On May 29, Radcliffe Day, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg received the Radcliffe Medal, presented annually to “an individual who has had a transformative impact on society.” Before Justice Ginsburg delivered a speech about her historic career, lunch was served (salmon! again!) under a tent in Radcliffe Yard. On my right is poet Anne Pierson Wiese, and to my left is novelist V.V. Ganeshananthan.
One fine spring day Radcliffe Institute graduate student fellow Giovanna Micconi was married in the Sunken Garden next to Byerly Hall…
Poet Henri Cole and I observed the inspiring ceremony from a window.
On May 3rd I presented an excerpt of my book-length lyric essay on lilacs at Arnold Arboretum with the aid of four fabulous research partners a.k.a. Team Lilac. (We are sporting iris boutonnieres—the lilac variety being unavailable.) From left to right: Teddy Delwiche, Christine Legros, Sarah Blatt-Herold, Ian Van Wye.
On April 14th my stellar research partner Harvard senior Ashford King and I spent an ebullient day on the Science Center Plaza promoting awareness of the diversity of the urban Midwest by offering the international Harvard populace the chance to step up to the “Translation Station” and convert the classic American poem “The Red Wheelbarrow” into the 140 languages spoken in Sioux Falls, SD.
The morning began with me pushing a wheelbarrow borrowed from Cambridge Landscaping to the event site.
Ashford is pictured here playing the guitar during a musical interlude. I am tapping the perfectly tuned buoy.
Five fellows in full undercover costume, off to solve another intellectual mystery. From front to back: Daniel Biro (composer), Renee Gladman (poet), V.V. Ganeshananthan (novelist), Nicolette Zeeman (medievalist), and me (lilacologist).
After my November 12th reading and musical presentation (with Berklee College of Music collaborators) in the Knafel Center, I celebrated by serving my fellow fellows homemade cured salmon, and handing out index card copies of the recipe that I had typed in Byerly Hall.
Ben Miller, author 