During the terrible week of Oct. 6, 2008—Black Week, as it was later dubbed on Wall Street—the Dow Jones industrial average fell nearly 2,000 points, about 18 percent. It was the worst weekly decline in the index’s history but only the latest blow in a burgeoning economic crisis.
The $8 trillion housing bubble had burst, taking [...]

Nan-Kirsten Weinstock Forte ’84 was distraught. Her MCAT scores were disappointing, and her dream of becoming a doctor was dying. To console her, an adviser at Swarthmore suggested she try one of her other dreams—science journalism—while studying again for the difficult medical school entrance examinations.
“It was fortuitous. I have never looked back. Once I got [...]

When Women’s Studies was established as a field of academic inquiry 40 years ago, humans had a relatively simple, binary view of gender: One was either female or male. One’s sex was inextricably linked to one’s reproductive organs. True, hermaphrodites existed as a kind of murky in-between, but that was resolved by assigning them at [...]

The grandchild of four Holocaust survivors, Mark Hanis ’05 grew up in Quito, Ecuador, where he attended synagogue—the only one in the country—in a community that included other survivors. Showing the numbers tattooed on their arms, the elders told the temple’s children to never forget and never let the atrocities of genocide happen again. Hanis [...]

The Village Education Project was built on a simple premise. “What we’re sponsoring is the opportunity to go to high school,” says Kendal Rinko ’09, the nonprofit’s young director of development.
Founded in 2005 by Katie Chamblee ’07, the Village Education Project (VEP) covers the costs of a high school education, on average about $200 per [...]

The need to know what makes a person gay and to understand how to live as a gay man without suffering emotional turmoil has been a driving force in psychiatrist Bertram Schaffner’s life. For the past 60 years, the renowned physician has been in the forefront of historic developments for gays and lesbians. In 2001, [...]

It couldn’t get much worse.
A few weeks into her new job teaching first grade at the Chester Upland School of the Arts (CUSA) in fall 2008, Sara Posey could barely force herself to drive to work. “I felt ill, physically ill. I thought the whole school project that I was so hopeful about and so [...]

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Altar Egos
Wilson Hall ’95 and Krister Johnson ’95 spread the word as a religious comic singing duo.
by Sara Shay ’92
Gideon Lamb is perched on a stool, wide-eyed and smiling, a guitar resting on his lap. His bright orange T-shirt reads “Virginity Rocks!” and his slicked-down bangs are an inch too short. To his left sits [...]

Doings foul and fair were afoot in Crum Meadow during the first three evenings of May. Strangely costumed figures vaguely reminiscent of ancient Scotland—their skin painted in ornate black patterns—moved around a flaming campfire replete with cauldron at the center of Crum Henge’s stone circle. Standing pillars and mighty trees were witness to passionate encounters [...]

Spring flowers bloom and warm breezes stir the air as another academic year draws to a close at Swarthmore. But first, seniors sitting for honors must face written and oral evaluations by examiners who are among the best in their areas of expertise. It is an exciting and demanding time for students and examiners alike—an [...]