Letters From Our Readers
Monday, Sep 10, 2018
Juilliard Journal
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This photo, which accompanied a 'Journal' story in which Angie Zhang (pictured) stated that, from her window in the residence hall, she could appreciate vehicles crossing the George Washington Bridge, prompted one close reader to get in touch.
September 2018
The Journal welcomes correspondence from our readers; please be in touch with us at [email protected]. Letters may be edited for length, clarity, or civility.
A Room With a View
Regarding Angie Zhang’s “A Day in the Life: On Practicing, Performing, and Needing a Time-Turner” (March Journal), is it really possible for Angie to see cars on the George Washington Bridge from her dorm room in Lincoln Center? Perhaps from Claremont Avenue in the old days? I’m skeptical.
Harold Frederic
From the editor: Thanks for your close read, Harold. In fact our photographer confirmed that she could see cars (though not the make or type of car!) on the bridge from Angie’s window. That particular view wasn’t shown in the photos that appeared in the print edition or online, however.
President Emeritus Joseph W. Polisi became Chief China Officer in June 2018
Straight-Shooting Polisi
I thoroughly enjoyed reading about the many accomplishments of Joseph Polisi during his long and productive tenure as president of Juilliard in the May Journal, but I’m sorry you didn’t mention his letter to the community in the wake of the events at Charlottesville in 2017. I was astounded by its straight-shooting candor in describing the atmosphere of the country that the depredations of the current administration in Washington had helped to nurture, but I was also buoyed by its hope and moved by its unusual eloquence. In short this was not the usual pabulum that educational administrators dole out to placate the unwary. This was, one could say, presidential in a way this country has not experienced in several decades! Reading this letter made me feel a part of the Juilliard community in a way I had never felt before. I passed this letter on to friends and relatives. None had heard from the presidents of the respective colleges and universities they had attended. Neither of the two other institutions from which I received degrees—Brandeis University and Middlebury College—weighed in. They were, like other colleges and universities, I guess, “away” for the summer, and then the news changed and it was too late, and they never did. Joseph Polisi was not “away for the summer.” He was present. He cared. And it meant a lot.
Daniel L. Farber (BS ’66, percussion)
A Soggy Tale
Can I request that my address be taken off for the physical copy of the Juilliard Journal? I really do respect and appreciate the alumni office’s proactiveness in being connected with their alumni, something that isn’t seen in many schools elsewhere! So thank you for that. However I would like to help reduce the amount of waste produced from the amount of printed copies that the Journal produces every month; I think that perhaps if the printing budget was more focused on e-blasts and email based connections not only would it help promote alumni relations, but I’m sure many other Juilliard students would appreciate the reduction of paper use for something that has a relatively short life cycle. Mine came through the mail a bit soggy today due to the weather, and I thought it was high time I shared my thoughts.
Neil Chen (MM ’17, historical performance)
From the editor: Thanks for being in touch, Neil. Many of our readers prefer getting the print version of the paper, but we can certainly take your name off the mailing list. Each time a new issue comes out, the PDF of it appears at juilliard.edu/journal and many of the articles also appear elsewhere on the website. And the alumni office does indeed send out e-blasts and emails, so they’ll make sure you’re on the list.
Remembering Margaret Pardee
I just read your obituary for Margaret Pardee (March 2016 Journal). She was my father’s first cousin, and I well remember her visits to my grandparents’ house in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. She would never perform for us, since she “hadn’t prepared,” but we heard her a few times when she was practicing upstairs in the house and wasn’t aware that we had arrived. On those rare occasions we were very quiet, and when she came down, we said that we had just arrived. We thought we had fooled her, but probably did not. I have three woodblocks and two books from her husband, Dan Butterly, or DARO, as he signed his visual artworks. While he was primarily interested in the classics, one of the woodblocks is of Paganini playing. I always wondered if Marge influenced him on that one.
Stephen Curry