Table of Contents

CONTENTS

	C O N T R I B U T O R S
Pitt Magazine January 1997	F E A T U R E S
Pitt Magazine January 1997	THE STRANGER From pillar to post--that is, The Washington Post--alum Jeanne Marie Laskas' writing life is one surprise after another....by Laura Shefler
Rooms with a View One hundred thousand visitors a year can't be wrong.	ROOMS WITH A VIEW The complicated story of nationality is played out in the enduring elegance of Pitt's 24 Nationality Rooms....by Mark Collins
	JUST DO IT! Win, lose--or tie--competitive sports is a mind game....by Larry Eldridge Jr.
	INVISIBLE DANCER A Pitt astronomer reinvents our universe--literally....by Tommy Ehrbar

Commons Room A roamin' robot wins hearts.
	D E P A R T M E N T S
	4200 FIFTH AVENUE A good man LETTERS Sports replay and assumptions unmasked TUCK SHOP Snow and mirrors THE COMMONS ROOM An apple is an apple is an apple...the art of col- lecting...Shakespearean robot EXTRA CREDIT Genetics: A treatment for Gaucher's disease Literature: What nineteenth- century primers really taught Anthropology: Remarkable discovery of a new primate	CLASSES YOU MAY HAVE MISSED The rock upon which modern architecture was built CORNERSTONES Parents mobilizing research for muscular dystrophy...Law and a tradition of service ...A home for American music HOMECOMING Class Notes and Spotlights... Alumni Notebook....Edited by Sally Neiser 42ND FLOOR Hungarian Rhapsody...by Laura Shefler
	Janet Darby--(Commons Room) "My pastel images tend to depict simple joys and humorous moments in life," says Darby. "I create them as gentle reminders of what is important--to smile, to enjoy--in an often all-too- serious world."
	Richard Kelly--("The Stranger" and Classes You May Have Missed) Kelly's work has appeared in GQ, Mirabella, Entertainment Weekly, and throughout Pitt Magazine's Classes You May Have Missed series. Currently assembling a photo essay of Western Pennsylvanians making their living on the rivers, Kelly has been the man behind the publicity lens at Mister Rogers' Neighborhood for years.
	ON ON THE COVER: Deborah King, Nationality Rooms guide and molecular biology major. King's family came from Czechoslovakia, England, Belgium, and the Netherlands; her gown and headdress came from the Middle East. Traditionally, when worn in Syria, Jordan, or Iraq, gold coins speak for a family's wealth and social status. The necklace would be a fitting gift for a recent bride. Photo by Mark Lustgarten.