RE:CC MAGAZINE BLOG

During my college years I discovered the wonderful novel by Gabriel García Márquez, "One Hundred Years of Solitude," which had been translated to English only two years before I picked up my first copy. This story, which spanned many generations in the mythical town of Macondo, in a country that may or may not have been Colombia, seemed as wide-ranging and magical as a work of fiction could be. It may be quite unrelated, but the title we finally chose for our Centennial issue is "One Hundred Years of Stories: A Decade-by-Decade Look at Our Great Beginnings." Certainly the College's history is more logical and linear than that of Macondo, also situated by a flowing river, but it has just as many twists and turns and a sizably large cast of characters. And both works attempt to show the beginning of a community, starting with its pre-history.
This commemorative issue will be in the mail by mid-September, setting the stage for the final Centennial Celebration on Fall Weekend, Oct. 21-23. It's safe to say that weekend will be a magical conclusion to a year that celebrates 100 years of history, hopes and dreams.

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How will CC:Magazine observe the Centennial this year? There won't be flying confetti, pop-ups or music playing when you open the fall issue, but that's not to say we aren't planning something big. Plans for a commemorative issue that will mark the College's 100th year started last fall in the same way we plan a regular issue: we brainstorm, we talk and we listen. We talk with our colleagues, our readers, our writers and our printing company. Our art director sketches contents on the thumbnails, a miniature map of the issue we wish to build. We ask ourselves questions about what we are trying to achieve and how will we do it on a deadline.

No one can capture 100 years of achievement in a single document, of course, but we can use words and pictures to highlight the people and events who moved the College forward. As editor, I have to say a big thank you to those who have sent us stories and letters in the last year. Some of this history is well-known to our alumni, but much of it is not. The archives of the College are full of surprises; you can always expect the unexpected from an institution that was founded to right an injustice and placed the highest value on the power of ideas to change the world.

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Winter will officially be with us for only three more days, and the spring magazines are now winging their way to mailboxes across the world. Like the swallows of Capistrano, most are due to arrive at their destination this weekend. In many ways the contents of this issue reflect the theme of the College's Centennial, "Great Beginnings."

Looking forward, we share the good news of how the College will celebrate Founders Day on April 5. We report how the past winners of the College's Ames Prize, awarded for the best honors thesis in a graduating class, have molded their own futures based on that intellectual vision. We see how a stellar career in film started with hard work in the classroom and how the trustees invest their time and support in the future of the College. But we also report on subjects in the distant and not-so-distant past: the many great visitors who have come to campus; the close of a four-decade career in teaching art for Barkley Hendricks; and why Edith and Alice Hamilton, two of the 20th century's most distinguished women, were connected to the College in many ways.

Years ago I worked for nearby Mystic Seaport, the huge museum of America's maritime history. Situated on the Mystic River, it was a wonderful place to come to work every day, but after eight years I began to feel that I was always looking backward, not forward in time, as if watching important events in a rear-view mirror. Working for a college provides an the opportunity to always look to the future through the eyes of the students all around me. Now the Centennial has given us the best of both worlds: looking backward as we also go forward. One of the ways we will mark this year is by producing a special commemorative issue of CC:Magazine to come out in September. Already I'm hoping it is something that future archivists will appreciate when planning the College's bicentennial in 2111.

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In this online issue readers can fly through the air with students at a trapeze school in New York City in a program that connects the arts to other disciplines. They can share documentary video of two student humanitarians in Haiti and Uganda. And they can hear an amazing range of compositions by six different alumni composers.

As composer Antony Pasch '94 tells writer Dave Brensilver, "I just enjoy the creative process. ... For whatever reason, I feel compelled to do this." Brian Kerkour '02 is even more abstract in his reasoning, comparing his composing to "molecular gastronomy."

For those of us who edit, write or design the magazine, it's always energizing to see all the different kinds of creativity manifested in a single issue. Whether they are singing through the ages, making films, drawing, composing or teaching, Camels are among the most creative people in the world; we're lucky there are so many who are "compelled" to create.

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Years ago I started to hear rumors about something called "mystery mocha," a dessert once served in the Connecticut College dining halls of the 1950s and 1960s. Maybe it was the extra sugar, or the sizable dose of caffeine, but the dish was reputed to be out of this world. The alumni association once included this recipe in a cookbook, and CC:Magazine printed the recipe back in 1991.

As someone who comes from a long line of chocolate lovers, I was intrigued by the very name and tried, on two occasions, to produce a decent result from the recipe. What came out of the oven was more like a chocolate puddle than a cake, something to be scraped off the bottom of the pan. With the approaching Centennial, as we re-examine College traditions, the time seemed right to get to the heart of the mystery mocha dilemma once and for all. I'm happy to say that a devoted and creative alumna/chef tested several versions of the recipe and has produced a perfect version for today's kitchen. The mystery will be revealed in the December magazine's "Ask a Camel." Warning: the results may be addictive.

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