WDCSA Newsletter – February 2021 – Washington DC Stanford Association

This month’s newsletter is available for download in PDF format.

Table of Contents

Events Calendar

Feb 14 • DMV Cardinal Valentine’s Day Chili Fest
Feb 25 • Princeton + Stanford + Yale Young Alumni DC Virtual Mixer
Mar 8 – 9 • Stanford Parents Virtual Get-Together
Mar 14 • Washington DC Book Club Discussion
Mar 15 • Baltimore Book Club Discussion

Upcoming Events

DMV Cardinal Valentine’s Day Chili Fest

Sunday, February 14, 5 – 6 pm
Zoom

Join WDCSA for a CYO (cook your own) Cardinal Valentine’s Day Chili Fest!
WDCSA’s own Maggie New will turn a batch of easy-to-find ingredients into a delicious winter meal of chili and corn muffins, finishing just in time to dim the lights and enjoy with a pal or a socially-distanced few! If you do not have chili on your ‘go-to’ dinner list, you might want to add this tasty standard to your repertoire.

See the recipe, including the ingredients you’ll need to have on hand in order to join the fun, here.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/114xCTVQV6bhunwsp-odGILAdkd6cxaR9IH1zblJ8eas/edit?usp=sharing

Participation bonus: a few lucky CYO chili cooks will have an opportunity to win an impressively modest, but fun, WDCSA prize!

Registrants will be emailed a zoom link to join the day of the CYO.

Questions? Email risa@theshimodagroup.com or call / text 301-502-6548.

Princeton + Stanford + Yale Young Alumni DC Virtual Mixer

Thursday, February 25 6:30 – 8 pm
Zoom

Come meet new friends and reconnect with old ones! Cardinal Young Alumni of DC is excited to host a virtual mixer for young alumni from Princeton, Stanford, and Yale. Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/princeton-stanford-yale-young-alumni-dc-virtual-mixer-tickets-138645112263.

A Zoom link and more details will be shared with all registrants the week of the event.

For questions, please contact Megan McKoy (Stanford) at megansmckoy@gmail.com, Sonny Stephens (Yale) at mariano.a.stephens@gmail.com, or Clare Sherlog (Princeton) at clare.sherlog@gmail.com.

Stanford Parents Virtual Get-Together

Freshman and Sophomore Parents: Monday, March 8 7:30 pm
Junior and Senior Parents: Tuesday, March 9 7:30 pm
Google Meet: Registrants will be emailed a link to join the meeting a few minutes before

Come and meet your fellow Stanford parents to share your student’s experiences during these challenging times. Come to share ideas and tips, to ask questions, and to suggest answers.

Questions/RSVP: Helene Myers, Ph.D., P’14, at cedarhouse@comcast.net

Stanford and the Legislative Branch

WDCSA hereby recognizes Stanford University Alumni serving in Congress:

US House of Representatives

Joaquin Castro
Anthony Gonzalez
Joshua Harder
Chrissy Houlahan
Mike Levin
Ted Lieu
Dan Lipinski
Zoe Lofgren
Adam Schiff
Mondaire Jones

US Senate

Cory Booker
Dianne Feinstein
Josh Hawley
Jeff Merkley
Mitt Romney (attended for one year)
Tina Smith
Ron Wyden

Stanford OVAL

In our DC/MD/VA/DE OVAL region we have a large number of un-matched applicants that we would like to pair with OVAL Interviewers. Let us know if you are able to video interview an additional one, two or more applicants! If you have not attended OVAL interviewing, it is available online – takes approximately 45 minutes to complete and does not have to be completed in one setting. There are two additional weeks to complete interview reports this year with a March 4th deadline! We look forward to hearing from our great DC/MD/VA/DE OVAL volunteers who are able to heed this call!

Contact Maggie New maggienew10@gmail.com for more information.

Stanford in the News

Stanford Medicine researchers are screening diagnostic samples to identify known coronavirus variants circulating in the Bay Area, including those from the United Kingdom, South Africa and Brazil. The Stanford researchers have started screening hundreds of viral samples collected from people across the Bay Area, with plans to ramp up significantly in the coming days. They also began sequencing whole viral genomes to identify new mutations as they arise in key viral proteins.

In Case You Missed It

We highlight recent Stanford recordings that we found informative and you may have missed or want to watch again. Please email Bill Pegram at bill@billpegram.com if you have suggestions for future newsletters providing the URL and any relevant background.

“January 6 and the Crisis of American Democracy”, Larry Diamond, Pamela Karlan, David Kennedy, Bill Kristol, Larry Diamond – Moderated by Francis Fukuyama, January 14, 2021, https://youtu.be/JT7SdPVytwQ
Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research Associates Meeting with Jonathan Coslet, “US Economy and Markets”, January 21, 2021, https://youtu.be/jQboCiNK_Zk

WDCSA Book Club Corner

Washington DC Book Club Discussion

Sunday, March 14, 5 pm
Zoom

The March book is The Romantics by Pankaj Mishra.

The young Brahman Samar has come to the holy city of Benares to continue his studies after completing his undergraduate degree and to take the civil service exam that will determine his future. There, Samar meets a number of European and American expatriates who offer entirely different perspectives on his country. The narrator’s descriptions of the cluttered city streets, rural poverty, and Himalayan beauty are viewed without the usual Western filters displayed by so many English language novels.

Questions/RSVP: Don Bieniewicz, MS ’75, at donbien@erols.com.

Baltimore Book Club Discussion

Monday, March 15, 7:30 pm
Google Meet: Everyone will be emailed a link to join the meeting a few minutes before.

The March selection is Photographic Memories: A Story of Shinjistu by Risa Shimoda and Bob Fleshner.

This is the biography of Midori Shimoda, who would have been the last person to have described his life as anything other than ordinary. Yet, it included: a three-week long, trans-Pacific, ocean crossing without family or friends at the age of nine; a perilous evacuation from California in the immediate aftermath of the bombing of Pearl Harbor; refuge with a Mormon ‘refugees’ family in Utah; arrests for suspected espionage/treason; and federal internment he had so earnestly sought to avoid. That’s not to mention that his life amazingly intersected with an extraordinary assortment of individuals including Grace Kelly, Fay Wray, J. Edgar Hoover, William Randolph Hearst and Betty Hutton. This is a story of passion, resourcefulness and diligence for sharing beauty, through the lens of a camera.

Midori Shimoda’s daughter Risa ‘77, and her friend-since-childhood writer Bob Fleshner will be joining us at the meeting.

The May 17th selection is New York 2140 by Kim Stanley Robinson.

Questions/RSVP: Helene Myers, Ph.D., P’14, at cedarhouse@comcast.net