’72, The Accidental Agent is set in the fall of 1942. In the midst of war, special agent Jimmy Nessheim has asked for extended leave from the FBI to study law at the University of Chicago. But at the university, under the stands at Staff Field, renowned scientist Enrico Fermi is beginning work on what will become known as the Manhattan Project, research that could not only change the course of the...
read moreA Catalyst at Google: Annie Argues for Real Conversations – Annie Jean-Baptiste ’06
Silicon Valley, arguably the most innovative corner of the planet, is also famously—and perhaps resolutely—homogeneous. The Valley’s mostly male and mostly white and Asian tech workforce unremittingly turns out life-changing tools. Can the mix of minds and hearts that created today’s constantly evolving reality come up with inventions that will work for the next billion users, and solve the problems of our battered planet as well? “Tech companies, regardless of their size, are focused on these ‘next billion users,’” says Annie...
read moreLitigating the Right to Marry – Chris Dusseault ’87
You might predict that a debater at Milton and then Yale would turn up as a lawyer. Chris Dusseault claims an even tighter overlap between his love of music and singing at both those schools and his distinction as a litigator. “Reading your audience, understanding them, what they’re receiving and what they’re not, is much the same as looking a judge and jury in the eye. You come into the courtroom with one conception of how it should go—‘this is what I intended’—but is it working? You need to pay attention to what is resonating...
read moreWhat Don’t You Understand? Making Videos that Tackle the Issues that Confound Us. – Joe Posner ’03
The first of Joe Posner’s videos to go viral, he explains, was a robust, animated description of Europe’s austerity programs—all in about five minutes. He pitched the project, earned a grant from his alma mater, Brown, and collaborated with political economist Mark Blyth to render scholarly ideas about austerity in an accessible, entertaining video. That was 2009. Today, Joe’s videos deliver facts-in-context at Vox.com, where his approach to creating video matches the mission of the Vox digital platform. Vox.com aims to “explain the...
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