As a result of a vote by the Alaska legislature as we were
about to go to press, we have changed the original title of Jay
McHale's Tom Sexton: Alaskan Poet by Way of Salem State College
to Tom Sexton: Alaskan Poet Laureate by Way of Salem State
College. Sexton, a graduate of the class of 1968, visited campus
last October to give a poetry reading. In his student days he was
inspired by such teachers as McHale, Patricia Gozemba, and George
Groesbeck, English professors who continue to serve, with
Professor Groesbeck now completing his last semester before
retiring.
Retirement has not kept Sextant authors from contributing to
Volume VI, No 1. Johnes K. Moore, who described the aerodynamics
of sea gull flight in Volume IV, No.1, now has poems for us. And
Neil Bradford Olson, author of a memoir in that same issue about
the poetry scene in Harvard Square in the 1950s, reviews here
Peter Davison's book about the same crowd of poets.
Tom Leary of the Art Department has helped us in countless
ways over the years, including by having done the cover of the
first Sextant in 1986. He has the cover once again as well as our
portfolio section, which features watercolors from his wilderness
trekkings. Our back cover and the related photo essay are by yet
another repeat contributor, Barbara Poremba, of the Nursing
Department, whose previous piece about the children of Ecuador
also ran in Volume IV, No.1. Poremba was in Vietnam recently--
shortly before the twentieth anniversary of the end of the so-
called American War--to train nursing educators.
Another Asian traveler, Patricia L. Parker of the English
Department, has brought a souvenir from Japan in the form of her
piece about the writer Masaaki Tachihara, which opens a path for
us into the art of the Japanese garden. Parker's "The U.S. and
Japan: Who's Ahead in Education?" appeared in Volume III, No.1.
This issue also features contributions from two members of the
History Department. Dane Morrison's essay explains why, although
they were present in great numbers in what we now call Boston to
greet the Puritan settlers, the only Massachusett Indians we're
likely to encounter today are those painted onto replicas of such
historic seals as the one gracing the west side of the Old State
House. Elizabeth Malloy, herself an advocate of innovative
teaching, reviews Gender Influences by Donnalee Rubin, who
teaches in our English Department and who directs our Writing
Across the Curriculum program.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
For help with this issue we are indebted to many, including these
from within our own walls: Nelson Agis, Edna Amosun, Robert
Arnold, Emerson Baker, Lee A. Brossoit, Chester E. Cooke, Richard
E. Delorey, Rosalie J. Delorey, Mark Emmett, John Feudo, Leonard
M. Friedman, Diana Gallucci, Joseph A.Giordano, Albert J.
Hamilton, Lawrence N. Hanson, Theresa Hickey, Phara Jourdan,
Claire Keyes, Joe Kosofsky, Lucille McCarter, James McGregor,
Elaine McNaughton, Mary Alice Price, Gail Rankin, Jon Rendo,
Vickie Ross, David Sartwell, Nancy Schultz, Lesia Todd, Laurie
Twomey, and Evelyn Wilson.
We are also grateful to Sarah M. Abrams, James Armstong of the
Semitic Museum of Harvard, Cathy Boudreau, Henry J. Burns, Carol
Coverly of the Natick library, Jeff Dowgos, Anne-Marie Jury of
the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Kenin S. McCarthy, Esq. of Moren
and McCarthy, P.A., Diane Mott and Karen Otis of the Boston
Museum of Fine Arts, Helen Kim and the staff at Ferranti-Dege,
Mrs. Schaller of the Natick Historical Society, Kevin J. Sottak
and Sean Fay of the Harvard Public Health Review, Jeffrey Spurr
of the Harvard Fine Arts Library, Jonathan Walford of the Bata
Shoe Museum in Toronto, and Harold Worthley of the American
Congregational Association. Special thanks to Tom Keeley and
David Gift of Jostens Printing and Publishing.
As always. our hats are off to Leon Jackson of the Instructional
Media Center.
Interns: Kristel Kramer, Wendy Mahoney, Michael Makowski
Volume VI, Number 1, 1995 Contents:
ESSAYS:
"Stripped...as Bare as My Skinne": Disease,
Acculturation, and the Massachusett Search for Order, 1600-1690/Dane
Morrison
A Japanese Love Story: A Man, A Woman, and a Garden/Patricia Parker
Tom Sexton: Alaska's Poet Laureate by Way of Salem State College/Jay McHale
PORTFOLIO
Wilderness and Wildlife (Watercolors)/Thomas C.
Leary
PHOTO ESSAY:
Twenty Years Later: Impressions of Vietnam/Barbara
Poremba
POETRY:
Retirement Decisions
Green Chile
Sharp-Shinned Hawk
Acrophobia/Johnes K. Moore
BOOK SHELF:
The Next to the Last Flowering of New England: Review
of THE FADING SMILE: POETS IN BOSTON, FROM ROBERT FROST TO ROBERT LOWELL
TO SYLVIA PLATH by Peter Davison/Neil Bradford Olson
Woven Threads: Research Results: Review of GENDER INFLUENCES: READING STUDENT TEXTS by Donnalee Rubin/Elizabeth Malloy
EDITOR'S POSTSCRIPT:
The Sound of One Shoe Dropping/Rod Kessler
* Articles that are currently missing on-line