Princeton Alumni Weekly | The Weekly Blog: Tiger of the Week Archives

August 8, 2012

Tiger of the Week: Ted Cruz '92

Ted Cruz '92 (Photo: Gage Skidmore via Wikipedia)

Despite his credentials as a former Texas solicitor general and successful lawyer in private practice, Ted Cruz ’92 was an underdog when he started his campaign for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Texas Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison. Frontrunner David Dewhurst, a lieutenant governor who had spent more than a decade in statewide office, topped Cruz and seven other Republican rivals in the state’s May 29 primary.

But Cruz, the second-place finisher, found new life when Dewhurst earned 48 percent of the vote, just shy of the 50 percent needed to avoid a runoff. Last month, Cruz surged in the polls, propelled by Tea Party support and a strong social-media following. He completed his unlikely rise July 31, winning the Republican nomination by more than 150,000 votes in the runoff, and now finds himself as the favorite in a November showdown against Democrat Paul Sadler.

As the week’s rising star, Cruz promptly took to the Sunday morning talk shows, making his national TV debut on Fox News Sunday. Cruz called his win “part of a tidal wave” sweeping the country’s elections. “Voters are tired of career politicians in both parties,” he said. “Our country is at a crisis point right now. And we’re seeing – and this is true all over the country – that the American people are looking for new leaders who will step up and stop spending money we don’t have.” (See full video below.)

Cruz, the son of a Cuban immigrant father, majored in the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton, wrote a senior thesis on the ninth and 10th amendments, and excelled on the debate team. He went on to Harvard Law School, clerked for Chief Justice William Rehnquist, and became the youngest state solicitor general in the nation in 2003.

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August 1, 2012

Tiger of the Week: Pauline Chen *96

Pauline A. Chen *96 (Photo: Michael Levy)

When Pauline Chen *96 began working on an adapted version of Dream of the Red Chamber – an 18th-century Chinese literary classic that fills an intimidating 2,500 pages in English translation – friends and colleagues had mixed reactions. Those who saw Chen’s work as an abridgement were OK with the idea, she said; those who viewed it as a rewrite were “appalled.”

But Chen forged ahead, telling the book’s central love story and sharing its keen social observations in a mere 381 pages. She hopes that The Red Chamber, published by Knopf last month, will bring the story to new audiences.

At the heart of The Red Chamber is a love triangle between a young man and two potential mates who are polar opposites – one “poetic, passionate, sensitive, and spontaneous,” Chen said, and the other “beautiful and submissive, cold and self-controlled.” In an interview with NPR, Chen noted that it bears some resemblance to Gone With the Wind.

The story explores themes of freedom and individuality in an era when arranged marriage was the norm. “In some ways, it provides a snapshot of life in that time,” Chen said. “It’s a monument to Chinese culture.”

Chen, who first read sections of Dream of the Red Chamber as a teenager, studied Latin poetry as an undergraduate at Harvard. She began to embrace Chinese culture after graduation, while spending a year in Taiwan, and at Princeton she earned her Ph.D. in East Asian studies, inspired in part by Professor Andrew Plaks ’67 *73 and his love of Chinese literature. “A major part of the intellectual journey that led to this book took place in the East Asian studies department at Princeton,” Chen said.

Do you have a nominee for Tiger of the Week? Let us know. All alumni qualify. PAW’s Tiger of the Week is selected by our staff, with help from readers like you.

July 25, 2012

Tiger of the Week: Brett Goodman '90

Brett Goodman '90 (Photo: Courtesy Brett Goodman)

World-class athletes are not the only Princetonians playing an integral role in the London Olympics. NBC Universal executive Brett Goodman ’90 and a handful of other Tigers are part of the business and broadcasting collaboration that will provide an unprecedented 5,535 hours of coverage from the games, beginning with women’s soccer this afternoon.

Goodman is the senior vice president of strategic partnerships and business affairs for NBC Universal Sports – a title he succinctly translates as the “head lawyer” for NBC Universal’s Olympic division. His daily activities range from working on anti-piracy efforts to reviewing deals for sponsored elements of NBC’s broadcasts.

As an undergraduate, Goodman covered Princeton sports for the University Press Club and WPRB. He planned to go to law school after graduation but put that path on hold to become an NBC researcher for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

After returning from Spain, Goodman enrolled at Columbia Law School, earned his J.D., and practiced for five years at a firm in New York City. In 2000, he returned to NBC in a new role, handling legal affairs. Last year, he was part of the NBC Universal group that presented the company’s successful bid to broadcast the next four Olympics, for a record $4.38 billion fee.

In London, Goodman is part of an on-site team of 2,800 NBC Universal employees, working on everything from the NBC Nightly News to Access Hollywood. “It’s a lot of work, but it’s a great environment,” he said.

Other Princetonians behind the scenes in London include Joe Gesue ’93, the executive editor for NBC Universal Sports and Olympics; Rebecca Chatman ’94, the co-producer of NBC’s daytime and weekend coverage of the games; and Jennie Thompson ’90, a producer for the Today show. Craig Masback ’77, the former CEO of USA Track and Field, will serve as an analyst on coverage of the middle- and long-distance running events.

While the Olympic work schedule is demanding, Goodman said the he’ll find time to visit a few events and catch some of the live action on video feeds in his office. “At some point, I think you have to allow yourself to be a fan,” he said.

Do you have a nominee for Tiger of the Week? Let us know. All alumni qualify. PAW’s Tiger of the Week is selected by our staff, with help from readers like you.

July 18, 2012

Tiger of the Week: Antoine Hoppenot '12

Antoine Hoppenot '12 (Photo: Courtesy Athletic Communications)

“It’s the same story every game with Antoine Hoppenot [’12],” CSNPhilly.com’s Dave Zeitlin wrote in his weekly column about the Philadelphia Union pro soccer team. “The rookie out of Princeton comes into the game around the 60th minute, runs like crazy, never gives up on plays, and provides a late-game spark his team desperately needs.”

The sight is familiar to Princeton fans, who saw the same boundless energy, speed, and creativity in 90-minute intervals during the fall. Hoppenot, drafted by the Union in January, made his first Major League Soccer appearance in April and has played an increasing role off the bench in the last two months. He’s helped Philadelphia to four wins in its last five MLS matches, including two in which he scored goals. The Union also reached the semifinals of the 2012 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. Last week, MLSsoccer.com added him to its top-five ranking of the league’s Rookie of the Year candidates.

Born in France and raised in Princeton, Hoppenot admits that playing for the Tigers was the last thing on his mind when he was a star soccer player at Princeton Day School. He was anxious to leave home for college. But, as he said in a recent interview with the Union Sound podcast, his parents and sister Claire, a 2007 Princeton grad, urged him to reconsider. “I’m so happy they did that, because it was the best four years of my life,” Hoppenot said.

Do you have a nominee for Tiger of the Week? Let us know. All alumni qualify. PAW’s Tiger of the Week is selected by our staff, with help from readers like you.

July 11, 2012

Tigers of the Week: Aili McConnon '02 and Andres McConnon '05

Andres ’05 and Aili McConnon ’ 02 (Photo: Helen Tansey)

The 99th Tour de France is under way, and Aili ’02 and Andres McConnon ’05 have a special interest in the race and in one two-time winner in particular. Ten years ago, Andres read about Gino Bartali, who had won in 1938 at age 24 and again 10 years later. The Italian sports legend piqued Andres’ interest and led the brother and sister to wonder what happened to Bartali in that intervening decade.

Aili found a short Italian news story online that described how Bartali had helped Jews in Italy during World War II. The McConnons learned that Bartali had been not only a sports underdog, but also a secret war hero who had sheltered a Jewish family and carried in the frame of his bicycle false identity documents for Jews in Italy.

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July 3, 2012

Tiger of the Week: Kendall Crolius '76

Kendall Crolius '76 (Photo courtesy of Susan Patton '77)

Kendall Crolius ’76 says that helping to bring the Triangle Club’s annual show to life was the “defining experience” of her undergraduate years at Princeton. So when she had a chance to mentor a new generation of Triangle leaders as chairwoman of the group’s board of trustees, she jumped at the opportunity. For the last 10 years, Crolius has helped to guide the musical theater club, which continues to thrive in its 122nd year.

The Triangle board draws on the expertise of Princetonians working in the arts and in business to provide counsel for current students. Like others on the board, Crolius has an impressive résumé: She spent much of her career in marketing and now serves as a managing director for G100 Network, a global network of CEOs, working to aid the development of companies’ internal CEO candidates. Triangle has long been a top attraction for aspiring performers, writers, and choreographers, and Crolius sees remarkable potential for the club to train business leaders as well, offering the chance to manage a six-figure annual budget that covers performances at McCarter Theatre and in various venues on club tours.

Crolius will hand off her gavel in September, but she plans to continue serving on the board and fostering the club’s strong alumni connections. (Plans for a 125th-anniversary reunion already are underway.)

“For me, the favorite moments are when you have four or five decades of Triangle alumni on stage, singing the songs they all know,” Crolius says. “The kids get a huge kick out of it, too.”

Special thanks to Susan Patton ’77, who nominated this week’s honoree. Do you have a nominee for Tiger of the Week? Let us know. All alumni qualify. PAW’s Tiger of the Week is selected by our staff, with help from readers like you.

June 27, 2012

Tiger of the Week: Anne-Marie Slaughter '80

Anne-Marie Slaughter '80 (Photo: Denise Applewhite/Office of Communications)

Everyone seems to have an opinion about Anne-Marie Slaughter ’80’s Atlantic cover story on work-life balance. The thought-provoking feature has sparked hundreds of blog posts and debates, set new Atlantic bests for Web traffic and Facebook buzz, and landed Slaughter on a tour of interview stops, including The New York Times, NBC’s Today, and NPR’s Fresh Air.

Slaughter, the former Woodrow Wilson School dean and current Princeton professor, writes about the realization, after two years working a “dream job” at the State Department, that “juggling high-level government work with the needs of two teenage boys was not possible.” She goes on to deconstruct some of the common views of how to “have it all,” as well as barriers that stand in the way of balancing career advancement with a healthy family life.

While Slaughter has critics from several camps, her own take has remained steadfastly constructive, pushing for people to reexamine workplace norms and echoing her conclusion from The Atlantic:

“We may need to put a woman in the White House before we are able to change the conditions of the women working at Walmart. But when we do, we will stop talking about whether women can have it all. We will properly focus on how we can help all Americans have healthy, happy, productive lives, valuing the people they love as much as the success they seek.”

Do you have a nominee for Tiger of the Week? Let us know. All alumni qualify. PAW’s Tiger of the Week is selected by our staff, with help from readers like you.

June 20, 2012

Tiger of the Week: Anthony Abbott '57

Anthony Abbott '57 (Photo: Courtesy Lorimer Press)

The title poem of Anthony Abbott ’57’s recent collection If Words Could Save Us opens with those five words followed by a reassuring parenthetical – “(and they can, my darling).” Abbott’s hopeful line finds ample company in a collection that, in the words of fellow poet Robert Hedin, “sustains and confirms — the poet’s life, ours, and the great healing powers of language.”

Last week, Abbott’s work was selected as a co-winner for the Brockman-Campbell Award, given annually to the best book of poetry by a North Carolinian. (Joanna Catherine Scott’s An Innocent in the House of the Dead was the other prizewinner.) Former Poet Laureate of Indiana Norbert Krapf, who judged the competition, said that Abbott “distills a lifetime of experience into a lyrical language that brings us close to human salvation.”

Abbott, a professor emeritus of English at Davidson College, won a Carl Sandburg Award in 1982 for his poem “Mary’s Dream” and earned a Pulitzer Prize nomination for his 1989 collection The Girl in the Yellow Raincoat. He has received several honors for his work in recent years, including the Oscar Arnold Young Award and the Irene Blair Honeycutt Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Literary Arts.

In addition to winning awards, Abbott is the namesake of one: the Anthony Abbott Undergraduate Poetry Prize, sponsored by the Charlotte Writers’ Club – an organization for which Abbott once served as president.

Do you have a nominee for Tiger of the Week? Let us know. All alumni qualify. PAW’s Tiger of the Week is selected by our staff, with help from readers like you.

June 13, 2012

Tiger of the Week: Donn Cabral '12

NCAA steeplechase champion Donn Cabral '12, shown here in a 2010 race. (Photo: Beverly Schaefer)

Just hours after last Tuesday’s Commencement ceremony, Donn Cabral ’12 joined five other members of the men’s and women’s track and field teams on a plane to the NCAA Championships in Des Moines, Iowa. On June 9, the final day of the meet, Cabral lined up for the finals of the steeplechase. After finishing second in the event in 2010 and 2011 — to Louisville’s Matt Hughes, who was out of the picture this season after exhausting his four years of eligibility — Cabral stood at the starting line as the unquestioned favorite.

But there were still 3,000 meters to be run. How would Cabral handle the pressure of being the man to beat?

“I was actually pretty calm about the expectations and the target on my back,” he said. “It went exactly as I expected … I wanted to just sit on the shoulder of the leader, and luckily, nobody was really crowding my space or challenging me too much, so I was able to comfortably stay in that position. We did that for 2,000 meters of the race, and at the 2,000-meter mark, I made a strong move to the front and tried to run away from the pack.”

Cabral did exactly that, quickly pulling away from all but one runner and then dusting Texas A&M’s Henry Lelei in the final lap. The Tiger finished in eight minutes, 35.44 seconds, more than five seconds clear of the field, to claim Princeton’s third national championship of the 2011-12 athletics season (joining the men’s squash team and epeeist Jonathan Yergler ’13). Princeton had not won three national titles in a year since 2003.

For Cabral, the season is not over yet. He currently is training on campus for an even bigger race on a bigger stage: the Olympic Trials, which begin June 21 in Eugene, Ore. Cabral will be facing extremely difficult competition, but as of right now, he holds the fastest U.S. time this year – 8:19.14, an American collegiate record, which he set at the USATF Oxy High Performance Meet May 18.

“It’s been probably 18 months I’ve been pointing toward this one race,” Cabral said. “I honestly can’t wait to be there, and I know that the time is going to fly between now and then. I’ll be on that starting line in no time, smiling and enjoying every minute of it.”

Do you have a nominee for Tiger of the Week? Let us know. All alumni qualify. PAW’s Tiger of the Week is selected by our staff, with help from readers like you.

June 6, 2012

Tiger of the Week: Ellen Frankel *78

Ellen Frankel *78 (Photo: Courtesy Ellen Frankel)

An author and former head of a publishing company, Ellen Frankel *78 got involved in writing for music “somewhat by accident,” she says.

A Philadelphia composer, Andrea Clearfield, set some of the text from Frankel’s book The Five Books of Miriam to music for an oratorio that celebrates women from the Old Testament and asked Frankel to write a new piece on Hannah for the oratorio. (The oratorio, Women of Valor, premiered in 2000.). Frankel’s collaboration with Clearfield led to other work and eventually to Frankel’s meeting the artistic director of an opera company in Philadelphia, who mentioned that he had read a book that he thought would make a great opera if he could find someone to write the libretto.

Frankel offered to take a crack at writing it. Inspired by real events, the opera tells the story of a white supremacist who transforms his life, thanks to a rabbi and his wife. The world premiere of Slaying the Dragon runs June 7 and 9 at the Prince Music Theater and June 14, 16, and 17 at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia.

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May 30, 2012

Tiger of the Week: Jonathan Charlesworth '07

Jonathan Charlesworth '07 (Photo: Courtesy Jonathan Charlesworth)

As an undergraduate at Princeton, Jonathan Charlesworth ’07 had a broad interest in neuroscience, from cognitive psychology to the behavior of individual neurons. But a 400-level course with Professor Sam Wang helped to steer the molecular biology major toward neurobiology, the discipline he pursued in graduate studies at the University of California, San Francisco.

Last week, that work landed Charlesworth in Nature as first author of a remarkable study about the role one cluster of brain regions plays in the learning process of songbirds.

The study examined the role of the basal ganglia, sections of the brain below the cortex that act as a “learning hub,” receiving and processing detailed information from other regions. The basal ganglia serve the role of a coach, Charlesworth and his colleagues found. “It observes what other regions are doing and basically tells them how to do it better,” he says. (Read more in a news release from UCSF.)

Songbirds offer a convenient model to study skill learning, Charlesworth says, because they do not need to be trained – they learn to sing naturally by listening to adult birds. Researchers also can safely inactivate a specific region of the birds’ brains without harming the animals.

Understanding how different parts of the brain work and interact helps scientists to build hypotheses about how to treat certain brain disorders. For instance, Charlesworth says, the basal ganglia research could be helpful for those who study Huntington’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.

Charlesworth, a recent Ph.D. recipient, will be moving to Pasadena to begin a joint appointment at Caltech, serving as a visiting scholar while also working with a company called Neurotrek that aims to use ultrasound technology to noninvasively change the activity of neurons in the brain. But first, he plans to be back in Princeton this weekend for his fifth reunion.

Do you have a nominee for Tiger of the Week? Let us know. All alumni qualify. PAW’s Tiger of the Week is selected by our staff, with help from readers like you.

May 23, 2012

Tiger of the Week: Rocky Semmes '79

If you’re a close reader of PAW’s Inbox section, the name Rocky Semmes ’79 may be a familiar one. His wide-ranging correspondence has covered alumni iconoclasts, winning hearts in wartime, and the “old-school patriarchal mentality” of hunting for sport – and that’s just in the last year.

For three decades, writing letters to the editor has been a hobby of sorts for Semmes. He writes about one letter per week, and his submissions have been published in The Washington Post (at least two dozen times), The New Yorker, Discover magazine, Engineering News-Record, and The Washington Times.

“I have a habit of responding to what I read,” Semmes says. “It’s kind of a catharsis. I read something and it ignites something in me. If I write [a letter], I can let go of it.”

An architecture graduate who has worked primarily in the construction field, Semmes reads widely, with a particular fondness for history. (He shares his given name, Raphael Semmes, with a Confederate naval hero in the Civil War.) He’s also “rather opinionated,” an attribute that he believes was passed on by his mother, Carmel, a native of France who lived through the German occupation of Paris. Listening to his mom in lively dinner-table conversations instilled in Semmes a clearer understanding of how hearing different perspectives could help someone’s own views evolve.

Semmes says that while it is “always a treat” to be published, the act of composing a nuanced, informative, or well-argued letter offers its own rewards. “I’ve been the beneficiary of a good education,” he says, “and I enjoy the challenge of writing.”

Do you have a nominee for Tiger of the Week? Let us know. All alumni qualify. PAW’s Tiger of the Week is selected by our staff, with help from readers like you.