Dom Sagolla '96 (@dom), co-founder of Twitter, spoke on campus about his new book, 140 Characters: A Style Guide for the Short Form (@thebook) and demonstrated the companion iPhone app (@bookapp). He encouraged the audience to think of short, 140 character Twitter updates as a new form of literature and to "lead" as a writer in the short form rather than be a follower. The medium is "there to empower you," he said. He engaged the audience in a discussion about topics ranging from the demographics of social networking to how Twitter impacts personal relationships.

Sagolla graduated from Swarthmore with a degree in English Literature and later obtained a Masters in Education from Harvard. He has contributed to Macromedia Studio, Adobe Creative Suite, and Odeo. Currently, he works at DollarApp, an iPhone app development company.

At First Collection, Garikai Campbell '90, acting dean of students, kicked off the candle lighting portion of the event by encouraging students to view the candles as representing "each of our unique, individual, independent strengths" that are to be shared with each other. He then introduced Sixteen Feet, who sang the College's alma mater.

Maurice Eldridge '61, vice president for college and community relations, addressed the graduating class at Baccalaureate services on May 30, 2009. The Baccalaureate is the spiritual component of Commencement weekend, featuring the inspirational remarks of a friend of the College.

At the inaugural event of the Kathryn Morgan Spring Poetry Festival, faculty members, administrators, alumni, and students read selected works from Envisions, Morgan's 2003 volume of poems.

Morgan, Sarah Lawrence Lightfoot Professor Emerita of History, was the first African American professor at the College, and the first African American woman to be granted tenure. She is the author of Children of Strangers, the first work of African American family folklore by a folklorist.

Longtime collaborators Nat Anderson, professor of English literature and librettist, and Tom Whitman '82, associate professor of music and composer, discuss their new opera, A Scandal in Bohemia. Based on a Sherlock Holmes short story by Arthur Conan Doyle, it is their fourth collaboration.

Orchestra 2001 will honor President Al Bloom at the world premiere, taking place Fri., Feb. 6, at Philadelphia's Kimmel Center. A second performance will take place in Lang Concert Hall on Sun., Feb. 8.

Wing Thye Woo '76 discusses China's impressive past growth, the present acrimony over its exchange rate policy, and the key challenges to maintaining its high growth in the future.

Woo is a professor of economics at the University of California at Davis, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington D.C., and the director of the East Asia Program within the Earth Institute at Columbia University. An expert on the East Asian economies, particularly China, Indonesia and Malaysia, he has advised the U.S. Treasury Department, the IMF, World Bank, and the United Nations.

Mark Alan Hughes '81 discusses his efforts as Philadelphia's first sustainability director to conserve resources, reduce waste, and promote alternative energy, green jobs, and many other sustainable methods of living and doing business. He also addresses how such efforts can serve as a model for developing Swarthmore's green profile.

Hughes joined the public policy faculty of Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School at the age of 25, then later taught public policy at Penn's Fels Institute, Harvard's Kennedy School, and at Swarthmore College. He has been a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute and his research has appeared in the leading journals of several academic disciplines, including the Journal of Urban Economics, Political Science Quarterly, Economic Geography, Journal of the American Planning Association, and Urban Studies.

Vice President of Community and College Relations Maurice Eldridge '61 describes how his efforts to help Associate Professor of Music John Alston expand upon the successful model of the Chester Children's Chorus culminated this fall with the opening of the Chester Upland School of the Arts. For Eldridge, a lifelong educator and patron of the arts, the project represents community building at its best. “We keep making believers of each other,” he says. “It excites us."

Introduction by President Al Bloom

At First Collection, held in the Scott Outdoor Amphitheater, each new class is welcomed to campus by members of the Swarthmore community.  After an introduction from President Bloom, political scientist Rick Valelly '75 welcomed the Class of 2012 by sharing the prophecy, and caution, he brought with him to Swarthmore when he transferred to the College, why he was and remains so happy here, and his top 10 list of things to do that he says will guarantee their happiness as undergraduates. Valelly joined Jess Engebretson '09 at this annual event.

"Honoring Our Changing Stories"

In her address at Alumni Weekend, environmental lawyer and award-winning author Rishi Reddi '88 spoke about "honoring change in our lives," including examples from the College's history in which students "challenged this school to live up to the ideals of its Quaker founders."

Rishi Reddi was born in Hyderabad, India, and grew up in England and the United States. Her book Karma and Other Stories, published by ecco/ HarperCollins in April 2007, received the 2008 L.L. Winship/PEN New England Awar and one of those stories, "Justice Shiva Ram Murthy," appeared in Best American Short Stories 2005.

Writing is only one of Rishi's professional paths. She earned her law degree from Northeastern University in 1992 and, having been interested in nature and the environment for years, became an environmental attorney for Massachusetts.

Rishi continues her dual pursuit of law and literature, working part-time for the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection and writing a historical novel based on the first South Asians who moved to Southern California in the 1910s. Rishi also serves on the board of South Asian Americans Leading Together, a national, non-profit organization dedicated to fostering an environment in which all South Asians in America can participate fully in civic and political life, and have influence over policies that affect them.