WDCSA Newsletter – May 2002

May 1, Wed. Professor Mike Kirst
May 4, Sat. Monticello Trip (rescheduled from April 20)
May 5, Sun. Book club (Satanic Verses)
May 13, Mon. Debora Norris, Candidate for Congress
May 13, Mon. Play discussion (Marigolds)
May 15, Weds. Happy Hour with MIT
May 22, Wed. Jim Steyer on the Media’s Effect on Children
May 23, Thurs. A Moon for the Misbegotten (performance)
May 31, Fri. Ivy+ Social Club Event
June 2, Sun. Book Club (Bee Season)
June 2, Sun. Side Man (performance)
June 5, Weds. The Heidi Chronicles (performance)
June 6, Thurs. Evening at Phillips Collection
June 30, Sun. West Side Story at Wolf Trap
Aug. 10-18 Legg Mason Tennis Classic
Sept. 1, Sun. Some Like it Hot at Wolf Trap

 Message from WDCSA President
Stanford in Germany Reunion


Message from the WDCSA President

It’s truly been a pleasure serving the DC Stanford alumni community this past year as your
president. Many thanks are due to our hardworking team of volunteer board members, who have done so
much to expand the size of our board, increase the number and quality of events we organize, and set
the groundwork for even greater things to come! We hope you have been taking advantage of our event
offerings-and please do let us know if there are changes you’d like to recommend, or events you’d
like to see organized (or better yet help organize)!

At the WDCSA’s April board meeting, Lisa Dawe ’96, MA’96 was elected President, and Quinn McKew ’98
was elected Vice President for one-year terms beginning June 1. Rounding out our key officers will
be Bill Pegram ’73, MBA ’77, and Stephen Chien ’98, who will be continuing in their posts as
Membership Director/Webmaster and Treasurer, respectively. The rest of the board and I are excited
about working with this great team of leaders!

We also hope that some of you will join our merry band of alumni activity planners! Our May board
meeting is typically used as a time for recruiting new board members for the next year, and I
encourage you to consider joining us on Wednesday, May 8, from 7:30-9 p.m. at the Stanford in
Washington campus (2661 Connecticut Ave., NW; Metro: Woodley Park/National Zoo on the Red Line). We
will be discussing the role and responsibilities of the WDCSA Board of Directors, and also
organizing the 2002-03 Board according in categories such as community service, arts, social,
professional development, sports, speakers, etc. 

Please join us at our board meeting on the 8th! If possible, please contact me (charles_hokanson@stanfordalumni.org or
703-351-1091) or Lisa Dawe (ldawe@welfaretowork.org) to
express your interest so we know who and how many to expect. Go Cardinal!

Charles Hokanson ’93, MA ’93
President, 2001-02


Faculty Speaker Event:
Prof. Mike Kirst Wednesday, May 1
6:30-8:30 p.m. reception and discussion

Space is still available for this not-to-be-missed event! Please contact Charles Hokanson at charles_hokanson@stanfordalumni.org or
703-351-1091 by Monday, April 29, to be added to the catering count.

"Is K-12 Education Reform Working?"

Join one of Stanford’s most admired teachers and one of the nation’s leading experts in the politics
of education for a discussion on the President’s new education plan (The No Child Left Behind Act of
2001) and the prospects for current education reform efforts at the federal, state, and local
levels. A catered reception will be held in advance prior to Prof. Kirst’s talk. 

Michael W. Kirst has been Professor of Education and Business Administration at Stanford University
since 1969. He is a faculty affiliate with the Department of Political Science, and has a courtesy
appointment with the Graduate School of Business. 

Dr. Kirst received his bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College, his M.P.A. from Harvard University,
and his Ph.D. in political economy and government from Harvard. 

Before joining the Stanford University faculty, Dr. Kirst held several positions with the federal
government, including Staff Director of the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Manpower, Employment and
Poverty, and Director of Program Planning and Evaluation for the Bureau of Elementary and Secondary
Education in the U.S. Office of Education (now the U.S. Department of Education). He was a Budget
Examiner in the Federal Office of Budget and Management, and Associate Director of the White House
Fellows. He was a program analyst for the Title I ESEA Program at its inception in 1965. Professor
Kirst was a member of the California State Board of Education (1975-1981) and its president from
1977 to 1981. 

A prolific writer, Dr. Kirst has authored ten books, including Schools in Conflict: Political
Turbulence in American Education
(with Frederick Wirt), Federal Aid to Education, and Who
Controls our Schools
. His most recent book concerns a new role for U.S. school boards published
with colleagues at the Institute for Educational Leadership.

Dr. Kirst also serves as Co-Director of Policy Analysis for California Education (a consortium of
Stanford, U.C. Berkeley, and U.S.C.), a California state education policy research group funded by
the Hewlett Foundation. 

Location: The Sumner School is located at 1201 17th Street NW on the corner of M Street. It is
across the street from the main National Geographic Building. Street parking is free after 6:30 pm.
Several parking garages are located close to Sumner on 17th and M Streets and on Rhode Island
Avenue.
Metro: Two blocks from the Farragut North metro (Red line). Use the L Street (Connecticut
Connection) exit. Four blocks from the Farragut West metro (Blue and Orange lines).
Price: $12/person for catered reception

Please RSVP and send checks, payable to WDCSA, by Monday, April 29, to Charles Hokanson, 3000 Spout
Run Parkway #B-605, Arlington, VA 22201. Email Charles at charles_hokanson@stanfordalumni.org or call
(703-351-1091) with questions.


Monticello Trip
Saturday, May 4
(Rescheduled due to bad weather from April 20!)
8:30 a.m.

Join WDCSA members and their families for a tour of Thomas Jefferson’s home, followed by lunch in
downtown Charlottesville. Bring money for the $11 entrance fee and lunch.

We will carpool from the Stanford in Washington campus, 2661 Connecticut Ave., NW (Metro: Woodley
Park/National Zoo stop on Red Line) and depart for Monticello at 8:30 am. We will arrive at
Monticello around 11 a.m. and take a guided tour of the home and walk the grounds until 1 p.m.

We’ll lunch from approximately 1:15-2:30 in downtown Charlottesville (a 15-minute drive from
Monticello). Downtown has plenty of shops and outdoor cafes where we can eat. At least some of the
group will dine at Michie’s Tavern, a historic restaurant that serves Southern colonial food. The
buffet there is $12.50. 

Those who want to return to DC after lunch will do so at about 2:30 p.m. Others who would like to
spend the afternoon in Charlottesville, however, may take a guided tour (3-3:45pm) of the University
of Virginia.

Please RSVP to Stephen Chien (stephen.chien@stanfordalumni.org
or 202-473-3079 (work)) by Wednesday, May 1, and let him know the following: 
(1) your name, phone number, and e-mail, and the number in your party;
(2) if you will be driving a car (and how many passengers you can take), or if you will need a ride;
and
(3) if you wish to return to DC directly after lunch, or stay for the UVA tour.

Please note: We are in particular need of alumni with cars who can carpool for this out-of-town
event, so please let Stephen if you can drive others.


Reception with Arizona State Representative Debora Norris ’93
Monday, May 13 
7:30 p.m.

The WDCSA and Stanford in Washington campus invite you to a reception featuring Arizona State
Representative Debora Norris ’93, a candidate for Congress in Arizona’s newly created 1st District.

"Women in Leadership and Politics"

An experienced businesswoman and third-term state representative, Debora, a member of the Navajo
Nation, is one of the first Native American women to serve in the Arizona Legislature and would be
the first Native American woman to serve in the United States Congress if elected this fall. Named
one of Arizona’s top 100 Most Influential people by the Arizona Business Journal, Debora has become
a strong advocate for education, healthcare reform, and rural economic development in Arizona. She
currently serves as Vice Chair for the Arizona Democratic Party, as well as a member of the
Presidential Advisory Council on American Indian Tribal Colleges and Universities.

At Stanford, Debora majored in history and participated in the Stanford in Oxford Overseas Program.
She recently returned to campus to speak on women in leadership and politics.

Please join us at the Stanford in Washington campus, 2661 Connecticut Ave., NW (Metro: Woodley
Park/National Zoo on the Red Line) to hear Debora share her thoughts on running for office and
serving in politics in Arizona. A light reception will be provided. 

There is no cost to this event. Please RSVP, however, for catering purposes by Wednesday, May 8, to
Charles Hokanson at charles_hokanson@stanfordalumni.org
or 703-351-1091.


Third Wednesday Happy Hour
Wednesday, May 15
6:30 – 8:30 p.m.

Stanford’s mascot is the Tree. MIT’s is the beaver. Nonetheless, we have not let this potential
incompatibility stop us from planning a joint happy hour next month, so please join us! Come network
with Stanford and MIT alums alike at Carpool on May 15th, beginning at 6:30 p.m. Please note that
this is a WEDNESDAY and not our usual Thursday. Bring your friends, your co-workers, but most
importantly bring YOURSELF! Carpool is located at 4000 N. Fairfax Dr. in Arlington, Virginia
(703-532-7665).

If you have any questions, or if you’re interested in planning a social event this summer, please
contact Atiba Pertilla at akpert@journalism.org or
202-234-9290.


Faculty Lecture and Reception with Jim Steyer
Wednesday, May 22
6:00 – 8:00 p.m. reception and discussion

Join us for an exclusive lecture and discussion with a distinguished Stanford faculty member about
his new book!

"The Other Parent: The Inside Story of the Media’s Effect on Children"

Full of detailed, practical advice, The Other Parent: The Inside Story of the Media’s Effect on
Children
(Pocket; to be published in May) confronts all aspects of the media’s increasingly
dominant presence in kids’ lives, from commercialism and consumerism to violence and sexuality. As a
widely respected national child advocate, CEO of a family media company, a lecturer at Stanford
University for the past nine years, and father of three young children, Jim Steyer is uniquely
qualified to write this book and wake us up to the reality of our media world. Steyer offers
effective, real-world solutions that tackle not only the role of parents in children’s development
but also, and even more crucially, the ethical responsibility of those who produce kid-targeted
entertainment.

Steyer teaches civil rights and civil liberties at Stanford University, and is CEO and chairman of
JP Kids, a family media company. He previously founded Children Now, a leading national advocacy and
media organization for children and was a civil rights attorney with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. A
frequent guest on national television programs, he was a featured speaker at the White House Summit
on Children and the Media.

Location: The Sumner School is located at 1201 17th Street NW on the corner of M Street. It is
across the street from the main National Geographic Building. Street parking is free after 6:30 pm.
Several parking garages are located close to Sumner on 17th and M Streets and on Rhode Island
Avenue.
Metro: Two blocks from the Farragut North metro (Red line). Use the L Street (Connecticut
Connection) exit. Four blocks from the Farragut West metro (Blue and Orange lines).
Price: $12/person for catered reception

Please RSVP and send checks, payable to WDCSA, by Thursday, May 16, to Charles Hokanson, 3000 Spout
Run Parkway #B-605, Arlington, VA 22201. Email Charles at charles_hokanson@stanfordalumni.org or call
(703-351-1091) with questions.


Ivy+ Over 30 Happy Hour!
Friday, May 31
6:30 – 8:30 p.m.

The Ivy+ Singles Social Club’s Third Annual "Double Event" will be held at The Georgetown
Club, 1532 Wisconsin Ave. NW, at Wisconsin and Volta (above P) (Valet parking $11).

Join us for the most educational and elegant of our Happy Hours where you get two events for the
price of one! There will be a light buffet and cash bar at the Georgetown Club, which has a strict
jacket and tie policy. For the past two years this has been one of the Ivy+ group’s best-attended
events and they are expecting another sellout crowd!

As an added bonus, step around the corner and look through the excellent selection of used books at
the Bryn Mawr Lantern Bookstore at 3241 P St. NW, which volunteers will keep open just for us! Bring
books to donate for the benefit of the Bryn Mawr Scholarship Fund.

Directions: The Georgetown Club is at Wisconsin Avenue and Volta, two blocks north of the center of
Georgetown. Use 1532 (not main) entrance. From Foggy Bottom, Rosslyn or Dupont Circle Metros take
the new Georgetown Metro Connection buses that run every 10 minutes and cost $0.50. Traffic is heavy
and street parking is tight: valet parking will be available in front of the club for an additional
$11.
Price: $20 by check to Debby Prigal, 1625 Q St. NW #207, Washington, DC 20009, by 
Monday May 27th. Make checks payable to "The Bryn Mawr Club of Washington, DC" and note
school on the check. $25 for ALL email or phone reservations, or walk-ins (if available). Please
reserve as pre-payments help ensure adequate room and food.

For additional information: www.thesquare.com/members/over30dc,
202-265-3145 or dprigal@aol.com


An Artful Evening at the Phillips Collection
Thursday, June 6
5:30 p.m.

Beth Turner, Senior Curator of the Phillips Collection, will be providing WDCSA members with a
guided tour of the Phillips’s upcoming exhibit opening June 1. Meet Beth in the entrance lobby of
the museum at 5:30 p.m. (The Phillips Collection will be open from 5 to 8:30) 

"Edward Weston: Photography and Modernism" 

The exhibit features over 140 vintage photographs by Weston (1886-1958), a Californian who has been
hailed as the quintessential modern photographer. Weston was keenly aware of the developments in all
the arts, especially contemporary painting and sculpture. His photographs will be juxtaposed with
paintings and photographs by other modern artists of the period who Weston knew and/or admired
(photographers such as Alfred Stieglitz, Charles Sheeler, Tina Modotti, and his son Brett Weston, as
well as paintings by Arthur Dove, Georgia O’Keeffe, and Willem de Kooning.) 

Location: 1600 21st Street, NW (one block west of the Q Street exit at Dupont Circle Metro on the
Red Line) 
Admission: $5 (free for Phillips Collection members) 
Parking: Discount parking (for non-members) at Embassy Row Hilton (one block away on Massachusetts
Ave.); after 5 pm present your Artful Evenings ticket stub at the garage. 

After the tour, spend the evening wandering through the amazing permanent collection, enjoy jazz
music and a cash bar with light refreshments; socialize in the galleries; and browse the Museum
Shop. To RSVP,, please contact Jennifer Bond at 202-223-0604 or e-mail JenniferSueBond@msn.com  For further information on
the exhibit, see www.phillipscollection.org/html/exhibits.html#weston


WDCSA goes to Wolf Trap!

The WDCSA has purchased 20 front orchestra tickets to each of two Wolf Trap performances:

West Side Story
Sunday, June 30, 8 p.m. 

Some Like it Hot – with Tony Curtis
Sunday, September 1, 8 p.m. 

There will be an optional pre-performance, bring-your-own Stanford picnic for each.

Tickets are $41, which represents a $4 discount. Please send a check, payable to WDCSA, to Bill
Pegram, 815 South 18th Street, #400, Arlington, VA 22202. If you are ordering for more than one
performance, please write a separate check for each performance. Tickets and information about the
pre-performance picnic will be mailed at least 3 weeks before the performance date.


Legg Mason Tennis 
Saturday, August 10 –
Sunday, August 18

The WDCSA has bought 4 box seats (first 10 rows next to the court) to all sessions of the tournament
at 16th & Kennedy, NW. The prices shown below are approximately 25% lower than the price for
single box seats, and there is no service charge. Additionally, we expect to get one onsite parking
pass per session, which we will allocate by lottery should more than 1 person purchase the 4 tickets
for that session.

Per ticket price (4 tickets remaining for each session unless noted):

Saturday, August 10, 11 a.m. $15
Monday, August 12, 4 p.m. $26
Tuesday, August 13, 4 p.m. $30 (2)
Wednesday, August 14, 4 p.m. $34
Thursday, August 15, 4 p.m. $38
Friday, August 16, 1 p.m. $41
Friday, August 16, 7 p.m. $41

Please email Bill Pegram at dcstanalum@aol.com or call him
at (703) 486-0952 indicating the number of tickets desired and the session. He will tell you whether
we have seats for that day, and ask you to send in a check, payable to WDCSA, to Bill Pegram, 815
South 18th St., #400, Arlington, VA 22202. You may buy as many seats as you like, for as many
sessions as you like.


Alumni Book Club Meetings
Sundays, May 5, June 2, and July 7

The D.C. Stanford Alumni Book Club is open to any Stanford alumnus or friend interested in
discussing and sharing ideas about good literature. Our upcoming schedule is as follows:

May 5: Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
June 2: Bee Season by Myla Goldberg
July 7: Being Dead by Jim Crace

Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
No book in modern times has matched the uproar sparked by this book, which earned its author a death
sentence. Furor aside, it is a marvelously erudite study of good and evil, a feast of language serve
up by a writer at the height of his powers, and a rollicking comic fable. 

Bee Season by Myla Goldberg 
Nine-year-old Eliza Naumann, an otherwise indifferent student, surprises herself and her family by
winning first prize in her school spelling bee. The story and family dynamics evolve as Eliza, her
preferred older brother, her religious scholar father, and her thieving mother deal with her new
gift.

Being Dead by Jim Crace
Lying in the sand dunes of Baritone Bay are the bodies of a middle-aged couple. Jim Crace’s sixth
novel is neither murder mystery nor pulp fiction–indeed, the killer is perhaps the least important
character. Please contact Marisa at mbfitzgerald@air.org
or (202) 332-4826 for more information, including times and locations.


Upcoming Theater Events

The Modern Drama Discussion Group (www.footlightsdc.org)
discusses plays over dinner with a guest speaker and also attends theater performances at a
discount. 

Monday, May 13
Over dinner, the group will discuss Paul Zindel’s Pulitzer prize-winning The Effect of Gamma Rays
on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds
(1970). Marigolds tells the wrenching yet funny story of a
bitter, disturbed single mom and her two teenaged daughters. The meeting takes place 7:30-9:30 p.m.
(dinner at 6:30 p.m.) at Cafe Midi Cuisine, 1635 Connecticut Ave., NW (Dupont Circle metro). To RSVP
call 202-898-4825 or e-mail gruenberg@footlightsdc.org

In late May and early June, the drama group will attend three performances of plays the group
discussed in earlier years. 

Thursday, May 23
A Moon for the Misbegotten (1947) is Eugene O’Neill’s sad, tender elegy for his brother
James. The performance takes place 8 p.m. at Arena Stage, 1101 6th St., SW (Waterfront metro).
Tickets are $32 and the deadline is May 1. 

Sunday, June 2
Side Man (1998) is a semi autobiographical love ballad to the forgotten world of big-band
jazz, by Stanford alumnus Warren Leight (BA ’77). The performance takes place 2:30 p.m. at Everyman
Theatre, 1727 N. Charles St. in downtown Baltimore (contact the drama group for directions or if you
need transportation). Tickets are $16 and the deadline is May 13.

Wednesday, June 5
The Heidi Chronicles (1988) is Wendy Wasserstein’s Pulitzer prize-winning portrayal of the
baby-boom generation from the radical 1960s through the mercenary 1980s. An audio taping for
worldwide broadcast takes place 7:30 p.m. at the Voice of America, 330 Independence Ave., SW
(Federal Center SW metro). Tickets are $24 and the deadline is May 13. 

For drama-group theater tickets, mail checks, payable to "Footlights," to Robin Larkin,
5403 Nibud Ct., Rockville, MD 20852. For further information go to www.footlightsdc.org, call 301-897-9314, or e-mail rlarkin@footlightsdc.org


Stanford in Germany Alumni in D.C. area

Alumni of the Stanford in Germany Program-Beutalsbach campus are warmly invited to attend a small
potluck reunion dinner on Saturday, May 25, 2002 beginning at 4:00 p.m. The dinner will be held at
the residence of:

Forrest Frank, 4639 Lambert Drive, Alexandria, VA 22311 (near the Alexandria campus of Northern
Virginia Community College just south of West Braddock Road and I-395)

Please RSVP to Forrest no later than May 20th at 703-820-4080 (home) or 703-820-4081 (home fax), or
via e-mail at Forrest922@aol.com or ffrank@ida.org

Tod Tolan, author of the wonderful reunion book of Beutalsbachers will join us from the West Coast!