Just a piece of paper?
Diplomas have become the butt of many jokes. And unless made of genuine sheepskin, most don’t seem to hold any intrinsic value at this point. Rarely, unless issued by a medical or dental school, do they even end up hanging on a wall. More likely, they are packed away in a closet (probably a parent’s).
But a Kirkland College diploma feels like a unique work of art. Sam Babbitt tells us, in fact, that the class of 1971 chose an image by lithographer Don Cortese (see Limited Engagement, p.194) who taught printmaking at Syracuse University for many years. Only 27 of these were issued, but where are they now?
We’d like to copy a diploma from every class, but here are a couple of designs that illustrate the inventive approaches that made even this most traditional of documents become another testament to the inventive spirit at Kirkland. Where is yours?
A Charter Class diploma (the first “vintage”)
A 1976 diploma with artwork by Emily Paine
Party On
Leaf, Blossom, Fruit: Lost Orchard Blooms
Harvest time is sweet. A book of our own! Our compilation of extraordinary writers, Lost Orchard: Prose and Poetry from the Kirkland Community, was released by SUNY Press in January 2014. Since then, we’ve had some amazing once-in-a-lifetime gatherings.
Maria Theresa Stadtmueller, Jo Pitkin, Jane Summer, Nancy Avery Dafoe, and Gwynn O’Gara presenting Women’s Voices Matter: A Reading from Lost Orchard at AWP
On March 1 (appropriately, the start of Women’s History Month), contributors Maria Stadtmueller (K’77), Gwynn O’Gara (K’73), Nancy Avery Dafoe (K’74), and Jane Summer (K’76) joined editor Jo Pitkin (K’78) at the 2014 Associated Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) conference in Seattle. This massive conference was attended by 13,000 writers. Our Kirkland group presented a reading from Lost Orchard and did a book signing hosted by SUNY Press. Our panel was one of 1,200 proposed and 550 accepted—not bad for a small women’s college that closed in 1978!
Jo Pitkin, Gwynn O’Gara, and Nancy Avery Dafoe at the SUNY Press booth for the Lost Orchard signing
In addition to reading our own work at AWP, we talked about Kirkland’s innovative creative writing program and its emphasis on women’s education, something that was sorely needed in the 1970s. To our surprise, one young audience member commented in the q&a portion of our presentation that her generation craves women’s colleges like Kirkland. It was a moving experience, with more than a few attendees in tears.
Isabel Weinger Nielsen (K’76) reading from her story “She Might Break” at the Arlington Center for the Arts.
Just weeks after AWP, Lost Orchard launched at the Arlington Center for the Arts near Boston on March 23. Isabel Weinger Nielsen (K’76), Donna French McArdle (K’76), Liz Horwitt (K’73), Alice Hildebrand (K’73), and Jo Pitkin (K’78) shared their work with Kirkland and Hamilton alumni. Sharon Rippey, Hamilton’s Director of Alumni Relations, celebrated with us, and Jennie Morris (K’72) created a slideshow of archival photos and a woodsy stage centerpiece with fabric and branches.
Let them eat cake! Arlington Center for the Arts, 3/23/14
A magical afternoon concluded with a cake cutting by Lost Orchard‘s cover artist Linda Branch Dunn (K’77). Kirkland writers and artists—it was Senior Projects 2014. (For a video of the Arlington readings, click here.)
Kathryn Livingston (K’75), Constance Stellas (K’72), Sandy Stiassni (H’78), and Judy Gray Silverstein (K’78) reading an excerpt from Constance’s one-act play “Building”
Next, our crop of literary seeds scattered south of Boston. On March 29, Lost Orchard contributors Constance Stellas (K’72), Carol Durst-Wertheim (K’74), Susan Hartman (K’74), Kathryn Livingston (K’75), Julie Weinstein (K’75), Ilene Moskin (K’76), Stephanie Feuer (K’77), Abigail Wender (K’77), Judy Silverstein Gray (K’78), Jo Pitkin (K’78), Amy Schiffman (K’78), and Victoria Kohn Michels (K’80) read their work in the Dweck Center at the Brooklyn Public Library. This unprecedented reading, organized by each contributor’s class year from the 1972 Charter Class through 1980, riveted an appreciative crowd of family, friends, fans.
How poignant and rare to hear our distinct, now maturely ripened voices—together again—in such a lovely setting. Pretty thrilling for us all. (For a video of the Brooklyn readings, click here.)
MORE NEWS: Lost Orchard was named a finalist in the Anthology category in the 2014 Next Generation Indie Book Awards.
COME HEAR more Lost Orchard contributors at Reunions 2014, Cafe Opus, Hamilton College, Friday, June 6, 4 – 5pm.
by Jo Pitkin
Photos courtesy of Nancy Avery Dafoe, Judy Silverstein Gray, Jennie Morris, Isabel Weinger Nielsen, James Peltz, & Ruth P. Stevens.
Video footage of the Arlington launch was captured by Aurora and Gabriela Rippey; Brooklyn footage was captured by Jasmine Rippey. Many thanks to Ted Fondak, Hamilton College’s Educational Technologist.
Kirkland Found: “Lost Orchard”
As the twin celebrations launching Lost Orchard draw closer, I thought it might be interesting to trace how this landmark anthology came about. With the help of Liz Horwitt, I organized an alumnae reading in the Red Pit. On June 1, 2007, seven writers from far-flung parts of the country presented their work: me, Liz, Gwynn O’Gara, Nancy Avery Dafoe, Maria Theresa Stadtmueller, Alice Hildebrand, and Billie Jean Stratton. During the reading, the word anthology flitted through my head. It took two years for that thought seed to land and take root. I put out a call for submission in spring 2010—and waited. Would Kirkland alumnae and members of the Kirkland community submit? What would they submit? What themes would emerge? Soon, submissions trickled in from Hawaii, Amsterdam, France, New England, the Pacific Northwest, the mid-Atlantic states. A year or so later, I had enough submissions to make a book. After reading and selecting pieces I wanted to include, I had an anthology!
Lost Orchard consists of fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction essays by Kirkland alumnae and faculty. It also includes four commissioned one-act plays, which were performed at the 2007 All-Kirkland Reunion. I have also included a lovely collaboration between Sam and Natalie Babbitt that alludes to Natalie’s writing of Tuck Everlasting during their Kirkland years. Although I didn’t do this intentionally, Lost Orchard contains submissions that span the college’s lifetime, from nearly every Kirkland class from 1972 through 1980, and from nearly all professors who taught creative writing at Kirkland. Lost Orchard, published in January 2014, was exquisitely produced by the State University of New York Press. The book reflects the vibrant community we all shared and is one of only a couple of multi-genre alumni anthologies from a single institution. (I’m quite sure it’s the ONLY anthology from a small, defunct, experimental college.) I’m most proud that the anthology represents Kirkland’s creative writing program—one of the earliest in the country to confer an undergraduate degree—and gives voice to alumnae of the last private women’s college established in the United States. Jo Pitkin, K’78 |
Kirkland College 